Monthly Archives: November 2015

About Dots and Cats and Christians

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The mariner asks forgiveness for allowing his Guru persona to reach the keyboard. The last three posts were written with traces of obfuscation. Mariner knows that Guru has the habit of taking giant leaps to keep up with where his thoughts are. The trouble is Guru doesn’t use turn signals; those attempting to follow from one sentence to the next are left at an intersection of thought with no directions.

Upon reevaluation and pointed criticism from the home team (actually a good editor), a grammatical pattern is determined wherein Guru will start a sentence with a given premise, then insert two parenthetical expressions comprised of twelve or thirteen points, ending with a conclusion that has little to do with the initial noun phrase. The reader is left to connect ethereal waypoints without a map.

Mariner’s wife is a librarian working in a public school. The library has a colored dot system called Accelerated Reading (AR) which is a counter intuitive name. Every library book has a dot on the spine, each with a given color that indicates that book’s rank of difficulty. A student who is learning to read must start at the lowest color, take a proficiency test and pass it before the student can move to the next higher color – a gradation measured in picograms (one trillionth of a gram). Had the reader and the mariner been forced to learn in this brain-numbing manner, I could not write a post and it wouldn’t matter because the reader couldn’t read it. Please understand the mariner speaks for himself; his wife notwithstanding.

Nevertheless, Adolf Hitler, had JEB Bush not killed him, could not devise a more abusive environment for young minds wanting to leap forward at a challenging pace. It is heartbreaking to see a student walk into the library and ask for a book about rocket ships. After looking along the shelves, the librarian advises the student that the nearest book about rockets is two colors above his current dot. By the time the student reaches middle school, reading is no longer a joy or a habit in the student’s life.

What is worse, the students learn the game. A number of books must be read in the current dot level before they can take the proficiency test. It is quite likely that the student need read only one or two books to advance to the next picogram but typically several books are required. The only game in town is to accumulate enough book points to be eligible to take the proficiency test. Consequently, students come to the library wanting only those books with the right dot color. Reading is not subject driven, not interest driven, not maturity driven, and not intellectually driven. “Give me a yellow – I don’t care what it’s about; I need my book points.”

During the mariner’s formative years in education, he remembers, in the second grade, that he had read the whole set of learning to read instruction books and was bored with the pace of the class. When mariner was little, teachers were about making sure everyone learned everything – a practice that slowed the curriculum to a standstill. Had he been forced to read only one dot color that had nothing to do with his curiosity, personal reality, or challenge him – all children want to be challenged in the second grade – he would have lost interest in reading and thinking in short order.

During mariner’s college days while working at the same time, mariner decided to take the Evelyn Wood speed reading course. The instructor chose a book that lent itself to the task of reading fast (The Sun Also Rises: Hemingway). It was clear, however, that we were to be taught how to read not by constraining subject matter like dots do, rather we will be taught to read anything we pick up. And read it quickly!

To share the phenomenon of Wood’s speed reading technique, mariner was pressed by the instructor to read a page in 60 seconds; then the instructor asked questions to test how much mariner had absorbed and remembered; then the next page was selected but time to read was reduced to 50 seconds. Further reduction in time occurred when the instructor was satisfied that mariner had captured all the information on the page in the allotted time. The transformation to Super Reader occurs when one is reading so fast that there is no time to say individual words in your head – AKA subvocalizing. At a minimum, one is reading whole phrases as if the phrase was only one word but it was read without saying it.

Mariner had nothing short of an epiphany. At the point a reader leaves subvocalizing behind, the increase in speed comes rapidly; it is comparable to an airplane leaving the runway, leaving the resistance of the wheels and crosswind behind. One must speed read regularly or reading falls back into subvocalization. The experience of speed reading enables the reader to read two or more lines in the same glance – literally a 20th second glance because we no longer interrupt reading cognition to speak the words. The better readers in the course graduated reading ten thousand words per minute. Sounds impossible but mariner is a witness. With Wood instruction, we all learned to read but after the first novel, we each chose our own. I picked a story about rocket ships.

Of course, AR has little to do with mariner’s childhood and his noted ability to screw up sentences. He’s just deflecting criticism….

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Was the reader successful in reconciling the paradox proffered by Schrodinger’s cat? In quantum physics, this is an important concept to master. When Einstein and other theoretical physicists proposed that subatomic particles could exist in a number of different states simultaneously, none of which was primary until some external event forced one and only one state to survive, Schrodinger scoffed and created the cat paradox. After an hour, as the classic experiment proposed, the cat would have a fifty-fifty chance of being dead or alive. No one would know which until the box was opened. Schrodinger proposed the cat paradox to show how silly it was to apply quantum values to complex systems much larger than atoms. Two excellent presentations that will clear the mind are at the following:

http://www.iflscience.com/physics/schr%C3%B6dinger%E2%80%99s-cat-explained

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger’s_cat

A liberal arts article was submitted by the mariner’s wife. It is about the disarray of Christianity and that one can claim that the US is not a Christian nation. It is likely that the reader’s subsequent conversations will be entertaining – in a serious way. Unlike Guru, Parker Palmer writes clearly and with a tight grasp of his ideas. The mariner believes it is mandatory reading; color of dot is moot:

http://www.onbeing.org/blog/parker-palmer-america-is-not-and-cannot-be-a-christian-nation/8162

Nate Silver is a famous statistician who is magically right whenever he predicts anything. A few years ago, Nate began tracking every topic influenced by prediction – especially politics. Nate is financially successful given his clients are some of the largest corporations in the world (and largest gamblers) – to speak nothing about US ragtag politicians. NATE SAYS IGNORE THE POLLS! Visit his website at: http://fivethirtyeight.com/tag/2016-presidential-election/

Ancient Mariner

A Well Rounded Education?

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Mariner has been reading about the new movement in colleges that expresses empathy for individuals suffering any indication of racism, cultural suppression, campus abuse, and even offensiveness in comedy. On the good side, this is college students running things. On the bad side is a student mentality that appears to be over protective of even one student’s sensitivities. Several top ranked comedians like Jerry Seinfeld won’t do shows at colleges because of restrictions about their subject matter. Other campus speakers are screened before they are invited to speak at assemblies. (An earlier post recommended the September 2015 issue of The Atlantic Magazine http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ covering this topic)

What is disturbing about the student attitude is its tendency to foster cultism and isolationism in students who will leave the campus to step into the real world – a bit coarser than a campus. There are enough tea party folks to go around already. Will there be a generation of young people who reject the human condition and close their ears to reason, compromise and human frailty? The student attitude of purity or nothing is dangerous in a world full of turmoil, overcrowding, terrorism, and global warming. The students are opposed to negotiation right from the start. Nothing is more important in this century than teaching students the skills of negotiation, political reason and the pursuit of a better world for everyone.

The mariner understands their intent. The students are tired of racism and the enmity of cultural and religious bigots. They wish for a fair world where differences are accepted without turmoil. It may be a good thing that turmoil is not accepted but the real world, particularly at this moment, is not ready for piety. This is a hardnosed time when humanity must sort out conflicts affecting the entire world. It is a time when leaders must decide who will not die, who will not starve, who will not suffer genocide, who will not be sacrificed for a greater cause. The mariner suspects the students may not be fully prepared for reality. Still, things can change – the hippies of the 1960s became the capitalists of the 1980s.

On a second front, the gun-racist-terrorist sensitivity, the Mayor of Dallas, Mike Rawlings, confessed he is more afraid of white men with guns planning another mass shooting than he is afraid of a hidden terrorist among the Syrian refugees. See:

http://www.thespreadit.com/mike-rawlings-dallas-mayor-66591/

Third, for the last several days CSPAN broadcast from the Miami Book Fair. A Sunday broadcast presented the following:

Tracey Stuart, author of Do Unto Animals: A Friendly Guide to How Animals Live, and How We Can Make Their Lives Better, and Gene Bauer, author of Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer, and Feeling Better Every Day, present their thoughts on animal rights.

This is an upbeat, refreshing conversation about animal rights and our overdependence on meat in the human diet. Worth watching. While the reader is at the CSPAN video website, browse a bit; it is guaranteed the reader will find an interesting subject. See:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?400037-7/book-discussion-unto-animals-living-farm-sanctuary-life

Finally, if you haven’t been following John Oliver’s television show, you’ve missed his scrutiny of your favorite complaint in life. This episode questions the legitimacy of televangelists asking for money to buy 65 million dollar jet airplanes. Accommodate some coarse language – it’s HBO. Check him out at:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=john+oliver+last+week+tonight&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=DF07448C20530777F6EEDF07448C20530777F6EE

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It’s time to drag out the old thought experiment called Schrodinger’s Cat:

You have at hand a sealed cardboard box. Inside is a cat, an ion detector (like a Geiger counter), and a flask of poison. If the ion detector detects a radioactive particle, the flask breaks and the poison kills the cat. Seeing only the box and no outside clues, is the cat dead or alive?

Give this some thought. Could the cat be both dead and alive at the same time? How would that be possible? If you can resolve this paradox, you are prepared to study quantum mechanics! Not fair to use the Internet although you’re allowed to find it in a book you already have in your own library.

Ancient Mariner

 

The West and the Middle East – in Conflict since 192 BC

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The Roman-Seleucid War began the ongoing conflagration between the West and the Middle East during 192-188 BC. Since, there almost always has been conflict between nations that are the root of western civilization and nations, or caliphates of the Middle East. Since earliest times, when the Middle East was the crossroad of commerce and travel, the region became a melting pot of civilizations as impressive as American dependence on immigrants. It seems as if every nation-state in the Middle East took turns dominating an area reaching from the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas to the border of India, and from the Steppes of Eastern Asia to the southern border of Egypt and the Kush Desert on the African continent. Consequently, the heritage of the region’s population contains bloodlines of Indo Europeans, Armenians, Persians, Arabs (as mixed as any American bloodline), Greeks, Turks, Jews, Egyptians, and to keep the matter short, all previous nationalities in the Mesopotamian, Assyrian, Roman, and Seleucid Empires. Without exception, Islam was the dominate religion.

Often included are North African Mediterranean countries that comprised the ancient Egyptian Empire: Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Sudan.

There was a time when the Western world was in an introspective stage, fighting among itself as European nations redefined themselves creating new borders, more organized governments, and more sophisticated cultural capabilities – especially in terms of Christian influence¹. Eventually, Europe turned its focus back to the Middle East as the Christian West came to believe that Jerusalem should be in Christian hands.

The first Crusade started in 1096 ending with the capture of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. In the third Crusade (1187-1192), Richard the Lionhearted led the Knights Templar into the Holy Land to recover Jerusalem from a conquest by Saladin, a powerful and popular Sultan ruling both Syrian and Mesopotamian regions. Saladin was a “gentleman” warrior to the point that he was respected in the West. The Crusade ended with a truce that recovered much of the Holy Land but left Jerusalem under the control of Saladin.

It should be noted that Saladin was a devout Sunni and was known for eliminating Shiite caliphates – a conflict that still complicates Middle Eastern religious and political relationships.

From 1830 until the end of the Second World War, the Middle East was overrun by colonialism from Japan, United States, Great Britain and France. Colonialism was so blatant that at the Berlin Conference of 1884, fifteen nations from the West and Russia met to negotiate which nations would own a piece of Africa. Africa was divided into fifty territories – no Africans were present at the meeting. While colonialism appears to be an orderly way of developing economic success, its price is the destruction of tradition, self government, and independence for the subject territories. Observe the political state of the Middle East and Africa today.

It is a fact that the Christian-Islamic differences fostered conflict in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; it is a fact that colonialism prevented the national maturation of an entire region of the planet for 150 years. To throw salt into the wounds in the Middle East, after the First World War in 1918, France and Britain divided the Middle East into a large region for each to dominate. The line was called the Sykes-Picot line. Subsequently, the Ottoman Empire, the international presence of Islam, collapsed, leaving unnatural boundaries for surviving Middle Eastern nations. Turks ended up living in Iraq and Syria, Sunni and Shiite regions were placed under one regime and finally, to end the history lesson, the Balfour Declaration in 1948 encouraged the international Zionist movement to push for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. How foolish was the West even to suggest such a thing. All of us, Israel and the West, are now paying for this conclusion.

Does everyone know why Middle Eastern Islamic nations hate the West and the United States in particular? The damaged international relations now suffered in 2015, caused by splintered Islamic sects, unnatural combinations of Shiite-Sunni governance, suppressed governmental self-reliance, and current abuse of oil profits primarily by western countries, leave a bitter taste. Further, it is a shame that the West’s Christian rejection of Islam over many centuries is that Islam – a palatable faith and religion – has become the rallying force for violence and terrorism.

Wise politicians, especially those aware of the years of history since 192 BC, know that war will not resolve the West’s relationship with the Middle East. The US, albeit heartlessly, created American Indian territories; the US paid retribution to the Japanese interred during the Second World War; what olive branch will heal the blatant anger of the Middle East?

[1] Also known as the Dark Ages; for sake of focus we ignore the Visigoths, Justinian, Moroccans, Bubonic Plague, and the Vikings.

Ancient Mariner

Pondering the Role of Corporations

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As the world becomes smaller because of communication technology, transportation technology, international awareness of other nations, cultures, and geography, this smallness has changed corporate behavior. Because a corporation’s sole goal is profit, every act – however slight or invasive or rewarding – is an effort not intended to benefit any element of fairness, kindness, cultural improvement, employee rights, or to balance the economy. Every act is dedicated to that corporation’s wellbeing and ever to increase its own corporate profit. Today, as national boundaries soften in this smaller world, corporations have escaped national and local governance.

The conflict between government authorities and businesses is not new. The struggle for business independence likely goes back to the earliest civilized cultures. It is a natural conflict; a government ostensibly exists for the wellbeing of its citizens while a corporation exists only for its own wellbeing and profit.

To provide a quick history lesson, the following paragraphs are quoted from

http://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate-accountability-history-corporations-us/ not for its advocacy but for its concise exegesis:

 

“When American colonists declared independence from England in 1776, they also freed themselves from control by English corporations that extracted their wealth and dominated trade. After fighting a revolution to end this exploitation, our country’s founders retained a healthy fear of corporate power and wisely limited corporations exclusively to a business role. Corporations were forbidden from attempting to influence elections, public policy, and other realms of civic society.

Initially, the privilege of incorporation was granted selectively to enable activities that benefited the public, such as construction of roads or canals. Enabling shareholders to profit was seen as a means to that end….

…. For 100 years after the American Revolution, legislators maintained tight control of the corporate chartering process. Because of widespread public opposition, early legislators granted very few corporate charters, and only after debate. Citizens governed corporations by detailing operating conditions not just in charters but also in state constitutions and state laws. Incorporated businesses were prohibited from taking any action that legislators did not specifically allow.

States also limited corporate charters to a set number of years. Unless a legislature renewed an expiring charter, the corporation was dissolved and its assets were divided among shareholders. Citizen authority clauses limited capitalization, debts, land holdings, and sometimes, even profits. They required a company’s accounting books to be turned over to a legislature upon request. The power of large shareholders was limited by scaled voting, so that large and small investors had equal voting rights. Interlocking directorates were outlawed. Shareholders had the right to remove directors at will.” (end quote)

One quickly notices the difference in the relationship between governments and corporations today. In the early days referenced by the quote, the US was still a pure democracy. Society was an all inclusive concept that included freedom of religion, the power of the vote, and any organized activity that may affect the citizens. Today, with the Supreme Court’s blessing of Citizens United, the untold wealth used to buy every aspect of government authority, and the resultant unbridled power of corporations, the only restraint on corporations is money. Control by government has been weakened to the point of uselessness. Capitalism trumps democracy. Capitalism is a religion, not an economic theory. It is more important and culturally acceptable for a corporation to ignore the wellbeing of human beings as it pursues more profit.

The mariner is reminded of when the Holy Roman Church was more powerful than the governments of its time. Unbridled power enabled the HRC to engage in brutal inquisitions, suppress scientific advances, and approve heads of state. First Baron Acton was right about power.

Today, the fossil fuel corporations suppress the growth of renewable fuel industries, attack the Clean Air Act, and, until the public had enough abuse from pipelines destroying property and claiming right of way, ran pipelines across the continent with no constraint or liability.

Today, corporations – not governments – negotiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) encompassing nine nations; TPP permits corporations to ignore constitutional law, civil rights and avoid taxation.

Today, communications corporations grow wealthy by usurping personal information, personal associations, family links, friend circles, medical history, credit history, and retail history. Did corporations ask permission? Did they even tell you they were collecting information without your knowledge? Did corporations tell the reader they were selling your history and preferences about everything to other corporations who want to know things and do things the reader may not want disclosed? On the other side of the issue, an old battle about the rights and accountability of content providers versus service providers continues. The difference has been smudged by mergers between the two and the evolving Internet broadcasting market. It is impossible to manage what is broadcast on social media and across the Internet. The National Security Agency is not the one to fear; Google knows a lot more about you. Even China cannot block Google. All these abuses are without accountability.

Sounds like the old days when HRC was omnipotent instead of corporatism.

Stick a pin in a communication CEO and they leap into arguments about freedom of speech. Similar to the gun issue, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are showing their age. Some might say the same about the Supreme Court (That’s another post). The founding fathers sought to constrain oppression of speech, not to encourage access to one’s privacy. However, there was a lot of space between one town and the next and reproducing pictures and words was somewhat difficult. In the eighteenth century, privacy was an environmentally protected phenomenon. Consequently, privacy as a concept drew short shrift in legislation as communication advanced through the centuries to the omnipresent state it is today.

Three examples have been examined to demonstrate the issue of corporatism. There are many more examples: banks that can destroy the US economy; lack of citizen-wide participation in the military; conflict of interest between elected officials and private enterprise – whether bought by lobbyists or sitting on legislative committees that govern personal interests.

The mariner chose the enclosed quote because it demonstrates clearly the transition from democracy to corporatism.

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In case the reader does not follow replies to the mariner’s posts, a reader (Robert) provided us with an inexpensive source for less recent publications: A great source of cheap books is Edward R. Hamilton that sells remaindered books in Connecticut. Check out their huge catalog at:

http://www.hamiltonbook.com/

Ancient Mariner

It’s All Reference Section

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The Mariner began adding references until it became out of hand. This post is all reference section!

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If you haven’t become a David Baldacci reader, you may be missing an excellent writer of mysteries. Most renown currently is his Wil Robie series, now in its fourth edition. Start with the first in the series, The Innocent, followed by The Hit, The Target and The Guilty. A prolific writer, Baldacci has several published series. Visit his website at:

http://davidbaldacci.com/books/robie/

Barnes and Noble also carries the series at inexpensive prices – or visit your library.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/this-weeks-biggest-books/

Traditional approaches to dieting, e.g., tracking carbohydrates, glycemic index and calories do not, by a significant difference, accurately reflect how each individual’s blood sugar rises after eating. Further, some folks can imbibe chocolate and alcohol with little change in sugar levels. Doctors Eran Elinav and Eran Segal from the Weizmann Institute of Science created a formula based on “postprandial glycemic responses” or PPGR (during or relating to the eating of food). The PPGR algorithm was more accurate in calculating individual responses to spikes in blood sugar. See:

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/11/algorithm-creates-diets-that-work-for-you/416583/

A must see news program is Fareed Zakarias’ weekly show on CNN from Sunday, November 22. It is an analysis of the terrorist issue in the news with no political spin and no pundits full of trite phrases. Worth watching for this if nothing else. After Sunday, November 29, see:

http://www.yidio.com/show/fareed-zakaria-gps-special?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=Search&t_source=64&utm_campaign=466

Study: Fracking industry wells are associated with premature birth and having high-risk pregnancies. New research From Johns Hopkins School of Public Health suggests an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes closer to active unconventional natural gas wells. See:

http://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2015/study-fracking-industry-wells-associated-with-premature-birth.html

Liberal Arts activity – Have you written your haiku poem yet? Don’t know what haiku is? From October 12:

Exercise your mind:

A different form of poetry is Haiku, a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world. Some think writing Haiku is similar to solving a three-dimensional crossword puzzle but with nuance. Try writing your own. Sample:

New moon on the lake.

Your voice and the nightingale

serenade springtime.

 

Full moon on the lake.

Your voice and the waterbirds

celebrate summer.

To which the mariner’s wife responded:

Ancient Mariner:

Your voice and the canary

Foretell disaster.

Anyone who is a gardener or just appreciates the plant kingdom, know that cybernetics has arrived in the kingdom. Visit “Cyborg Roses Wired with Self-Growing Circuits” at:

http://www.livescience.com/52872-electronic-plants-created.html

Ancient Mariner

About the Terrorist Situation

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The terrorist attacks in France have dominated news media for eight days. When innocent people are killed for no direct reason, this truly is murderous and beyond the reasoning of normal human beings. The terrorist battle is shaped by the power of the Internet, communication satellites, and sophisticated weaponry, which includes bombs placed in soft drink cans.

It also is shaped by a world economy based solely on profiteering. The world economy today, including current trade agreements and international treaty organizations, is designed to protect participants against nonmember incursions – military, economic and cultural. Nations with low gross national product, especially nations with authoritarian governments coupled with countering terrorist groups, are not allowed. The problem is that these nations are full of millions of people who can’t be called the poorest of poor – they truly are destitute and battle death every day from starvation, disease, civil war, terrorist murder – and an indifferent world economy. Is there reason for their animosity?

For the last half century in particular, the United States has led the way in the design and application of the world economy with its singular focus on profit. In fact, the US has set an exemplary example of a government and culture run for the purpose of profit and the power that accumulated profit brings to key players in the economy. Today, the US has become an oligarchy run by plutocrats. The idea that profit (money) is the same as speech in the First Amendment is a telling belief that the US is a profit-based culture.

That the US population (not just the billionaires) has hundreds of billions of dollars to spend on show business, sports, vacations, opulent homes, and other ancillary but expensive pastimes, suggests an abundance of cash well beyond a culture that would use excess income for education, health and social services, technical advancement, 21st century infrastructure, and government-driven charitable support for those less fortunate in the US and around the world. It is noteworthy that none of the above excesses is considered unethical or even out of the ordinary; they are expected benefits of living in a profit-driven culture.

These broad-based observations about the focused pursuit of wealth in modern times – over the centuries since the beginning of colonialism coupled with the industrial revolution and subsequent profit-based ages – are the background that has fostered inequality and poverty as quickly as it has drawn income to the winners of economic profits. It fosters a class system among nations: 1st tier industrialized nations, 2nd tier developing nations, usually commodity economies, 3rd tier undeveloped nations, in truth meaning these nations are not participating in the profit-based world economy because for one reason or another they cannot accumulate an ante to play the profit game. Like the poor in the US, they aren’t allowed to reap benefits from the profit culture.

Another benefit provided by a profit-based economy is the opportunity to feel secure, to feel good about one’s self, and to invest time in socializing and other rewarding pastimes. Conversely, those not wrapped in that security and opportunity for personal growth do not feel secure nor can they mature in a well-rounded way because they are too busy trying to survive not only in body but in spirit as well. Add to this disadvantage – especially among the ancient cultures of the Middle East – a religion that has not had the benefit of cultural upgrades and has not engaged in the evolvement of modern dependable governments – and further has no benefits from modern technology, infrastructure and lacks an income-based workforce, there exists an opportunity for terrorism. This is a common description for Somalia, Sudan, and Nigeria, just to name countries regularly in the news because of terrorism.

Understandably, these populations are starting from scratch; no dependable government exists to influence their thinking, no money to expand personal wellbeing, no nurturing history to assuage them intellectually. They are required to experience to a significant degree the nation making battles of early Europe to sort out their own winners, their own acculturation, their own form of government not based on Christianity. Like primitive man before them, metaphorically they have only spears, their fervor and their lives. While unacceptable to nations who have evolved on schedule, their only choice at the start is terrorism.

By no means do these background thoughts justify their violent behavior. But there is context. In a similar context, because of the permission ostensibly giving every American the right to bear arms, 30,000 US citizens are killed with guns every year. Because our culture condones this horrific violence and it is in the context of our laws and culture, we discount its immorality.

If we understand the context of Middle East terrorism, we may more easily have success eliminating it. The rest of the world must set an example of civil behavior else, we regress to primitive man.

Ancient Mariner

 

Snow Approaches

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Outdoors, life is disappearing. Trees are dormant; flower gardens vanish, showing no color but drab; walking and biking in this town ceases except for the very few zealots; children are not seen romping; chatting neighbors are absent. A few days from now, the first snow is predicted. It is time for long johns, wool sweaters and hot toddies.

But gardening continues. The mariner has a winter garden in his shed replete with large grow lights, heat and passive watering system. Cuttings have been potted for winter growth; soon, a few vegetable and herb seeds will be planted for winter consumption. Outdoors, fruit trees will be trimmed; the rabbit fence will be completed. The compost box awaits completion and the unexpected company of frogs requires that the ditch be maintained. Circular hardware-wire cages will be built and filled with leaves or straw to protect shrubs from rabbits and from killing temperatures.

Inside, the job jar has many tasks waiting for attention: broken light fixture in the basement; repairing attic insulation; catching up with office work like filing papers that have collected all summer, and upgrading the computer; adjusting heat vents to accommodate the colder temperatures; finish rewiring the garage, and preparing for the holidays.

This is the time of the year that one grows older fastest. One doesn’t feel older just because a birthday comes around; one keeps a spring in the step through the outdoor months; flowers are abundant then, and friends and pets and the neighborhood all are alive and sharing the warmness of nature. But, as warmness wanes, life seems to shrink, to dwindle, to retreat. In the stillness of the cold, lifelessness abounds. We are another year older.

REFERENCE SECTION

If the reader hasn’t discovered “Breakthrough” on the National Geographic channel, mariner suggests watching the series. Each show investigates breakthroughs in the relationship between humans and machines. It is not about futuristic science fiction; rather it investigates cybernetics and tools already produced in current laboratories – some are actually in production. One example: paraplegics are taught to move prosthetic limbs as if the limbs were the original ones. The brain moves the limbs with normal brain instructions and adopts the prosthetic as the original limb! Every show demonstrates amazing breakthroughs in science that benefit and expand the human experience. One scientist said, “We are confident that the entire Internet can be placed in the brain!”

Mariner challenges the reader to reread an old classic – something that was enjoyed for its liberating romanticism, or its invigorating challenge, or its quiet but powerful insight. Rereading an old treasure will remind one of their forgotten sensitive side. Thoughts about one’s self will be reset.

Ancient Mariner

Word-up

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Over the last six months or so, the mariner increasingly hears the word “existential –ism, -ist, -ly” etc. The word has been adopted by the media to mean a number of things. Most often, the journalist really means empirical or experiential – both words related to observation of the physical world or physical events via the five senses. A day or two ago, mariner heard a commentator say, “If we don’t stop them in Syria, we face an existential invasion in the United States.” Could he mean, “…we face the experience of an invasion…” Actually, more correct in existential terms, the word “face” alone is sufficient and more akin to the meaning of existential.

Jean-Paul Sartre, the first philosopher to define the word existential, posits the idea that “what all existentialists have in common is the fundamental doctrine that existence precedes essence.” In simpler words, one’s experience of living is more important than any event in life. Hence, the description of an individual who may do careless things to enhance their sensation of existence is a common, if simplistic, example.

The reader may opine that the mariner is nit-picking. This can’t be denied. In this world of texting abuse, emoticons, and eagerness to affix any human condition to –gate, and further, to obscure pronunciation in speaking “purposefully” as “purpsly” or “purposely” – one of many thousands of abused pronunciations, and by deserting words altogether by touching fingers to pictures, we approach the subtlety of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The mariner’s passive-aggressive attitude about words stems from that time when a simple word that conjured a moment in life full of happiness and self contentment was stripped away forever with no word to replace it. That word was “gay.”

Mariner has a friend who is an outstanding linguist and philologist. He suggests that language is a living thing changing as usage by humans change. That may be well and good but not all change is beneficial to general communication. The mariner will not bother the reader with his opinions about the ISIS of American English: the word “got” kills a dozen words a day.

That’s enough for today; skoeet.

Ancient Mariner

Today’s Issues are about Paradigm Shifts

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So many deep cultural and behavioral patterns are under duress today. To name only a few of many, In the US and Europe, consider the transition of religious practice: many churches are becoming anachronisms with falling attendance, bound by generation gaps and overburdened spiritually by large, old fashioned denominational hierarchies. On the evangelical side of the spectrum, literal allegiance to old rituals and intense isolationist attitudes prevail. A few churches are blessed by location in supportive communities and have excellent leadership. Yet the path they follow grows narrow. The current role of Christian faith in society is under pressure to change its paradigm, its model of behavior and purpose.

In the US, political process is grinding to a halt as our body politic undergoes a meiosis of culture – moving farther right and farther left – leaving little ground in the middle for common purpose. Eventually, what new political identity will emerge? What will be the new paradigm?

International relationships are confronted with global issues that require a new, stronger bond between nations. Not just climate change, a profound confrontation for which there is scant preparedness, but other global issues as well involving cybernetics, instant awareness of global activity, population management, multinational economic models, distribution of food and medical support, and the international role of corporations.

Every one of these patterns of behavior, or paradigms, is under duress, highly vulnerable to disorganized response, militaristic rebellion, profit taking, denial, and short-sighted solutions. The news of the day focuses on terrorist atrocities in France. In the Middle East, cultural wars have erupted in response to religious differences, economic inequality, cultural conflict and political disparity. Many nations struggle to find solutions to mass emigration, irrational abuse of citizens by governments and armed conflict in a war with no boundaries, no front lines, and no hierarchical organization.

What is the world to do? What are the processes by which solutions can emerge?

First, we must acknowledge that profound changes are occurring. These changes introduce new values that do not exist in the current perception of world order. Intransigent Christian concepts of society, government, and ethics have shaped the history of Western culture since the time of Constantine. Meanwhile, unnoticed histories shaped by Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism have evolved unnoticed until recent times. In many respects, these other historical influences have not experienced the demand for innovation and competition that Western societies require. Hence, many Eastern practices exist according to older behaviors established as long ago as the eighth century. Many Eastern governments exist today in forms that were adequate until economic and social influence from the West interfered. Tribal values persist even today; the East, particularly the nomadic Middle East, had no need in the past to develop new social solutions similar to Western mechanisms that cope with power and competition. The East never had need of a Magna Carta, parliaments, or the right to vote.

Without the cultural tools developed by the West, that is, trust in government to manage important issues, democratic tools to shape government as times changed, and the rule of law, the Middle East is bound to manage a paradigm shift with what is at hand: aggression and lashing out with violence.

The cultural conflict today, particularly the Islamic-Christian conflict, cannot be ignored. Further, it cannot be contained by armed aggression; it cannot be contained by Western political tools like treaties, international agreements like NATO, or buying compliance through economic favoritism. Of particular importance is that Middle Eastern governments are theocracies – whether dictatorships, sheikdoms or subordinate governments; the religious leaders are in charge – or at least dominate national options. Middle Eastern theocracies have not experienced the pragmatic influence of secularism first melded in Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and other publications. Further, separation of church and state mandated by a few Western nations is an unknown precept to Middle Eastern theocracies.

An assumption held by many westerners is that the West must be tolerant but controlling while waiting for the Middle East to “grow up” and become part of the modern (Christian) world. It may not be addressed as simple as that. What if the roles are switched? If the West had the attitude that it must allow the Middle East to develop a new world order inclusive of the Islamic tradition – a tradition that at least would alter Western perceptions of ethic and personal freedom.

Here are some facts about the world and Islam that may be of interest to the reader’s contemplations:

Bill Maher provides a stark comparison between Islamic and Christian ideology that’s simplistic but reveals in short order the different approaches to justice. See:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Islam+Vs+Christianity&FORM=VRIBRE#view=detail&mid=792282120BE4D111E919792282120BE4D111E919

The number of Christians in the world is 1.99 billion. The number of Muslims in the world is 2.08 billion. Muslim population is growing faster (1.84%) than Christian population (1.13%).

A column from CNN compares religious behavior between Islam and Christianity. See:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/03/conflict-theology-and-history-make-muslims-more-religious-than-others-experts-say/?hpt=hp_c1

Considering population in terms of gross income between Islamic countries and Christian countries, the Islamic paradigm restricts economic flexibility. Advances in technology, science and cultural adaptation often contradict the Quran, especially when these advances influence a change in societal behavior.

A classic example exists in Iran, an Islamic theocracy and population, struggling with its own emerging technical (and imperial) capabilities versus centuries-old religious traditions that are in conflict both with new technical ideas and with old Shiite-Sunni rivalries. Unlike other Middle Eastern nations, Iran has a growing middle class pressing for Western values and economics at the same time that Middle Eastern politics require Iranian support of Shiite wars and objectives, including ISIL and declaring the West as evil even as its middle class uses ipods, eats fast food and wears western attire.

Clearly, the Middle East is in the throes of a paradigm shift between a religion that requires strict allegiance to Islamic values going back as far as the first century and the overwhelming human experience of the twenty-first century. The gap between the old Islamic paradigm and the new paradigm is catastrophic. It will take the rest of the century to adapt to the new paradigm. In the meantime, the West must mitigate violence perhaps with little reward as Muslim nations come to terms with the modern world.

The new international paradigm that eventually emerges will call for a different West and a different Middle East. Twenty percent of the world’s population will become a new, equal and active participant in the global experience.

Ancient mariner

Beyond Guns

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Mariner received feedback on the post, “The Gun Situation.” Some agreed with the premise that the gun issue will be resolved only when guns are removed from easy access. Others stood their ground and took the position of Charlton Heston: “From my cold, dead hands.” A reader or two said we can’t go back to walking policemen; the world has changed, and one said old people always want it the way it was.

Mariner is pleased when his posts provoke dialogue. He hopes to respond adequately to these comments.

The mariner knows many gun rights advocates. Most are hunters. Surprisingly, most hunters do not own hand guns; they own rifles. Many are occasional hunters, have rifles and one or more handguns. Many are paranoid about authority in general – especially government authority. A subset of these is the individual who fears the public in general and carries a weapon at all times. Another subset is the collector who fears weapon recalls – especially military weapons.

Finally, the largest group of gun rights advocates simply wants the right to own a gun or two just for emergencies like attempted rape or robbery and car napping. It is this group that kills inadvertently simply because a gun is handy. The Blade Runner is a member of this group.

Collectively, gun rights advocates are politically conservative. If well-to-do, they have an attitude that they are privileged to own guns and prefer that government keep its nose out of their personal life. If working class, they are infused with a paranoia toward society in general – perhaps appropriately so.

Advocates that are financially comfortable prefer not to incite violence, while anyone who is deprived of financial stability, untrusting of bureaucratic harassment, and disadvantaged in daily life is prone to act out with rage or criminal intent when social pressures become too great. A gun is a quick equalizer for sure.

Older folk are blessed to have lived through a golden age of the United States. From the forties to the mid sixties, the American culture was on a high; the middle class was surging; jobs were available at every level of income; higher education was affordable; democrats and republicans weren’t polarized; it was an age of cultural unification and national pride. It was an age of civility and protective policemen. Sociologist David Riesman observed the importance of peer-group expectations in his influential book, The Lonely Crowd. He called this new society “other-directed,” and maintained that such societies lead to stability as well as conformity.

However, the cold war, the Vietnam War, and inflation added a taste of vinegar to our society. The world was not perfect – not even in the United States. Middle class resistance groups began to emerge, the prominent one being Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) that advocated populism as a solution to military spending and economic reform. When Ronald Reagan became president, he made a list of objectives that would quell anything that smelled of populism – even unions – and moved the government away from the influence of local politics, replacing the void with “free market capitalism.” Eventually, plutocrats managed the government and ideas of caring for citizens vanished – replaced by an oligarchy that controls our culture today. Economic class differences increased making the upper class richer, the middle class paying the bills with less income, and the lower class forgotten.

As the stress of imbalance between classes increased, many poor felt abused as opportunities for them disappeared, as salaries became stagnant, as family life took the burden and too frequently was shattered. Alternatives to stable employment led to a growing drug culture, theft, and, finally lashing out, violence. Still under the influence of conservative policies, governments responded by replacing benevolent policemen with cruisers, superior-force attacks instead of protection, out-arming the armed underclass and blaming entitlement programs for creating lazy people who would rather live off a government dole.

Looking back, one can understand how a gun culture grew. The omniscient news media continuously reminded everyone of every criminal incident, every drug bust, and every gun incident. Our culture became saturated with a need for self protection. Better to have a gun to protect oneself from whatever happens.

To move toward banning guns, other issues must be addressed:

Deal with class issues. Every economic class has norms and expectations that, if provided, restore a sense of security.

Give the government back to the voter. Limit campaign contributions to the district of jurisdiction; overturn Citizens United. Remove redistricting from political influence.

Restructure tax legislation for the upper class. The nation needs their excessive income for the national good. Reign in corporatism at least by imposing appropriate tax reform.

Create a bottom-up educational system tied to employment. Opportunity through education easily mollifies a feeling of entrapment.

Legalize marijuana to undercut the black market. Tighten drug inspections at borders and increase penalties for distributors of illegal drugs.

Once the above list is underway and showing progress, perhaps gun registration and a paid-for-recall gun program may be possible.

Oh, and reinstitute the cop on the beat swinging that shillelagh. We need protection, not street wars.

Ancient Mariner