The players converge...

It is time. It is far past time. I am never going to claim that there are easy answers or that I have the answers. The battle has been going on for centuries. It is not a battle of epic forces. It is not a battle between an ancient tyrannical order and the populous. That would be far too simple. It is a battle of the human spirit.

Power has continued to shift from group to group throughout our history. There is not some strange Illuminati that has been able to maintain it for millennia. Some dynasties have lasted longer than others, but in the end we are humans and can be thrust from power or gain it.

We now stand in the center of the empire. An empire of abstracts. Although many will disagree, we have created a system wherein privilege is synonymous with wealth and wealth can be obtained.

Here is where the battle lines form. Some would read the statement above and assume I was saying the playing field was level. Those individuals clearly have not read my other blogs but the possibility of acquisition is not a reflection of probability.

If anyone wishes to know how likely it is for a child from the ghetto to accumulate power, I leave you to the math. Calculate events such as NBA, NFL, and MLB contracts awarded by income bracket or neighborhood, winning lottery tickets based on former socioeconomic group, record contracts that went platinum compared to familial income, etc. You will find ridiculously low odds, but you will not find division by zero.

By and large, your socioeconomic status at the end of your parents will be the same as your own. This has been true from the dawn of time. If it is slightly less true in the United States in the 21st century, it is an indication of how far we have come.

Yet, here we are assuming that a very small segment of the population has the power and always has. Only the first part is true. We also assume that those with power are corrupt and must be dethroned. This is part based on the first assumption. Whether or not power does actually corrupt, the simple fact is that in any group there will be individuals that are corrupt. If you took those at opposite sides of the economic system and switched them, you would have an initial period of great upheaval some positive, some negative. This would be followed by leveling out and eventually a situation that was basically the same as the current situation.

And this is where we arrive at the ultimate confrontation. Does each of us seek more power? Do we have a particular limit on how much power we seek? If given the power, how easily would we relinquish it? And can we say the same of future generations? If we were to actually be able to choose a group of people that did not seek power, would they be able to wield it successfully? If we gave the power to those that did not seek it and they could wield it well, would we have to find another group when they began to retire? Would they be able to look upon their children and wish a worse life for them than they currently have?

This is, unfortunately, the set of hypotheticals we are actually investigating. If you actually believe that it is possible to find said group of people, simply extend the scenario to the next generation. The simple truth is that for better or worse humans have always been either predators or prey. Those who would relinquish their power will never acquire any. My fellow predators were able to fight back the other predators and provide a safe place for those that would prey.

Yes, I referred to myself as a predator. Choosing not to hunt and/or kill does not make one prey, it simply indicates an intelligent predator. Homo sapiens have never been a prey animal. We are consider a "super predator" and one of the most successful species this plant has ever seen.

And so, it is time. It is time for those who wish to overthrow power to choose. They must choose leaders. They must choose the predators they feel comfortable unleashing. This will not be the final struggle. This will just be a power shift. Human nature will guarantee that over time another power shift will be necessary. All predators will eventually hunt.

They can choose to be a random collection of individuals. They can choose to fight a battle without commanders. In a word, they can choose to accomplish nothing.

In the interim, we will stand by. Those that are part of the system and successful. Those that have not forgotten where they came from. Those who love this country and are grateful for our successes. Those who realize that success can not be won unless it is won honestly. Those who realize that we have what the current power base wants. We will await a call to act. We who yield the swords will protect you with our lives, but we also have a lot to lose. We have no interest in losing it unless we think it will make a difference.

We are harsh. We are pragmatic. We are not some sort of strange middle ground that has no thoughts on the subject. We do not lack belief. We believe that the system has merit. We believe it can be improved. We will not just throw it away. If you wish to have us on your side, just let us know what side you are on.

A lttle bit self-destructive...

There were many cliches penned by those who feared everything. One of them comes to us as "Idle hands are the devil's playthings". There are times when even the most spontaneous of us feel ennui. This is to be expected as are the myriad things that come to mind as activities for the bored. Those activities by and large are short-term, produce endorphins, and are not productive.

One can choose activities which have more redeeming value. These activities generally require more effort, and in many cases more time and organization.

And by and large what we find is these activities are in some way self-destructive. Chances are that the time used was taken from a more useful endeavor.

But we have our little distractions, our games, pastimes, etc. But eventually these things get in the way and we must get back to work.

The other city...

I am a Philly boy. I have left the city now. I inhabit a single home on Main Street in a little town. Whether the town is a suburb or not is pretty immaterial. It had an industry of its own at one time. It no longer does. Let us just call it annexed. The definition of suburb is not my post to write.

I say "the city" and mean a metropolis of roughly 2,000,000 people covering 140 square miles founded at the point where the Delaware River and Schuylkill River are closest to one another. The city was named after a far more ancient city which in turn got its name from the ancient Greeks.

Directly to the east of this city is the state of New Jersey. Here, the phrase "the city" morphs. Roughly 80 miles northeast (as the crow files) of my city in another. A city of 300 square miles and over 8,000,000. Most of this distance lies within the state of New Jersey and 100's of thousands of people commute from New Jersey to both these cities. As a result of this proximity and our shared neighbor, numerous comparisons have been made between the 2 municipalities. As both also trace their founding back to the 17th century (Philadelphia: 1682, New York was originally New Amsterdam and was founded in 1624) the comparisons continue. Both were capitals of the United States, New York in 1785 - 1790, Philadelphia from 1790 - 1800.

But you will notice a pattern. Whether we like to admit it or not the City of Brotherly Love has a bigger, older brother. Outside of the United States, Philadelphia is considerably less well known than the city of 5 boroughs. This has led to some unfortunately named editorials.

The phrase "the City" is generally only used by those outside of it regardless of which metropolis it refers to. It is by-and-large a suburban revision of the phrase "in town". Natives tend to refer to it by name or refer to certain areas within it. In my little world, Philadelphia is often crossed, entered, passed through, etc. and so "going" there seems like an odd turn of phrase and so I would say rather that I went up to New York. We parked at 30th Street Station.

Let me first state that these 2 cities are only 80 miles apart. This increases to approximately 100 miles on usable roads. As a result, the trip is well traveled and various modes of transportation can be used. I, however, have chosen to travel by rail nearly every time I have made the trip. I recommend this to everyone for a number of reasons. 1) Driving in New York can be challenging. I will not dwell on this, but I think many would consider that an understatement. 2) The trip can be made in 70 minutes via rail. If anyone has ever accomplished this while driving, it qualifies as reckless endangerment. 3) There is a train leaving every hour if not more frequently. 4) Have you ever ridden on any train Amtrak runs through the Northeast corridor? Just do it, at least once.

Once there, I attempted to act appropriately. Walking and cabs are the modes of transportation. We, of course, spent the night. New York, in my limited experience, has adapted to the night unlike its younger brother. I am certain that a "day trip" to New York is possible. I will never make one. Although I usually do not have a hotel room, I never leave before dawn.

And so, once again, I breezed in and out of New York. I was merely one of thousands to do it this weekend and 1 of millions to do it this year.

Like all of my trips to the Big Apple it was memorable. This time I actually slept in the city that doesn't.

"First world problems"

A phrase that popped into our culture in recent years. It refers to our whining regarding problems the rest of the world wished they had. Of course, any socioeconomic stratification can cause similar phenomena.

For instance, complaining about "3G" or "4G" speeds on your mobile device qualifies as a "problem" 90% of the world's population cannot fathom. Complaining about the limitations on FDIC protection... Discussion regarding capital gains taxes... These are extremes. However, we are at the center of the empire. Phrases like "Voter apathy", "Minimum wage", "Social Security", and "The Glass Ceiling" still have no meaning to most of the world.

It's perhaps indicative of the human condition that we seem to find things to complain about. We speak of our country being divided. Our country has not been divided in 150 years. However, we are humans. We have taken ourselves out of the natural order. We are willing to die over abstracts. We have always killed one another over imaginary friends. It is frightening that such creatures universally lack perspective.

The time has come for self-possession. The time has come for a reality check. The time has come for "problems" to be classified correctly as whining. It is time to stop pretending that the people pirouetting on top of Maslow's hierarchy have any idea what it feels like to be at the bottom.

But what about governments...

A recent thread caused me to start thinking about taxes of all things. The particular topic of taxes is divisive obviously. The truth is that if we remove self-interest, the conversation should be more abstract.

Taxes are necessary in order for a government to operate. Governments are necessary for the continuation of human civilization and for a number of other reasons. Those other reasons are what we pay for.

The preamble of our constitution spells out many of these reasons. These reasons are the very reasons why anarchy is not a realistic goal. Governments are designed to provide services individuals cannot provide for themselves. They are designed to take care of our infirmed. They are designed to build infrastructure. Interstate commerce would be impossible without a federal government. Further international relations are facilitated by governments.

Governments vary. Their involvement varies. But their goal is to provide those things individuals cannot provide for themselves. I cannot build a bridge. I cannot gather a coalition of individuals to build a bridge. Without a government of some sort, no bridges would be built.

Many of the debates currently going on involve economic oversight by our government in particular. I hate to say it, but that's not the government's job. The government's job is to provide an environment that allows individuals the opportunity to rise and fall. The government's job is to setup the criteria under which commerce can take place. They are not a bank. They are not an entrepreneur. They are not a safety net.

That being said, they cannot be uninvolved. They must regulate. They must decide the laws. They must protect consumers. They must keep the game fair. The alternative is unbridled capitalism. This simply doesn't work. It is unsustainable. We see it's effects everywhere. An asbestos plant long since closed that still negatively effects the ground water. Thousands of acres of land which will never allow growth again due to the slag piles left there. Debts that have caused international incidents. Thousands dead in fires, explosions, and other accidents which could easily have been prevented.

Some may argue this, but I have met very few people who believe that some regulation of commerce isn't necessary. The robber barons had to be stopped. The Pinkertons needed to be disbanded. Children have no place on assembly lines. You may note that the tactics of the Pinkertons and use of child labor is illegal. Yes, it is.... now.

The truth is that energy companies are not going to stop burning coal of their own volition. Laws and regulations must be passed banning its use. There is no reason to aid companies in transitioning. There is no need for levying or tariffing. The simple approach is the most straightforward. No need to measure output levels etc.

But there are issues which are not as cut-and-dry. Let me take the simple example of high fructose corn syrup. I have attempted to avoid the product for years. Why? Simply because I don't need any more corn in my diet and I would prefer less chemicals in my food. It is clear however that there was some reason why companies making consumer products began using it en masse. I have heard it noted that it is cheaper and easier to process. By and large studies regarding high fructose corn syrup have revealed no health concerns. For this reason, it is not the government's job to limit its use. If it is found to have harmful effects, its use should be prohibited. But, I must wonder whether it is cheaper as a result of the ridiculously subsidized corn industry or simply because it is. We made an error in the past. We had our reasons for this error but in truth we confused aiding our fellow men with aiding an industry.

An industry has no rights. It can live and die. Humans banding together do not provide them with any different protections than their members. I realize that without subsidy, many companies would fail. They would simply be replaced by other companies. Humans need very little corn in their diet. It is not the job of our government to control what people do and do not grow. Does this mean that human stupidity can lead to widespread failures? Yes. I see no problem with this. Would I prefer that we use ethanol as a fuel? Yes. Do I therefore feel that ethanol production should be subsidized? No. A requirement on utilization will suffice.

I am not saying that regulation is simple. The production of ethanol is a perfect example. Does one first require car manufacturers to produce vehicles that can use it? Or simply require that only a certain amount of fossil fuels can be burned by vehicles? Do we require gas stations to pump a certain percentage of it? Do we require that they offer an alternative pump? We cannot require consumers to purchase it. What if they do not? Do we then subsidize its creation so that it is economical for the purveyors?

I do believe that the government should be less involved in the inner workings of industry. I feel that market correction does happen. I feel that a "free market" economy is a good approach. However, I have very little interest in reducing regulation. I am interested in reducing subsidy, tariff, and price control. It is the government's job to protect your person. It is the government's job to protect your freedom. It is the government's job to protect your rights. It has never been the government's job to protect your income or your share price. At least not the government of this country.

It is my last name after all...

I would like to thank the people at Pandora for reuniting me with parts of my mind.

I often "aim" posts at those who have lost faith. Not faith in something beyond this physical plane, but it their fellow human beings. In a way, this is simply defense of my world view. In my little world, we our are only hope. My faith in humanity is what allows me to see another world, a better world.

So, occasionally I wonder why I maintain this belief. I question everything. It is my nature. Why then given the visions of humans at large would I choose to see "good" and light? The answer is simple in a way... music..

Art as a whole would be a more precise answer but avoiding the rhetoric of the definition of art seemed simpler. We as humans have learned to communicate beauty, love, anger, and pain. The greatest among our wordsmiths can evoke emotions regardless of distance, time, or listener. The poets touch us, move us. But over the millenia, we have combined this poetry with mixtures of percussion, vocalizations, vibrating strings, bending reeds, and changes in air pressure. The very air has become our tool. And when combined, the world changes.

There are many that have been moved by Whitman, but everyone knows the words of Lennon and McCartney. Whether or not they moved you... Whether or not you connected with them... The words are there. My very mention of the name has had an effect.

We have done this as a group. We have learned to communicate in moments decades of thoughts, feelings, and knowledge. From those that created the instruments, recording equipment, and broadcast systems, to the artists, to the listeners themselves.

The tones, rhythms, and timing give phrasing to the words. They add a depth the words alone can not. In some cases of spoken word, these tones are from the words themselves, but the very bending of the air around us has the power one would expect. It suffuses us. It penetrates. It evokes.

I would also put forward that it does not overpower at its best. Unlike its cousin the motion picture, it does not attempt to tell the whole story itself. It lets the listener add their own visuals, just as the still photo and work of paint and pen allow the viewer to add their own soundtrack. Yet, it conveys more of the artist intention than the work of print.

Not to downplay the power of any of these works. The emotion of fear has not been evoked by music in my own case, yet movies and live performances have had this effect in numerous cases. The works of Steinbeck have brought tears to my eyes on many occasions. I have felt the joy of protagonists and loathed antagonists and vice versa more times than I can count. The mere mention of the name Jane Austen causes me to become irrational.

But, where I do feel music has an advantage is its response time. A poet with the aid of musical accompaniment can have their effect in moments. Causing listeners to rise up, to come down, to remember the lost, to feel the need for loved ones, to wish for a different time, to wish for time to stand still, to move, to stay still, to dance, to laugh, to smile, to cry...

With this ability to generate beauty... With this power at our disposal... How can I not see the light in my fellow humans? They are all listeners.

Why I don't write....

If one looks back at this collection of 0's and 1's, they would think that the tragic has avoided me. To a large extent it has. My life has been simple and my cares small.

But there is another factor. I have spent a good deal of my life being silent. I believe that words have power. I believe that a wordsmith can change the world with them. Although I will not credit myself with that title, I hope that my words have some effect.

What I have never been able to do with words is mend. Words may be able to heal, but I lack the skill to use them in that way. In truth, I have not witnessed words heal. I have seen them tear and harm. I have seen them change people before my eyes. I have never seen them silence grief. Where a hand can offer strength, offer aid, offer support, offer warmth, offer friendship, connect 2 humans... words are a poor surrogate.

We humans have spread out. We can communicate across countries, across continents and oceans, in select circumstances across millions of miles. But what we have found out again and again, is that human interaction was designed for occurring within the range of 2 extended hands.

I can show you photos of other worlds, other stars, the other side of our own world. I can speak to you about warmth or cold, about pain and joy. You can hear the song of whales in your living room or view a mountain range on the other side of the world from your chair. But what I can't do is let you touch the water. To feel the wind on your face, you have to be there. To offer my hand or my shoulder, I must be near you.

And so, these bits are inadequate. There is no use in storing them. I have no perspective to add. I can not say anything to ease pain. I don't wish to store the failure for later review. Perhaps, if I do, I can learn from the failure.

But the risk of adding to the pain is simply too great. And so, I will simply try to digitize a touch, a handshake, a hug. If I fail, no one will know of it. If I succeed, I will have something to offer other than silence.

I guess I just don't understand...

I have the natural advantage of being a heterosexual Caucasian male at the center of the empire.

Do you hate me because of this?

No, of course you don't. You may not trust me. You may view these words differently from those written by another. Your entire perception of me, may have just changed. But how could one possibly hate someone they don't know. Oh, wait...

I could easily say that I love you. That I love all humans. It would cause you to pause. It would distract you for a moment. But it's not true and I have a thing about truth.

The truth is, I can only love those that I know. There are 6 billion people on this planet. I can list the ones I love on a 3x5 card. I will never know all the inhabitants of this country much less all of the inhabitants of the planet. It is physically impossible to meet all of us.

So, if you have never met someone who do you hate? I am not saying that everyone hates the same way. I find myself incapable of the emotion. Maybe that's the problem. I don't understand it. I have a vague concept. I know anger. Is hate simply being angry that an individual exists? I know love. Is hate loves opposite? Love lightens and strengthens. Does hate hold you down and make you feel heavy? Love enlightens. Does hate befuddle? Love transcends death. Does hate end with its subject?

The glow of warmth that suffuses us, the radiance that surrounds us, the power that fills the very cells of our being, that are all effects of love, do they have counterparts connected to hate. Oh... Oh no... Surely no one could withstand that. The opposite of love would destroy in moments. I imagine a soul torn asunder from the inside out. No vendetta, no past offense, no anger is worth that.

What to save...

There is a dark thought that enters into the mind occasionally. The truth of the matter is that although we are all equal, we are not all equally useful. In various thought experiments, we all have our own notions of what and who needs to be preserved. I recall a group of 30 young men whom would readily cut all funding to the National Endowment for the Arts. Various debates have gone on recently regarding where are priorities lie.

As with anything, nothing is cut and dry. There is simply no boon or drain on society. There is a strange ecosystem. The man or woman on the street will effect many lives during their time here. The birth and development of Einstein, Gandhi, Dr. King, the Kennedy empire, etc. were all a sequence of events involving billions of people. We could not plan it. If we removed things from the equation, the end result may not be the same. The "good" and the "bad" all combine to create what we know.

Our planet is not a dead rock. Although it can have awful consequences, geological activity is necessary. If were able to stop it, the result would be catastrophic. If we tried to remove all the things we considered unnecessary we would cease to grow. Imagine humans that were uninspired by art. Imagine a world where we shut off the lights. Imagine a world without recorded information. Imagine a world where progress in all its forms is halted.

There was such a world. We did leave it. It was a world where any random individual with a weapon could take over at any time. It was a world where meeting another group of people most often meant bloodshed. It was a world where only the strong survived. It was a world where we removed anything we didn't agree with.

It was a rocky path and perhaps there were other ways to get here, but we are here and we got here by deciding that we all have the right to be here. That all things have an importance.

So, at the moment when the dark thought crosses your mind. At the moment when you imagine fighting for resources. At the moment you look on a fellow human as negatively effecting your life, imagine the pinpoint connections in the web. If we look past some odd conception of fairness, we can see that we are changed by those negative effects. These changes can be positive. They can inspire confrontation. They can inspire their opposite. Even if you find no redeeming value in an individual, you must imagine how their life might have effected others.

And so, we have to save it all. We can't predict how it turns out. The resources are not nearly as limited as we pretend. We can save it all. Perhaps, that's the problem. We don't want to save it all. We see an opportunity to negatively impact our "enemies" or "competitors".

We are still so young. We have no enemies. We have no competitors. Our gain and loss is our own. We are simply humans interacting with one another. Shows of strength to gain status is all that is left to us. We have become masterful at making these shows of strength as bloody as possible, but that is all they are.

And so, flex if you wish. Grunt and throw things. But know that we have already won. That you are my brother or my sister. I might not see you as my equal, but I respect you. We all have our role. Forgive me my dark thoughts. Feel free to have your own.

4 going on 5...

I've said dozens of times that life begins at 30. It's fun being 4 years old.

But, the memories of a distorted youth are mine. Some of those memories can only be viewed through broken glass. A young man full of self-loathing, full of fear. He finds the world without joy and does not see a place for him in it. That young man cannot imagine living into his 30's. That young man cannot comprehend my existence. That young man wasn't completely wrong.

You see, the quintessential elements of that individual are gone. People that knew him may feel differently, but a single quality does not define a person. He was, in a word, deconstructed.

But he gave me a gift. With his memoirs complete, his story told, we can learn from his lack of foresight.

In my estimation, humans change... a lot. Our desire for stability is in part due to our inability to achieve it. The universe we live in changes constantly. The planet we abide is an orchestration of movement. We ourselves change ourselves and our environment at break-neck speed. We cannot stop moving. We cannot stop changing. Movement is part of existence in our reality.

So, I have to wonder... How many versions of this individual will there be? How old will he be when he stops moving? Which one will get to spend the most time moving? Does each one have a mid-life crisis? Does each one grow and learn or will some backslide?

Don't ask me... I'm only 4.

What I'm not...

I had an opportunity recently to visit the other side of IT. For those of you unfamiliar, there are 2 phrases I'd like to share: cable monkey and code monkey.

Like all labels, they do not fit nicely in all situations, but I am a code monkey. I have very little interest in hardware. The case actually stays on my computer and I generally assume that any error is software related.

What I am definitely not is Tech Support.

I tip my hat to those in Tech Support. They work with unstable systems. I have sometimes referenced the "Ghost in the Machine". In truth, an operating system has so many lines of code, so much error checking, etc. that identifying a problem is often impossible for an end user. The restart phonemonon is a result of this. If you clear session data and go back to ordinary operating parameters, everything should work fine. The jumped out error causing code somewhere in some sub-module just needs a fresh call.

The unfortunate result is that good tech support people are magicians. Diagnosis is nearly impossible. Indirect causality is usually as close as one gets. I've heard of machines that needed to be flipped upside-down to run. The strange set of experiences that lead to discovering this cannot be taught. It's simply illogical.

Whereas I would spend hours looking for the switch, soldered connection, capacitor, chip, etc. that was loose, a tech support guru simply flips it over, starts it up, and returns it to the user while my synapses are still running down a list of possible causes.

And so, I am thankful that my little baliwick is limited to 0's and 1's. I thank those that are in the trenches, fighting systems too large to be debugged effectively.

I apologize to all those who require support and are faced with the likes of me. You should probably just restart. It will probably fix the problem. I can't tell you why it will fix the problem, but it will. I will then sit back and be infuriated that my lovely world of 0's and 1's has been invaded my goblins, ghosts, and wizards.