QUOTESSAYS

I notice the older I get the more I appreciate simplicity in everything. Pop culture seems so busy, disjointed, and frantic to me lately. Not owning a TV is almost like a gift I gave myself. The ambient sights and sounds during a walk is the best show going. I think that is why I was drawn to New Mexico too. It is a huge blank canvas with the simplicity that wide open spaces provide. I have never felt so at home. This will be the last roundup....  

No matter how degenerate, busted, destitute, dissipated, or beat I was at times, I always started each day with a list and a plan. I approached debauchary as a transcendent and transitional state, never as a permanent lifestyle. Temporary excess, combined with a little luck, brought you to the edge of the abyss as a tourist, not a full time resident. I am quite sure a list and a schedule, no matter how rudimentary, has saved my life on several occasions and kept me from being that guy shuffling along the street, talking to himself, and swatting at invisible flies later on. My list always provided me with a return ticket....  

 Sunday's computer generated quote from AI. This one actually makes more sense than most. I spent a good portion of my life being part of the servant class to wealth and celebrity in various incarnations and capacities. One thing I always observed was the incredible levels of self-deception they possessed with regards to their own self-worth. I came to the conclusion that was part of their success. They had such an inflated view of their own importance that the people around them would start to believe it too. It is the foundation Hollywood is built on. Hollywood is an ego factory and the biggest egos win and are rewarded handsomely. It didn't have to be obvious either. They could come in through the back door with an "aw, shucks" persona like a Jimmy Stewart, Alan Alda, or Tom Hanks and still be totally self-centered and driven to one purpose, fame. I got to be privy to unguarded moments occasionally when they would let down their guard around the hired help. I came

Had I done a proper recon mission on my last wife's medicine cabinet I would be a richer man today. Of course the flip side of that is nothing beats sex with a bipolar woman cycling between depression and mania. But, as classical physics teaches us, for every action there is a reaction, and one will eventualy pay dearly and heavily for that great sex. I figured with the money I lost in my last marriage I could have easily afforded the services of a top tier Hollywood hooker 3 times a week for the duration of our union. As the old adage goes, you are not paying a hooker for sex, you are paying her to leave after sex. One of the very few benefits of my old age is the brain taking back the dominance it ceded to the heart and penis well over 50 years ago. I am enjoying the fresh blood flow to my head very much. Suddenly doing crossword puzzles is more entertaining than porn....

 I tell ya, back in the day I took pride in being a shiftless, lowlife degenerate. Now it's a big fad. I don't see the dedication and attention to details like we had though. It is often the little things that make one a world class underachiever. I think one is born with it. I can spot a fake sleazeball a mile away. They disgust me.....

 From Isaac Asimov. Other examples of AI's inhumanity would be having no mental illness, no ego, no grasping for illusions or power, no fear of death, and perhaps even more importantly, no fear of life. The human brain is on the slow track and evolution has patched it together as needed. It can only crunch and comprehend so much data, only see so many shadows on the cave wall. I believe it will be AI that finally weds reductionist physical science to the metaphysical, where poetry and science meet. We will always have the honor of being the trilobites that planted the seed, the very last of the squishy creatures that needed to eat, fuck, and shit to get a life....

Sunday's computer generated wisdom from AI and quite timely! It has always amazed me how Great Britain has maintained the tribal heritage of having an honored, revered, and high profile royal family that really doesn't do anything. Every other society on Earth has either hanged, guillotined, shot, or disemboweled their aristocracy by now. They may keep neutered versions of them around to put on stamps or to use in crossword puzzle clues, but none are near as high profile as the British Royalty. It's a mystery to me. But it does look like that dead coke whore Diana, her retarded son Harry, and that D-lister, gold digging actress Megan have rattled the foundation of Buckingham Palace a bit. Once Liz dies I don't think those bib dribblers Charlie and Willy will be able to keep 'The Firm' going as anything more than fodder for future Netflix series. Megan just moved the palace to Hollywood where the real money is. After all, at the end of the day the Royals are just

 From Bertrand Russell. On the very cusp of 70, to paraphrase Bukowski on his 70th birthday, I am as surprised as anyone that I am still alive. It was a situation of inches and seconds more than once. But, besides luck, I attribute some of that with sticking with just three primary beliefs. 1. Respect the laws of classical Newtonian Physics and the principle of cause and effect. Those laws may even fall apart in another dimension, but they come in real handy in this one. Never be the very first or the very last in any line. 2. Eat way more vegetables than meat and walk a lot. Stay as far away from doctors as possible. 3. Sit still for at least twenty minutes per day with no other distractions to recalibrate the brain.  All the rest is either political ideology, organized religion, or academic philosophy. Those are usually a con. Be especially wary of people in robes and vestments....

One from Benjamin Jowett, an old school smart guy who made a living saying smart stuff. Health, learning, justice, and kindness must all be sculpted and chipped away at individually and gradually at the mountain of life. Those subjects are poorly served by a hive mentality, which seems to be where we are headed. Hey, we worked long and hard to escape our insect past, no use going back. The larger the group of people who decide what constitutes health, learning, justice, and kindness, the greater the potential of perverting their essence. Nothing is more dangerous than large groups of well intentioned people interpreting philosophical values. That is why 'Rule of Law' is such an important concept and protector of individual freedom. The older I get, the more I realize the most efficient influence I can have on health, learning, justice, and kindness is usually within a 12 foot radius of me at any given time. Anything beyond that is usually posturing. Taking in the old lady's

 Though Mother Teresa's reputation has been somewhat tarnished these last few years. There was evidently quite a few ethical issues with her mission and medical clinics, but she is still the official icon of goodness and purity in world, so her example works for the purposes of this quote. Now the true test of goodness is if you do good while knowing you will still feel like shit afterward. Or be nailed to a cross. The easiest route is just to tell everyone how good you are by posting uplifting memes and not do anything. That always works for me. Nothing beats virtual goodness for simplicity and little effort.....

Your weekly Sunday night dose of computer generated knowledge from AI. Humans seem to be running out of good quotes. I think of human thought as the static electricity of the universe. It sparks and tingles for a split second. Then it's over.  

I have never been a big camping, woodsy type guy. Wild animals kinda freak me out truthfully. I think they hate us for invading their space and ruining their habitat. I felt safer driving a cab in the shaky streets of East Hollywood or tripping around in Detroit's meanest hoods than I did in them spooky woods. Somehow the human animal is more predictable. I have only tent camped twice. Once in Oregon where bears were running around my camp site all night long, and another time in Washington during elk rutting season. Having two huge elk going at it right outside your tent was even spookier than the bears. Those things are huge! The VW van made me feel more secure, and I took that on many a camping trip. It was actually quite civilized and it felt good to have some sheet metal between me and the wild beasties. One time camping in Northern California I was attacked by raccoons. A whole gang came into my camp at night and tore it to pieces. They showed no fear and I could not even cha

You can always tell when they are just out to pick a fight by the wording of the comments. There are trigger words that subtlety translate into personal attacks. I at least try to see if I can glean a semblance of logical or rational thought I can respond too, no matter what their motive. Ideologues have a hard time with logic or rationality though. Everything is first filtered through whatever party line they subscribe to. In their world there is only black and white hats, where in reality it is all painted in shades of gray. My response when I know I have reached an intellectual dead end is the infamous "Yeah, you are probably right." That simple line works on so many different levels. Haven't used it much lately, as my wall is pretty much a self-cleaning oven with regards to ideologues. Plus I take no ideological stance personally as a rule, so arguing with me gets difficult because I am not a clear target. I will 'rope a dope' you until you punch yourself out.

  Well played, Meghan. I posted right after they got married predicting she would be dragging that bib dribbler back to Hollywood once she stirred the pot at Buckingham and popped out a baby for insurance. From D-list actress to a showbiz money making machine. Now she has to figure out how to get rid of that inbred moron and still come out the other side as a victim. I know she can do it. I can smell her intelligence from here. I am beginning to like her a lot!

 Of course being 'oppressed' is a very subjective term.  Being oppressed in Haiti would be very different from being oppressed in California. The Haitians I worked with were always a little confused by our definitions of 'oppression' and 'starvation'.  Now I suppose technically we could consider stupidity a form of 'oppression' originating from our own brain. Charles Darwin has a whole theory about that back when natural selection ruled the roost. Now we cultivate stupidity for marketing purposes and we are harvested like an oyster bed. These days even the stragglers in the herd get a participation trophy.......

 Sunday's computer generated wisdom from AI.  Actually there is some accidental wisdom here. Compassion and empathy served without intelligence and rationality can be very damaging, even dangerous. I learned that lesson the hard way on the mean  streets of Detroit. 'Compassion Vampires' were everywhere, sucking every drop of empathy out of you, then fucking you in the ass on the way out the door. I saw graduate levels of applied psychology being used daily by people who were basically illiterate otherwise. The secret the scammers know is that everyone wants to feel virtuous and giving and to provide that emotional rush using acting ability and story telling skills They played on people's heart strings like Jascha Heifetz played the fiddle. I became pretty hardened after awhile, but also gained tremendous skill in distinguishing between the truly needy and the scam artists, and often that was difficult to do. Those folks were consummate professionals. That is one reason

 My history of relationships has always been like getting a new car. I love the first part, reading all the brochures, taking her on a test drive, the new car smell, washing and waxing her all the time, etc. Then the car gets some miles on it, a couple of dings, a milkshake spilled on the seat, a set of new tires, and the upkeep starts nickel and diming you to death. You either need to trade her in for a newer model or keep her until she becomes collectible classic. Cars have the potential to get better with age, most people don't......

Though having lived in trailer parks a good portion of my adult life, I find this somewhat insulting. It is true the most likes I have ever received on a FB post was a photo of a kitten climbing out of a pumpkin I put up satirically. That even scared me a little, as the majority of likes were taking it at face value. FB is good for a lot of things, but political and philosophical discussion is not one of them. That only works one-on-one or with a moderator in real life. The problem with FB is the thread will always sink to the level of the dumbest comment and fester there. However, it is a great place for adorable kitties, old lady food porn, and phishing scams disguised as quizzes that tell you how beautiful, kind, or smart you are. At the end of the day FB is still an advertising and intelligence gathering medium for profit. I have no problem with that either. The advertising can be ignored and any intelligence gathered concerning me is economically worthless.....

An updating and expansion on McLuhan's famous media quote by Joey Skaggs. Even Skaggs performance art satires seem dated and quaint these days. He can't keep up with the absurdity and surreality of modern media.  One huge change I have noticed is the existence of a 'boutique' news media now. No matter what you political persuasion, you can find a custom made outlet with content that supports your individual bias. That is the by-product of being able to distribute information so cheaply. The problem is you get what you pay for. The shakiest of web sites can gussy themselves up to look legitimate, while the old corporate mass media continues to dumb down their product to attract a progressively illiterate audience for advertising revenue. Get a hold of a time magazine from the 40's and compare it to last week's.