Reprise of an earlier post.

We haven't a lot of time to post, it is the Holiday season after all, and we are busy running around buying things and cooking things and putting up decorations and mumbling incoherently to ourselves. So Forgive us for reprising an earlier post.

It's been a strange couple of days since we last posted, we have been very busy here at the crazy, and have had little time to work on the blog. Having said that, we should point out that even had we the time it seemed that we we didn't have anything interesting to write about. On the news side there was all the falderall over Sarah Palins new book which to us seemed as interesting as watching dust settle on our knick knacks. Our personal lives have taken an unusual turn, but were most definitely of a private nature. Someone has pointed out that our early television broadcasts have had the time to travel 80 Light years or 400 trillion miles or so from earth. So if they have the capabilities people (or spongoid microformal flexworms) in the alpha centauri system are watching 'Lost'. Near Zeta Reticuli whatever creatures may inhabit those planets are being subjected to 'The Brady Bunch' (We certainly hope they don't see it as an act of war.} The lucky creatures near Mu Arae if they have the equipment, (or possibly natural tv antenna eye stalks.) are viewing 'The Twilight Zone'. And finally near Pi Mensae they could be watching 'Howdy Doody', which gave us the strange idea that if the creatures that may exist near Pi Mensae were able to pick up TV signals but thought they were messages from God. Would we call that religion Howdyism, and would the members of that religion be doodyites? Forgive us, it's early in the morning and we haven't had our coffee yet.

Just a quick reprise to fill some space and allow us to continue our mad holiday scramble. Ciao for now.

It's been a while....

We haven't posted in almost a month, we are working on getting some respite care for ourselves, and more social engagement for our son Connal, If you have read these posts you will know he is what they call multiply impaired. And we feel it's important for him to be comfortable in other environments besides home. We certainly will not be around forever. And although we were told when he was a wee tot that he probably wouldn't live a very long life, he has fooled everyone and become a very hearty and healthy young man. So we have been busy, and had no time for posting on the blog. You'll forgive us I'm sure. At any rate, they say that time and tide wait for no man. Which is a true enough sentiment. As they used to say in newsreel footage from the old black and white cinema days, TIME MARCHES ON. And it certainly does, doesn't it? As we get older it seems that the world moves faster every day. Just as we learn to use the new technology, or a new cellphone, or computer, or gaming system. They come out with another one, that's faster, more colorful, and more user friendly. Unfortunately we are still using the Human 1.0 operating system. Although technology has moved along at a furious pace, humans have not. We still kill each other on a whim, we still fight wars over misinformation and innuendo. We can even send unmanned drones over to do the dirty work, thereby relieving ourselves of the immediacy and horror of killing. Psychiatrists have dissected the human psyche, into ego's and id's and any myriad of motivations and stimulus responses. Philosophers have tried to look at the soul of humankind (if there is such a thing) for centuries. Trying to separate good and evil through the sieve of the unconscious mind. We have tried to improve ourselves through eugenics, (see Nazi Germany to understand how that turned out.) And Transcendental Meditation. Through Religion and Drugs. And it seems that we are still Human 1.0. Some of us here at The Crazy believe that education, and the quest for knowledge is the key to bettering the Human machine. Some of us believe that it's hopeless and we will eventually destroy ourselves. This writer believes that someday we will leave this planet and explore the stars. And that is where the key to the future lies, in the quest for understanding the universe. Some of us feel that someday, someone, perhaps a philosopher, or a scientist, or even heaven forbid a psychiatrist, will find the key that unlocks the door to Human 2.0 or at least Human Beta test 1.5. We can only hope. Just a quick note to get a little philosophical thinking off our chests. Whatever you do, do it well. And as a great musical philosopher once said. "Enjoy every sandwich." That's about it, ciao for now.

Save yourselves, we are beyond hope.

If you can read this... please tell someone. We are being held captive by a device so insidious.. so powerful.. that we are incapable of escaping it's clutches. It sits quietly in our living room. Innocently showing us it's blank face... until evening. Then the ON switch is thrown. And suddenly we are under it's power. The bright lights and enticing sounds draw us to the sofa. And we sit, and watch as it endlessly shows us images of others living fantastic lives. With sweeping drama, exciting action, and powerful stories of people who in most cases never existed, and never will. And still we sit. Sometimes it shows us products and services that we can buy for one low payment. And occasionally, (Just occasionally mind you.) it teaches us something about our planet, or our universe, or our history. But mostly it holds us in a trance like embrace. Truly, as Karl Marx once pointed out, religion was the opiate of the masses. But now, clearly, it's television.

  Certainly the television is a powerful opiate. It holds millions in thrall every day. Estimates are that 280 million people in the U.S. watch television every day. The population of the United States is 311 million or so. So the majority of us watch television at one time or another. The average American views between 5 and 7 hours of television daily.   And what do they watch? The most popular television show is currently The Big Bang Theory, (yes, we watch it here also) The next most watched. Dancing with the stars. (This surprised us here at The Crazy, as we find supposed "reality" shows to be full of horse hockey.)  Now these statistics are just for the United States. It's estimated that worldwide (Population estimate about 7 Billion People) that about 4.5 Billion televisions exist. And clearly more than one person is usually seated in front of a television. The number of people who watch television worldwide must exceed the number of televisions, so we at The Crazy will estimate 5 billion. (Seriously, no one really knows) Most television viewing takes place at night in America, so as the sun rises and sets, televisions are flipping on and off around the world. It's strange indeed to think that at any given moment billions of people are staring blankly at the brightly lit box we call a tv. Ahhh... but it get's more insidious than that. The first television screens were little black and white screens of 12 to 14 inches, and they were more round or oval than square. Now the average television in the home is increasing size by 10 inches a decade. And of course in color. Will we one day have an entire wall of our home devoted to one huge television screen? And what of the cultural damage? If our culture is decided by nightly television we are in major trouble. By the age of eighteen the average American has seen 200.000 acts of violence on television. And clearly problem solving will be effected, after all huge problems are solved in 1 hour nightly on television shows. Has anyone else noticed that each generation is moving faster, texting, emailing, blogging, (damn bloggers should all be shot...heh heh heh) we at The Crazy have noticed that the upcoming generation talks faster than the previous one.  And expects things to happen for them yesterday. What other result can come from a daily dose of seeing all the problems of the world solved in one hour? Certainly there are billions smart enough to know that what happens on television rarely has any real meaning in the real world. But as the population grows and many of the young become disenfranchised, disillusioned, and generally discombobulated, what will the final outcome be? We hope you see our point. Now excuse us, we have to go and set our DVR, there's a show we don't want to miss coming on later. Save us if you can.  Damn.....

    We have to give credit to the Book "Strange Wine" by Harlan Ellison for helping to form our ideas about the evils of television. We recommend the book, and the article titled "What killed the Dinosaurs and you don't look so good yourself."

The Earliest haunts of man....

Happy Halloween everybody! We haven't posted here in a while, we've been busy. We've needed 26 hour days, but had to make do with 24. So we've been forgoing sleep to get things done. Anyway, it's All Hallows Eve, the time when ghosts and goblins walk the earth. So we thought we'd do a little history lesson for you. Ghost stories it seems have been told since man began telling stories. One of the earliest is a story told by Pliny the Younger who was born in 61 A.D. He recounts the tale of a haunted house in Athens. It seems to have all the elements that are with us today when discussing ghosts, chains, beckoning spirits, and a surprisingly calm young philosopher.. You can read it HERE.  This is far from the first mention of ghosts in literature, but it's fascinating to we here at The Crazy. Over a thousand years before Pliny the Younger wrote this narrative, the ancient Egyptians long held that ghosts were pretty much everywhere. And when the Pharoah Akenhaten died he was cursed by the priests to wander the desert forever as a ghost. The reason for the curse? Erasing many of the Gods from ancient Egypt and assigning ONE god to rule above them. The God Aten (the sun god) and surprise... guess who the sun gods sole representatives on earth were to be, Ankenhaten and Nefertiti of course. Many Egyptians claim to have seen the Ghost of Ankenhaten wandering the deserts of that country. Europe has too many ghost stories to quantify. You can't throw a rock anywhere in many European countries without it passing through (not hitting obviously) a ghost. So what about here at home, what are some of the earliest ghost stories of the America's? How about a ghost of one of the founding fathers? The Ghost of Benjamin Franklin has been sighted many times near the library of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia (with some reports that his statue in front of the library comes to life and dances in the streets). How about pre american, The tale of Colonel Buck is one example. He condemned a supposed witch to death. On the gallows she was reported to have said. "Your lies have offended the almighty, He will help me take you life and leave my mark upon your grave." The story continues with the Colonel being frightened to death by her spirit that very afternoon. And her footprint is still seen on his grave. It looks sort of like a foot as seen in the photo at the top of this blog entry. (Ok, water stain maybe.)  And finally, there is one American ghost that has been seen and reported by First lady Grace Coolidge, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Eleanor Roosevelt, and perhaps the strangest report comes from Sir Winston Churchill who upon returning naked from his bath found Abraham Lincoln sitting in front of the fireplace in his room. (We imagine President Lincoln was as surprised as Mr Churchill.)  And President Harry Truman wrote in a letter to his wife that the White house floors "popped and the drapes move back and forth."   Mary Todd Lincoln told friends that the ghost of Andrew Jackson stomps and swears up and down the halls of the White House. So Happy Halloween to all of you. And if you see Mr Lincoln, tell him thanks for us will you. Ciao for now.

The Goblins will getcha if you don't watch out!

     Here it is, mid October and we still haven't discussed Halloween. We here at The Crazy love Halloween. (Or All Hallows eve, or Samhain,) This night (October 31st) was thought by the Ancient Celts to be the night when the spirits of the dead were released to roam the earth. The Celts would build bonfires, and dress in costumes (usually animal skins and antlers) they would burn food and animals in an attempt to placate these spirits, and also to predict the future. The holiday was mostly about the ending of summer and the beginning of the long dark winter. The Celts would extinguish their hearth fires early in the day. After the festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in) was over, they would relight their hearth fires from the sacred bonfire to insure their protection in the coming winter. When the Romans conquered the Celts they also added parts to what has become our Halloween celebration. The Roman goddess Pomona (that's right Pomona, get over it.) the Roman god of fruits and trees, was incorporated into the Celtic Samhain tradition. (Perhaps where bobbing for apples came from?)
     On May 13, 609 A.D. Pope Boniface the IV, dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to all christian martyrs, and all Martyrs day was established, by the 700's A.D. the date was moved to November 1st. (Some say November 2nd)  and became All Saints day. The day before this event was designated All Hallows Eve.
     In some cultures the Night of All Hallows Eve was considered frightening, if not a dangerous time to walk abroad, as the spirits of the Dead may come and drag you away with them. Many cultures began wearing masks to walk about on this night so as to fool the spirits into thinking you were one of them. Somehow on the American continent the night also became about vandalism. And it wasn't until the 1950's that the traditional Halloween became a time for Family, celebration and trick or treating. It was thought that if you gave treats to the costumed folk who came to you door you could avoid the vandalism. In early America parades were organized and people began giving out food on the parade routes. Which over the years evolved into the current door to door sugar coma inducing event we now see.  Originally in early European cities food was placed in bowls on the doorsteps to placate the wandering spirits. (It's our guess here at The Crazy that many of these "wandering spirits" were starving folk who saw an opportunity for a meal.) Sadly for many of us, it seems that Halloween is slowly being eradicated. The traditions that started the holiday are steeped in superstition. And sadly many American cities are slowly shortening Trick or Treating to a few hours before dusk. How many of us remember going door to door till the wee hours of the morning trick or treating? If someone left their porch light on and their pumpkin lit they were fair game no matter what time of the night it was. 
     One interesting point about Halloween. It seems that the Jack-O-Lantern was originally carved out of a turnip. When many Irish immigrated to America in the 1800's they would carve out turnips in remembrance of Stingy Jack a man who trapped the devil in an apple tree. You can read the story HERE .They discovered the Pumpkin was much easier to carve and the current Jack-0-Lantern was born. So Happy Halloween to those of you who still love the oldest holiday still widely celebrated in America. Be sure to wear your mask when you go out. You never know if that shadow standing in the trees is a wandering spirit looking for someone to drag back to the land of the dead. That's about it, Ciao for now.

  

What to do... What to do...

It's been a a while since we posted here at The Crazy. We have been busy. Have you noticed how life sometimes comes up and bites you in the ass? Why is it that time (which supposedly keeps everything from happening at once.) sometimes seems to glitch, and suddenly everything is happening at once, it's as if some sort of problem imp suddenly sprang into existence and began creating problems for us. It's been a couple of weeks of putting out one (figurative) fire after another. The days have blurred into a miasma of gottado's, Gotta do this gotta do that. Usually when life overwhelms some of us here we find a way to slip away and spend a little quiet time reading, or driving. But lately it seems that life has decided that we are too busy to relax. Or are we? Didn't we spend four hours (probably more) watching television last night? Couldn't that time be spent doing something more constructive? Is watching television relaxing? Is it constructive? What did we get from it? Did we learn anything? Is simply being entertained a form of relaxation? It seems the things that we at The Crazy are entertained by are mostly fantasy worlds that have very little to do with reality. Do Olivia, Peter, Walter and Asterix (ha ha) have anything useful to teach us here in the real world.
We have watched every episode of Fringe since it's inception. 100 hours of television. 100 hours of our lives that we will never get back. The writers of the show are certainly imaginative. They have brought us to other universes and back. Made us wonder at the "Fringe" science the show often demonstrates. And certainly we have laughed at the acid induced thoughts of Walter as he brilliantly builds lasers out of CD players, or uses a pigs eye to defeat a retinal scanner.  If this was the only show we watched we'd probably not feel too bad, but unfortunately the glass teat does not let us suckle so leanly.  We have become enslaved to it's constant flow of inanity and charm. Sure with current DVR technology we can watch the shows when WE desire, but still our evenings are not our own. Grimm, Alphas, Warehouse 13 (which just went on hiatus until next year.) Are just a few of the creations that fill our nights with glossy eyed staring at the flickering screen that seems to have a life of it's own. And of course The Big Bang Theory (thankfully only a half hour long) fills us with laughter once a week. And then of course there are the movies, we are certainly movie freaks, we have watched hundreds of them (if not thousands) over the last couple of years. And no one would deny that watching Arsenic and Old Lace (a gem of a movie starring Cary Grant and Raymond Massey) is at least somewhat redeeming to the soul. (Do we have a soul? That question is for another blog.) But what if we stopped watching television entirely (deep inside of this writers psyche something just cried out in terror) what would we do. Play games perhaps, some of us here at The Crazy are board game fanatics. Does playing a board game have any redeeming qualities that television does not? Should we spend the time creatively? Perhaps building furniture, or painting?  Do we stop watching television entirely, or try to wean from the shows we currently find less than appealing. Could we finish watching Fringe (which is in it's last season) and be very careful not to fill that hour with another wildly entertaining, fun filled, thought provoking show. For those of you who watch reality television (the horror... the horror..) how does it feel to know that you are vicariously living THEIR lives and not your own?  These are all very meaningful questions, and we wish we had the time to answer them, but the Packer game is on soon, so it will have to wait for another time. Ciao for now.

They call this a touchdown?

Ok, most of you aren't going to care one whit about this but here goes. It seems that The Green Bay Packers (peace be with them) were robbed of a game last Monday night. The last play of the game involved a hail mary pass into the end zone by the Seattle Seahawks (Henceforth known as the Seahags.) The ball was clearly caught by a Packer player.  Packers cornerback M.D. Jennings came down with the ball. And is seen holding it to his chest on the ground in this photo.  It appears as if a touchdown in the NFL now consists of catching the guy who caught the ball.  Looking at this Photo we cannot for a second understand how the official signaled a touchdown. Nor can we figure out how the NFL after seeing the replay and studying it decided to let the ruling stand. We can only assume that we exist in a different reality than them. Perhaps a wormhole has opened up between our two universes and somehow the video from this other universe (The one where catching a player catching the football is considered a touchdown.) managed to slip through. It is our hope that scientists can somehow close this wormhole before a video showing the Detroit Lions as a good team manages to slip through. It appears as if the result of this other universe leaking into ours is that the NFL is going to give the professional referees most of what they have asked for and they might be returning soon. So at least things should be back to normal soon and The Green Bay Packers (peace be with them) will take their place among the elite of the NFL again. We can only hope. That's about it today, ciao for now.

For the last time...

Again we have been hearing and reading some really crazy stuff about the Mayans, and Dec 21st, 2012. So we are going to try and set this straight one more time. First let's set down what people are saying about the Mayan Calendar ending on the 21st of December and it's meaning for the apocalypse. It seems somebody somewhere has discovered that the Sun will be standing precisely on the equinox between the Earth and the Center of the Galaxy. At least that appears to be what some of the crazies (not to be confused with we here at The Crazy) are saying. So is it true? Well, sort of. Dec 21st is the Winter Solstice. The exact half way point between Autumn and Spring. It happens every year. It is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Is the sun also lining up with the center of the galaxy? Well... No.. not at all. As a matter of fact the Earth, (and our solar system) are currently above the plane of the galaxy (note the italics). We are five count em.. five light years above the plane of the galaxy.  If you believe in astrology yes the sun will be centered in the galaxy as seen from earth. Last year for example the sun was .01 degree difference from where it will be this Dec 21st. Read that as "point zero one percent" difference. Will there be a huge difference in gravity when we have moved that .01 percent. Well.. again.. No.. As a matter of fact, if you are drinking a cup of coffee (or tea, or a beer, etc.) Then the gravity from that cup is having more effect on you than a .01 degree difference of the sun will have. Ok, so how about the Mayan calendar ending as being significant? Well, it would be if the Mayans intended the calendar to simply end. But there are hundreds of dates carved into the stone of the Mayan temples and pyramids deep in the jungles of South America. And many of them are far beyond the date listed by the calendar in question. (One of them actually dated out to the 4700's by our calendar.) Of course if you aren't sure about the source on this you could always ask a Mayan. What's that you say? The Mayans are extinct? Really? Maybe somebody should tell them that. There are many villages of Mayans still extent throughout the jungles. Many still speak the ancient languages. Sure the great civilization that built the cities and pyramids of Chichen Itza, Palenque, Tikal and Uxma no longer exist. But the people are still there. And they will tell you that the Mayan Prophecy of the end of times for Dec 21st, 2012 is a complete load of crock. Invented by some gringo up north to make a buck. (And many bucks have been made.) If all of this doesn't convince you that the current prediction of end times is a load of horse hockey, then my friends you are beyond help. That's about it. Ciao for now.

From an old coot...

Recently read a short blog called the Rant, and the author posted a few ageist remarks denigrating old people. You can read it HERE. Most of us here at The Crazy are what you might call old. It's true, this blog is mostly written by a few crotchety old farts who soon might be seen sitting around the nursing home waiting for the grim reaper to come calling. Getting older is hard to describe to someone who hasn't yet had the advantage of our years of listening to young folks whine about how the world is treating them unfairly. But for all of us at some point in our lives, the future is going to become shorter than the past. Unfortunately for this writer that point has probably long passed. And not to put too fine a point on it, we think it's a good thing. We have seen many of this countries young cutting down the oldsters (we refuse to use the word elderly) as if the young had some sort of magic potion to stem the onslaught of time. And honestly there have been some amazing strides in scientific research on the aging process. But inevitably, time will circle these young folks like a pack of ravening wolves. And one by one, injury by injury they will be brought down. Will they remember the folly of their own youth, when they felt themselves to be immortal? Will they stop for one moment while viewing the Dorian Gray like dissolution of themselves in the mirror and remember when one of we ancient heralds trumpeted "where we are now, you soon will be!"? Probably not, Youth is wasted on the young. Just a short note to make a point, or maybe just to write this down before the Alzheimers takes us. Ciao for now.

Time to throw away your watch!

Let's talk a little bit about time shall we? Not the time that we all perceive because of the clock on the wall. (Which is entirely subjective by the way, we'll get to that later.) But the time that exists while you are reading this, the time we will call the NOW. Oops, there it went. You can look back at the page and read the word NOW again. But that moment is gone. You will never get it back. But the question is, where did it go? Some people believe that time is just an illusion created by we humans to help us better understand ourselves, and our place in the universe. But others theorize that every moment exists just as it does NOW. Think of the universe as a series of snapshots, (extremely rich and detailed snapshots, that contain everything in the universe.) each snapshot exists NOW but also still exists despite the fact that we can no longer perceive it. Strangely enough this idea has a very old start. The Greek Philosopher Parmenides postulated in the 5th century BC, (Or BCE if you don't believe in the divinity of Christ) that all motion was impossible. Let's say you shoot an arrow at a target. Parmenides said that the arrow could never reach the target. Why? Because it would be mathematically impossible for it to do so. It would first have to go half the distance to the target, than half that distance, than half that distance, and so on through infinity (or eternity, we are discussing time after all.). Some physicists believe that time works that way. That each moment is an eternity. (We at The Crazy have felt that way sometimes when being forced to watch reality television.) Of course when looking at time that way some questions come up. Does the future exist before we get to it? Is all of time here and NOW, also NOW and forever? (We here at The Crazy are not responsible for any brains that may have been broken by this thought idea.) Ok, lets talk a little about that clock on the wall. If you look at it right now. (The Clock on your computer will work just as well.) It will tell you the time as decided by the International Meridian Conference in 1884, when British Mariners decided that Greenwich Britain would be the the starting point or the "0" point on the Meridian by which all Mariners would set their clocks so as to locate themselves longitudinally. Entirely subjective as we said. But does time move at the same speed everywhere. Not according to scientists and atomic clocks. Two extremely accurate atomic clocks were placed side by side, and fully synchronized to the exact nano second. Then one clock was raised twelve inches above the other. And the higher clock began to move faster. Physicists agree that this was due to gravity having an effect on time. Astronauts have said the same thing after spending time in space, they discuss how time seemed to move faster while orbiting the earth. But does this prove that times exists outside of human experience, or simply that human perception is tied deeply into the flow of time?  We don't know. And neither do physicists, or philosophers, or watchmakers. But we at The Crazy are very interested in current experiments to discover the properties of time. (Or the lack of properties if that is what experiments reveal.) It is important to point out one thing when discussing time however. It seems to be tied almost directly into entropy. (the rule that shows that matter moves from order to chaos.) Nobody has ever seen the pool balls on the table automatically jump from their pockets and reform the triangle of balls at the end of the table. And probably never will. Well there are things we have to do here at The Crazy, and we need to get them done NOW. Shoot, too late. Ciao for now.

Kill the infidels. Or convert them. Or just leave them alone.

In a recent post we discussed common misconceptions in the Bible (Mostly the King James Version.) The two other mainstream religious texts The Quran, and the Torah also have misconceptions (and even though many of the Muslim faith won't admit it, contradictions.)  The Kabbalah will not be discussed here as it's not a mainstream religious text, but a text used in other religions by certain sects. The Torah (which means "instruction" or "teaching") is basically the first five books of the old testament. It is the Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Although the titles of these chapters have different meanings in Jewish tradition. The Torah is almost a word for word reproduction of the first five books of the Bible. (Although many of Jewish faith would say instead that the first five books of the Bible are a word for word reproduction of the Torah.) The Jews believe that the Torah was inscribed by Moses. (Except for the last verses which describe his death.)  In the Torah the Commandments are not the same as the Judeo Christian commandments. In Jewish tradition there are 613 commandments. Although they do follow also the ten commandments (which are different from both the catholic ten commandments and the protestant ten commandments) So the same misconceptions from the King James Bible, also appear in the Torah. One major difference however is that the Torah is written and studied in Hebrew. Where the King James Version of the Bible has been translated from Greek and Latin into English. So we at The Crazy are sure that the Torah would hold some surprises for anyone who could do their own translation from Hebrew. (Don't look at us, we can barely used our own language, let alone Hebrew.)  Now on to the Quran. There are some extremist Muslims who believe that the only true version of the Quran must be read in Arabic. Unfortunately we here at the Crazy don't understand Arabic, and therefore have to rely on the English translations. But in cases where we do quote the Quran we have used the most widely accepted translations. It should also be noted that only about 20 percent of Muslims can speak or read Arabic. The Quran is considered by people of the Muslim faith to be the unerring word of Allah. (God)  And was transcribed by Mohammed. Who was familiar with the Torah and had said to his followers "Relate from the people of Isreal, and there is no objection." This has enabled Islamic scholars to cite precedents from Jewish Scholarship.  Ok, let's get to the meat of the matter here. Almost everyone who has mentioned the Quran to me has said that it advocates the killing of all infidels. Which is not what it says at all. For example the word Infidel does not appear in the Quran. It is an ecclesiastical christian term, which means one who does not believe in Christianity. (Why would a Muslim kill someone who doesn't believe in Christianity?) But it is true that there are many verses in the Quran that do advocate violence. (The same can be said of the Bible.) And many versus that advocate peaceful coexistence. (The same can be said of the Bible.) Like all religions, there are extremist sects who devoutly believe that every word in their respective religious text requires them to act against any non-believers. Why do some Muslims follow the Sura 4:89 “seize them and slay them wherever you find them: and in any case take no friends or helpers from their ranks.”And others follow The Quran 11 which says " Say: O unbelievers! I do not serve that which you serve, Nor do you serve Him Whom I serve: Nor am I going to serve that which you serve, Nor are you going to serve Him Whom I serve, You shall have your religion and I shall have my religion." These are both from the Quran, yet one advocates letting each have their own religion, the other killing anyone who has a different religion. A clear contradiction. Describing the Quran is a pretty difficult task. Unlike the King James Bible which is ordered chronologically in time. The Quran is not ordered chronologically. But based on the size of the verses.  Muslims however are taught the Chronological order from an early age. If our readers (who are probably getting quite bored by now) would allow us to make one small point. We at The Crazy think we can agree that the majority of people who read the Bible would not attack or kill non-believers. Yet in Deuteronomy 13:6 through 13:17 we are clearly told to do so. Even killing your own family if they fail to worship the ONE true God. And for those Christians out there who say "but that's the old testament" remember that Jesus told the Apostles they must follow the laws of old testament, (most people believe this means the 10 commandments) but which laws? Of the 613 words, or laws in the old testament, which should they follow. The 10 commandments are different in 3 places in the Bible. And never clearly defined. And as a matter of fact seem to number 14 or 15. (possibly more)  And the Quran has the same problem, the contradictions tell us both books were clearly written by different people, in different times, with different agendas. (If any extremist Muslims are reading this, sorry, but the truth is the truth no matter how you slice it. And we assume that an extremist Muslim would say the same of a throat.) It is clear to us here at The Crazy, that most religious texts are perhaps purposely left vague. Why? We don't know. But this is a free country, you can believe what you want. Or disbelieve what you want. We certainly won't kill you for it. As a matter of fact we like a little dissent. If you disagree with this post please let us know. If you agree with it, let us know that too. (If you are an extremist Muslim, you shouldn't be reading this as it's in direct violation of your belief in the Quran, shame on you. Go cut off your head.) Be free people, that's about it, ciao for now.

One small step for man....

Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon. Died today at the age of 82. We are sad to see him go. But it's not the death of this American hero that we will remember. It was the life he lived. He earned his student pilot license at the age of 16. During the Korean war he flew 78 combat missions. He was a test pilot, and an engineer. And a family man. And in 1969 an estimated 500 million people watched on television as he became the first man to step on the moon. We often wonder how it felt to be the first human being to walk on the moon. (And one of only a dozen men who came after him.) You would think it would give you a big head. Neil Armstrong always handled himself with humility, and was not one to crow about his own achievements. We may never see another like him again. And although we are not necessarily religious here at The Crazy, we would like to say Godspeed Mr Armstrong. We just thought we should stop and pay attention to his passing. That's about it. Ciao for now.

Oh, Oh, not politics, religon. What the hell are we thinking?

Thought we would post a couple of things that people believe to be true, but simply aren't, or in some cases we just don't know if it's true or not, but somehow it has become "common knowledge".  Lets start at the beginning shall we. Genesis, Adam and Eve eating of an Apple in the garden of Eden. Actually the Bible never says Apple, what it actually says is the fruit of the "the tree of  knowledge of good and evil."  In middle English the word "apple" is used to describe all fruits and nuts (except berries) and when it was first translated, middle English was the language used. Hebrew scholars usually believe it would have been a fig, or a date. 
    The serpent that convinced Eve to take of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is not referred to as Satan in Genesis. He (or she, the sex is never mentioned) is referred to only as the serpent "who was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth."  At no point in the Bible by the way is Satan referred to by the name Lucifer. Nope, not once.
    The Ten Commandments. There are three versions of the Ten Commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). They are at Exodus 20:2-17, Exodus 34:12-26, and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. We could spend hours poring over them. (One version has over 40 commandments.) But the 10 Commandments put forth in Exodus 20 are as follows.
                  
     2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
     What, that's 17 commandments? After much research we at the Crazy have come to the conclusion that it would be impossible to pick just 10 from the 40 different ones found in the Bible. (Or 60 if you add the Talmud into the mix.) 

   Angels. Ok, here we go. A lot of you aren't going to like this. But please understand that every culture puts it's own spin on the religions that they choose to follow.  For example we all know that all angels have wings and look like glowing people. But if you read your Bible you will know that this is simply not true. There are many different types of Angels in the Bible. 
        We will refer to The old testament and the New testament angels as a whole as the descriptions are similar.
          Angels (Ordinary) number in the thousands are messengers, jail breakers, rescuers. They are described in the Bible as handsome young men. And have no wings.
           Archangels (Michael for example.) Possibly 1 but up to 7 of them. Their job is to protect the Jewish Nation and herald the second coming. Described as handsome young men. And have no wings. (Also may be dressed in military armour of the time.)
           Cherubim (the Bible mentions more than one, possibly four.) Described as having four heads with the faces of a man, an eagle and a lion and an ox. They appear to Guard Gods Domain.
           Gabriel (Messenger of God.) only one. Described as a handsome young man. Again NO wings.
            Lucifer. (Oops.) Lucifer in the Bible is a man, the King of Babylon. Not an angel. Nor Satan.
            Seraphim. Six wings. But must cover themselves with them or they will incinerate or blind whoever sees them.What they look like behind the wings is never explained. 
             Satan. Well actually the Bible never says Satan was an Angel, although in Revelations he was cast down. And his angels with him. But it's clear that Satan HAS angels, not that he is one.

    The Bible (which is actually from the Greek for Book) has been twisted and warped by one religion after another to suit their own needs. There is much wisdom in it. And a lot of violence. Women are in many cases treated as property in the Bible. Slaves are accepted and common. Murder is wrong, unless God tells you to kill someone, then it seems to be okay. War seems to not only be condoned, but desired. Even the new testament at times condones killing someone simply because their religion differs from yours. (And different religions have used this to interpret the Bible to mean our religion is right, and yours is wrong.)  We at the Crazy have no problem with people reading the Bible or living by it's ideals. But please make sure you know what it says before living by its ideals. That's about it, ciao for now.
   

On Intelligence, (and thankfully no politics there.)

You are sitting at your desk, or on your couch, or maybe on the john reading this. (That's disgusting by the way, Do you realize what's getting all over your laptop keyboard?) You can comprehend the words written here. Does that make you intelligent? Intelligence is defined as the ability to learn or understand. The skilled use of reason. But true intelligence actually is much more than that. The ability to adapt to a new environment or change your current environment to suit your needs is also a sign of intelligence. The capacity to acquire knowledge is another sign of intelligence. The capacity to understand abstract ideas, and to produce original and productive thought are most certainly signs of intelligence. Einstein (who most people would think of as intelligent) once said "It's not that I'm smart, it's just that I stay with questions longer."  Is that the key to intelligence, a bulldog like tenacity to get the job done, and done right?  It seems to us here at The Crazy that intelligence can mean different things to different people. We've all been involved in some task or other puzzling about the best way to do it and had someone walk up and solve the problem with a simple "try this."
  And it's obvious that people have different abilities, Einstein was gifted in math. But couldn't read until he was seven. And didn't learn to talk until he was four. Oscar Wilde (who once said "I am so clever that I sometimes don't understand a single word that I am saying.") had a very creative flair for writing but was unable to keep a relationship for any real length of time. Is the interaction between people a sign of intelligence? In anthropological terms intelligence is often associated with the use of tools. But birds, chimpanzees, apes, and even some reptiles have been known to use items from their environment as tools. For another example (and a funny one at that.) check out THIS site.. It is our opinion here at The Crazy that we humans are too egocentric to see that what we term as intelligence is nothing of the sort. The definition of intelligence is much broader than our current understanding. Are we missing part of a natural intelligence that is currently beyond our understanding? Maybe not, but it would be cool wouldn't it. That's about it. Ciao for now.

Sorry this is a political post. If you don't like politics move along.

We recently placed a post here stating.. "Vote for Obama, his lies are prettier!" making a joke about politics and politicians all being liars. It seems to have raised the ire of at least one reader, who posted a response with quite a few right wing beliefs posted as fact. Of course we can't let that stand without at least attempting to clarify our position. Let's start with the beginning. In the post the anonymous writer stated Obama lied when he said he would be a one term president if the unemployment didn't improve. Of course that's not what President Obama said. The exact quote was base on the effectiveness of the stimulus package. And it was  “If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.” Meaning that he would not be reelected. Certainly not a lie as that may still happen. He never said he would not run again. So who's lying here? Ok, on to lie number 2. The anonymous writer calls President Obama "the welfare king."  Let's look at the facts shall we. During the Bush administration Food Stamp Recipients rose by 14.7 Million people. As of January 2012 during the Obama administration they rose 14.2 million. And have gone down since then. Who is the Welfare King Again? Next he talks about the Obama administrations Justice Department as being a bunch of criminals.Mentioning the Fast and Furious Scandal and not prosecuting Black Panthers intimidating voters at a polling place. The Black Panther thing is the easiest to dispense with so we'll deal with that first. Yes two members of the Black Panthers were using intimidation tactics at a polling place on election day in November of 2008.  The Charges against the New Black Panther party was dropped because the two men arrested claimed no affiliation with the New Black Panther party and acted on their own. The Charges against Jerry Jackson one of the two men who were accused of intimidating voters were dropped because Police officers who were called to the scene interviewed him and found him to be a certified pollster and allowed him to remain.  It should be pointed out that NO voters in the precinct filed a complaint about intimidation. The injunction against Mr Shabazz of voter intimidation stood.  The punishment for federal Voter intimidation is currently a fine or in some cases up to a year in jail. The punishment of Mr Shabazz was left to the Philadelphia legal system as that is where the crime was committed.  Oh by the way President Obama has NO say so as to what type of punishment a person should receive under court order in Philadelphia. Now on to the Fast and Furious debacle. You are right. Something shady was going on there. It had to do with the fact that ATF officers wanted to seize the weapons but couldn't. Why? Because the weapons were legal under Arizona gun laws. For the first time, the lead agent in the Fast and Furious case, Dave Voth, speaks out, as do other agents. Linda Wallace, a special agent with the IRS's criminal investigation unit, who was detailed to the case, is quoted saying, "Republican senators are whipping up the country into a psychotic frenzy with these reports that are patently false."  Yes Obama has a valid social security number. The one you are seeing on the extreme crazy rights web pages is a lie. As for his being a citizen of another country. Nothing in the constitution says an American cannot be a citizen in another country and still be president as long as they hold American citizenship and were born here as well. Now about Obama spending millions to hide his past. This is a load of pure bullcrap. Obama is not required to release his college transcripts. But he certainly has spent NO money hiding them. Listen we could go on here for quite a while. It amazes us the lengths that the far right are going to while trying to disparage our President. We haven't seen this kind of insulting and down right lying since the Lincoln, Douglas debates. Anyway we've had enough. Next blog will be about something more interesting than politics. This stuff is annoying. Ciao for now.

Radiation irritation.

We have been reading a lot about Fukushima in the news. The west coast seems particularly focused on it. Due to the flotilla of Japanese junk making it's way toward the U.S.  It's time to set a few things straight. First of all, the radiation released from the Fukushima nuclear plants during the earthquake and subsequent tidal wave was frightening to be sure. Area's within a 25 mile radius of the plant were exposed to 22 rem. About 10 times the recommended safe dosage. It was however under the 250 to 300 rem which can be immediately lethal. Of the 22.000 people who lived in that area. It's estimated that maybe half of them were exposed to the 22 rem. Which means about 197 of them will develop cancer. (If studies of radiation exposure from Nagasaki, Hiroshima and the Bikini Islands hold true).  The levels of radiation in the area dropped by half every 8 days. By 4 weeks after the Tidal Wave, Radiation levels were under .2 rem. (The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends evacuation of a locality whenever the excess radiation dose exceeds .1 rem per year.) And although the Japanese people accept this idea. (And most nations try to follow it.) Denver Colorado has a yearly dose of .3 rem per year. Yet we don't seem to be evacuating Denver. (Interestingly, Denver also has an incidence of Cancer which is lower than the national average. We wonder what that means.)When materials from Japan wash up on the shore on the west coast they are immediately checked with a Geiger Counter and so far none of it has been radioactive. Radiation levels in the Seas around Japan are higher than normal. And it appears that some radiation is still leaking from within the Fukushima plant. The good news (and pay attention here.) is that the materials coming out of Fukushima are radioactive iodine. Which has a half life of eight days. So once the leak is sealed (if indeed it is still leaking at all) radiation levels will return to normal relatively quickly. The short half life of the radioactive iodine from Fukushima also explains why we are finding no radioactive materials arriving on our shores. So we at The Crazy suggest people STOP PANICKING about the Fukushima incident. And if you must panic, try not to injure anybody while you are running around and screaming. That's about it for today. Ciao for now.

Vote for Obama. His lies are prettier!

What do we know?

How often do you hear a politician say, "we were wrong." have you ever heard a member of the clergy say that? Religion and science both began when humans began to try to understand the world around them. What are those bright spots in the sky at night? Where does the sun go when darkness begins? Why is the moon less bright than the sun? Why do the spots in the sky change with the seasons? It must have been frightening to see the night sky and have no knowledge of what it was. (And in some ways we suppose it could be even more frightening to some when they know what they really are.) It must have been reassuring to early humans to be able to explain the sun as just another chariot driven across the sky by a god. When Copernicus postulated that the Earth was not the center of the universe in about 1516. (He did however incorrectly state that it was the sun.) He shook the foundations of religion. Most in his day refused to believe such heresy, that God would not place man at the center of all things. When Galileo went to Rome in 1616 to try to persuade the catholic church not to ban the writings of Copernicus. Pope Urban the VIII asked him to include arguments for and against the idea of the sun being the center of the universe. Unfortunately for Galileo, the arguments stating that the Earth were the center of the universe came across as foolish. And Pope Urban realized they were the same arguments he had been using. He had Galileo arrested, and one of the greatest thinkers of his time spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Later when Galileo died in 1642 he was buried in a small room next to a novices chapel at the end of a corridor from the southern transept of the basilica to the sacristy. In 1737 he was reburied in the main body of the basilica when a statue was erected there in his honor. During the move the middle finger of his right hand was removed and is currently on display at the Museo Gallileo in Florence Italy. (We here at The Crazy like to think he is flipping Pope Urban the bird.) Why did the church arrest Gallileo? Because the Bible told them in Chronicles 16:13 "the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved." And in Ecclesiastes 1:5 "And the sun rises and sets and returns to it's place."  Galileo was a religious man. He believed that the Bible was simply being written from an Earthly point of view, and saw nothing to place doubt in his belief in God. But the Catholic church at the time feared anything that would could cause any doubt. The Church did finally change it's mind. Although they never said "we were wrong." And there lies the difference between Science and Religion. In Science an idea is postulated, and then experiments are performed to see if the idea holds merit. If the experiments prove the idea to be wrong. Science says "Whoops, we were wrong, let's try another tack."  As for Politicians admitting they were wrong. Don't get us started on that. That's about it, Ciao for now.

The Subconscious Mind.

Let's talk about your subconscious mind. You may not know it, but it's way ahead of you. While you are sitting here and consciously reading this your subconscious mind is hard a work. It is regulating your body temperature, helping you keep your balance. Moving your body before you have to think about it. (For example. Do you remember thinking about sitting down at the keyboard. Do you decide when and how to move your arms or legs when getting a glass of milk or a cup of coffee. Your subconscious mind has that all figured out for you, long before you make any effort to move at all. Studies have shown that the subconscious mind may be aware of things long before your conscious mind has any inkling what is going on. Did you ever have a time when you knew something was wrong, just before something catastrophic happened to you. Many people report feeling a sense of  HEY WAIT SOMETHING IS WRONG just before being mugged or getting in an accident. Scientists now believe that the subconscious mind may have been aware of things leading up to those events that the thinking brain was simply unaware of. Have you ever heard of a savant? Although rare there have been enough savants found to prove that some people do indeed have extraordinary abilities that far surpass the norm. In many cases the person with the ability is autistic yet shows a flair for music or math. The case of Blind Tom Wiggins is one example. You can read about him HERE>.  Some Neurologists are beginning to understand the brain functions that cause these incredible savants. (And one scientist believes he can make anyone such a savant.) A person who could tap into their subconscious mind would have faster reflexes, be more creative, and generally be more intelligent. Is autism a stepping stone in the evolution of man? Will our great grandchildren be intuitive creative geniuses? Can we bridge the gap between our conscious and subconscious minds? Imagine the possibilities. Oh for those of you who are interested here is a link to John Davis performing "The Rainstorm" that Blind Tom Wiggens wrote at the age of  five. Just a quick note to give you something to think about. Ciao for now.

Ok, it's time to straighten out a few things. Someone recently mentioned to us that Evolution is not yet proven, and the statement they used was "why do the call it the theory of evolution?" We hear that a lot, and we at The Crazy think it's time to set things straight. For example the word "theory" being used to describe something. We wonder... when someone studies music theory at a university, does the word theory mean that music isn't proven yet? Are musicians someday going to find the perfect chord that proves the muse exists? Any school boy can tell you the evolution is proven. And there are many recent examples of evolutionary changes taking place. For example in the early nineteenth century in Britain , the industrial age began, smoke and soot began to cover everything in sight. There were white moths that thrived in that area (peppered moths) that began to suffer as they were devoured by birds and bats and other insects. Why? Because they stood out against the soot covered trees and foliage and streets. After a short span of time the white moth began to disappear, being replaced by black ones. Scientists were not surprised to find that the black moths were in fact the same peppered moth, nature had just selected the darker ones for survival as they could more easily blend into the background. Since the industrial age has ended in Britain, and the skies and trees and rooftops have become clean again, can you guess what has happened? That's right, the white moth has begun to thrive once again. This is evolution and natural selection at it's most basic form. Ask yourself a few questions and you will see evolution is changing everything around you. For example did you know that peoples fingers are longer than they used to be? It's true. As we have evolved our hands have become more dextrous,  we have manufactured many items and designed them for ease of use. And we have been using many of them (handtools for example) for thousands of years. The typewriter on the other hand has only been around since about 1860 (the first patent of a practical typewriter) what will happen to our hands after a thousand years of using keypads and keyboards. Or will we invent something (as Dr Kurtzwieller has done) to free our hands and simply use our voices to enter key commands. Will evolution speed up as we use computers to enhance our abilities? One of the things we at The Crazy worry about are the ramifications of instant access to knowledge. We rely on the internet more and more for our information. Bookstores are closing across the country. What happens if the Ipods and Computers (and by that process the internet itself) go dead?  What if a massive EMP were to wipe out all electronics on earth. Would we still maintain civilization as we know it? What changes would have to take place? Something to ponder as you go about your day. Stop and think once in a while, if you were trying to do the same task you are now, but it was a thousand years ago, could it be done. Typing this blog for example. If we were trying to mass produce this information a thousand years ago, we would have to rewrite it again, and again, and again. Or hire scribes to do so. It wasn't until the fifteenth century that typesetting was invented. Although some civilizations did learn to carve woodblocks to use as a primitive type setter. It's strange to think that the information we have put on this page could potentially reach millions of people. When Martin Luther produced his 95 Thesis in 1518 he was capable of reproducing thousands of copies, potentially reaching clearly less people, and look what he accomplished. (Contrary to what you may have read, Martin Luther probably didn't post on the church door.) We are not comparing ourselves to Martin Luther. Just making a point.  That's about it, something for you to think about, ciao for now.

Oops...

In our July 20th post we mentioned that the Aurora Theater killer's mother made a statement about "You've got the right person." when discussing her son. Everyone, including us, misinterpreted that to mean she was saying she knew her son was capable of committing such a heinous act. She was actually responding to the newspaper person who was calling telling them that yes indeed they had reached who they were trying to reach. The story was misquoted in the press. And they should have known better. And so should we. Whoever made the call to her at five A.M. was was out of line.  When they made the call they were trying to verify if this was the family of James Holmes. We wonder how many other families were awakened at that time of the morning by an overzealous news reporter looking for an exclusive. The Holmes family has come forth and said they will stand by their son. As they should, this must be the hardest thing that they have ever faced. Everything seems to point to Holmes as having a normal upbringing, they certainly had no inkling that he would lash out in this fashion. It is our hope here at The Crazy that the family somehow avoids the invasion of their lives that is to follow. We know how unlikely that is. But it's important that people remember that James Holmes mother, and father are as saddened and as horrified by these events as anyone. And they may eventually watch their son be put to death. Here at The Crazy, we hope we learn from our mistake. We will try anyway. The mother of James Holmes will never read this, but we apologize. And to the few people who read this blog (the incredibly small and miniscule number of you.) we apologize also. We'll try to do better. Really. Ciao for now.

On good and evil...

What is Evil? Does evil exist outside of human action. We certainly could call Aurora killer evil. But what if he was incapable of stopping himself, if he is insane, is he still evil? Carl Jung said "None of us stands outside of humanities black collective shadow." Meaning that the history of man is filled with evil. And we all share the blame for it. Buddha said "By oneself, indeed, is evil done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself, indeed, is one purified. Purity and impurity depend on oneself. No one purifies another." Once as a child I spent an afternoon with a slingshot out in the desert, turning over bushes and boards and killing the mice that went scurrying away. I remember doing it for an hour of so before it began to sicken me. At first I enjoyed it, but I began to understand that somehow it was wrong. That even though these were vermin, I should not be treating them this way. Do these killers feel like I did when I began killing the mice? Had my upbringing been filled with hate and anger would I have been capable of such an act. I think not. I think a lot about good and evil, and feel that in some ways they don't really exist. It is the actions of people that define those terms. For example we would all call Hitler evil. (Most of us anyway.) But of all the people he killed it can be guaranteed that at least one of them was a serial killer, or some sort of psycho. Does he get a pass for that one. In the moment that his actions destroyed another evil, was he for a moment good? Or do you weigh evil on a scale, (well I did steal that candy from a baby, but I've helped thousands of old people across the street.) Some people seem to spend their lives trying to balance their soul, we all have done things we are ashamed of. But how many of us would call ourselves evil? Certainly Hitler didn't think of himself as evil? Nor Mussolini or Pol Pot. Charles Whitman (see Texas tower killer) when he killed his mother and ex-wife wrote that he was trying to protect them from a life without him. He then went on a shooting rampage that killed another 12 people. He was aware that his actions were wrong. He even wrote in a letter that he wished to be autopsied to see what caused him to do the things he did. (Surprisingly a tumor was found which Doctors said could have easily affected his ability to control his actions and emotions.) Was he Evil?  How about good, did Mother Theresa ever get really pissed off?  It is certain she had many doubts. The many horrors she saw in her life caused her to wonder if God existed at all. (Her private letters often spoke of this doubt. " What do I labor for?" she asked in one letter. "If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true."  She stopped praying before her death, but still traveled when she could to care for the sick and needy. So despite having strong doubts in her belief she still tried to stop the suffering around her. Does that make her good? Most of us in our day to day existence don't have time to think of good or evil, is cutting someone off in traffic because you are in a hurry, evil? No? What if by cutting them off you cause an accident that inures or kills someone. Then is it evil? Does it require intent to make it evil? (Wow I was accidentally good all day long.) Well, I hope these questions don't annoy you. But if they do, remember they are just opinions. No need to get evil about it. Ciao for now.

You are safe... No really..

An obviously insane young man went into a movie theater showing the premiere of  the most recent Batman movie last night and opened fire with some sort of gas grenades (smoke bombs perhaps as no one complained of breathing problems) a hand gun and a possible semi-automatic weapon. He was caught hiding in the parking lot and surrendered without a fight. CNN news had pretty straight coverage of the story and the comments section had many appropriate condolence statements. When we read the same news stories on The Blaze website the coverage was similar, although they still did not have the name of the suspect where CNN had already released it. The comment section of The Blaze however was a shocking display of hate speech and blame placing. The paranoids were out in full force with many comments about how the killer must be Muslim, how Obama will use this as a way to take away our guns, and one comment actually stated that the killings were planned by the liberals as a first step in taking away our guns. Meanwhile 12 people are dead in Colorado. And a 24 year old man (an obviously deranged person) will either be put to death or spend the rest of his life in prison. What motivation this person had is really unimportant. His politics are also equally unimportant. Killing people peacefully attending a family film (PG 13 Rating) is most definitely not the act of a sane person. So whatever his motivations may be are also tainted with insanity. Sadly extremists from both sides of the aisle will try to use this as a sounding board to place blame. But the blame rests solely in the heart and hands of  a troubled young man from Colorado. We hope that the families of those killed will be able to mourn in peace (although we doubt it.) those of you who pray, please do so. For the rest of us, if you plan on attending that movie tonight, be assured that most communities will place a squad car and an officer at each showing in the event some other deranged person becomes agitated enough by the event to act on their own crazed impulses. Also remember that although this event has brought international focus. What actually happened was that in an entire world of people attending this movie (It broke attendance and profit records.) One single person, one troubled deranged young man, committed a horrible act of violence. Sad, and terrible, yes. But remember that millions of other people attended and did no harm. And millions more will probably attend tonight throughout the world. And do no harm. Of course no one can guarantee your safety. But we at The Crazy think the odds are pretty much in your favor. Ciao for now.

What Mayan prophecy?

It's 2012, and there have been innumerable books, news articles, web pages, and post it notes about the Mayan calendar and the end times. We thought we should set a few things straight. First of all, there is no Mayan prophecy of the end times. No. Not one. The Mayans simply built a calendar and let it end at the natural time it would. (Much as the Gregorian calendar we currently use ends on Dec 31st, every year.) The Mayans if they could have predicted things, might have predicted the fall of their civilization. But they didn't. And although there is a population of Mayans who still speak the old language, and actually live much like their ancestors did, the Mayan culture that built the great cities of Palenque and Tikal has long since vanished. You will notice if you bother to look that none of the books, or web pages or post it notes were written by Mayans. What about the alignment of planets that will mean the end of our civilization you may ask? Are you talking about the alignment of planets that describes us lining up with the galactic center and causing a gravity overload that will send Venus or Mars or some other space body hurling into Earth? The same alignment that happens every year in December and has throughout recorded history? Sure it does happen, astrologically. (Note the italics) Due to the Earths wobble as it spins every year we bob and weave in and out of the astrological houses first put forth by the ancient Greeks. But Astronomically it's simply not happening. The Earth is actually not on the galactic plane. As a matter of fact if the Milky Way were a plate hurling through space. (An incredibly huge plate mind you. An immensely large plate billions and billions of miles across.) The Earth wouldn't even be on it. Nor would the sun. Nor any of the other planets. Because our solar system has been flung off the plate and are heading upward away from it. We are traveling upwards away from the galactic plane (or the galactic plate in this case) at about 5 miles a second. We are actually about 5 light years (or 2.93924991 X 10 to the 13th power miles) above the galactic plane. And this is actually good news. Because the Milky way galactic plate is a mess. It's got bits spinning about in it that would destroy our solar system in a second. So the farther we get from it, the calmer and quieter space will be.  (It's probably why life has survived on this planet as long as it has. We live in a very peaceful neighborhood of space.) So the next time you read an article about how we are aligned with the galactic center. Remember that person is quoting you astrology, an ancient method used by early primitive men to describe the night sky in ways they could understand it. (And all based on the wobble of the Earth as compared to those skies.) But an astronomer will tell you what is really going on. The universe is a strange and wonderful place. And we at The Crazy find it more amazing the more we study it. That's about it. Ciao for now.

Not always the good guys.

A little history for you. On March 1st, 1954 the United States Government tested the first dry fuel hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. (Annexed from Japan in World War II.) Unfortunately for some Japanese fisherman scientists badly underestimated the size of the resulting blast. A Japanese fishing boat the Diago Fukuryu Maru was exposed to the fallout, (men on the boat were using their hands to pick up the calcined coral which fell  like snow on the boat.) Their Chief radio operator Mr. Aikichi Kuboyama lingered for seven months before dying on September 23, 1954. He said "I pray I am the last victim of a hydrogen or atomic bomb."  Sadly he wasn't the last to die from exposure to Hydrogen bombs. Cancer levels in the Bikini Islands are higher than anywhere but Chernobyl. The islanders began moving back onto the Bikini Atoll and surrounding areas in the 1970's. But were moved off again in in September of 1978 when it was found that radiation levels were far higher than previously thought. On March 5th 2001 the Nuclear Claims Tribunal awarded the Bikini Islanders 563 million dollars in reparations for the loss of value of and restoration costs of their homes. Also for suffering and hardship. Unfortunately no one has the money to pay them. It is now up to the people of Bikini Island (who are now living spread out over the other Marshall Islands) to petition the U.S. Congress for the money. It is doubtful that any of the people who lived on the Island during the blast will ever see that compensation. If you ever watch the movie Godzilla (the 1954 Japanese version) it starts with the boat Diago Fukuryu Maru being attacked by Godzilla, and the radio operator being the first to die. A direct reference to the incident. It could explain some of the popularity of the movie. Anyway, a little history for you. That's about it. Ciao for now.

What time is it?

Somebody recently asked us if time exists. They weren't talking about 'clock' time. They were talking about natural time. Is there any proof that time as a dimension of space/time, as the engine behind entropy, as the harbinger of  life and death and everything in between actually exists? Some would say that time exists simply because we cannot go back and relive the past (except perhaps as a memory, which isn't quite the same is it?) Others would say time exists because of cause and effect. The cup does not break and then fall off the table.  Time travel is possible, or at least communication through time. Why? Because you are reading this AFTER it was written. So in essence we are communicating with you from the past. It is a hot Sunday afternoon here in the past. We hope it's cooler where you are reading this. Scientists have believed time exists since Einstein postulated about traveling faster than the speed of light. (Which he believed to be impossible.) Extremely accurate atomic clocks have been placed on the space shuttle and have proven his theory about time dilation. The faster you move the slower time moves. It's proven. Are there any practical applications that this idea could be used for? Possibly in communications. Scientist have experimented with a process know as Quantum entanglement. And have proven that instant communication would not only be possible. It could be used to communicate instantly across vast regions of space. The technology requirements for this process are expensive (it requires a nuclear accelerator) but the theory is sound. Somebody once communicated to this writer from the past, they wrote on a bathroom wall, "Time is natures way of keeping everything from happening at once." and someone wrote later in marker, "Space is natures way of keeping it from happening in the same place." Both true statements. Imagine for a moment if you left some sort of trail behind you as you moved from place to place. And everyone could see the paths you have taken in your life. If time travel were possible, could a person cross that path and talk to you from your future. (It helps if you think of the moment of your birth, and then your existence in time as a long pink worm tapered at the beginning of your life, and slowly growing larger.) When you think of it this way, where you are now is as far as the worm would go. Therefore future time travel would seem unlikely, if not impossible. Some of us here at The Crazy do believe that time travel is impossible, simply because if it were, even in the future, than there would be people popping in and out of our time to view important events. (Didn't see lots of futuristic looking tourists standing around taking pictures of the 9/11 attacks did we?) We have often thought about time travel. If you could travel through time, where would you go? Back to see if the Biblical Christ actually existed, and did he die on the cross? Was there only one shooter that day in Dallas when JFK was shot? What would happen if you killed Hitler before the Beer Hall Putsch? If time travel were possible could we change the future? Or would we just create multiple futures as some people theorize. These are questions we may never answer. But it's interesting to think about them though isn't it? That's it for now. (oops "now" has become "then" before we could even type it down.) See you in the future. Ciao for now.

Coming soon to a funeral home near you!

Today we're going to talk about death. We know, touchy subject. Most of us spend our lives trying NOT to think about death. But it is inevitable. There is no escaping it. (Unless of course you are a Turritopsis nutricula, an immortal jellyfish. But that is for another posting.) If you are reading this, you are going to die. (Hopefully not as the result of this reading, we hope our writing isn't that bad.) Oh... also if you are dead and you are reading this, please contact us. We would be very interested in hearing about that! Specifically we are going to discuss near death experiences. Most of us have heard the stories, the tunnel, the bright light. The friends or relatives or sometimes the mysterious voice telling you, "you have to go back." The commonality of these experiences has led to all sorts of discussions. Some people think it's the door to heaven, others think it's a re living of the birth experience, you know, the tunnel being the exit from the womb, the bright light being the hospital birthing room. And that makes sense, except for the problem of culture. It seems that people with different cultural and religious backgrounds have completely different near death experiences. The Japanese people for example often see water, and remember wading in a river (one man was walking on his hands across the river.) Indian (the Hindu kind, not the native americans) Near death experiences are strange, but similar to each other. For example one man explained his near death experience as being dragged before the Hindu God of the dead, where the God told the men who had brought him that they had brought the wrong man and sent him back to life.  In another case the man was dragged before God and when he tried to resist they cut off his legs. After the God realized he had the wrong man they showed him some legs and he correctly picked his own, they then returned him to life. In many cases of Hindi near death experiences it seems that the people who run the afterlife have brought the wrong person. (Perhaps the denizens of the Indian afterlife should outsource their personnel department to another country.) Hindi near death experiences differ in another way also. It seems that the Indian people don't view their body as they are leaving it. (Which is common in western near death experiences) Native Americans who have near death experiences generally are visited by men who tell them "your grandfathers wish to talk with you." and they are taken to a place (sometimes on horseback) where old men are seated. One man described them as "older than the stars." There have only been a few recorded Native American near death experiences, but enough to see that clearly the culture and religious belief of the individual seems to be the key to what the experience is like. Atheist near death experiences run the gamut from experiencing a biblical hell to transcending and spiritually exploring the universe. Some atheists have met God in their near death experience and come back as religious converts. One atheist, Carl Jung (the father of analytical psychology) came back from his near death experience because the spiritual form of his Doctor came and told him he must return. Interestingly his Doctor was bedridden the same day the Carl Jung was first able to sit up in bed. The Doctor died of septicernia shortly after. Dr Yung describes seeing the Earth from space, and preparing to enter a chamber where all would have been revealed to him when his Doctor spiritually appeared and told him he had no right to leave the earth and must return. It should also be noted that Test Pilots when subjected to high centrifugal force (or intense zero G maneuvers in jets planes) have recorded having out of body experiences where they see themselves as if from above. So what do we learn from all of this. Well for one thing the theory that near death experiences are the result of physiological rememberance of the birth experience seems to be wrong. After all, Hindu's, American Indians, and the Japanese all have near death experiences completely unlike the type western individuals have. And yet they come into the world in the same way.  So... does your personal belief system have an effect on what sort of afterlife you experience? If one believed in reincarnation would you come back into another body? If you are an extremist Muslim would you awaken in paradise with 72 virgins attending to your needs? (notice we said "extremist" most Muslims don't believe this version of  things. Also do female Muslims get 72 male virgins? Just wondering.) Anyway we hope we have given you something to think about.  If you are interested in reading about some of the near death experiences go here. We must warn you however that this site makes presumptions based on personal opinion. But it does have some interesting near death experiences listed. That's about it. Ciao for now.

To error is human.

Just a quick note to mention that we were wrong. I know, we can't believe it either. But in one of our  recent blog posts we mentioned that there is no evidence Mars is warming.  Unfortunately for us one of the two people who read this blog pointed out that there is some evidence that Mars is indeed warming. Citing recent evidence that the Mars ice caps are melting. (Actually evaporating as it's believed they are primarily dry ice.) And in reviewing the evidence, we have to agree with him. (Damn it) So Mars might be going through a warming cycle. But again, no evidence it's caused by the sun.  Also, we are not saying that global warming on earth is caused by man. (Although we do believe that it is folly to think that 6.8 billion or so people living on earth don't have some sort of effect.) But we have to insist that saying the other planets in the solar system are warming is balderdash. (like that word, balderdash) Again if you are reading the blog and we make a statement you know to be wrong. Comment on it. If your argument is valid, and you can change our minds, we aren't too proud to admit our errors. (Sure there will be much gnashing of teeth, and possibly name calling. After all we have our egos to consider.) That's about it. Ciao for now.

No solicitors...

(A quick point to make here, we in no way believe that the message conveyed to us by the Door to Door religious salesman represents the views of  the Biblical Jesus Christ. We are not in this post declaring our belief or disbelief in the trinity or any deity for that matter. We are just making a point about our view of the world. And the tactics of some religious organizations... which shall remain nameless)

It started with a couple of pamphlets in our front door, we found them one morning as we were going to an appointment. A few weeks later we received a postcard with his picture on it, telling us the end was coming. Asking how we would face eternity. These are not implied threats, they are clear cut out and out predictions of our imminent death. That's right, Jesus Christ is stalking us. Telling us that all the signs are there and we are surely going to die. (One of the pamphlets had the nerve to ask us to send money.) The other day a man  came to the door and told us the world is fast devolving into chaos. We tried to explain that there is no more chaos in the world than there has always been, that 24 hour news stations spouting all the bad news everyday just made it seem like there was more. How actually there are less wars now than in half of human history. How diseases that wiped out entire cultures have been eradicated, how crime rates are actually falling in most major cities. But he would have none of it. He mentioned the recent major earthquakes. The terrorist activity. We pointed out that there are over 600.000 measurable earthquakes every year. About 134 of them averaging 6.0 to 6.9. We pointed out that there have always been terrorists, the Christians of the middle ages for example trying to drive the Muslims out of Jerusalem committed atrocious acts of barbarism. We tried to explain how we live in a wonderful time, humankind is perched on the edge of great changes, some of the keys to aging are being found, we may have found ways to increase food production ten fold and wipe hunger from the face of the planet. Free energy for everyone is a real possibility. We are on the threshold of deep space exploration. Major discoveries are being made at the subatomic level that will change our lives forever. We explained how in the last hundred years humans have begun to completely change the industrial dynamic, information and communication are beginning to become the primary industry in many countries. We hope that he left our door with a new understanding of the world we live in. But sadly we doubt it. We can't speak for Jesus Christ, but one would think that a man who spread a message of love to the world would be offended by people trying to sell him door to door like a vacuum cleaner. Just a thought. We could be wrong. Ciao for now.

People actually read this!?!

Someone anonymously responded to one of our blogs with the information that the solar system is heating up. And therefore global warming is not man made. We can't answer here as to global warming being man made. (We think the jury is still out on that one.) But we can clearly point out that there is no empirical evidence the solar system is heating up. First of all NASA data clearly shows the sun to be in a cooling trend in the last three decades. As for the other planets, let's take them one at a time shall we? We'll ignore Mercury as it's simply too hot and too close to the sun to get accurate temperature readings. We'll skip over Earth as we all know the arguments on that one pretty clearly. So next is Venus which is currently under a run away greenhouse effect, so it would be simply impossible to prove or disprove any outside influence is having an effect on that planet, so, on to Mars. The Warming deniers are telling us Mars is heating up. They base this on the fact that temperature readings were taken in 1977 and again in 1999. Two readings on a planet that has little atmosphere, dust storms that sometimes engulf the entire planet (raising the temperature at times by 30 degrees centigrade.) and an atmosphere of 95% carbon dioxide. So what the Global Warming Deniers have done is base the belief that Mars is warming on two days of weather, and not decades of weather data. Sorry not good enough. Ok on to Jupiter there is no evidence of Jupiter warming. None. Zero. As a matter of fact we haven't observed Jupiters temperature long enough to be sure of  anything other than the fact that the storms on Jupiter raise the temperature at the equator and cool the temperature at the poles. Ok on to Saturn which takes 29.7 Earth years to orbit the sun. Which means that we have been observing Saturn for two (count em 2) seasons.  How can we possibly discern long term temperature patterns based on two summers. Sorry, not good enough. And that same argument could hold true for Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Ok Uranus has a year of 84 Earth years, Neptune 164 Earth years. How in the hell can we possibly get warming trends on a planet that's been in one season for as long as we have been aware of it's existence. Maybe this will make the deniers feel better. Pluto is warming. That's right, a planet that gets about 900 times less sunlight than Earth has shown in the last year or so a slight temperature increase. Of course since we have only observed Pluto for the equivalent of about three weeks out of a season on Earth we might be a little presumptuous to assume the sun is causing it. Especially since the sun is in a cooling trend. Anyway that's about it, Ciao for now.

If you are left handed, reverse this.

Although we posted recently we stumbled across a little psychological study that we found intriguing and thought we would share with you. While you are reading this we would like to point out that you may not be alone. Perhaps someone else is reading this also, someone sitting right there with you. Actually someone sitting in your exact spot and looking through your eyes. In 1908 a woman was brought to a psychologist because she had a problem, it seemed her left hand had a nasty temper, and a murderous nature. It would try to strangle her during the night. Normally she was a quiet woman of even temper, but when she slept, and sometimes when she was awake her left hand would suddenly lash out and attack people, seemingly at random. Many people of the time believed her hand had become possessed by the devil. The Doctor could find nothing wrong with the woman, and although she had recently had a stroke she seemed to be fully recovered. It wasn't until years later, when she had died of natural causes that the Doctor removed her brain and found that the stroke had damaged her corpus callosum (The area between the two halves of the human brain.) Unfortunately there was no way to prove that it was that injury which caused her hand to seemingly have a mind of it's own.  It wasn't until 1972 that Doctors were able to verify that yes "Alien hand syndrome." does exist. What makes the illness (if that's what you can call it) so strange is that the hand doesn't just randomly move, it seems to have intent. One mans hand insisted on grabbing his collar and shaking him awake in the middle of the night. (It wasn't until he put an oven mitt on it while he slept that the hand stopped.) In one case if food was present at the table the man's hand would attempt to feed him. (Another mans hand attempted to masturbate, no matter where the man was at the time.) The reasons for alien hand syndrome (some people are calling it Doctor Strangelove Syndrome, anyone who has seen the movie should be able to figure out why.) are clear, a separation or damage of the corpus callosum, unfortunately that doesn't explain why the hand has a mind of it's own. Although people who have brain damage in other areas of the brain can have problems with hands acting on their own, it seems only the separation of the lobes of the brain causes clear seemingly conscious action by the left hand. And that is a puzzle, is there a separate distinct personality in each lobe of the brain? Is this why some people are unable to control their baser instincts? Are we ALL schizophrenic? That's about it for now. Keep an eye on your hands. (Especially that left one, it can be a sneaky little thing) Ciao for now.

George Washington died here!

It's been a week since we posted here. And to be honest we are having a tough time finding anything interesting (or at least different) to post about. We have been reading a lot of news on the right wing rag The Blaze (we won't put a link to yellow journalism sites like that one) but gotta say it disappoints us daily with extreme views and downright lies about our current President. Of course like all news stories there will be some truth thrown in to just to confuse us. It amazes us how vitriolic politicians are getting these days. Although to be honest there have always been lies rumors and mud slinging in politics, And President Washington was happy to leave office, as his statement to John Adams clearly points out. "Ay, I am fairly out and you fairly in! See, which of us will be happiest!"  It would have been interesting to see what Washington would have had to say about those who took office after him, but within three years he was dead of what historians called a throat infection. (Although he might have lived longer if three separate doctors were not called in, each of them doing a bloodletting, with estimates that about three pints were taken.) George Washington knew he was dying, telling his Doctors and aides "I feel myself going, I thank you for your attention but I pray you take no more trouble about me, let me go off quietly, I cannot last long." His last words were "Tis Well." And he attempted to take his own pulse by moving his hand to his wrist. It slid off and he was dead.  We find it interesting that George Washington who some believe was a devoutly religious man had very little to say about such things during his final hours.  You can read more about it at http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/project/exhibit/mourning/scene.html if you are interested. That's about it for today, hope you all have a good weekend, ciao for now.

A little nostolgia goes a long way.

The Drive in will never die!
This is a Link to an article about the drive in theater. Yesterday was the anniversary of the first drive in which began showing movies79 years ago. All of us here at the Crazy love the drive in. But can't remember the last time we went to one. The nearest open one is called the Moonlight Outdoor Theater, in Shawano Wisconsin. We are very tempted, (Not just tempted mind you, but VERY tempted) to attend. But of course we would have to rent a motel room, and spend the gas to get there which would make the normally eighteen dollar fee a bit high for an evening at the theater. But still... tempted.  In the article it states that people are setting up Gorilla Drive ins. Just projecting onto any large surface and showing the movie. Again, sounds like fun. (Illegal probably, but fun.) We don't know why we loved the drive in so much, maybe it was because we could drink while we were there. And we never had a designated driver, those were different times folks.  Also there was the fact you could sneak a few people in inside your trunk. (Although our Plymouth Duster had a fold down back seat that made it easy to get people out without having to go out and open the trunk.) And of course there was the privacy. Or the illusion of it anyway. You could do things in your car you would never think of doing at a walk in theater. (Especially if you had tinted windows.) It was FUN going to a drive in. Sure sometimes it would rain and they would cancel the show. (If it rained hard enough.) Although if the rain was light, the show would go on. Sometimes the speaker you picked didn't work and you had to move from spot to spot until you found one that worked. We remember the Marquette drive in theater (or was it called the Negaunee Drive in Theater.) switched over to AM transmission not long before they closed, so you would just tune your radio to the stations broadcast frequency and enjoy. (We don't remember what the station number was though, does anybody else?) We also remember having an old style window speaker lying around, as we had accidentally driven off and left it in our window. (How often did that happen, we wonder?)  There used to be a television show with a guy named Joe Bob Briggs, his closing quote used to be "The Drive in will never die!" which we sort of hope is true. Joe Bob has a website Joe Bob Briggs, drive in move critic. But he doesn't list drive in movie theaters anymore. And his stuff has gone decidedly political. Such a waste. (Yes we understand we also get political from time to time. But we try not to let it override our purposes for this blog. Whatever they are.) Anyway we thought we would wax nostalgic for a bit, and that is what we have done. We hope it didn't cause any of you to nod off and frighten yourself by snoring yourself awake. That's about it for today, ciao for now.

Good news for liars.

In an attempt to find anything interesting to post here, we spent hours and hours (well, maybe one hour) reading news stories and literature to find something to write about. And stumbled across an article about strategic lying. For example a group of golfers were given a putter to use while playing, they were told that it had once belonged to Professional Golfer Ben Curtis. The same club was given to other players who were not told anything special about it. The golfers who thought the club had been owned by the famous golfer putted better than the ones who thought it was 'just a normal club'. In a similar experiment Bicycle riders were pitted against a computer avatar which they were told had been recorded at their top speed on a certain course. When those same riders went up against themselves they matched the speed of the avatars. But what would have surprised them is that the avatars had been sped up by 2%.  So this would be an effective coaching tool. Obviously lying can be good right?  Ciao for now.

Back at it again... No really!

     It's been a little over a year since we posted here at the crazy, we posted a few more things over at Crazysaidwhat.com, but found that web page designer too much like work. Also we seem to no longer have an account there, not sure why. What we like about posting here is it's a simple type and enter format which works well for our feeble minds. Anyway, we are going to begin posting again. My Wolfie (you know, my wife, Lisa) pointed out that I seemed to be a little happier when I was able to vent my frustrations into word form for other poor bastards (or basterdettes?!?) to read. So be it. Anyway the last post here was May 27th, 2011. It is now Jun 2, 2012. So a lot has happened in the world. But really it all comes down to the same old, same old. Republicans hate Democrats, and vice versa, Liberals don't much like Conservatives, and vice versa. Recently in the news a naked man attacked another man and began chewing his face off, so the zombie apocalypse seems to be on the way. (Or it may have been the Bath Salts the crazy naked cannibal was using.) There is a lot of vicious spewing of overblown ideas in the press, everybody has an opinion and by God, if you don't agree with them you are some sort of communist, marxist, dirty hippy loving fool. So politics hasn't changed one whit from the days of George Washington, on through Abraham Lincoln. Politicians still throw a lot of feces at each other just to see what sticks (like zoo monkeys recently captured from the wild,) a lot of rhetoric, and not much else. Our wish at The Crazy is to post ideas, interesting and strange bits of news etc. Dotted occasionally by bits about Politics and Religion, and any other flotsam that our culture belches out into the world. Again, we don't wish to offend anyone. But we will occasionally. We don't wish to insult anyone. But we will occasionally. Communication isn't black and white. Any person commenting on any subject will inject a little of themselves into the mix, that's what makes life interesting. So if we do say something that offends you, please comment on the post. We promise to read it, and who knows you might change our minds about some things. (Although most of us here at The Crazy are old and crochety and liable to be a bit set in our ways.) Anyway, we will begin trying to post once a week again. Don't abandon us. We won't abandon you. Ciao for now.