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.