Ego Vero Seek and you shall find... Ask and the door shall be opened - page 12

The headline of this story at NBC.com is “Stephen Hawking Fears Higgs Boson Doomsday and He’s Not Alone“.  I have no idea what that actually means, but if Stephen Hawking fears it then so do I.  I guess that’s why he’s not alone.  Here is an article that explains what the Higgs Boson Doomsday is.  Let me see if I can get this straight – because the Higgs Boson, the energy field of which is the source of mass for everything in the universe, is estimated to be just the right mass in itself to cause the potential instability of said universe, there is a theoretical possibility that said universe might become unstable and instantaneously cease to exist.  Yeah.  I don’t understand it either.  But these guys do and they say it’s possible.  Ironically (!) if the mass of the Higgs Boson were different by just a few percent, we wouldn’t be doomed!  Boy did we luck out.  Nailed it on the first try.  Better go buy a lottery ticket.

But don’t worry:

“You won’t actually see it, because it will come at you at the speed of light,” Lykken said. “So in that sense don’t worry.”

Super.  We’re all gonna die instantly at any second.  But we won’t see it coming.  So don’t worry about it. Nope.  Don’t give it a second thought.

Stevie says don’t you worry ’bout a thing:

…Pretty Mama.  On second thought, forget the lottery ticket.  If I won and then the universe ended, I would have to kill myself.

How much love has been created by the union of two people?

Over 100 years ago in a country I have never been to, two people I have never met were married.  These two people, Michael Angelo and Filomena shared a love.  They had children whom they also loved, and these children grew and fell in love with others.  They in turn married and had children of their own whom they loved, a cycle that continues to this day.  After about 142 years, well over 500 descendants owe their existence to a love shared by two people.

It makes me sad that I cannot embrace my Great-grandparents, two people I never knew but to whom I owe so much.  I’m also sad not to be able to once again hug and hold my Grandparents.  I’ve tried to get a close as I can, but all there is to touch is cold marble.

The sadness I feel is a funny kind of sadness that’s mixed with a little happiness and gratitude, maybe from knowing that while you miss someone badly, they are well and happy and pleased with what has transpired in their absence.  That they are pleased the work they started continues thusly:

How much love is yet waiting it’s manifestation?  Do any of us know what will be the legacy of the love we share today with one another?  Do any of us know of a person yet unborn that may walk in a park, seeking our touch and finding only a stone to caress?  We do not know.  We can not know.  We need not know.

We need only to love each other now as best we can and all will unfold as God wills.

If you are old enough to have been self aware in 1963, you may remember this song, since it reached #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in December of that year.  It is one of a relative few US chart topping songs to be recorded in a language other than English, and as far as I know it is the only one to be written and recorded by a member of a religious order.  The artist is Jeanine Deckers, also known as Sister Luc-Gabrielle O.P., also known as The Singing Nun.  Deckers was a Nun in the Order of Preachers (O.P.), more commonly known as The Dominicans since the order was founded in the year 1217 by Saint Dominic.

The song “Dominique” is, unsurprisingly, a ballad about Saint Dominic:

The song was so popular that a movie starring Debbie Reynolds as Sister Luc-Gabrielle was made in 1965, though the subject of the film herself dismissed it as “fiction”.  Here from the film is Reynolds in character as “Sister Anne” (Hollywood changed the title character’s name) performing  a version of the song in English.  Note: the English lyrics sung in the movie are not a translation of the original song’s lyrics, rather a version composed for the movie.  Follow this link to see the English translation of the original song (along with the original lyrics in French).

In 1965, Deckers left the Convent, though remained a Lay Member of the Dominican Order.  Apparently her first love was music, as she made several unsuccessful attempts at continuing her musical career.  These efforts were hampered by the fact that the recording company owned not only the rights to the song, but also the rights to the names “The Singing Nun”  and “Sister Smile” (which was another name she was known by) and refused her permission to record under those names.  Now suffering from lack of promotion and name recognition, her subsequent recordings were commercial failures.  In addition to that, the Belgian Government claimed she owed $63,000 in back taxes on royalties from the song.  On a note of black irony, she committed suicide in 1985 and her suicide note cited this ongoing financial strife as one of the reasons for her taking her own life.

Final note: Saint Dominic (1170-1221) is credited with promoting the Catholic Devotion of The Rosary.  He is also the Patron Saint of Astronomers.

With the exception of my (future)  Manhattan Project BarBot, maker of the “Perfect” Manhattan.  I’m gonna love that guy…err…thing.

“perfect”

But I digress.  I’ve written a few posts about my skepticism of Robotic Technology, referring (somewhat) tongue-in-cheek to the coming Robot Revolution.  I’ve also written a few posts about the differences between humans and animals, and now there’s information about a similarity that humans and chimpanzees share.  And it’s why I say “never trust a chimp”.  Turns out that Chimpanzees are natural born killers, and they prefer mob violence.  Apparently this is not new information to researchers, you just don’t hear about it because no one wants to think of cute little animals as potential murderers.  That’s right, I said murderers.  Chimps don’t kill for food.  They kill each other.  Just like us.  Isn’t that sweet?

Of course, we can only guess at the motives because chimps haven’t mastered language – yet.  So it’s going to be Robots or Chimps.  We’re screwed either way.

Here’s one Robot I’m not afraid of:

The peeing Cherubs are a nice touch.

First they gave us “Dutch Wives”.

Now they give us this:

I haven’t made a burger that looked like that since The Great Patio Conflagration of Ought Twelve.  Nobody wanted to eat them then.  Now people are paying $7 for them in Japan.

It’s not burnt – it just looks that way.  The flat black finish does make it look fast, though.  And FYI I do think about more than sex and food.

AP:  Marijuana Industry Battling Stoner Stereotypes

Recreational marijuana use having been recently legalized in Colorado, the Marijuana Industry (AP’s language) is looking for ways to increase sales.  I wrote about this in an April 22nd, 2014 post at The Men Out Of Work Blog: Marketing Marijuana In Colorado…

Though the law has changed, the cultural battle lines are the same.  Opponents still argue that marijuana use has risks, especially for youths.  Proponents object to the use of stereotypes in campaigns that warn of potential risks.  And one thing is for certain – the marijuana industry – whatever you want to call it – has the goal of increasing marijuana sales, and to do that it must minimize any stigma associated with it’s use and increase the customer base.  Translation:  get more people to use pot.

I don’t think that is a good thing.

Spare me your slings and arrow for a few minutes while I explain.  The older I get, the more libertarian I get.  Notice the small “l”.  Personally, I think that if you want to smoke pot, you should be free to do so.  But now that it’s legal, it’s turned into a business.  And a business’ first and foremost goal is to grow…and grow…and grow some more.  Keep growing, year after year.  That means either the same people have to use a lot more pot, or – more likely – more people have to start using and keep using it.  And I believe that there is no upside to more people using (or abusing) a mood-altering drug.

Spare me the lecture about alcohol.  Yes, it’s legal and often abused.  That is not an argument for adding one more substance to the pallette of legally abusable substances.  Many people use alcohol responsibly.  But can you argue that there is a benefit to society if more people use alcohol, responsibly or otherwise?  Well, I guess you could argue it, but would you?  I wouldn’t.

I am not a prudish teetotaller.  I use alcohol.  I have used marijuana.  In the past, both to excess.  In hindsight I can truthfully say that I would not have misssed out on anything had I never used marijuana.  Using it had costs to me that were financial, physical and intellectual.  Had I been thinking rationally, I would have opted out.  But I did not…because I was not thinking rationally…because I was young.

The legalization of a substance, advertising it and minimizing the stigmas associated with it’s use will have an impact on the most impressionable in our society – young people.  So let’s be careful.  It’s legal, so go ahead, smoke up.  Advertise responsibly.  But let’s not pretend that there are no risks.

Most of all let’s not hide the risks from young people who are most at risk of making foolish impulsive decisions that may affect them for a lifetime.

I’m always interested in learning about what makes people tick and the reasons why we are such strange critters.  So after a discussion today about why certain people seem to like having an adversarial relationship with one another, I came across an article at TheWeek.com and now feel compelled to share.

Here’s the article: “The Science of Sex: 4 Harsh Truths About Dating and Mating”

The article is based on some “research” posted at a website called Barking Up The Wrong Tree, so the “science” may be total bullshit, but the 4 truths are generally accepted stereotypes they claim are supported by research.  Well, they’re stereotypes, so they must be true at least part of the time or they would not have become stereotypes.  I won’t go into the supporting information, you can go to the link if you want that.  I just want to cover the harsh truths.  This is after all a search for the truth no matter how harsh.  So here goes.

Harsh Truth #1: Those things we say we hate about people actually make us more attracted to them.  Based on surveys of women who were most attracted to men that they were told might like them either a lot or not very much.  They were more attacted to them than to men who they were told liked them a lot.  Related: surveys found that “playing hard to get” works.  Just don’t play “too hard to get”.  Also, Narcissistic traits make a person more attractive.

Harsh Truth #2:  Guys are pretty shallow.  Most male behavior is all about getting laid.  Guys are more likely to be attracted to women with large breasts.  Guys will go to greater lengths and expense to impress younger women.

Harsh Truth #3:  Women are no angels, either.  Women find “bad boys” more attractive, and “happiness” was found to be the least attractive emotion in a man.  Women are attracted to men of status (translation: Money).

Harsh Truth #4: Harsh truths #1 – #3 do not change over time (as we age).  They also hold true across different cultures.  Men focus on looks, women focus on status.  Even in nursing homes.

Well they may be harsh but calling them truths goes too far.  They certainly are stereotypes, but stereotypes are not absolute.  In this case, the claim of “truths” is alleged to be backed up by science.  But even that holds that the “truths” are valid only for “x” percentage of the respondents.  So they are “mostly” truths or “sometimes” truths.  Thank God.

Some of these are partially true for me, others don’t apply to me at all.  I’ll let you guess which.  So all we can glean from this is that there are a wide variety of things that motivate people in regard to physical attraction.

Oh and…*ahem*…sex.

So, as I like to say, different strokes for different folks.  Now that is a truth.  And not too harsh!

Now this:

…”Six States” initiative fails to qualify for ballot.

Well, it was fun while it lasted, but according to the California Secretary of State, insufficient valid signatures were submitted to qualify the initiative for the 2016 ballot.  The initiative would have carved California up into six separate states.  You can read this for backgound.

I opined early on that this would never come to fruition because it would upset a very large apple cart for the Democratic Party and Public Sector Labor Unions that have a stranglehold on political power in this state.  They found this baby in it’s cradle and pressed the pillow hard.  Long Live the Status Quo!

Approximately 800,000 signatures were required for the initiative to qualify – nearly 1.4 million were submitted, a seemingly sufficent margin for error.  The SOS predicted that only 66 percent of the signatures were valid based on “random sampling”.  So fully 1/3 of the submited signatures were deemed “invalid”.  I’d like to see a little more in depth reporting on this.  The sponsors of the initiative have promised a review of the invalid signatures.

I’m certain that the Secretary of State did a careful and thorough job of verification.  Certain!

Now this:

Two drummers.  Awesome.  And Mike McDonald when he was still “Salt and Pepper Lightning”.

This week featuring…The Animals!  AKA Eric Burdon and The Animals.  The original incarnation was formed in England in 1962 or 1963.  As part of the British Invasion of the early 60s they had a few hit songs and some commercial success.  In one of my earlier Music Friday posts I gave them a mention because they recorded the song “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” which was the first record that I actually owned, that didn’t belong to one of my older siblings.  Here it is – give a listen:

Probably their most successful song is a traditional folk song, written by an unknown author on an unknown date.  Recorded by the group in 1964, it’s a song that still gets a lot of airplay on oldies and classic rock stations.  Here is “The House of the Rising Sun”:

Like most of the groups that were part of the British Invasion their roots were in American Rythm and Blues, which you will hear in this number, “It’s My Life”:

What were they thinking?  I dunno – maybe you should ask them.  Most of them are still around.  Thanks for listening!