Derek Currie

The Son of The Cold from Hell, Part I

2011-12-17T07:09:00.000-08:00

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Prologue About The Blog:
I haven't used this blog in over a year at this point. My thinking has been directed more toward a story series I started at about the same time I skipped out from here. Therefore, I've dropped my personal manifesto to be deep and meaningful here and am simply going to use it as a public journal. I'm not going to be meticulously editing these entries and it will show. The blog will also be more obviously maniacal because I won't be filtering it much for professional quality and I'm maniacal. It's a journal.

The Cold from Hell:
After naming this worst rendition of the common cold at least twenty years ago, I've probably had every new variant for each of those years. However, I haven't had any version of it at this point for nearly three years.

What is a cold? It is an infection of the head/throat/chest/eyes/ears by a virus and only a virus. It is just about always followed by a secondary infection by opportunistic bacteria. Typically the bacteria are already present before the viral infection. They happen to notice the ravaged cells left behind by the virus and have a picnic. Bacteria never start colds. They don't travel around with cold viruses. There is in fact no association with the cold virus except that 'cold' bacteria like to eat what's left over after the virus has ravaged you. Think of them as the ever present clean up crew, ever ready to eat to excess when the opportunity arrives. I'll obsess about our actually quite remarkable symbiosis with bacteria some other time. In the meantime, read the book 'Lives of a Cell' by my hero Lewis Thomas.

It is not an influenza virus. I've had influenza a few times and know. Instead, it is a branch off the Rhinovirus family that has gradually been obtaining the destructive abilities of actual influenza, and then some. I personally have no doubt that with time it will become a new epidemic that will inspire its own yearly inoculation shots. For want of further knowledge about it, I call it a 'pseudo-influenza' virus.

Very much like influenza, the CFH knocks you off your feet with its initial attack. For many years this 'flat out' state lasted for two full days. A few years back, one strain stretched that out by an extra day. The worst aspect of this initial onslaught is the fever. Sleeping each night resulting in me being absolutely soaked in sweat. This is of course accompanied by fairly extreme dizziness and weakness. I also find my appetite drops as well. You know the fever aspect of this cold has ended when the sweats have ended.

What makes it the cold virus 'from Hell' is that it has an extreme and determined backlash after each cycle of infection. In other words, it reinfects healed tissue in repeated onslaughts. Typically the CFH (Cold from Hell) starts in the throat then heads either up or down, to head or chest. The ears and eyes can get walloped any time in-between. There are then brief periods of the victim's recovery, almost as if cured. At that point the virus reverses course, back through the throat to the other end with a full on new onslaught. This back and forth nastiness goes on for several WEEKS. There is no counting the days with the CFH. It goes on for weeks. For years I could tick off five weeks and know it was about to finally die off. In more recent years it had broken the five year barrier to six weeks or beyond.

Again note. This is not influenza. None of the above paragraph fits influenza. Despite the far more vicious and dead attacks of influenza, there are times I almost wish I had influenza instead specifically because the CFH is so damned persistent. And nothing you do stops its persistence. You are forced to wait it out and become beyond exhausted in the process, an prolonged exhaustion that makes influenza seem almost merciful. That's why I call it 'Hell'.

The Son of The Cold from Hell
I first caught what I call 'The Son of' the CFH, on December 5, 2011 while at home in the evening. It occurred when I opened and ate dried mango out of a package from The Philippines. (No, it wasn't Listeria infected mango. Please look elsewhere on the Internet for that subject). I imagine that whoever had handled the bags and/or mango somewhere along the picking, drying and packaging process was profoundly infected with SCFH, The Son of the Cold from Hell. More likely, the initial person infected and infected everyone there en masse, resulting in the dried fruit being heavily dosed with the virus.

Please note that this is a very rugged virus that withstands a lot of outside extremes in temperature and humidity. It takes standard sterilizing techniques to kill it. It doesn't need to ride along with water droplets or land on neutral pH substrates to survive. It lives anywhere people live and breathe, and apparently eat. I didn't breathe this virus. I ate it.

Having discovered my throat as I ate this very nice dried mango, it bit in and started depositing DNA/RNA into my throat cells, turning them into SCFH factories, killing the cells in the process. The cold had begun. I first noticed this the next morning as an achy throat. I did my usual throat clean out routine and the ache dissipated. I subsequently ate more dried mango. The throat ache roared back as worse. I treated it and it receded. I ate more mango. On December 10th, the throat ache was back alongside an entirely new phenomenon in the world of the CFH, a full on attack of everywhere at once. That meant my head, my eyes, my throat and my lungs. All areas were hit together, at the same time, in equal force. Only my ears escaped the effect, thanks mainly to my method of fending off secondary bacterial infection, which is the subject of another article.

It is now December 17th, a week after the onslaught and I am just able to stay on my feet and happily walk around, alert and unencumbered with a cold attack. THAT'S A FULL WEEK of initial onslaught. That's a record for the CFH. It was easily the worst attack ever, the most painful, the most exhausting, the most demoralizing.

IMHO this throws the CFH right out of the rhinovirus family off into a family of its very own. I'm now calling it The Hell Virus. I thought maybe The Hello Virus, sort of sounding like 'Rhino' virus. But that reminded me of cute little Hello Kittie stuff. No way. Remember that sweet little aphorism that goes 'Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!" That one goes on the funeral pyre alongside all the other aphorisms celebrating simple-minded thinking. The SCFH doesn't kill you, but you wish it had because it makes you so incredibly weak. And then it comes back. Just kill me, please.

Yes, like its predecessor, The SCFH has the lash back effect. It nailed me early this morning with a relentless bout of coughing. There was nothing there to cough up by this point. Therefore, I have to assume the coughing was from the fact that The SCFH was again attacking my lung cells. Therefore, as per The CFH, I jumped back on my cough medicine as well as head medicine to stop the worst of it.

Part II of this posting will cover The Rest Of The SCFH as well as my medicine regime, for which I am extremely grateful.

BTW List:
- I always cover my mouth & nose when I cough or sneeze. I you don't, there's something wrong with you called 'SELFISHNESS'. Change your ways selfish person. I saw you not care! Why are you alive? Seriously! What is your life for if you allow yourself to be just a disease vector? Reevaluate and respect yourself. Respecting others will result.
- I take baths when I get colds, not showers. I enjoy soaking in fairly hot water. It's good for killing off the secondary bacteria and the humidity is blissful.
- I wash my hands and face all day long when I have a cold. This helps prevent myself spreading the virus all over the house. I like that. But I don't like chapped hands or nose or lips. Therefore, I also moisturize! It's a necessity. Get over the cute and feminine factor guys.
--> If you have a cold out in public and you don't wash your hands and face all day long, there's something wrong with you called 'SELFISHNESS'. See above. Get some self-respect.
--> And yes, this fits you lunatics who don't wash your hands after using the bathroom to relieve yourself. I see you just walking out after taking a dump! Selfish selfish selfish! I pity your lost world. So sad for you, so sad...

Stay healthy kids!
:-Derek
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Conceptual Dimensionality, Desperation Mode & The Marvel Of Sharing

2010-09-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

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My head is an oven. Concepts are recipes I put together, then they cook in my mind until they're done. If I like how they taste then I write them down and put them somewhere, such as here. The more one learns about cooking, continuing my metaphor, the more one realizes that cooking is not about reproducing recipes, but about playing around with the ingredients to come up with a variation on an established theme. As one gets very skilled with a group of ingredients one can create new combinations almost certainly knowing what the outcome will be because of past experience with those ingredients, resulting in a new recipe. The art of food is always evolving. The art of conceptualizing is the same.

But events, such as time limitations and a lack of certain ingredients, get in the way. A lot of what we cook up gets botched or is incomplete or is missing something or other that doesn't let it taste quite right. Shite happens. That's part of being the dirt that got up and looked around. It's a messy thing being alive. I certainly believe a lot of things happen for a reason. But sorry, not everything happens for a reason. There is just sheer chaos out in the world at times, if only due to other people's bad decisions or a slight breeze in the air stirred up by a solar flare that happens to knock a balancing rock off a cliff causing it to land on your house below. Some things happen for a reason, and that is why cooking works! You can count on so many wonderful things to happen in our world. But you can also count on the unexpected and the unexpectable (I just had to teach that word to my spell checker) to happen as well. It's the old 'expect the unexpected', which is a very handy conceptual tool in and of itself.

How wonderful that we humans are so thoughtful. I enjoy making the most of this marvelous gift. But oddly, most people don't use their gift, or don't understand how to use it, or don't know they have it.... Something is wrong with their ability to cook. Even boiling water can seem daunting, despite it being a fundamental human skill, the one that comes right after knowing how to start a fire. What would any of us do without fire, that dangerous essential of civilization?

Where I live, the USA, we've been suffering an anti-renaissance for quite some time. Some call it the inevitable decline and fall of western civilization. We used to chatter about that concept when I was in junior high school back in the late 1960s, back when there was a very good book just out about the decline and fall of the Roman civilization and lots of books trying to comprehend how Germany declined and fell into fascism/naziism, and Italy and Spain and Japan and so on. We were trying to make sense of what had become blatantly obvious at my school via our very good teachers: That there were too many people on the planet and the damage was clearly showing. I'm talking about circa 1968 when books like 'The Population Bomb' were around, written by the brilliant, if imperfect, Paul R. Ehlich.

What's new in the current 'Trivia Era', as I call it, is the emphatic and demanding demolition of intelligent conceptualization within the USA. I'll probably dare dissect the situation in some future essay. For now I'll simply say that it is a complicated and acrid soup of a mindless mutation derived from conservatism mixed with heaping spoonfuls of hypocrisy, greed, short term thinking, long term disaster, hate, abuse, propaganda, FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt), herding mentality and a last dire dangerous ingredient I call 'Desperation Mode', or 'a la mode' if you prefer.

I've been personally studying 'Desperation Mode', deliberately or not, since I was 13. Obviously it was a direct result of that previously posted dream I had back then explaining to me what was mankind's worst enemy: Deceptive 'Truth', aka my baby talk phrase 'zunipus stargo', aka unreliable imaginings or conceptualizations, aka thought cooking. It is when we humans become desperate that we have the weakest grasp on what is real versus what is imaginary. It is when we reliably go out of our freaking minds. It is mass insanity. Its ultimate form is war.

Desperation Mode is something we humans also do our best to avoid. No one wants to think about depressing things or events, unless they're a bit mental. Been there, done that, didn't like it. But there it is as a form of disorganized human thought that leads to our ultimate failings, such as what was behind the last door of my 'Hall of Time' dream concept.

There are a variety of ways to detect when desperation is occurring. But I fell over an extremely easy marker recently while I was thinking about mind dimensionality, as an analog for spacial dimensionality. It's a very easy thing to detect in human behavior. One phrase for it is 'Reductive Thinking.' I'm going to toss out this little formula for your consideration:

The more reduced the thinking dimensionality of a group of people, the deeper they are into Desperation Mode.

I've been talking to people about Reductive Thinking for years, warning friends and foes about it being both a critical human skill and a critical human failing. While I was studying science I learned, as you may have, about the "KISS Principle". Thanks to Carl Sagan, many of us know about "Ocham's Razor", another Reductive Thinking concept. Both of these concepts can be used as tools for clearing the mind or for damaging the mind. The damage occurs when one uses these concepts as 'truth' or as 'reliable' when they are not. They are nothing more than tools of thought, much like a chisel, capable of cutting away the unimportant to reveal the essential, or they can be used to crack open someone's skull and bludgeon their brain to mush. As you might guess, in Desperation Mode, such simplification chisels become increasingly used as weapons of destruction rather than tools of revelation. Thus their danger.

I consistently return to my basic concept that:

We never know everything about anything.

An abuse of a simplification tool leads to our assuming that simplification is 'ALWAYS' a good thing when in fact we may be using it as a dire weapon of destruction. Thus the derisive terms 'ignorant' and 'stupid' and 'idiot' and 'retard', etc., where people with simple minds and simple mental systems of conceptualization are looked down upon as anything from humorous to dangerous.

Today in the USA I am surrounded by people who don't see such abuse of simplification tools as anything within the spectrum of humorous to dangerous. They wield simplification as a deadly weapon and call it 'GOOD'. That's desperate. That's insane. That's mankind at its worst. That's self-destruction.

So here is the so-simple concept I fell over that helps me detect desperation in anyone's conceptualization processes:

What are the number of dimensions in which someone is thinking?

In the olden days, like 40 years ago, one of those big burning questions was how many dimensions are there to the physical world. Is it three? Is it four? Is it five? It was in part a matter of semantics. What symbol system are we using? Are we confusing the symbol for the thing itself? (There's a huge concept for discussion some other time! For the moment I'll point you to both Zen Buddhism and what is called 'General Semantics'). The standard version, or thought system for physical dimensions back then was:

0) First you have to have existence. For convenience I call this the 'Zero Dimension'. We-The-Geeks like using zeros as the first in a list of numbers. The Zero Dimension was considered to be 'a point in space' and nothing more.

I never liked this concept. Nice as it is to be geekish and say zero is always the first number, to strictly apply mathematics to dimensionality, the 'Zero Dimension' should be plain old Zero, or nothing, as in NO EXISTENCE AT ALL. That's how it works within my thought system. Nothing is nothing is zero. Thankfully in modern times, this somewhat dim concept of the Zero Dimension has been thrown out the window along with the rest of the dimensions. But for the sake of this essay I'm going to continue to call the 'Zero Dimension' the simple state of existence, the point in space. Bear with me. Being flexible in one's thought conception system is very useful even if it can also be annoying.

BTW: I am not going to give you a link to Wikipedia's 'Zero-dimensional space' page because it will thoroughly freak you out as yet another, different dimensional concept.

1) The First Dimension is: The straight line in space. It may have a beginning and ending or it may just start and end at infinity. There is only the X measurement of dimension.

2) The Second Dimension is: The square, or plain, or the circle, or any other flat shape. It consists of lines, but they don't have to be straight, and there can be as many as you like going in any direction as you like as long as it is somewhere with an X & Y dimensional coordinate system.

3) The Third Dimension is: The cube, the sphere, or any other beyond-flat shape. It consists of lines going in any direction we can, as humans, imagine. It is what we see with our two eyes and hear with our two ears within our perceived 'reality'. There are three dimensional coordinate measurements: X & Y & Z.

Being human, I stop there. I'm done. I personally can't sense any further dimensions.

But someone just had to throw in what I consider to NOT be a dimension at all: TIME. Thus we get this monstrosity:

4) The Fourth Dimension maybe is: Time. Except we can't measure it like X & Y & Z because it is entirely relative to itself AND it only goes in one direction. You can't go backwards. It does not help define anything at all in space. It is a 'Change Factor', as I call it. For now I am going to leave it at that except to toss in this mean little quip:

You can tell a sci-fi writer is desperate when they start writing stories about going back in time.

Why am I so mean? I love watching Doctor Who! It's because let's face it: Going back in time is a physical impossibility. Such stories are not scientifically based in any way. Thus, they are fantasy. Thus the sci-fi writer has broken the rules of his trade and become a fantasy writer. Fantasy can be incredible stuff! I'm a Clive Barker addict! He is the modern genius of fantasy. Never would he call himself a sci-fi writer. I am so mean and cruel about this subject that I would tell anyone, including H. G. Wells himself to his face, that stories about traveling back in time are fantasy! Deal with it! But I digress. I tend to do that.

The only direction Time travels is forward.

Let me end this dimensional concept list by pointing out that thankfully modern science has found evidence for an incredible number of dimensions, all beyond human comprehension, that exist around and as part of us. A lot of this has been theorized thanks to the study of Quantum Mechanics within the field of physics. (When you have a lot of time to blow your brain open, go read an up-to-date book on Quantum Theory. I find it to be incredibly inspiring, so much so that I have two series of stories based upon its concepts: My stories about 'Collocation' and my Steampunk related character 'Colonel L. Afonte', aka Colonel Elephant. I may post a link to some of these stories in 2011).

How I put the Three Dimensions to work for me with regard to Desperation Mode:

Three dimensional thinking is encompasing thinking. It takes in all the information available. With time, science has become very good at applying thought concepts within an X, Y, Z sort of realm where ideas are mapped relative to one another within three chosen coordinates. What's even more super kewl is creating BIGGER coordinate systems with even more dimension measurements. We do this in computer programming all the time! It solves so many problems! But I'll restrain myself and continue.

My favorite three dimensional systems encompass human personalities. It is mind blowing how diverse we humans are with regard to personality. Carl Jung had one great system, well integrated into the Myers-Briggs personality system. I learned a very useful alternative system from Dr. Tony Alessandra while I was working at Kodak. At the time, he called it his 'Beyond Gold' personality system as applied to business organizational behavior. Later he expanded his system and now calls it 'The Platinum Rule'. His personality system is shockingly relevant to how today's businesses either thrive or fail due to human personality interactions and personality cultures within a business. He'll kill me for saying this, but he inspired my concepts of 'Marketing Maven' versus 'Marketing Moron', creative versus destructive marketing. And there are at least five other personality systems I can name, all of which have relevance within particular situations. Put it all together and you have a universe of personalities that can only be mapped within a three or more dimensional symbolic system.

Like it or not, we humans are extremely multi-dimensional thinkers.

That's not just a 'good thing'. That is part of our amazing diversity as a species that makes us so incomprehensibly creative as well as effective as an overall culture of social sharers. Sharing is our behavior where we pull it all together and put it to work for our benefit as a whole. I'm a sharing fanatic. Screw our stupid monetary symbol systems. Our strength as a species comes down to sharing.

Therefore, as you'd expect, I get very annoyed when people ignore their own human nature and go all Reductive Thinking about anything. That's an instant FAIL from my POV. For me, it's 3-D or FAIL.

But shockingly, even 2-D thinking is beyond the scope of a massive number of people. What I find outrageous is 1-D and even 0-D thinking.

What is One Dimensional Thinking? It's United States politics. Gag me. It's LEFT versus RIGHT. It's Democrat versus Republican. It's Liberal versus Conservative. It is one boring, entirely ineffective and non-representational straight line upon which we are all supposed to fit. It is stupid, idiotic, retarded, ignorant, etc. It is Reductive Thinking blown to destructive proportions. It is incredibly unrelated to actual human thought. It is IMHO worthless garbage, it is so far from representative of anything of importance, usefullness or goodness to mankind. It is what politicians blether on and on about every freaking day of their lives. It is one massive clue that politics really is the lowest of professions, below prostitution. If you ever meet a politician that deliberately thinks 'Off The Line', shower them with praise! They are a rarity.

One Dimensional Thinking is easy to detect within a simple conversation with another human being. When you hear it, beware. It is Destructive Reductive Thinking. What is a shame is that once you get off the topic of politics you often discover these people are as multi-dimensional in their thoughts as any other humans! I love a lot of these people! I work with them regularly, and we all pitch in to do such things as feed the poor and homeless. (I work at a food pantry one day every week). Many of these people are called 'The Salt of The Earth' because they follow some of the most wonderful of Judeo-Christian concepts. That is why I stick with them despite the all-too-frequent and vehement PoliTardiness (as I call it).

One Dimensional Thinking is Desperation Mode thinking. It is used as a Reductive Thinking bludgeon in attempt to deal with mass human behavior. It is a hammer with which to remove the inconvenient for the sake of ignorant simplicity.

But it gets worse. The final descent into insane despair is Zero Dimensional Thinking. Here is a key phrase to trigger your concern:

"You're either with us! Or against us!"

This is your cue to leave the room. Just leave. You're in the midst of the worst of despair. There is no reason to expect anything resembling sanity from someone who is so desperate that they reduce the world to The Zero Dimension. You either exist to these people, because you fit their 'Absolute Truth' point in space, or you don't exist to them at all. You're off the map. You're not on the coordinate system. You're not of their kind. You're gonna get killed. This is war. Get as far away from these freaking loonies as you can. Defend yourself and your loved ones as best you can. If need be, isolate these nut jobs so they can't do anyone any harm.

Want to understand just how badly things are going in the USA, here in our Trivia Era? Read the news and count all the examples of Zero Dimensional Thinking. The deeper the despair, the more you'll find Zero Dimensional Thinking going viral within the population.

Survival Strategy:

Please don't catch the disease. Stay human. Keep your head. Find the positive and push the positive at others if only to let them know that, when the chips are down, when you ain't got a penny, there is more to the world than Destructive Reductive Thinking. There is always sharing, that greatest of human behaviors. Put diversity back to work and make your sharing with others stronger. Help the 1-D people rediscover their 3-D natures. Skip the 0-D people entirely and focus on encompassing the best of mankind during the worst of times. There is magic in sharing.

Let me say it another way: At this point in time, as I continue to cogitate on our future as a species, the best key I've come up with to returning to personal, cultural and species sanity is simply sharing with others. It's the giving and the taking. It's the benefiting others and their benefiting you. It is strength in diversity. It is strength in numbers. It is strength in perspective. It is restored faith in mankind. It is the anchor line of culture. It is what we humans do best to be the best we can be.

♨♨♨♨♨♨♨♨♨♨♨♨

Class dismissed!
Thanks for attending.

Homework: Think of something unique to you that you can do for, or contribute to, Earth our miracle planet. What can you share? Think about how to share it. Discover where you can share it. Then take that marvelous last step and . . .

;-Derek
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My PUR Water Filter Reviews at Amazon

2010-07-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

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Tonight I posted a couple poignant reviews, along with my usual helpful hacks, of the PUR Water Filter systems and PUR Flavor options over at Amazon.com. I'm posting them here for your amusement and (hopeful) benefit. Enjoy!

PART I, PUR Faucet Mounts:

How to work around mean old P&G and enjoy your great filter

Once, long ago, PUR was a great company with great water filtering technology. I still love their filters! Unfortunately, a big bad company named Proctor and Gamble bought them and messed them over in favor of customer abuse. This was accomplished using two methods. The first method is called 'planned obsolescence' whereby their faucet mount apparatus leak and die briefly after the end of the warranty period. (It didn't used to be that way in the good old days). The second method is called 'timed death' whereby their apparatus lock up their enclosed filters at a preset volume of filtered water, whether the filter is actually used up or not.

Planned obsolescence can be overcome by calling up Proctor and Gamble BEFORE your warranty runs out, and letting them know that your PUR apparatus is squirting water all over your kitchen. Ask them to send you a replacement or a replacement certificate. If need be, call repeatedly asking to speak to the President of P&G, never taking 'no' for an answer. Then take your certificate and get another PUR apparatus. This will provide you with a lifetime for the apparatus more representative of the lifetime of original PUR apparatus. You've cheated no one. P&G's cheat on you has been overcome.

The timed death lockout of your filter is extremely easy to overcome. Pull out the filter from the apparatus. This resets the nasty timing device to zero again. Put your filter back in. TADA! You're done. Your filter will work as before. Note, however, that PUR filters do eventually get clogged with stuff. You'll know when to change it.

I hope that helps everyone restore goodness to the universe. I still love PUR filters better than any other brand and wouldn't be without them. It's P&G's customer abuse that's not worth liking. Shame on you P&G.

PART II, PUR Flavor Options:

You don't want to drink propylene glycol

This concoction contains 14% propylene glycol. You don't want to drink it. You don't want your kids drinking it. It's also used in your car's radiator as anti-freeze. Corporate industry has deliberately and consistently prevented any adequate study of how propylene glycol affects the health of humans. Wonder why?

Buy natural flavorings and add them to your PUR filtered water instead.

Read about propylene glycol at Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylene_glycol
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The Narcissist End Game

2010-07-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

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Let's play The Narcissist End Game.

I've personally watched this occur on two occasions in organizations within which I've worked. The two people who perpetrated it were best friends, which of course is fascinating. I've decided to write about this psychopathic behavior because I'm watching the exact same thing happen at Microsoft with this week's full and final departure of Bill Gates. He has left behind Steve Ballmer to run the show. The result is that Microsoft has begun its death throws. I've been documenting these death throws over at MacDailyNews over the past couple months. Apparently, Windows Phone 7 is yet another one, just in time for Bill's final fare-thee-FAIL.

Here's how The Narcissist End Game works:

The leader of an organization is so insipidly narcissistic and insecure that he (or she) can't bear the thought of leaving behind a system that will soon forge ahead into the future and forget him. Therefore, the narcissist sets up the organization's demise by putting an incompetent in line as his successor. The narcissist then departs and lets the carefully placed gears turn and grind. The end result is the catastrophic failure of his once wonderful organization.

Everyone left behind then sings in unison:

Oh, how we pine for the days when [insert narcissist here] was running the place! Oh how we miss him! When he left, everything fell apart. Only he could hold it together. If only he could return and save the day! Oh Oh Oh!

Get it? Sick stuff. And it is very real. I watched this happen at the Cornell School of Veterinary Medicine's Photography department AND at Eastman Kodak's Scientific Imaging department. In both instances the secretary was put in charge as the successor, with predictable consequences. I expect those two best friends sit around toasting themselves and their final achievement.

Now sit back and watch it happen at Microsoft. I almost feel sorry for them, but not quite. 'Oh for the days of Mr. Bill.'

:-Q*****

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FEED or FAIL

2010-06-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

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Intro: This essay is going to unfortunately be jumped upon by conspiracy theorists from La La Land. My apologies. By this I mean that mankind is so fundamentally floundering and bumbling that what is more likely than an intricate diabolical plot among people is a mess of intention, mistakes, luck and lots of after-the-fact obfuscation. For example, the US NSA (National 'Security' Agency) may have effectively destroyed the US Constitution's rights to privacy, thank you Bush League. But you can count on them being incapable of effectively dealing with all the private data they've stolen from us. IOW: Count on The Stooopid Factor. This is both a cynical concept and a realist concept.

What is FEED or FAIL?

It is a limited, 0 dimensional, binary thought concept to deal with both naiveté and psychopathy within our social systems. It also is both cynical and realist. As a 0 dimensional concept you can count on it being as bare bones and incomplete as possible. It takes into account so little about the system it is applied to as to be merely a first blind step in comprehending the system. It is guaranteed to be remarkably wrong in a remarkable number of aspects. Nonetheless, first cuts can be useful. This one is useful if only to make clear the difference between deliberate deceit and detrimental innocence. I find it to be equally frightening on either sides of this metaphorical coin.

A FEEDer is a deliberate liar who plans and perpetrates disinformation to other people. Typically the purpose is manipulation. In any kind of marketing moron system, manipulation is a prime lever, a mental machine for obtaining something surreptitiously from another fellow human being. As the victim, you are FED garbage that is meant to cause you to respond in a predicted way that benefits the FEEDer.

In advertising there are plentiful examples. An ongoing example as of this post is the Toyota FEED that it wasn't their faulty auto acceleration systems that killed over a hundred people. It was the floor mat. As a victim, you are FED that you don't have to have your car's pedal system replaced. You only need to replace your mat. Happy happy, joy joy. Toyota benefits from your ignorant belief in their FEED.

A FAILer is someone who inadvertently tells wrong information to others. The FAILer believes the information to be true. The information is NOT true. They have FAILed to comprehend and communicate facts. The most dangerous of FAILers are those in positions of authority. We're counting on them telling us factual information. They don't. They FAIL. I find the most sad and frightening of FAILers to be those who share new information to others, where the other person has no ability or resource for comparing this wrong information to any correct related information. This literally is the blind leading the blind. Good luck with that system. This is one reason I get upset at people in the technology field who don't do their homework and end up telling ignorant people a set of ignorant information.

A very popular example is when Steve Jobs of Apple put a metaphorical gun to the head of Bill Gates of Microsoft and made him invest $125 Million dollars in non-voting Apple stock. (The 'gun' in this case was a lawsuit that would have cost Microsoft well over $125 Million. It was in regards to Microsoft being caught red-handed stealing Apple QuickTime code. Meanwhile, Apple had $4 Billion in the bank and hardly needed the investment). How was this fact blundered in public? Ignorant FAILers told others that Microsoft had saved Apple from bankruptcy. Of course the ignorant then fed the ignorant, and you got an insane form of the game 'Telephone' or 'Gossip' where not even the original information was valid. Anyone who bothered to do their homework on the subject could discover the facts of the matter on the Internet within one minute. Hyper-FAIL.

I realized the FEED or FAIL concept while I was watching a TV program called "The Spy Factory." It is about, among other things, the demolition of US Constitution guaranteed rights to privacy during the Bush League era. I found myself listening to authoritative people telling me that having these rights stolen from me provided some sort of security from bad guys. The FEED was that it was OK that the NSA were able to intercept and analyze all unencrypted phone calls and Internet data transference WITHIN the USA by US citizens. It was OK because it made the US more secure, which is bullshite. Therefore, I found myself asking whether the speaker was a FEEDer, who wanted me to believe a LIE that benefited others but not me, or was the speaker a FAILer who ignorantly believed the pathological lies he had been fed by some FEEDer? I knew the information I was being told was blatantly wrong. But what sort of person was telling it to me? Naive or evil? Innocent or psychopath?

Another way to look at the FEED or FAIL concept is from the other side of the communication, the side of the receiver. From this perspective, the FEED is of your mind. Think of the FEEDers as sociopathic zombies who want to eat your brain. You believe their lie, they have fed on you. You have lost a part of yourself to their control. Similarly, if a FAILer has messed you over with misinformation, you now also FAIL to comprehend the facts of the matter. It's a FAIL contagion.

Here is a list of some spectacularly 'wrong' people. What are they? FEEDers or FAILers? What if they're BOTH? What if they're NEITHER?!

_______________________FEED__________FAIL

George W. Bush ________[ ]___________[ ]
Paris Hilton __________[ ]___________[ ]
Phyllis Schafly _______[ ]___________[ ]
Johnnie Cochran _______[ ]___________[ ]
Dr. Timothy Leary _____[ ]___________[ ]
Adolf Hitler __________[ ]___________[ ]
Filippo Marinetti _____[ ]___________[ ]
Karl Marx _____________[ ]___________[ ]
Pat Robertson _________[ ]___________[ ]
William Kristol _______[ ]___________[ ]
L. Ron Hubbard ________[ ]___________[ ]
Sun Myung Moon ________[ ]___________[ ]
Kim Jong-il ___________[ ]___________[ ]
Rush Limbaugh _________[ ]___________[ ]
Clarence Thomas _______[ ]___________[ ]
Fidel Castro __________[ ]___________[ ]
Bill Gates ____________[ ]___________[ ]

Please note that I am not interested in comments about my selections for this list. That's not the point. Thoughtful comments about the concepts are welcome.
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Thank You To Loving People

2010-06-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

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Today I have some thank you posts. These are people without whom I would not be me and would not be here. I know this is boring stuff to general people. It's the part of awards programs that drives us insane. But to those I love...

Thank you 'god' for the synchronicity classroom. It's more remarkable than I could imagine.

Thank you Gordon and Jan for putting up with me and always loving and supporting me.

Thank you Graeme, Iain and Colin for being a remarkably kewl diversity of brothers. I'm grateful we have each other.

Thank you Peter Perlso and Jesper Ørsted for the greatest friendship possible from afar. [Folks, these two guys got me my Mac laptop amidst my personal poverty and have directly allowed me to keep up with tech and write about it on the net. I've never even met Jesper! What an incredible friend he is]. We are three brothers from different mothers.

Thank you to my other brothers: Michael Mehnert, my spirit brother, how could I be more grateful to know you. Jim Richards, another spirit brother, your patience with me has been boundless, your generosity infinite. Mark Grube, may we ever support one another. Blake Sampson, you're a brother from afar I wish I could know better; you have been such loving support. Thank you Mark Sager for being the kind and giving spirit who kept me sane during my early years; you gave me optimistic amidst cynicism.

Thank you to sister Lorraine Downes Sinclaire. I could not have grown up and out without you there as my companion and guide. Sister Jeanne Bottomley, we went through probably too much together; thank you so much for years of joy and wonders.

Thank you to Michael Peres and Margaret Holtman, the greatest professors I've ever had, transcending into kind friendship.

Thank you Jeannette Angeloro for kind patience and shared wisdom, my catalyst of wise mindfulness. Thank you Naraya Reddy for fulfilling your loving self and going beyond the barriers to care for my well being, helping me find my medical survival.

Thank you Kay Silver and Leonard Silver for such remarkably loving friendship, given to a bedraggled stranger at your doorstep. I will ever love your spirits and keep your lessons of kindness in my heart.

Thank you cousins Brock and Louise, two secreted miracles of my family who have been so inspirational in my recent life.

Thank you to all my Hawley-Green neighbors who are the greatest collection of remarkable spirits within four city blocks I could ever imagine. I love you all and thank you for your patience with me and faith in me during tough times. Mitch, Michael, Nick, Phyllis, Nancy, Peter, Frank, Brian, John, Joan, Jeffery, Karen, Chris, Meagan, Mike, Debby, Scott, John, Glenn, Mary, Mary Ellen, Ben.... What a wonderful place for me to land, recover and thrive all these years.

Joan Allen, thank you for sharing your spirit of giving and being such a great companion in sharing that spirit with others.

The entire Friends Meeting of Syracuse, what a wonderful company of spirits with whom to share and grow.

Robert Newman and Katherine Hughes, fellow brave hearts, thank you for such loving support and wisdom.

Dick Newman and Kristen Carpenter, what a strange journey we have all had, and what great people with whom to share it. Thank you so much for your faith in me and your sharing spirits.

There are so many more kind people along the way, like Paul, Jan and the entire Central New York PC User's Group, the entire Apple CIDER group of Rochester, my mentors at RIT and Kodak, Frank and Arturo, my teachers in Pittsford, USF, UF, Allegheny, UR, YMCA, the Mac Advocacy newsgroup...
**MUSIC BLASTING**
**HOOK DRAGGING ME OFF STAGE**
THANK YOU EVERYONE!
. . .

Ad Slamming Culprits:Bayer& Reckitt Benckiser

2010-04-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

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Bayer has perpetrated F*CK SLAM ads for their One A Day Multivitamins. I've sat through a number of them on The CW Television Network.

Reckitt Benckiser has perpetrated HEAVY HAMMER SLAM ads for their Mucinex. I came across a video recording made back in December that showed them perpetrating 4 different ads intermixed within one ad session on numerous occasions. That's a world record AFAIK; Clearly an apex in customer disrespect.

Hell hath the fury like... a customer slammed. You know what to do. ;-)

One Future Of MankindArticle 01:The Story Of The Hall Of Time

2010-04-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

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[Please note that this is essentially a first draft, with further drafts in the future]
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When I was 13 years old, circa 1970 - 1971, I had experienced many thoughtful books and much of the wonderful television programming of WNET and PBS, the USA Public Broadcasting System. As I kid I gathered a remarkable amount of my culture from these sources. I'd had Jacob Bronowski, Joseph Campbell and Kenneth Clark teach me about humanity. I was also a fanatic of science fiction and social fiction, therefore much enamoured with the work of Jules Verne, Arthur C. Clarke and the early work of Kurt Vonnegut. I wanted to comprehend humanity as well as write about it creatively. This was the year of the birth of my mature creativity. The Hebrew faith has the bar mitzvah ceremony celebrating the arrival of manhood. My rite of passage was a dream.

Asleep, I was flying about amongst the stars. Ahead of me I saw floating a long rectangular hallway heading off into the distance. I wanted to go there. I arrived with the opening of elevator doors and stepped out onto the red carpet of its entrance way. I was standing in a wide area that telescoped ahead to the width of the long hallway. Before me were a few steps a pair of handrails dividing them into thirds. Beyond the steps, on each side of the hallway were doors and doors, leading onward down the hall as if to infinity. In contrast to the red carpeting, the walls were all papered in a deep indigo blue.

Wondering what this place was, I set out to explore. I chose a door a few yards down the hall, opened it and looked inside. I wasn't sure what I was seeing inside. Running or flying a distance down the hallway I checked a few more doors until I began to understand that I was looking at a sequence of developing life on what I assumed was Earth. Running back down to the very start of the corridor I opened what I believed was the first door and at last understood that I was looking at the very formation of the first form of life. I was fascinated! Traveling back up the corridor I checked a few more doors and decided to see what would happen if I stepped through into one of them. I didn't see anything in particular before me but a sort of dark haze. I stepped forward through the door and was immediately pulled backward again into the hallway. What was that about, I wondered? Presumably the doors could be used to actually go somewhere. Perhaps this was the response of the doors when one didn't know exactly where one wanted to go! Therefore, there was no point in my trying to enter any further doors. But I did continue my exploring.

On and on the corridor lead, to the point of monotony. I decided that I wanted to travel on down as far as the corridor would go to see if I found an end. And with that thought I was there. What I saw shocked and saddened me.

There was one last door in sequence to my left. Beyond that point it appeared as if a great hand had reached out and torn off the rest of the corridor. The end of the walls and floor were jagged with broken beams sticking out at the sides and corners, ragged pieces left behind sprawled at angles indicating a violent end. What was I seeing? What had caused this shattering finality?

Being my usual explorative self, I stepped to the edge of the chaotic precipice and looked down. Out of the murk I saw a strange sort of room hanging in limbo. There was a stairway down to it on the far left of the broken edge. Looking straight ahead I could see some yards ahead something that looked like elevator doors that opened to what could be an continuation of the hallway. But they were closed. In the expanse between these two places was the sunken floating room.

I took the stairway down to the floor of this in between place and looked around at what was there. All I found was a flat surfaced lectern, the sort of place a teacher would stand with table space before him for demonstrations. Is anyone here, I thought to myself?

Arriving from a lighted area on the left side of the room was a man in a classic sort of silken robe, the same indigo blue as the walls of the corridor but with reflecting star patterns all across its surface. He seemed like a young man, perhaps what we would perceive as 30 years old. He was entirely kind, friendly and helpful in demeanor. He was there to answer my questions! So ask I did.

He verified what I had surmised about the hall. He told me that it was a representation of the sequence of years of life on Earth, with each door representing one revolution around the Earth's sun. These door allowed one to travel to any one of those years.

What happened to the end, I asked? Why the twisted wreckage? He explained to me that life on Earth had entirely ended during that final year represented by the final door of the corridor. I didn't understand, so I asked if I could look through the last door and watch what had caused the end of life.

Looking back on my dream today, I recognize this request, asking for this choice, was an inevitable outcome of my innate caring about life on my planet. But more than that, it represented my deep need to inquire and understand life even to its deepest and darkest moment. When I opened that last door and looked inside, my childhood, my child spirit was itself at an end. Having to know, and not regretting knowing the worst of all horrors, was the profound step into my serious, maturing and growing spirit that would be with me forever thereafter. I had no idea of the significance of this moment at the time. It was just another curiosity for me to satisfy. And yet no further choice in my life would have such impact or importance.

Without fear, but with trepidation I opened that last door. I watched what transpired.

It appeared as a very simple scene. It was, I realized, the same room, the floating room, I had found beyond the edge of the corridor. There was the flat surfaced lectern and not much else. I vaguely sensed there was something like a television on the opposite wall were events were being visualized. On the lectern was a simple box with simple control switches, knobs and buttons. Two men stood in the room with robes on that were very much like that on the person I had met in the floating room, except with design patterns I interpreted to be Persian. The man to one side of the lectern had dark hair, eyes and beard. He had some sort of unusual hat on that I didn't recognize. Overall I had the sense that he was of Arabic culture. The other man stood directly behind the lectern with the switch box within reach. He dressed very much the same, except he was clearly a Westerner. Apart from the robe he looked exactly as if he had stepped out of an American business boardroom. Then he spoke to the other man and seemed to verify my assumption.

I could not understand anything they said. But they were commenting about what they were watching on the screen on the opposite wall. There I saw ensuing battle carnage. I could only interpret it as a battle between distinctly Asian soldiers and men from this apparently Arabic culture. The circumstances of what I was watcher were never clear, left entirely to interpretation. But it was clear from how the two men in the room were speaking that the Westerner was the leader of the two. The darker man was there as a collaborator, a lieutenant to his general.

This is how it all ended: The leader, a desperately maniacal look on his face, came to a decision and instructed the second man to push a button on the control box. The leader stood there, in front of the controls and watched while the second man reached across and did as he was asked. Then there was nothing more to see or hear but wind rushing across scorched earth. I could only interpret this to be the nuclear termination of the final world war. The Master and given the order. The Servant had carried it out. Between the two of them they had destroyed everything of value on my planet. They had wiped out all life for whatever cause they had considered worthy of the deed.

Whether what I saw was real, realistic, symbolic or just a dream, it's important to keep in mind that my generation was the one that grew up with the thread of nuclear annihilation in our minds every day of our childhood. We were the pathetic kids of the "Duck And Cover" culture. My parents had stocked our basement with supplies for surviving through the fallout of a nuclear attack. I was taught to run down there should anything happen. I was shown where everything was for when we were forced to stay down there. Everywhere I traveled as a kid there were stocked and ready fallout shelters, all over town. Every few months during elementary school we would not only have fire drills, but duck and cover drills when when we were taught how to properly hide beneath our desks, or we would all be marched into the gymnasium where we would all duck down along the edge of the room with our hands covering out heads. It was all taught to us as calmly as possible by our teachers. There was never a panic. But neither was it ever explained to us exactly what this utter nonsense was for. Everyone was oblivious in those days to the realities of what just one nuclear explosion would mean. It wasn't until many years later that films were presented in public depicting the actual aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.

We were also the generation that was taught actual, factual modern science regarding how mankind was affecting both his own survival and the survival of the planet. By 13 I already understood that overpopulation was mankind's driving force toward extinction. I knew the first so-called 'Green Revolution' of agriculture was an unmitigated environmental disaster. I was aware of the free flow of pollutants onto our land, into our air and our water. My generation was the very first in history to be exposed to the facts of mankind's ongoing destruction of the Earth. We were also the first generation to experience just how desperately certain people are to deeply bury their heads in the sand all for the sake of short term gain and long term extinction. The ramifications of each nuance of what we were taught about the future came true before our eyes. My generation in school was known as the first sad and serious generation. It showed in our faces and in our behavior. Then toss on top of that the total insanity of the Vietnam War and I have to wonder how any of us escaped chronic depression. Maybe having reality shoved in our face explains the endless reels of anti-depressant ads in the media. We were the Future Shock generation.

Therefore, considering my dream, keep in mind how I am the product of my times.

Everything beyond the doorway now being dark, I closed the door and climbed down the stairs again to the floating room. You'd think I'd have awoken shaking and sweating in my bedsheets. But instead I continued the dream by asking my guide the most crucial of questions:

What is the worst enemy of mankind?

What is it that would drive mankind to be so insane that it would deliberately destroy itself and living thing with it?

I was given two words and an image. The two words were 'zunipus stargo'. Conjured as an image above the lectern I saw a face to go with the words. It was the face of a man with dark hair, eyes and beard.

Having been brought up a Christian, I had of course had plenty of exposure to the accompanying pagan mythology contamination known as 'The Fallen Angels", or Satan, or Demons. Looking at the dark image of that face above the lectern I immediately associated it with some evil spirit that was out to get us, that cultural paranoia regarding unseen and unseeable spirits that undermine our aspirations.

But just as quickly I saw that I was wrong. It was only the face of that flunky who had pushed the final button.

What about those two words? What did they mean? I didn't yet understand.

At that point I was ready to ask my guide: What is this Hall Of Time was for?

This is where the dream goes strangely abstract, possibly into the irrelevant. But here goes. My guide told me that the hall was there as a gift given to mankind after 'the end of the world.' It was a way to repair the path of mankind and thereby repair the end of all life. He explained the system to me very carefully. There were people whom, after death, had joined with those hoping to repair time, and volunteered to go back and live another life with the purpose of altering the timeline. There was no way to simply step into time and make a change here or there. The only way to make a change was to live an entire new life.

This concept threw my mind out of gear. Imagine the time it would take, one full lifetime at a time, to elicit change! Meanwhile, still being a romantic teeny kid, I immediately thought how cool it would be to step through one of those doors of time and affect someone I really liked back there in time. Just recently my mom had taken me to see a musical show about the life of Coco Chanel, staring Katherine Hepburn. It had been enchanting, beautifully done, lovely music, lovely acting, a wonderful illusion about the art of human appearance. I had a romantic thing going about Chanel. And like a little dweeb I asked if I could join up with this time repair crew, in another 50 years from then, and come back as Coco Chanel's male lover. (I know. Taunt me. I had just as much sexual incoherence as any other 13 year old kid). Instead of slapping me out of my dream, my guide very kindly agreed and thanked me for my offer. It was why I was there. It was what they had hoped I would ask. The deal was set.

So if I die at age 63, wouldn't that be amusing.

Then I awoke.

What I dream, I thought to myself. What to make of it! I had never, ever, had such a vivid, intelligent, directed dream. That's creativity at work, I realized! I can dream THAT?!

But the dream wasn't really over until I figured out those two strange baby talk sort of words I'd been given: Zunipus stargo. I considered them in reverse. Stargo was obvious. Think about the imagery in the dream. Stargo was the dream itself. Star go. (Yeah, kind of like 'Go Dog Go!' I said it was baby talk!) So, having figured that one out I thought about the context of the word zunipus applied to stargo, the events applied to my dream. Snap, I understood. Zunipus meant deceptive. Put them together and the phrase explained exactly what I had asked to know.

What is mankind's worst enemy: Deceptive Truth.

Mankind is his own worst enemy. The process is the assumption of knowing absolute 'TRUTH'. What is the fundamental cause of each and every 'evil' thing mankind has ever done and will ever do? His own deception. Mankind sets up TRUTH then acts in its cause. The examples are as long as the history of mankind, in every nook and cranny of destruction. Holy wars, unresolvable arguments, victimizing systems of one man versus others. Power. Greed. Vanity. Ignorance. Go down every deadly sin. Examine every divine commandment. What is that mankind consistently trips over and falls: Deceptive 'Truth', or what we all foolishly consider to be 'Truth'. What I can only these days call 'beliefs'.

Reconsidering the accompanying image that went with those words, the face of the man who pushed the final button; He was someone whom I would describe as 'The Sucker'. Both victim and violator. Believer and betrayer. The Lost Man.

Having had that dream, having understood what I asked to learn in that dream, I was immediately put in the position of being displaced from everyone I knew and from all my surroundings. I hadn't simply done the 13 year old adolescent rebellion thing. I'd separated myself in a fundamental way from all the rest of mankind as I perceived it. Now what? What do I do with this? What am I, that I am one of these deception driven animals myself? How am I supposed to live my life knowing that I am consistently wrong in some way or another? How does one live with the fact that, as I say, We Never Know Everything About Anything?

I actually didn't deal with it well at all. Being an adolescent is freaky enough as it is, having your sexual cortex, as I call it, turned on in a wallop. Not to mention the over-responsibility syndrome I was stuck with, being the eldest kid in a family of 4 sons. Not to mention my figuring out my bisexuality with not a soul to talk to about it. Not to mention my greatest skill set was for technology and philosophy that hadn't been invented at that point. Not to mention the shockingly prescient dreams and daydreams I was having after that point. I was one f*cked over kid!

The curse of Cassandra.

Is anyone reading this familiar with Clive Barker's story 'The Hellbound Heart' or the first two of his 'Hellraiser' films? Is it any surprise that my subconscious went into shock after seeing the first of those films? Open the box and get a surprise you weren't expecting? One that carves you up into something you no longer recognize? In a very real way that was the result of my Hall Of Time dream.

Some foolish people say 'Everything Happens For A Reason!' As a student of creativity, choice, entropy, patterns and systems I can only laugh. Nonetheless, I've accepted that there are events that happen for a reason, if and only if we can pay attention and put those events to work as tools in our lives. Chaos or creativity, I put my dream to work.

This thing was foundational to everything I've considered important hereafter in my life. It was my turning point, mile stone, touch stone, nexus, beginning, blossoming, starting gun.... It never stops informing me every step of the way in my further wishes, wants and choices in my quest for growing.
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© 2010, Derek Currie
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One Future of MankindIntroduction:The Curse, Rape and Murder of Cassandra

2010-03-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

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Seeing the future.

Why bother?

If the seer sees the future, why bother telling anyone? What's to change? If all is fated, all happened before and we just get to live through the pattern. Why talk about it?

No one wants to listen anyway. Everyone is off chasing aliens, Armageddons, money, power, wars, more mysterious menaces and mayhem.

What do you get for thanks telling anyone anyway? What did Cassandra get? Cursed, raped, murdered, her family killed, her children killed. Nobody believes Cassandra. It's a waste of time, wasting insight on the wasted, making one's self into an abuse magnet. Fun times not.

And then there's that nagging fact that We Never Know Everything About Anything. And that Vagueness Factor, all generalized and unfocused, easily open for interpretation. "Tell us something solid we can do something about!" cry the few who care to listen. "At least give us a date, dammit!" "Just another lunatic" tossed over the back at departure. Find another future.

Toss the topping on top of 'The Madman Across the Water' or 'The Fool on the Hill' clichés I already get to enjoy every day of my life in required exile from the stress of other people's craziness. "We humans are crazy!" I cry. "Oh, that's something to recommend your insight. Well, we think you're crazy too!" "Yeah, I just said that."

To get listened to, you have to be extra strange, metaphysical, profound in some way that engages the imagination. Ooo. Reincarnated spiritual leader! We like that. ESP is way kewl! Anything we can't empirically prove. That's more like it! Yawns and abuse otherwise. How about those Mayans! That Book of Revelation! So trippy it's gotta be true.

Yes, got the picture. It's a waste of time having insight. Prophets are a dime dozen. Last week's end of the world gives way to this week's end of the world. Yet another return of Jesus. Whose apostle am I supposed to be this time? Been there. Seen that. Totally agree. Well worth ignoring.

Seeing the future.

Why bother?

I didn't ask to see the future anyway!
Oops.
I did actually.
Apparently it's only for my benefit.
So I should shut up.

"And yet..." contemplates the foolish seer.
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How To Abuse Your Customers 101:AD SLAMMING!

2010-03-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

Ad Blasting, covered in our previous lesson, is not typically effective at establishing your domination over your customers. It has too much of a random incompetence factor to make your disrespect for your customers blatantly clear. Thus we move on to a higher and more definitive level of disrespect, Ad Slamming.

Simply defined, Ad Slamming is the presentation of repeating product ads within a single advertising session. The type of media used for the advertisements is irrelevant. However, the most effective Ad Slamming is performed using television or movie theater previews. There are a number of levels of Ad Slamming. Let us start with the least offensive method, working our way to the most offensive of all. The naming of each level of slamming has not been established within the vernacular. I have, however, nominated some naming of my own for your consideration and enjoyment.

The first degree of Ad Slamming involves the advertising of a particular product at non-sequential times within an ad session using dissimilar ads. I call this 'Slap Slamming'. The concept is to keep the victim awake throughout the ad session through the use of suspense and anticipation. The most effective of Slap Slamming ads are used to cap both ends of an ad session. The first part of the two ads is used to tantalize the victim customer such that they want to see the resolving second part of the ad. For example, an automobile company states in part 1 of a slap slam ad that they have lowered interest rates on their car loans to an unprecedented level, but the customer will have to wade through further ads until part 2 is presented as a resolution, providing the awaited low interest rate number. Slap Slamming is perceived as the least offensive of the Ad Slamming options.

The second degree of Ad Slamming again uses dissimilar ads for the same product, but they are abutted one against the other. I call this 'Hammer Slamming.' The most famous of these ads are from the car insurance company Geico. Because these ads are typically written to be humorous, the victim customer does not perceive the inherent disrespect in this type of slamming. If properly written and performed, the victim may even long to see several of these ads in succession, never perceiving how the product is being hammered into their brain again and again.

The third degree of Ad Slamming places the doubled presentation of the exact same advertisement within an ad session at non-consecutive times. Here the percussive effect upon the victim is more severe and blatant. I call this 'Anvil Slamming', similar to having an anvil dropped on the head of a cartoon character. This type of Ad Slamming clearly presents disrespect for the customer, but keeps open the possibility that the doubling of the ad was the result of programmer incompetence. For example, the victim could picture that the programming engineer at the television station accidentally hit an advertising cart button twice, out of succession, by accident. This provides deniability should, for example, ad victims call and rant at the Ad Slamming television station.

The fourth degree of Ad Slamming doubles the exact same ad twice in succession. Due to the extremely high offensiveness of this type of Ad Slamming, I call this 'F*ck Slamming'. It is the equivalent of a mental rape. There is very little chance of deniability with this type of Ad Slamming. Therefore, it must be kept to a minimum and used, if possible, with only the most dim-witted of the target audience. For example, the use of F*ck Slamming during a National Geographic presentation or a romantic film on the Oxygen or Lifetime networks is extremely dangerous, typically resulting in swift and vicious retaliation by the victim. However, F*ck Slamming during a professional wrestling program or any programming on the FoxNews Network is nearly unnoticeable by the relatively dull-witted victim audience. Despite the offensiveness of this type of Ad Slamming, it is considered to be the most effective of all, making the deepest impression of the product into the victim's mind.

Note that there could potentially be higher degrees of Ad Slamming, such as showing the same ad three or more times in succession. However, at this time, this degree of ad slamming is considered offensive even within the advertising community. It is simply not done.

Another cultural limitation upon Ad Slamming is the use of professional quality ads in any but first and second degree slamming. If the advertiser wishes to elevate to third degree Ad Slamming or above, it is required that the ads be poorly produced, as would be created in the locale of the victim. The professional advertising community would most likely severely admonish any advertising firm or television network involved in third degree Ad Slamming or above. For example, a professional car advertisement from Ford Motor Company would never be used in third or fourth degree Ad Slamming. However, third or fourth level Ad Slamming is commonly used from local Ford Motor Company dealerships. The lower the repute of the advertising source the lower the perception of offensiveness of third or fourth degree Ad Slamming. Equally, the greater the use of 'Hard Sell' advertising techniques, the more a victim is willing to accept third or fourth degree Ad Slamming. Hard Selling in and of itself is already considered to be offensive by any living human being. Adding third or fourth degree Ad Slamming on top of the Hard Sell is considered to be almost inevitable by most advertising victims.

Keep in mind that the mark of a true Marketing Moron is customer disrespect. With that goal in mind, use levels of Ad Slamming appropriate to both your product and your target audience.

Class dismissed.

February Festival of Deceit Award Winner:Toyota

2010-02-27T17:33:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Toyota!

Contenders for February's FOD Award included 'The Party of No' (aka the Neo-Con-Job enslaved US Republican Party), Adobe Systems Inc. (for their poor installer and security consciousness), and the US federal government (for dumping grain on the Haitian market thereby destroying the native grown grain market). But the winner by a landslide was Toyota Motor Corp. for their remarkably deceitful hiding of deadly faults in millions of their cars over the course of several years. The deaths of many Toyota owning people can allegedly be attributed to Toyota's deceit, always an award winning strategy.

Let's review Toyota's deceit, how it was discovered and its ramifications.

Toyota faces criminal probe, lawmakers' ire

. . .
A 2009 document obtained by congressional investigators that was released on Sunday showed Toyota's Washington D.C. staff trumpeting over $100 million in savings from convincing regulators to end their 2007 probe of sudden acceleration complaints with a relatively cheap floor mat recall.
. . .
"Unfortunately, this document is very telling," said department spokeswoman Olivia Alair in an emailed statement.

Another Smoking Gun in the Toyota Saga

. . .
Toyota apparently bargained with U.S. regulators to limit the scope and cost of a recall. The recent discovery may do as much harm to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as it does to the Japanese car company.
. . .
"Wins for Toyota Safety Group," says the firm saved $100 million by convincing the NHTSA to limit an accelerator recall to 55,000 Lexus and Camry models.
. . .

Gov't: 34 deaths alleged in Toyotas since 2000

. . .
Complaints of deaths connected to sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles have surged in recent weeks, with the alleged death toll reaching 34 since 2000, according to new consumer data gathered by the government.
. . .
Toyota Motor Corp. has recalled 8.5 million vehicles globally during the past four months because of problems with gas pedals, floor mats and brakes, threatening the safety and quality reputation of the world's No. 1 automaker.
. . .
The new complaints reflect the heightened awareness of the massive recalls among the public and underscore a flurry of lawsuits on behalf of drivers alleging deaths and injuries in Toyota crashes.
. . .

This is a particularly sad award announcement for me as I was a very happy owner of a 1991 Toyota Corolla. I might well still have it on the road if not for a deer having used it to verify The Law of Reflection. The deer ended up 25 feet away at an angle of reflection exactly equal to the angle of incidence. Both my car and the deer were sadly totaled during the experiment. I nearly bought another Toyota to replace it. These days I drive a Suburu, which turns out to be a vastly superior automobile. Thank you to my brother for finding the Suburu for me and not listening to my requests for another Toyota.

Seriously. The FOD award is a flippant exercise in satire. But I have to extend my sorrow to the friends and family of Toyota owners killed by Toyota's deliberate lunatic deceit. May justice be served. While we wait, imagine CEO Toyoda wearing his FOD Award:

9/11 Cover Up Hilarity:The Loony Fringe Embarrassment Method

2010-02-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

It's time for some Festival of Deceit nostalgia.

Neo-Con-Job scum and their suckers say it is an affront, an insult and so forth, to 9/11 victims to suggest that the collapse of the three buildings had anything to do with anyone except al-Queda. If al-Queda scum and their suckers where serious, they'd point out that the murder planes they flew into the World Trade Center were entirely incapable of bringing down the buildings. Instead we have collusion between these two scumbag-cults to commit deceit against US citizens. They are two over-the-edge fake 'conservative' deceit mongers doing their usual routines to get their way, no matter what. It's probably the most fascinating collusion of deceit so far in the 21st Century. As an observer optimist cynic, I find it fascinating, far more intriguing that all the cover ups and collusions of the 20th Century, including Pearl Harbor. We are talking about epic deceit, a block buster movie.
;-P

Yeah, conspiracy theories are a dime-a-dozen and typically their veracity depends upon human intelligence connivance that is way beyond reality. There are sadomasochists who make them up just to revel in their ability to manipulate others, haha, made you believe. But the case for collusion regarding 9/11 is, despite the assertions of such intellectuals as Noam Chomsky, blatantly obvious. Look them up yourself. Here are some useful key words:

PNAC (Project of the New American Century)
Iraq
Incendiary device
Thermite
Molten metal
Controlled demolition
7 WTC

For the lazy among us, at least read THIS.

The giveaway for the entire collusion scenario is the collapse of building 7 WTC. Darn, the demolition charges didn't go off when they were supposed to. Again, look it up yourself. Lazy folks can read THIS. My favorite bits of evidence are interviews with WTC owner Larry Silverstein HERE and HERE with added commentary HERE. He admits that 7 WTC was 'pulled' down. It did not collapse on its own. And how was it 'pulled' Larry? (I've got copies of the interviews if they get yanked off the net. Just write me for them). Watching the arrogant expectation that Joe Blow will settle for cover up rhetoric, deceit and embarrassment incentives against thoughtfullness.

It is more intimidating and scary to be considered loony than it is to be heroic and speak truth to deceitful power. I'm going to have to work on that line. But there's the concept. Sadly, there are always actual loonies among mankind to tell tall tales, making what I call The Loony Fringe Embarrassment Method all too easy.

The cap on the pile of collusion evidence is the hilarious defensiveness against controlled demolition over at the 9/11 Wikipedia entry. It reads like a fairy tale told to gullible little kids incapable to knowing that adults really do make stuff up just to keep the kids quiet. (o_0) You can also find intensely bizarre defensive videos up on YouTube. Videos trying to explain how 7 WTC was 'pulled down' merely because of fires are laughter inducing.

Recall how I stated that most conspiracy theories are baloney because they don't take into account basic human stupidity. Here we have anti-conspiracy theories that don't take into account basic human stupidity. For the WTC buildings to NOT have been pre-planned to be brought down by controlled demolition requires outrageous intellectual contortions and ignoring of facts, all of which are evident in the defensive commentaries.

This is my species.

Then today a classic case of The Loony Fringe Embarrassment Method was published. Enjoy.

TEXAS GOVERNOR CANDIDATE QUESTIONS ANY US ROLE IN 9/11

Brief summary: Debra Medina, a Republican candidate running for governor of Texas, who sadly is not among the 9/11 cover up cogniscenti, dared suggest there were "some very good arguments" that the U.S. was somehow involved in 9/11.

Uh Oh.

And seeing as the Neo-Con-Jobs run the Republican party these days, that was not acceptable. Therefore, they pulled The Loony Fringe Embarrassment Method on her until she recanted. This kind of reminds me of astronomer Galileo suggesting that the Earth revolved around the Sun and not vice versa. Very naughty. He recanted too.

Personally, I see no evidence pointing to anyone in particular, except of course Larry Silverstein, knowing about the controlled demolition of 1, 2 and 7 WTC. The fact that US defense air coverage of the area was specifically removed that day sounds shady. The fact that air defense was using exactly the 9/11 scenario as a training game sounds shady and incredibly convenient for providing communication confusion. Nonetheless, the only reliable facts in the matter are that controlled demolition of 1, 2 and 7 WTC had been pre-planned days before 9/11. Who, why, and so forth remain nebulous, forcing intuitive guessing.

And Now For A Message From the Oligarchy

The citizens question:
So who really killed Kennedy? Who really killed the WTC victims? Whatever...

The oligarchy answers:
Oh shut up and get back to work! Just believe the lines we feed you or we'll call you loony. And you don't want that to happen, do you! Dumbass peons of the oligarchy. We know better dammit! Without us you'd have NOTHING! You've got your oil. You've got your car. You've got your house. You've got your dimwit little American Dream. So just STFU you spoiled idiots! You make me sick. Why do we bother thinking for you?!

[Wait a second. Was I just channeling Richard Nixon? Nah. Can't be. I guess they all sound alike.]
;-)

Oh, and lest anyone think I champion that other US party, enjoy yourselves. The US two party system has proven itself to be worthless no matter what side of the aisle.

MONEY (That's What I Want)

The best things in life are free
But you can keep them for the birds and bees
Now give me money
That's what I want
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want

You're lovin' gives me a thrill
But you're lovin' don't pay my bills
Now give me money
That's what I want
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want

Money don't get everything it's true
What it don't get, I can't use
Now give me money
That's what I want
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want, wah

Money don't get everything it's true
What it don't get, I can't use
Now give me money
That's what I want
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want

Well now give me money
A lot of money
Wow, yeah, I wanna be free
Oh I want money
That's what I want
That's what I want, well
Now give me money
A lot of money
Wow, yeah, you need money
now, give me money
That's what I want, yeah
that's what I want

Red China vs The World: Showdown

2010-02-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

--
I was amazed this morning to see my country's Senate actually do something intelligent:

US Senate condemns hacking of Google in China

Now how about the US Senate condemning the hacking of US federal computers over the last 12 years? Hmm. That would be expecting too much no doubt. (o_0)

Over here in the states it feels as if everything is covered in Neo-Con-Job mud, making any thoughtful action slow and lame. But it happens! Little seeds in the wind grow to be mighty maples in the most modest of mud. (Notice how I avoided the 'acorn' to oak metaphor, cough cough).

Red China's reply? Mostly likely the most vacuous and bogus of rhetoric. Let's watch! . . .
--

Conservative ≠ Mentally Challenged. Conservative ≠ Insane. Conservative ≠ Neo-Con-Job

2010-01-25T17:55:00.000-08:00

--
Below is an article I wrote a couple weeks back. Being a space cadet in my spare time, I of course posted it to the Macsmarticles blog, where it did not belong. (o_0) I did the same thing with the quickie US Supreme Court blurb as well! I tell people it's the drugs.... So here it is in the correct place. When I get my personal website going this year, this sort of confusion should stop.

Oddly, I was talking with one of my religious conservative friends today and the subject of this article was spontaneously brought up by her, as opposed to me. So the article apparently has some *DING* factor for a few people beside myself. Enjoy.

--

This short article is written as a challenge. I'm not going to explain the challenge. If you're ready for the challenge, or you've already conquered the challenge, you'll get it. If you're not home, if you're not at a place in yourself where you can take the challenge, then there is no point in my discussing it with you. All things in their time. All learning when we're ready. There is no being better than anyone else. There is only being where you are now and where you wish yourself to be in the future. If you don't know what to want for your own growth, you won't get it. Wish to grow and you will grow. For me it has been that simple.

So here's the challenge:

Why do well meaning people think that the 'Neo-Conservative' political movement is Conservative? When I observe and consider all the things the Neo-Conservatives have said and done, I see nothing at all Conservative about their acts. What I see is stupidity. Yes, that stupidity has killed a few hundred thousand innocent people, perpetrated a couple entirely pointless, meaningless, murderous horrors we call wars. Yes, the Neo-Cons think they're doing something of any importance in the world. And yes, there are untold numbers of psychotics in their midst that seriously know the damage this bunch of stupid people do and they revel in it. We call these deranged people 'evil'. They do know what they do. But what does it all come down to? After all the pain, suffering, killing, fighting, arguing, lying lying lying, do anything, say anything to get their way. What is it all worth?

Nothing.

It's just more of the same old self-destructive imperative of mankind.

And what's that all about? Tell me.

Are these people simply too lazy or cowardly to kill themselves, to commit suicide? Why do they bother to stay alive if they outright refuse to learn and grow? What is the point of their lives? I can't find any!

There is no point in hurting and murdering others. It accomplishes nothing of any value. Yes, their little inner worlds convince them otherwise. Yes, people can remain entirely deluded about their point and their accomplishments in the world throughout their entire lives. It's life long insanity. Does that mean they have no responsibility for their bad choices? Are we talking about what amount to brain dead walking zombies with no comprehension? Can you call a human being self-destructive when they have no idea that they're imploding their own head by hitting themselves with a sledge hammer?

I don't know how one deals with the hopelessly self-deluded. That's beyond my comprehension. But sadly I don't know what one does with that group of insane people who perform their acts knowing full well that they are, indeed, insane. These are the actually evil people, the deliberate who know what they do. These are the intentionally self-destructive who instead of getting it over with, turn their self-hatred and self-damage outward at everyone else within their reach. This is a very 'special' kind of insanity.

Having pointed this out, I have to also point out that being a political Conservative, and actual factual political Conservative, does not by any means equal being a 'Neo-Conservative'. This is why I call the Neo-Cons the Neo-Con-Jobs. Any actual factual Conservative who thinks the Neo-Cons are on their side about anything at all has been conned, fooled, undermined and abused.

I grew up with Conservatives. I know what the actual factual values are the real Conservatives strive for in their lives. These people are never, ever out to harm others. They want to live good, kind, friendly, joyful and productive lives. They would like as much as anyone to have their values represented in the government they elect. Have they succeeded by voting in Neo-Conservatives. No. What they accomplished was the exact opposite. That's a con job.

If you comprehend the challenge in this situation, I compel you to take it. If you don't comprehend the challenge, I can only wish, and yes pray, that some day in your current life cycle you do and that you step into your wish for yourself and mankind as a whole to grow into something better.
--

[I'm in an abstract frame of mind today]
--

FOD: Red China vs The World:The Reverse Golden Rule

2010-01-22T14:32:00.000-08:00

--
As a citizen of the USA, I have my personal perspective about the ongoing debacle with China. My thoughts on the matter go like this:

Gotta love how Red China has learned western ways. This week they're using a propaganda trick right out of the Neo-Con-Job book. And it's my favorite! When someone accuses you of a sleazy move, take their words and turn them right back on them, pretending with a straight face that it is actually you that are the accuser and they the guilty. If that sounds entirely pathological, you get a *DING* and a gold star. ;-)

Here is the story of deceit that got me all riled up today:

China slams US criticism of Internet controls

Let me very briefly and simplistically set the scene. The story by now is very old, 12 years old to be precise. I've told it many times across the net as have plenty of others. So if you've heard it before, you're excused from class.

1998: US President Clinton and the US Congress provide Red China, aka 'Mainland China', aka 'Communist China', aka 'People's Republic of China', with Most Favored Nation status. It is the culmination of over two decades of courting the Red Chinese government to open up China once again to the west for trade and biznizz (my spelling of 'business' whenever something childish, primitive or self-destructive is afoot).

That same year, immediately after Most Favored Nation status was acquired, the Red Chinese government reached out to their computer hacker community and encouraged them financially to form what became the Red Hacker Alliance. You can read about the RHA HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE. Their stated goal was to prevent hacking of Red Chinese computers by foreign countries. Here is a paraphrasing of their manifesto,

'The "Alliance" which identifies itself as “a network security research organization made up of Chinese patriotic hackers,” specializes in network security, “patriotic hacker training,” and software development, according to the group's Internet site.'

However, their activities evolved such that their purpose served to perpetuate Red China's paranoia, as expressed through their requirement of subverting all rights of privacy, across the entire planet.

[The timeline table above is from the original online version of 'Evolution of the Red Hacker Alliance'.]

Meanwhile, the Red Chinese government have been discovered soliciting hackers at US universities. A secret Red Chinese government memo was also discovered a few years ago that explicitly declared a 'Technology War' against the USA.

Mankind can be so strange. Humans require a sense of security and safety. Here we see that requirement taken to an extreme expression of selfishness and self-destruction. Again we have the simple equasion that one's behavior toward others is an expression of one's behavior toward one's self.

The US government, in their incompetence, their fear of looking foolish, as well as their need to feel safe behind a mask of perceived security, didn't acknowledge the actions of the Red Hacker Alliance until circa 2007. This was despite the fact that the RHA had blatantly and admittedly attacked hundreds of US websites, including the White House and the US Navy, in 2001. That's six years of public denial. The mind boggles. Among the proven hacks by the RHA have been the Bot zombieing of numerous US federal computers such that all and any data posted to them, banal or top secret, was sent directly to computers of RHA members in Red China.

(Hmm, I forget. What is supposed to be the purpose of the NSA?)

Meanwhile, many Internet companies capitulated to Red China's censorship 'laws' in an effort to profit from their huge population. The first serious protest against Red China's totalitarian tactics was made by Google this past week in the aftermath of their discovery of Red China's hacking into the Gmail accounts of anti-Red China dissidents. After reading these private email messages, their contents were used to prosecute the dissidents as enemies of the state, leading to jail time and execution. The hack was performed via yet-another security flaw in Microsoft Internet Explorer. (A patch for the IE security flaw was posted this past Thursday). Bravo Google for fighting both hacking and censorship, finally living up to your motto of 'Don't Be Evil'.

PERSPECTIVES:

Here we are in the USA, bizy giving the citizen rights of free speech to corporations while China refuses to extend to any citizen the simple right of privacy. There is no such thing as freedom of speech or freedom of thought or freedom of choice in Red China. Red China is the world of the book 1984 by George Orwell. THE PARTY is watching you. It's the SOS that inspired the Cold War. And yet, looking at the situation from inside the head of a Red Chinese citizen can frazzle your mind. They believe they're fighting for 'freedom'!

"For we love China, our motherland! We love Freedom!"

To get perspective from within Red China, have a look at a grab of the short film "2008 !China Stand Up!". It was created by Tang Lie, a Red Chinese citizen, in response to western media condemning Red Chinese aggression against Free Tibet protestors. It extols the views of Mao, rants at western imperialist subversion of the Red China economy (despite the fact that selling products to the west is the basis of the modern Red Chinese economy), and blames the Dalai Lama for violent protests against Red China's own imperialist occupation of Tibet. Here is a quote from the video using what I call 'reverse propaganda':

"And they lie, they lie, lie...again and again!"

The liars lie about their country's lies. Or do they? What if these people believe what they're saying? What if what sounds like ridiculous propaganda to me sounds entirely righteous to them?

Of course, this issue gets messed around from black and white into gray mud when considering that the west, certainly the USA, does indeed interfere with Red China's affairs. If only the USA were pristine, innocent and well meaning in their affairs with the rest of the world. But we're not. The USA, unfortunately, is home to some of the most exploitative and self-destructive power brokers in the world. Toss in the political lunacy perpetrated by the Neo-Con-Jobs in the USA since 1997 and it's not so hard to understand why thoughtful people view the intentions of the USA with skepticism.

Therefore, I end my brain twisting essay by pointing out that we have two corrupt and dishonest powers attacking each other on many fronts. History teaches that this is what humanity does in general. Both sides are enemies of sanity when they play manipulation games against each other. As individuals we can only take what means the most to us and express it to others. In my case, I have no way of knowing all the dirt pulled on China by the USA. But it is blatant what China has pulled on the USA and what they pull on their own citizens regarding human rights, particularly their rights to privacy and free speech. Don't consider me any fanatic of USA skullduggery. However, consider me at odds with the foolish and paranoid government in Red China attempting to lie about their persistent 'Technology War' against the rest of the world.

Here are a couples sites where you can keep track of Red China's computer crimes:

China Digital Times

The Dark Visitor

And of course, here is a counter-perspective site that follows western crimes against Red China. Use a translation site, such as Babel Fish or Google Language Tools, for reading.

Anti-CNN.com, Access China Communication Network

If you're into understanding the human frailty I call Deceptive Truth, try reconciling the information provided by these three websites. Bring aspirin. Better yet...

If you're really into a challenge, make your head explode by watching the disturbing video of a nice little Red Chinese kid reciting the propaganda line fed to the populace about how Tibet really is part of China, come visit and see. "China has done nothing wrong." And so forth. (o_0)

'STOP AT TACKING CHINA.2008 CHINA STAND UP!'

We never know everything about anything. This little kid lives with reality distortion and so do the rest of us. All we can do is make choices that help us gain enough perspective to think outside the boxes we are handed. We struggle to find sanity in the midst of a cacophony of confusion and delusion.

"We will stand up and hold together always as one family in harmony!"

It could happen. But I believe we have better success focusing on oneness and harmony within our individual selves. That's hard enough to accomplish in one lifetime. Then let The Reverse Golden Rule naturally follow from there. One's behavior toward others is an expression of one's behavior toward one's self.
--

FOD: Oligarchy Day in the USA:Democracy Demented

2010-01-22T14:28:00.000-08:00

--
Today, 2010-01-22, the US Supreme Court specifically gave CORPORATIONS full citizen level FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

There is a lot to say about this day and I'm going to provide background and opinion about past, present and future. At the moment there is a lot of drama, understatement, overstatement, hubris, BS, FUD and sane analysis all messed in together in the media. Once the shock and awe of this catastrophe settles down, a full analysis will be in order.

As you would expect, January's Festival of Deceit Award goes to The Neo-Con-Job members of the US Supreme Court. Congratulations.
--

The Angst Theory of Creativity, Applied Examples

2010-01-03T17:25:00.000-08:00

--
This post is an introduction to a theory about one of my favorite subjects, creativity. It's going to be a bit out of context and clunky. I'm lifting it out of what was essentially a conversation. But I like it as an improvisation on the theme. Let me attempt to set the situation:

Over at MacDailyNews.com this past week we had been jabbering about a bizarro rumor that General Motors is considering Tim Cook of Apple for the position of CEO. (Good luck with that GM. Not gonna happen.) One of the members at MDN had not understood my concept of what should happen to GM before Tim Cook might give the idea a second glance. In a series of three replies I wrote him back what I have posted below. It gives a reasonable applied summary of how I view the capitalist company life cycle as well as how I view governments and similar political organizations. Some graphics, including a couple I tossed together as elaborative efforts, are included. Enjoy!

:-Derek

Jan 03, 10 - 07:49 pm Comment from: derekcurrie

G4Dualie sez to me: "Who do you imagine is the person(s) to bring about this miraculous change to GM before Cook gives that idea a look over?"

I think you need to read what I wrote again please.

Elaboration of my point: GM is a walking corpse.

For over 30 years they outright REFUSED to catch up with the international auto business. AFAIAC they have been in the pocket of Big Oil. Anything to sell more gasoline. That meant essentially:

(1) Buy and Bury all the patents for significantly improving fuel efficiency.

(2) Sell as many gigantic oil guzzling cars as possible via marketing methods and subterfuge injected into the US car culture making smaller, fuel efficient cars seem unAmerican, flimsy and dangerous, despite the fact that the rest of the world uses them with great success.

(3) Act all concerned about becoming modern to the public, solicit ideas, ignore the public, claim to have modernized, sell the SOS to the suckers.

GM killed off innovation motivation inside their own company. If they finally, 30 years too late, figured out how to actually be a modern car company, it would be IMHO a frickin' MIRACLE.

Conclusion:

(A) GM must go bankrupt and break up the company.

(B) Out of the wreckage, an actually innovative entrepreneur could grab up pieces of what USED TO BE GM, and use them as part of a NEW car company. THEN I could see Tim Cook being interested.

New companies are required to be innovation driven. They can start their work culture from scratch. Those that don't fit the positive work culture are not hired. That 'locks out' the self-destructive GM workforce dumdums from sabotaging the new company. Instead they can collect unemployment then go flip burgers for a living.

Do you get the concept now?

Marketing driven companies, such as GM, that have permanently lost the ability to innovate, will die. The sooner the better. Only then can a phoenix rise from the wreckage as a viable, modern company of benefit to the market. This is an ancient cycle, older than human history. You can go back to basic, instinctive concepts of human sharing and understand how this applies. Steve Jobs himself has spoken about how this works, which is one reason he is such a stubborn bastard at Apple when it comes to breaking old molds, smashing the box and boldly going where no one has gone before.

It all fits into what I call 'The Angst Theory of Creativity'. As I put it:

The Muse is not impressed with comfort.

. . .

Jan 03, 10 - 08:06 pm Comment from: derekcurrie

... And no, I have no idea what entrepreneur could make a silk purse out of the sow's ear of the bankrupt, sold off wreckage of GM. You maybe? It could be no one. That happens too.

Happily there is already great competition in the car marketplace. I've owned Toyota and Subaru cars. Love them. My ex loves her Hondas. Sorry they're not American made. Neither is Apple hardware these days. Quality wins in any healthy marketplace. Thankfully all of the above are quality.

And no, I don't consider the computer community to be particularly healthy considering the domination of crapware, such as Microsoft. We are still in The Computer Stone Age. Think of it as a Dark Age where dumbass aristocraps get to tell you what to do, like fall on your sword for the sake of the divine king. Think of Apple as analogous to the USA telling King George to go f*ck himself, establishing a golden age.

Extrapolating into the futurist abstract: Then think of the Neo-Con-Jobs as the marketing morons who infiltrated the company and destroyed its Innovation Incentive, creating a self-destructive work culture of bumbling idiots incessantly undermining each other with lies and bullsh*t, getting nothing of any importance accomplished. Think of the current USA as GM.

Get the picture?

The nexus: Either GM (USA) gets an entrepreneur (innovator) to kick the company (country) into competition/collaboration mode, or the company (country) should go bankrupt ASAP and let something angst driven (creative) replace it.

Such is my Positive Anarchist philosophy.
;-)

. . .

Jan 03, 10 - 08:18 pm Comment from: derekcurrie

... Where I developed and watched my Angst Theory first hand: Eastman Kodak. It's a textbook case.

OK, OK! I'll shutup now.

FOD: Anti-Deceit, or Positive Push

2009-11-15T21:13:00.000-08:00

--
One of the things I do to keep myself busy is moderate eGroups. This started back in 1998 or so when I was handed the ownership and administrative duties of the 'Bisexual Men' group at eGroups.com, a website that was purchased by Yahoo and transformed into Yahoo Groups. We were probably the first such group on the Internet.

Pause:

Two things just happened. You learned about my interest in leadership roles. You also had a very personal reaction to the concept of 'bisexuality' and what it means to you. Your meaning of that concept was then projected upon your concept of me. I'm still sitting here typing, entirely unchanged. However, you and your concept of me became 'entangled', to use a quantum physics term. You created a version of me in your mind. That version was integrated into your personal reality. I, me, mine is not there in your personal reality. I've over here, where I live, at 12:22 AM, typing on my bed. But a version of me you created via your very personal reaction to the stimulus of some symbols I tossed on an electronic page is now you and yours. Keep in mind as we proceed that the two of us, me here typing and me there in your mind, are NOT the same thing and never will be.

Continuing:

Eventually I closed down that particular eGroup as we found that the world around us had changed and the subject matter had become very public on the Internet. Soon thereafter, with the help of some net friends, I started another eGroup at Yahoo called YMO RARE, dedicated to sharing impossible-to-find music. More recently, I was following up my interest in an artist and actor named Dwayne Cameron and found that two eGroups related to his work had become SPAM nests at Yahoo. As an avid SPAM assassin, I volunteered to clean up each of the groups. One of the groups had been abandoned, and Yahoo have an odd policy of perpetuating abandoned groups into eternity. Thankfully, the owner of the second group, called DwayneCameronFanClub, was still around and handed me ownership. Such is how things go when one volunteers a leadership role in human organizations. This is nothing new to me and I didn't mind. So I cleaned up the place, tossed out the spammers and vapor-members, and made the place nice to visit.

Meanwhile, I now had an incentive to follow what Dwayne Cameron was up to. Of no surprise to me, he turned out to be a very bright spirit who is into what I call 'Positive Push'. This was a skill I had developed in myself in the summer of 2007. To me it means rebuffing the misery mongering or general suffering projected by other people, returning back at them positivity. If you've experienced this yourself you know what a remarkable thing follows: Typically the negative person drops their negativity wall, with an accompanying projection of relief and friendly humanity.

Dwayne has a YouTube site called ConsciousSpace. You can visit it HERE. He has a couple time lapse videos of himself painting as well as some clips of his acting work. What also caught my interest was a link he provided to a pair of 10 minute videos about Science and Buddhism, called "Where Science and Buddhism Meet". After you consider my blether above, please take the time to enjoy 20 minutes learning about the concepts in these videos:

"Where Science and Buddhism Meet"

Also be sure to check out Dwayne's artwork and other features at his personal website:

DwayneCameronArt.com

Q: How does one live a positive life amidst deceit and negativity from others? Hopefully I've given you some ideas, tools and examples.

:-Derek
--

Festival of Deceit, The Series: Introduction

2009-11-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

--
Introduction

What does a child do when 'e (he or she) finds h'self (herself or himself) inside a new system, one that no parent ever taught them to expect, one of those places too obvious or too obscure for consideration? It is the realm of the 'unreal', as we perceive it. We don't understand this place. It is not integrated into our inner world, which is where we believe we 'live'.

The child explores, fumbles and bumbles, and creates concepts that reflect the foreign system. Sharing these concepts with others, which is what this blog is about, has that ever present quality of sharing ideas that are wrong in some way or another. Sharing concepts is therefore dangerous. How does one take responsibility for the results of sharing? Something is passed along to another perceiving mind, and how is one to know what will follow?

Therefore, it is ever useful to comprehend that the concepts we share with one another may well have been formed through the thought processes of a child. I also believe it is useful to think of each us as we age as ever children. We explore the unknown, no matter how we avoid it, like it or not, collecting our concepts as well as those of others. We get to the end of our life of conception, still children, inside our cellular suit system. We have our gathered understanding of what we have experienced, which has provided us with the benefits of maturity and wisdom. But the child is still us. Death? The next realm of the unreal.

This introduction is in part a presentation of one foundation, a base abstact process, that is part of human life. I explain myself as a human child amidst this process. I share my concepts because I believe sharing is part of the path toward human sanity. I am wrong in what I share. I know that. That we never know everything about anything is my personal foundational concept. Nonetheless, I persist because I know I have benefitted from the concepts of others and I know others have benefitted from aspects of my own concepts. I like myself; I like the gifts I have; I am a social animal; we humans are fundamentally sharing creatures; I enjoy fulfilling my genetic and intellectual manifesto of sharing. From this baseline, hoping you understand this baseline, I want to dive down from the abstract into specifics about the time and place in which I live within human society.

I wish we could stay in the world of the abstract. But we can't. We live the specific. It's not pretty down there right now, in that specific world. It's frightening to all of us what we humans do inside our self-made little inner worlds that make up our cooking pot of a shared perceived outer world. We are miracle creatures of the miracle planet that made us and sustains us. Oh, what a blessing to be alive, cognizant and coherent. Thank you creative spirit of the Earth. But oh how we do fumble and bumble as children, cruel and lethal in the choices we make.

Part of me rages in anger and cries in mourning every moment of this time in my life. Part of me has had enough and wants to leave, move on to something reliably sane and noble, somewhere past death. I've had to teach myself, through the kind sharing and support of many wonderful people, to find a place in myself where I can continue my exploring and learning, understanding each new realm of the unreal and growing in spirit. If I weren't living in this current human age, there is no doubt I'd have found a way to get out of 'here.' On the level of specifics, this age is so intolerable to me.

And yet this is 'now', and I found a comfortable 'place' for myself. It is a place where I can grow and enjoy being alive amidst the mess and the lost. I am ambitious, I push through my cynical with my positive. I repel the negative cast offs from my fellow humans and bombard back what concepts I have for the great human being. Sometimes I fall for the futile and whine about the mess and the lost. I'm very adept at judgement. It's a fundamental of my personality I've accepted as mandated. I fail, flaw and frustrate. But also mandated in me is persistence in my goal to grow. Nothing stops me. There is for me no life without growth. It is my obsession eternal. Cast off all the peripheral and that is the me inside. It is the motivation. It is the manifesto. It is the sharp arrow me that cuts through all resistance at the speed of thought. It is my spirit.

This spirit is the other baseline I need to share and that I hope you comprehend while I share my experiences, concepts and creative thoughts about the perceived specifics of my time. Return back here to the Introduction if I lose you along the way. It may help explain the inside story of why I share what I share. No doubt there is more I could or should put in this introduction in preparation as I write this series. These words will suffice, nonetheless, as a starting ground.

So why the title 'Festival of Deceit'? The concept is my insight into the theme of this next year of human thought, the spirit of the age through the year 2010. Here in the United States of America, where I currently live, we are in a thrashing and vicious political age. The motions of mankind in my country are going to become desperate. Beware desperation. It is a form of chaos. Anything can happen. It is mankind gone manic. Expect glaring euphoria and dim decay. The floor has fallen out of the building and everyone is left with desperate choices. What will we do? My concept is that the most lost among us will become so desperate to hide from this new realm of the unreal that they will turn to deceit, most of all within themselves, in order to foolishly deceive and delude. It is an act of self-destruction. It is a fox (in more ways than one) gnawing off its own leg to get out of a perceived trap. It is deliberate squinkification. It is the ignoring and crushing of what 'truth' we are able to comprehend for an delusional purpose. The method used is the creation and dissemination of zunipus: Deceptive imaginings retitled as 'truth' and 'fact'.

Of course I will be coloring my words with my own inner world methods of thinking. My weaknesses, missing skills and personal delusions will show. All is point of view. It will of course not be entirely yours, and that is how it must be. Diversity rules. I am motivated to share this work. Care it or beware it as you choose. Just know that I care it and I hope you find some of this voice useful and fun. The target is the joy of being alive. My arrow is not the sharpest. My aim will be off. But my arrow's energy is perpetual and I know there will be interesting things to perceive along the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Footnotes:

I'm playing around with a way to discuss humans without reference to gender. Grammar experts tell me that using the plural form of people, they or them, is not acceptable. That's what I used to use. I don't actually care because plural communication methods work. But for fun, and out of my instinct for sarcastic obnoxiousness, I've been playing with other methods. No one else bothers, I'm a producer, obnoxiousness is an enjoyable motivator, therefore I experiment. I perceive that I am honest about it. Thus my experiments with 'e and h'self, etc.

Note, if you weren't already aware of it, that I like to play with words. I often invent words for my own purposes. Language is only a tool. Put it to work. Go back and read my first post in this blog if you don't understand my words 'zunipus' and 'squinky'.

Note that I agree my sort of blether comes off as pretentious. At least I am minimalist, specific, and kind in my intent. I write this way because it makes sense to me within my system. It is how I express myself best within the context of the time and environment I am writing. It is me being true to myself.

Note that I alter what I have written periodically. Today's form of anything I write may not be tomorrow's. Therefore, if you quote me, be sure to use the latest version of my work.

Note that everything I write is copyrighted. At the very least, give me my due attribution when you use my work. Otherwise I will skillfully introduce you to your next incarnation via the process of death. And that's not good. I'd rather that we all honor the wonderful process and benefits of sharing. That I like.

Therefore, note the Comment link under each article. There is no giving without receiving. Monocultures are inherently self-destructive. We all learn through interaction. Please share back your inner world, with kind intent.

:-Derek
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How to abuse your customers 101: AD BLASTING!

2009-04-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

--
Prologue: Manifesto Modification

I had to ask myself yesterday what I am actually writing here. A book? Is that why I am so reluctant / slow to post? This is a blog. I am person, therefore guaranteed to blunder all over he place. So I have changed my personal manifesto here to post brainstorms rather than finished works of critical importance for the survival of the human species. So what if I come off as some snothead old geezer or dweeb in wise-old-Tiresias robes. Words remain only symbols of our brain's attempts to describe what we perceive to be the real world. All is allusion. ;-)

LISTEN TO THIS DAMMIT YOU STUPID CUSTOMERS!

Ad Blasting is when a program takes a few minutes of intermission and your media transmission device is suddenly and dramatically louder while presenting you with advertisements. When this happens, of course the assumption is that some dickhead marketing-moron decided to abuse his customers by cranking up the volume in order to get their attention. I read a couple years back that a certain group of marketing morons were lobbying media device developers to remove the Mute option from their machines in order to force victim customers to listen to every ad blasted at them. Imagine that. Big Brother Bad Ads. Makes you feel all warm and snuggly.

But the question still comes up: Is Ad Blasting real? Is it made in error? Or are you actually schizophrenic and hallucinating? This question was posed to Leo Laporte, who is a reasonably well loved technology pundit in North America. He is the producer and host of a variety of radio, TV and Internet programs about technology. Much as I admire Mr. Laporte, he came up with a remarkably lame denial of Ad Blasting. He blamed it on the differences between mono and stereo advertisements, single channel versus dual channel audio. He said that single channel audio naturally sounds louder than dual channel audio. This has to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard him say. Mr. Laporte works in broadcasting and he is pretending he doesn't know the purpose of a VU meter?

Here is how sound works: Some object vibrates the air. At the speed of sound that vibration travels as a wave front through the air until it reaches a human ear. The ear drum of the human's ear vibrates in resonance. That vibration travels through a series of small bones until it is transmitted to a system of hairs connected to nerve endings connected to the human brain. The brain translates the stimulation of nerves by those hairs into what we humans perceive to be sound. The system of sound 'volume' or amplitude was designed to represent how loud we humans perceive a particular sound or collection of sounds to be. We created machines that represent that sound measurement for us visually. The machine is called a Volume or VU meter. The unit of measurement of sound volume is the decibel. Each increase in volume of 1 decibel represents the doubling of what we humans perceive to be volume. VU meters provide a measurement of decibel units. When stereo sound is captured or transmitted there are two VU meters used. They represent the volume being presented to the right ear and left ear in an idealized stereo audio transmission system. Typically stereo audio is transmitted to human right and left ears via right and left speakers.

In professional audio engineering there is a prime goal of providing a quality representation of the audio source to the receiving human. One of the measurements of audio source quality is of course volume. Using the decibel unit scale, an amplifier and a VU meter a sound engineer has the ability and goal of providing one standard volume to the receiving human. Every VU meter has a 'red zone' beyond which the sound is considered to be louder than the chosen standard volume.

Therefore, theoretically, all transmitted audio volume has one standard average volume throughout an audio presentation. Thanks to the decibel system, there never has to be a change in average volume between various audio presentation sources. This is the case with both mono (single channel) audio and stereo (dual channel) audio where by both mono and stereo sound sources have the same standard volume. The fact that a stereo sound source uses two VU meters has no effect on the result. Combining two stereo channels into one mono channel does not result in an increase in volume as long as there is adequate standard equipment used for transmission and the sound engineer is watching the VU meter.

In other words, if an ad sounds louder, it IS louder. Your ear is the expert.

Therefore, the 'Laporte hypothesis' has no basis in reality.

However, fumbling and bumbling is consistently a part of human reality. If the sound engineer does not follow professional standards, what often results is a mess of volume fluctuations between audio sources. You don't have to listen to advertisements to recognize that this is the case. Late night programming on TV is a great place to hear ridiculously poor audio engineering at work, or not work as is the case. Some trainee kid is running the graveyard shift. Sometimes the results are quite hilarious. When you hear volume catastrophes happening during prime time you know there's something very wrong going on.

Then there are the 'standards' differences between sources. For example, where I live we are under the thrall of Time Warner for cable TV. Every piece of media they create has jacked up volume. That is their standard, bouncing in the red zone. If it were only their ads I'd cry foul.

Then there is the analog copy effect where audio naturally degrades with copy after copy after copy. Some sound engineers deliberately allow the volume to decline. Why? If they recalibrated the volume they'd also be raising the level of copy induced audio noise. What you hear in the broadcast is a declined level of volume. So you raise the volume on your receiver to compensate. Then a normal, standard volume ad comes on and your ear drums are blown out. What does one call this phenomenon? Copy Corrosion Audio Attenuation? Heh.

Then there are the blatantly obvious examples of HARD SELL Ad Blasting.

Local car dealerships!

There, I struck terror into your heart. The horror! Typically, local ads are poorly made in the extreme. But auto dealer ads are predatory. Damned right the advertiser jacked up the volume! They pay extra for that at the fly-by-night ad production warehouses. I almost worked for one these dens of bad ad perpetration.

Then there are the properly produced professional ads that have been 'tweaked' somewhere along the line. Any professional ad producer would get slammed by members of his industry for stooping so low as to Ad Blast. Therefore, it typically falls to the networks or the local repeater station to do the dirty deed. Hand a sound engineer some back pocket money and your ad will be cheerfully BLASTED at unsuspecting victim customers. Tracing this kind of dirty deed is next to impossible. "Oh sorry boss, I must have slipped on the controls while I was dubbing that spot." Or better yet, "Dimwit the trainee must have done it while I was on my coffee break." Such is humanity.

Conclusion: Ad Blasting is real. But it isn't ubiquitous.

There is a site on the net where you can sign a petition to ask the US Congress to pass a law to stop it. Google 'Ad Blasting'.

Question: How do you enforce it? Good luck sorting out Ad Blasting from plain old incompetence. How do you stop the Ad Blasting incentive and volume tweaking? It's here to stay. But there's nothing stopping you from flaming the local media station for abusing your ears and sanity. Sometimes they actually do care, bless them.

Meanwhile, demand your right to Mute!

Or go buy an audio line limiter. They're kind of clunky in their execution. But if you can afford one, it may help spare your patience.

And as ever, there's the Contented Customer's Chant:
If someone abuses you, Boycott their Bogus Bullsh*t.

The purpose of marketing is to serve, not to deceive and subjugate.
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The Age Of Marketing - Truth Decay

2008-12-05T02:28:00.000-08:00

I've been wrestling with myself for months about how to start off the guts of this blog. One subject kept pinning me to the floor: Marketing Abuse. So here goes.

What is marketing? It is an extension of the fundamental human behavior of sharing. Marketing is a sub-game, part of the overall game we call 'business.' It's goal is to sell shared items or services, trading them from the people who have them to those who want or need them. How this is done is a subject of ethical dispute.

I of course focus on the element of what I call 'Truth Decay.' This term came to my attention through T-Bone Burnett, a master musician, composer and recording producer. I've followed his work since 1976. Among other things, he won a Grammy Award for his soundtrack to the film 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?", an adaptation of Homer's Odyssey by the Coen Brothers. Mr. Burnett looks and thinks remarkably like me. I believe he must be one of my long lost big cousins, so to speak. His 1980 solo album was entitled 'Truth Decay', an apt pun for the subject at hand.

We are living in The Age Of Marketing, or The Marketing Era, whichever you prefer. I use the phrases interchangably. The artifice of marketing is centuries old. But it became a subject of urgent study after corporations were erroneously given the status of 'personhood' at the end of the 19th century. This abomination was heralded into existence, I am told, but the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Odd much? I'll be covering this travesty of truth in a future post. Now that The Age Of Corporate Ascension had begun, so had The Age Of Marketing. One of the pinnacle achievements of this artifice was propaganda. To quote a quote from Wikipedia:

"Propaganda is neutrally defined as a systematic form of purposeful persuasion that attempts to influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, and actions of specified target audiences for ideological, political or commercial porposes through the controlled transmission of one-sided messages (which may or may not be factual) via mass and direct media channels. A propaganda organization employs propagandists who engage in propagandism—the applied creation and distribution of such forms of persuasion."
—Richard Alan Nelson, A Chronology and Glossary of Propaganda in the United States, 1996

An excellent example of current propaganda today in the USA is the network of pseudo-political pundits in the pseudo-news media. One of the most famous pseudo-conservative political pundits was Jerry Falwell, inventor of the divisive term "The Moral Majority". Taken at face value, this term can vaguely make sense regarding human ethical beliefs. But it was used as nothing more than a political tire iron by a group of pseudo-Christian politicians. Jerry Falwell was one of the most successful propagandists in US history, pulling the wool over indeed the majority of citizens. His political movement culminated in the successful election, twice, of pseudo-conservative George W. Bush, who brought along with him the pseudo-conservative dumdum tank known as the 'Project For The New American Century', aka PNAC, infamously lead by publisher and political analyst William Krystol. The ruination of the concept of 'truth' that followed is only now being realized and understood.

In the future I'll undoubtedly post a diatribe about the history of propaganda, as well as a rant regarding what I call the 'Neo-Con-Job' movement in the USA. Please note that I have no respect for either of the political parties in the USA. If I'm biased, it is toward making sense, and neither party qualifies. It just happens that the tribe, oops I mean party, that has done the most damage recently has been the Repubicans, or Repubicraps as I sarcastically call them, as opposed to the Democrats or Democraps. In the future I will also cover the use of humor and linguistic invention in the pursuit of satire, a form of truth exhumation and zunipus humiliation.

The Age Of Marketing has created a wide variety of concepts. The best of these is the phrase "The customer is always right." This is what marketing should be: A positive service to the customer. Provide to the customer what they need and want. I consider the aberration of convincing or persuading a customer to buy something to be an art of deception, aka zunipus. It brings into the natural human sharing system all the human vices. The business game becomes an act of harming people, of harming truth.

Over time I've been categorizing ways in which bad marketing abuses customers through zunipus. Ahead is a series of short articles describing some of my concepts. I enjoy writing with a sense of irony and satire, and these articles will be no exception. I've been reluctant to post them here because they have an emotional component. They are in response to my sense of repulsion and annoyance with the acts of people I call 'Marketing Morons', those who use abusive marketing, as opposed to 'Marketing Mavens', those who use supportive marketing. Clearing away my rage regarding bad marketing, this entire issue is one of truth decay, or perpetrating zunipus for the purpose of personal gain at the expense of the welfare of others.

Share and Enjoy,

:-Derek
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Who, what is zunipus?

2006-05-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

I am zunipus. My given name is Derek.

You are zunipus, assuming you are human.

All of us are zunipus.

Zunipus is a baby-talk sort of word that came out of a dream I had at age 13. I'll tell the dream some other time. Zunipus is an adjective. It describes anything that is deceptive. It is a neutral word. It does not infer bad or good. It is simply descriptive.

So why are all of us zunipus? We are imperfect systems. We are never completely correct. We pretend to know absolutes but we can't. We are incapable of being certain about anything. Or as I like to put it: We never know everything about anything. Our system, our bodies, which house our senses, mind and spirit, does a remarkable, some would say miraculous, job perceiving and evaluating our environment. To say something is zunipus is not to denigrate it. I am not saying mankind is bad because its systems are faulty. To be zunipus is to be a person who believes they know 'reality' but do not. No matter how carefully we use science to perceive the 'real' we can never be certain. We, as systems, are simply not perfect. We make errors, our sensing abilities are limited, the information we collect requires interpretation which by definition requires abstraction from the initial stimulus, and so on.

I will go into depth into the details and ramifications of being zunipus in the future. For now that is hopefully enough to get you started with the concept of zunipus.

I might as well introduce you to a synonym of zunipus, except this word is not neutral. It is a satirical word, making fun of the thing it describes. The word is:

Squinky.

I invented the word zunipus, but not squinky. The word squinky has been around for years. But it has no definition that I am aware of. Every time I see it someone is using it in a different way. That is remarkable, to have a word that is merely a sound and not a symbol for something in the 'real' world. Well, I have harnessed and tamed squinky for my own purposes, and I think it may come in handy for other folks as well.

Something that is squinky is perceived to be incredibly kewl, wonderful, chic, rad, fab, great. But it is... not. You have been deceived. The squinky thing or person has a deceptive quality. Paris Hilton is squinky. Scienterrificology (as I call it) is squinky. John Travolta is squinky. Tom Cruise is squinky. Pet rocks are squinky. President George W. Bush was squinky, but the mask fell off.

Now you have a new tool with which to describe the world. People love judging things, and the word squinky is a very useful and even insightful way to do so. But keep in mind the root concept behind squinky, that is the word zunipus.

Share and Enjoy!

:-Derek