Paperback Cassette Dream

The lust was always there,
craving for techno-storage,
instant electronic companionship -
used to excite me to the bathroom
back in those dim Saturday nights.

What if I could build some magic device
to store all the data on newspaper articles,
and then retrieve it on demand?
What if I could cobble together some circuits,
connect it all to the phone line,
find friends, love, sex everything?
It was an enchanting idea at age 19, 20, 21...

But we had to (and did) content ourselves
with cassettes and records,
paperback novels,
grainy black and white Dr. Who reruns,
cigarettes and beer and microprocessor dreams.

The 1990's Internet tsunami changed it all,
then the 2000's swept away any memory of
analog 80's life - and the 70's?
Wasn't that the time when people did drugs?
Wait, we still do – all the time.


But we have the cellular Internet,
so we never, ever have to get
stoned alone again.

--

Finally

Common sense rules, and they are coming close to passing a debt limit increase.

"Trying to defund Obamacare was a fool's errand"    Love it!

on an unrelated note - check out the website:

http://dycen-alexander.com/links-of-interest   

Thanks.

Close Call

Close Call

They came close to agreement yesterday,
Pundits on TV were predicting success;
Last-minute sabotage meant no hoorays,
Hard-liners complained about supposed excess.

Financial ratings downgrade our government,

paper and commodity markets gyrate and plummet;
Uncertainty paints our future predicament,
as we wait on these fruitless, acrimonious summits.

Is it finally time, then, for the world to bail us out?

Replace weak American dollars with stronger currencies?
We seem reduced to gridlock, leaders just pout and shout.
The constitution did not plan for these contingencies.

Broke and bankrupt, we have to start over somehow,

Pull our system up and get our act together, right now.

-end

One Afternoon at the Quality Inn

It's 2:15 on a Sunday afternoon,
and I have no idea what to do.

In New York and Chicago many are
starving, destitute, lost – addicted.
In Cairo, Egypt, streets are splashed with blood
flesh, screaming torment and misery.
In Damascus, Syria, citizens fight
government might with small arms, or
shelter from jets raining down bombs.
Across Africa there is bloody civil strife.
Other places around the globe also suffer misery...

But


It's 2:15 on a Sunday afternoon,
and I have no idea what to do –

So I look out my 7^th floor window and daydream.

Why is the world the way it is?
How can I make it better?
Why should I bother?
Wonder if room service is still open?

A prosperous westerner
feeling a touch of conscience.

Fortunately, it soon passes,
I decide to take a swim -
A nap-
A meal.

I am thankful...
Life is good here at the Quality Inn.

-end

Meditations during October Bicycle ride

I drink in cool air,
autumn-scented beauty surrounds --
Sun sinks lower,
lights up color in tree tops and hillsides,
yellow light suffused into the browns, reds, greenery.

Summer's heaviness dissipates under
northern influences;
The blood quickens,
gives new energy for winter preparation
or other less productive pursuits.

Time to stash the foodstuffs,
seal up the lodge,
stack the firewood,
tuck in extra buffalo hides
or craft-sale comforters.

Winter's white chill will soon
be upon us –
the helpless shivering
times we must endure.

Hurry up and prepare,
before giving thanks,
then tucking in for the long
cold white blast.

The Sun will come back,
life will renew,
we will be able to venture out once again.
Years' cycle constantly repeats.

But today I enjoy October's crisp palette,
and give thanks for this world,
its endless variation
that I (still) live in.

-end

auto-correc

Thanks to the ever-handy spellchecker software, the previous post has been vetted and changed for accurate spelling.    You are welcome -    

                              - The Computer

Hu-memorial

We are controlled by our computers.
Auto-formatting, letter changes, etc
force us to put down
what we did not intend.

The computer always knows better than
some wannabe artist,
reduced to a desktop ornament
at the whim of the ruling chips,
discarded at their leisure.

Once Humans ruled this world,

alas - no more.

Enough - time to settle it!

Shutdown Again!


      Just do not understand why these representatives of the people cannot get their act together and come up with a compromise. Everyone from the President on down needs to sit down together and haggle out a compromise of some kind, and get the government in operation. Delay the Mandate? So be it. Tax some medical equipment? Why not, we tax everything else, sometimes more than once. We need to get over the stupid recalcitrance and get on with our lives.

     Or should we call the USA a failed state? Maybe request governance as a UN Protectorate. The Blue Helmeted soldiers from distant lands could be stationed in every governmental department, every statehouse even. Have to oversee these bankrupt broken governments somehow, don't we?

     It would be easy to blame the debacle on one or another party. But the fact is, presidents over the last six administrations have wrestled with the question of health care and how to better administer it. Obama is merely the latest president to address it, and he did so in a big way. The rich hate it, and the poor applaud it.

     But in any case, we need to get past these minutia, and hammer out some kind of agreement. For everyone’s' sake. Thanks for reading, and keep an eye out for those blue helmets, coming soon to a street corner near you.

-