Watch Your Back

 

Oh, the plans that swirl about in one’s mind!

Projects, parties and undertakings aplenty.

Time off is coming and ideas start forming,

but then the outside world stomps on the optimism.

External reality foils best-laid plans and high hopes

with efficient coldness, even in the best of times.

One gets a big project done and feels good inside,

thinking surely a bit of pride at this point is justified...

Cutting under-the-breath comments put the lie to that truth;

The world is not going to let you feel good for one minute!

Budget plans get laid in, then prices go up over night,

don’t forget gas in the car, oh yes, and the price of that jumps too.

Peace is preached from the pulpit, but ignored by politicians

who must punish other nations and fan the flames of war.

Hatreds large and small blossom from nearly every corner.

What god will they invoke while they practice sadistic cruelty

on those they deem “them” or “the other side”, even citizens

of the same country, state or city, or even the same block?

Then there is this Covid plague that never seems to go away,

just takes new, more insidious forms daily.

It will be around forever, apparently.

So how is your scratchy throat doing today?

Hope it is better than mine.

Different Summits

 

The Alpinist makes his way up a steep rock face;

If he encounters ice, he grabs ice tools to maintain progress.

Despite loose rock, crumbling ice, and jagged outcrops he persists.

Eventually he gets to stand up and walk at the very summit.

Then looks down at all the lower peaks, clouds, landscapes

shrouded in mist, and undulating lowlands – says “Made it!”

A young life lived to the ultimate degree, time well spent!

He summit-ed one more, before succumbing to an avalanche.

In my pedestrian meanderings, I marvel at such a person.

What a wonderful way to expend a life on this earth…

even if he did only live until age 26.

Most folks’ mountains more resemble mine...

Getting the groceries and gas, making it to work.

Keeping track of numerous websites, all who succeeded in

cajoling or bamboozling me into signing up at

one time or another, preying on some need or desire or wish;

Snaring more and more personal details of my totality.

I wonder, in idle moments, how people raising kids

are able to manage all of the pitfalls or threats.

If you are a young person and have thought about climbing a

mountain, go do it while you can. Life is short,

opportunities flicker in the wind and then are gone.

Carpe diem – seize the moment -

you will have surpassed most of us before you know it.

Happy Holidays!

Meta-Thoughts

 

    So I’m not sure what to think of this whole Metaverse thing. The WWW and Internet is already very meta-verse like. I can get lost in social media sites like Youtube and Facebook – it is easy to while away hours on those sites alone. Real Life is something I put aside when I go online (or look at my smartphone) and browse websites. I’m assuming the difference with the Metaverse is that you take the shape of an avatar and wander around in some unreal world. That seems suspiciously like that Second Life thingy that was going strong a while back. More like just another game, although a bit more realistic. To make it even more real, they would have to have haptic attachments for not only your hands, but feet too – perhaps another extremity as well?

    I read a group of science fiction novels called “Otherland” by Tad Williams. In this, characters would actually put themselves into a coffin-like tank, and attach their body to sensors, a nutritive IV of some kind, and the like. Then they would enter Otherland, a VR setup that they could navigate as themselves, modified. Their world would change according to the author of that world, or master-programmer of sorts. But for those characters, time would pass the same – their bodies suspended, their minds off on some journey elsewhere. Their mind would be living somewhere else, but their bofdies would still presumably age at the same rate, there in the tank, being artificially sustained.

    So what is to be gained by a trip into the Metaverse? An exotic form of entertainment, perhaps. One achieved at the cost of enormous expense in infrastructure, power generation, processing power build-up and build-out, etc, etc. I personally think it would be more cost-effective to take our real bodies and go out into space, and explore the real universe. There are many challenges and wonders to be seen. Real wonders, not ones inside a set of chips. (Of course some thing that we are living in some kind of grand simulation – but that is a different discussion for me). I’m sure the manufacturers of all that power and computing equipment will beg to differ with me. But hey, they can sell that hardware to NASA for deep space missions, you know, to go out into the real universe!

    There may well be some good niches for Metaverse type products. Like keeping astronauts on long-duration missions to Mars entertained during the trip. Or for aging baby-boomer sci-fi fans in retirement homes. Like other forms of gaming and entertainment, the Meta-stuff may be great for a few, not necessarily for the masses. Pick your pleasures however you please. The 2020’s should be real interesting in any case. Hope to see you on the other side ;-)

Another one dies and we all utter honor cries

 

Another stalwart politician passes away,

then he is showered with honors and praises.

When he was alive and running for something,

the partisan flames were firing at him ferocious!

Reminds one of John McCain, another conservative

vilified by the opposition (and some in his own party)

for being an independent thinker, a “loose cannon.”

But in death his many contributions were recognized.

Democrat Neal Smith passed away recently,

the long-serving congressman from Iowa.

He was showered with honors from people

in both parties, Republican and Democrat alike.

It is sad how many who serve only get recognition

of their genuine contributions to government in death.

Partisan politics’ masochistic flagellation of our republic

is unending and unyielding, letting up only in the death

of someone who has served in office a long time.

Truthfully not many of us would want to shoulder the

myriad responsibilities of a congress-person. But

for some reason it is sure easy to dislike them anyway,

especially those from the opposing party who stand in our way.

Here is hoping for a bit of unity and commonality in our country.

Despite some baser emotions and frustrations, I really hope we

Americans can find enough common ground to not tear ourselves apart,

but to be able to rise to meet the challenges that face us all in this still-new

(but looking awfully tired already) 21^st century.

May we all enjoy a peaceful holiday season.

Outlier Spaces

 

People have remade and re-formatted so many places on this earth. Especially in cities, most every square inch of real estate has been bought and purposed to one effect or another. But in our striving for efficient resource utilization, I hope that planners and leaders won’t lose sight of the importance of informal spaces. Those forgotten or half-hidden stretches of woods, or old buildings awaiting demolition. Because in those places much meaning and yes, creativity is birthed.

We go about our lives following the rules, performing our work, pleasing our families, checking off all the boxes of modern-day living. So things become a humdrum repetitive pattern. But the furtive activities in out-of-the-way spots, off the beaten track areas can provide a counterbalance to sterile normality. Sparks of creative happiness can occur, and perhaps give some of us a reason to throw ourselves back into the milieu of modernism with renewed energy and solution-making.

Save some of those decrepit or ugly spots. They just might be part of the Earth’s immune system, a rough vine of creative survival for human intellect, purpose, and hope as well. Human tissue can look ugly under a microscope too, but it is still vital to our survival. Peace and out.

Frightful Atmospherics

 

Tick tick boom boom the temps are dropping,

north winds howl, windows rattle,

cold crawls across the floor in search of

feet or paws to chill, winters bitter pill.

January telegraphs its arrival via the holiday season.

Might not be so bad if that is all we had to worry us...

Military buildups continue around the world,

the USA alone spending record amounts every year,

Russia pushing for supremacy in Central Europe,

the red, white, and blue tricolor a new hammer and sickle.

India trumpets their burgeoning power on land, sea and in outer space;

NATO nations make worried consultations and increase their budgets.

I thought this same “movie” played out in the 1960s, 70s, and 80’s.

A new generation has to realize that it is not a good idea to destroy the world,

not by Climactic means, and not by Nuclear Annihilation either.

One wishes for a milder winter,

as one wishes for world powers to lower the ‘temperature of conflict.’

We may not be able to control the weather,

bu we can decide whether we want to

be around to endure or enjoy weather at all.

Time for civilized nations to sit down and work things out,

whether it is palatable to anyone's belief system or not.

Give the entire Earth the best Christmas present of all:

World Peace.

One can only hope.

Future Momentum

 

Do you think present-day tech is amazing,

smart-phone internet always-on connectivity?

PCs were like that 25 years ago, all the craze

promised games, video fun and new productivity.

Then a little handheld device rendered them obsolete;

Paradigms shifted, programs procreated, parents panicked

when their teenagers could not text a sentence complete.

Now our finances are managed, calls video, steps get tracked.

New wonders keep appearing in the form of the latest Apps.

But another paradigm shift is gathering momentum…

Biological interfaces, memories, and implants loom ahead.

Another couple decades and the smartphones will look dumb.

When our AI servants send back sensory experiences from

the Solar System’s edge and beyond, superhuman feats

become more routine every day, our species will evolve.

Into exactly what it is hard to specify – something that

will make us look like backward apes by comparison.