Is it just me, or does anyone else want to strangle those people who proudly announce that they don’t vote, and have never voted?
Yeah, it’s probably just me.
Taken for Granted
As I showered today, enjoying fresh hot water, I thought about all the moments leading to that one. I looked back toward Ashland becoming a town and the settlers coming together with a decision to establish a water system. They created dams and cisterns, and channeled water to pipes for homes to tap off them.
Imagine all of that, the thinking and conversations that were held about the idea, and the decisions that had to be made. Someone paid for it, someone oversaw the work, and others did the work.
Then expand, look at our modern areas with their drainage, sewage, and water supplies. The trails, paths, sidewalks, streets, and roads that were built, expanding into higheways, and then augmented with interstate expressways. Look at the driveways, parking spots, parking garages, and gas stations. Look at the new charging stations for electric cars. Look beyond to the communication lines, from telegraphs and telephones to antennas, and cable television and Internet connections to satellite feeds and cell towers.
It is amazing stuff that I take for granted, this infrastructure that I use with little thought, and it’s such a small, small fragment of the entire development that we call civilization. Shame that we have the potential to destroy all of this thought and work by careless thought and activity.
Especially when you consider the more amazing planet upon which all of this is built.
Thursday’s Theme Music
Well, this was a weird stream. I was reading about the FBI’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election campaign for president when I came across the term crossfire hurricane. The FBI used it as a code name for the investigation. The Wayback Machine immediately fired up a stream from a 1969 Rolling Stones hit called “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”. The first line that I remembered went, “I was born in a crossfire hurricane.”
I think the song’s beginning is terrific. One, two.
Friday’s Theme Music
Let’s pop back to 1997.
The scene is San Jose, California. The group is Smash Mouth. They were the summer’s rising flavor. One song that caught on was a little ditty called “Walkin on the Sun”.
It ain’t no joke I’d like to buy the world a toke
And teach the world to sing in perfect harmony
And teach the world to snuff the fires and the liars
Hey I know it’s just a song but it’s spice for the recipe
This is a love attack I know it went out but it’s back.
It’s just like any fad it retracts before impact
And just like fashion it’s a passion for the with it and hip
If you got the goods they’ll come and buy it just to stay in the clique
It’s just a song, but it something to help you think. Cheers
Orange
Yes, I’m wearing orange today.
I don’t belong to a political party. I support those who will speak truth, and support freedom, justice, and equality for every person. Neither the G.O.P. nor Democratic Party does that well in America in recent years. The Green Party and Libertarian Party try, and they have some good ideas, but lack the political will.
I like what America’s founders set out to do. The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are fine documents, with great aspirations for what we as a nation can be. It is not a perfect document. Neither were the people who wrote and ratified it. As the Preamble says, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
They were forming a more perfect union. It wasn’t perfect, and it isn’t perfect. It was not meant to be never changed, for the founders recognized they weren’t creating a perfect union, and built several mechanisms for change into it. They recognized that not many ideas or plans begin as perfect. You do the best you can to give yourself a place to start. If you want for the perfect plan, you’ll probably never begin.
I support the idea of a more perfect union. I want to secure the blessing of liberty for ourselves and posterity. To achieve this, we can’t support or give in to lies, fear, or oppression. To continue the pursuit of a more perfect union began over two hundred years ago, we must continue to address wrongs and injustice, and change and adjust without abandoning the basic premise that everyone is equal, and have certain rights that others cannot abridge nor abrogate. Until that level, we continue to seek a more perfect union.
Which is why I wear orange today.
Tuesday’s Theme Music
When I think of this song, I don’t think, wow, this song has been out for twenty-five years.
But then, I was taken aback that Demi Lovato fulfilled a childhood fantasy by singing with Christina Aguilera. I thought, “What…? Aguilera hasn’t been around that long.”
Yeah, in my mind world, Taylor Swift Twenty-one Pilots, Drake, Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons, Adele and Meghan Trainor are all fresh new voices. Hard to believe they’ve been on the scene for years. Even the Bieb has been around almost ten years.
So forgive me for thinking of this old song as new classic rock song. Time changes, when you get to be my age.
Here is Yes with “Owner of A Lonely Heart,” from way back in 1983, before Drake, Adele, Demi, and the rest of them were even born. At least Christina was born when this song came out.
Crank it up like it’s supposed to be heard.
Sizzle
Have you noticed that the world is sizzling more?
No, this isn’t a climate change post about the world’s increasing average temperatures, melting and disappearing glaciers, rising sea levels, and more frequent and violent storms. We can’t do anything about that, so let’s not talk about it.
I’m talking about marketing sizzle. We can’t do anything about it, either, but many people are already talking about climate change. Not many are talking about the marketing sizzle.
The sizzle comes from that expression, “You don’t sell the steak, you sell the sizzle.” Most companies are selling sizzle. We called it vaporware in the software business. It’s the stuff they tell you is so frigging miraculous that you won’t believe you ever did without it, the stuff that rarely lives up to the promise.
Television shows are big on selling the sizzle. “It’s the most mind-blowing episode ever! You won’t want to miss it!” They’re not usually the most mind-blowing episodes ever to me. I can usually get up during the show, go make a sandwich, feed the cats, and answer the phone, come back and find that I’ve missed nothing of substance, only a little sizzle.
Television is a sizzle pioneer, but all the companies are catching on that they’ve got to sell the sizzle. “Look how fast our car is,” many commercials claim, showing people grinning from ear-to-ear as they race through a city like Jason Bourne escaping his government buddies. “Look how much fun it is to drive! Look how free this people feel.” Weird how there’s no other cars in that city.
Beer and soda commercials aren’t slouches when it comes to selling sizzle. They now love to show healthy, athletic people surfing, singing, playing guitars, mountain climbing, or hiking. Then they stop to have a good old cold soda or brew. None of these people have problems. None are diabetic or overweight. The commercial’s slug rarely address the people, though. They speak of the beverage. “The world’s most refreshing beer.”
They state it without evidence. That’s the way it goes. Sizzle doesn’t need evidence. Just fire it up and let the hungry masses know about it, and they will come and buy, like, “The fastest broadband service ever seen.”
The government is proud about how these companies sell sizzle. They don’t want to do anything to reign in the sizzle. These companies are doing the world a public service. If it wasn’t for the sizzle, we’d be worried about things that don’t sizzle, like the wealth imbalance, corrupt politicians, investigating Russians, rebooting our routers against hackers, rising white supremacy movement, white and male privilege, the contamination of our food supplies, the growing plastic islands in our seas, increasing war and tensions in the middle East, our dwindling fresh water supplies, rising cancer rates, the Italian government and EU economy, or police officers attacking people over parking situations, escalating events in fear of phones.
It’s much better to think about the sizzle.
Asterisks
Everyone is equal*
No -ism alters that basic right*
*their gender doesn’t matter
*their sexual orientation does not keep them from being equal
*the gods that they worship are N/A
*where they come from or live is not a concern
*skin color is not factored in
*their politics, language, and culture doesn’t affect the basic premise
*their education, age, wealth or lack of it, what diseases they may have, or who their parents are, doesn’t change a thing
Everyone is equal.
Full stop.
Sunday’s Theme Music
I’d forgotten the Indigo Girls until I saw a Tig Notaro comedy special on Netflix last night. When I thought about forgetting IG, I realized that I don’t hear them on any of the many FM and Sirius XM stations and channels that I listen to. I guess I’m not the only one that forget them. Yet I love the energetic, infectious style that they deliver.
“Shame On You” from 1997 is one of my Indigo Girls favorites. I hope you listen and enjoy.
