The Last Time I Saw Paris

... it was underwater

OK, only partly, but the flooding was severe.  And, OK, I wasn't actually there, I saw it on TV.  But it was very wet.

Point is, the weather has been crazy these past few (or dozen) years.  Surely you've noticed right where you live, even if you don't watch the Weather Channel like a Class 5 was barreling down on you.

But, back to Paris.  That city is on the radar this week 'cause that is where the Climate Accords were forged.  Those same Accords that Dear Old President Trump just axed.

Now, if you are an environment loving kind of guy, like me, who once wished he could be a combination of Charles Darwin and Jacques Yves Cousteau (with a little Lloyd Bridges as Mike Nelson thrown in), this dissing by Trump of the World's best effort (since the Kyoto Protocol was ignored by another Republican President) really sucks.

If you think of money before most else, then you might think what the President did is a good thing.  After all, cleaning up current and preventing future messes takes time and money, and is not nearly as much fun (or as profitable) as making those messes in the first place.

Or maybe you are someone who believes that God made everything we see for the sole purpose of supporting mankind, and we can do whatever we damn well please with it.  And, anyway (you might say), if it gets bad enough God will rescue us.  No need to lift a finger ourselves.

If you are the latter type, I guess you never had a Mother who taught you 'God helps those who help themselves'.

Whatever you may find as a reason for supporting the lack of support Trump gave the Paris Accords, I must tell you that you are being unreasonable.  Trump's told you it was a 'bad deal' for the USA.  Apparently we had commitments (as one of the World's top two creators of greenhouse gases) that were tougher than some other countries.

Well, forgetting for a moment that the US negotiators thought those were reasonable at the time, there is nothing in the Accords to force a country to abide by its commitments - the country can always change the terms if the circumstances change.  Trump could have kept us in the Accord and negotiated a different commitment, but, no, he had to throw this particular baby out with the bathwater.

Don't believe we could have stayed in and changed the terms?  OK then, check this:  although Trump stated the USA was quitting the agreement, we can't legally pull out until nearly 2020.  During that time Trump and his government will do absolutely nothing to comply with any of the terms - because he can, and could do even if still in the deal.

So, pulling out was just making a political point of keeping a campaign promise, and maybe also of thumbing his nose at the Europeans who were mean to him during his recent trip.

But here's the deal, and its where those Paris floods come back in again.

The crazy weather doesn't wait.  Every day we pump out the crap into the air and water, the more extreme and unpredictable the weather will become.  And, it takes time for anything we do to make a positive change.  So, if we were to cut emissions tomorrow, the improvements might not be seen for 5, 10, or even 20 years.  It's not like we can wait until the last minute and then save the World.  Basically, the 'Last Minute' is nearly here, and we are about to miss it.

Those Paris Accords were a visible sign that all countries on Earth were in this together and would work together.  It was a handshake. A Gentleman's Agreement.

And our President just cut out its heart.

Accepting the Unacceptable

'Grin and bear it' doesn't really help ...

It is not easy to parse the World in which we wobble through a second decade of the 21st Century.  Nothing quite seems to make sense.  Not logically, not practically, and not even by the measure 'common sense'.

In fact, senses seem to have been taken leave of, for many people.  At least I assume they are people and not replicants strategically placed by evil aliens to disrupt our society and increase sales of antidepressants and premium scotch.

I think I might need both of those 'treatments' as I read (or hear, or watch) not-so-fake news every single day about the clown team in DC and their Big Bozo rambling destructively about like the Three Stooges on cocaine.

Then there's the former giant communist empire being resurrected as fully and as quickly as possible by that Happy Topless Horseman, Vladdy, who just so happens to have possibly, probably influenced our elections to help get Bozy in.  With Bozy's team possibly, probably helping from the inside.

The replicants say it is not so.  That Bozy is not in Vladdy's pocket.  But hell,  there is so much smoke you can't see the damn fire. Something's burning, and it just might be the constitution.

But what can a poor boy do, ('except work in a rock 'n roll band)?  How do you manage when every attempt to counter each and every insult to our democracy inflicted by the Big Boze is met with howling troops of replicants who don't seem to care what he does?  As he said himself, he could almost literally shoot people on the street and still be supported. At least that's how it appears.

So, here's the gist.  If you aren't a clown on Bozo's team, and aren't a replicant, how do you manage these events?  You have no real influence outside your limited social media circle, hold no powerful elected office, and can't support the effort with the wealth you don't have.  What can you do?

Well, there's the antidepressants and the premium scotch.  But you can also find and give your support to local, state, and national politicians who you feel aren't clowns - or replicants.  You can also try to reprogram replicants you face using kindness and tolerance (the antidepressants and scotch can help you with both).  Or, just work with the replicants on practical things and ignore their crazy clown politics until you can vote their Bozy out of office.

It also helps to turn off the news and avoid your social media from time to time, to rest from the onslaught of Bozo pratfalls.

Hmm ... I guess the Ringling Bros Circus hasn't ended after all, it's just changed venue.

Sudden Attack of Nostalgia

Watching a recent Colbert, a guest recalled a past role where he played an elf named 'Swifty'. For the majority of the viewing audience that didn't rate a second thought.

For me it opened the floodgates of memory.

'Swifty' made me think ... Damon Runyan, and that made me think ... The Lemon Drop Kid, and that made me think of Bob Hope, and then memories of all of the movies he made that I like (and even a few I didn't) came pouring out of my brain's equivalent of a dusty, cluttered closet.

And with those memories came an overwhelming wave of bittersweet nostalgia.

It's the kind of experience we older folks can have that younger types just can't generate.  They haven't lived long enough.  This is one of the few nice things about getting older.

But as I mentioned, these thoughts are bitter as well as sweet, because the things we remember are gone - often long gone, and their like will never return.

The feeling that ensues is sometimes an odd, off-kilter one.  It can make me feel dizzy and disconnected with the present.  But only for a moment.

The wave of triggered nostalgia fades and the present resumes its rightful prominence.  For a moment, though, you are suddenly young again within your old self, seeing the world again with youthful emotions.

For all of you in the same temporal boat, enjoy riding the waves of nostalgia.

Rip Van Wayne-kle

Whoa!

It's already April ... 2017 ...

And not a single post on this page to keep the bots alert.

You can chalk that up to ennui. Or laziness. Both are at least partially true.

Also, distractions of my full-time paying job can get part of the blame too.  That's been there for quite a few years of this blog's history, though.

No, the really real and definitely not fake reason I haven't been posting here is that others have been posting their hearts out on the very same subjects that interest me.  And most of them have been doing it better than I could.

So, I've let them 'speak' for me.

They seem to have the better ability to cut through the shock-induced fog and see the world clearly enough without fear and loathing biasing their POVs.  Not so me.

But I hope this will pass soon.

I began this blog on the run-up to Barack Obama's historic first election.  Naturally, that was the main focus for quite some time.  Over the ensuing years I branched out to indulge my fancy in musings on life, human nature, science, and even some poetry of a sort.

It was meant to be though-provoking to anyone who stopped by to read it, but I really tried to keep it light and inject whatever humor my talent would allow.  I hope I did so with some success, although it was hard when each blog post was done on the spur of the moment and sent out into the world without much review, reflection, and possibly badly-needed editing.

I kept it up for a few years but the pace slowed, eventually to a crawl, and then to this latest somnambulation.

To the maybe one or three people who routinely viewed this blog back in its heyday, I must apologize for letting things fall away.  I promise to try to pick back up someway, somehow.

But it will be difficult. Looking around for ideas these days I have been struggling to find anything to say that can be said with humor.  Colbert, Trevor Noah, SNL, and Samantha Bee do this well and make me laugh enough to hold back the tears, but I can't yet find the spirit to follow their lead. Not even in my micro-blogger way.

So, I am making a promise to visit with you here at least once or twice a month for the rest of this year.  I won't promise that much of it will be humorous, although I do hope it will continue to be thought-provoking.  You can think of it as free group-therapy, if that helps.

See you (or at least the bots) back here soon ...

From Russia, with Love?

In the news lately we've been hearing that Russian hacking intentionally targeted Hillary Clinton and the DNC, with the intent of putting Trump in the Presidency.

Well, if so, I surely hope Russia is happy, because it worked.

I have to say, I'm impressed.  I've been to Russia and, although I loved the people and had a great time, I'd give the infrastructure a C at best.  Lots of potholes and grand old buildings with painted over cracks.  That a country struggling to keep up appearances was able to find the time, talent, and resources to hack-attack is amazing, but perhaps also an indication of warped priorities.

I must say I'm also sad. Russia is a magnificent country peopled by big-hearted folks with steely resolve. They make for excellent allies but can be relentless enemies.  I'd much prefer the former, and so would most Russians, if you asked.  So this alleged hacking is depressing because it widens the divide between our peoples rather than bridging it.

Now, I'd like to speak directly to any Russian's reading this (highly unlikely, but hey, maybe):

My Russian Friends, I know you like or at least admire us.  This in despite the fact we've saddled you with our fast-food culture and cheesiest of chain restaurants. You should know that most of us like you too.  We admire how the Kremlin looks, and envy the vast open spaces that are even vaster and more open than our vast open spaces.  We kind of like the idea of 'Siberia' too - its become an integral part of our cultural idiom.  And lets not forget you have had two very impressive meteor hits since 1900 to our zero (noticeable) hits.  Very scary-cool.

So my Friends, I am told that you really, really hated Hillary and worked very, very hard to help Trump be our next President.  I am sure you had what you thought were good reasons for doing this, but I'm here to give you a solemn warning.  Watch Out For The Donald.  One minute he'll be telling you what a terrific, terrific people you are the next he'll be tweeting something nasty about you at 3am.  Remember that you've just helped him assume the single most powerful position in the World, and please don't make the mistake in believing our democratic institutions will limit his actions.  You will soon be learning as many Americans are doing just now, that these institutions are largely 'gentleman's agreements' and aren't really enforceable. Even a little.

Your Friend Donald may turn on you when the moment suits him.  I hope you have an answer if that happens.  Maybe if you still have those hacks into the RNC and the Trump campaign we've heard rumor of and that you haven't released, you could use those as leverage to get Trump doing what you want. Maybe.

In any case Russia, if you intention really was to have Trump to deal with rather than Clinton, you got what you wanted.  And now that you have I'd ask you show us Americans a little pity, and yes, maybe even a little love.

Спасибо (Spasibo)!

Mars Time

Reflecting on both a recent National Geographic article on Mars Exploration, and the Ron Howard docudrama series, 'Mars' ...

Mars, so what's the attraction?

It's nothing like Bradbury's 'Martian Chronicles'
It's nothing like 'Jon Carter' (and let's be thankful for that)

The place is a dump, astronomically-speaking, or at least a run down ghost town, so what's makes this little planet so appealing that otherwise reasonable people would be willing to risk their lives to go there?

Seriously - go look at parts of New Mexico.  That's a lot like Mars, except you can breath, won't usually freeze to death, and won't be mutated by radiation (well, if you avoid the old nuclear testing bits).

But exploring New Mexico is not as exciting (no offense New Mexico, I love you).

Exploring Mars IS exciting, and I think mainly because you can't breath, will likely freeze to death and be blasted by cosmic rays (but you won't get cool superpowers out of it).

So, there will be plenty of thrill-seeking types looking for the kind of excitement that Mother Earth just doesn't pack anymore, and willing to go to Mars.  But what about the scientists and engineers who will need to spend their life's work focusing on the place and how to get there (and maybe back)?  What's in it for them?

Well, let's face it, as local space destinations go, Mars is the most appealing.  It's bigger  and farther away than the Moon and therefore automatically cooler. It also comes with a kind of atmosphere.  A thin and deadly one, yes, but an atmosphere.  And let's not forget there is always the possibility of finding recognizable life buried there somewhere.  So though the place may look like New Mexico, it's definitely cooler to planetary scientists and exobiologists.

But what does all this mean to average you and me?  All but a very few of us living today will never set foot on Mars - or work directly to get people there.  The rest of us will be cheering the lucky ones on and paying for it.

Ah yes, paying for it. Will we see any benefit from all this activity which will ultimately cost trillions?

Er ... no, not right away, anyway. There may be some cool inventions that spin off from this effort that improve (or complicate, you know tech) our lives, but nothing big and nothing soon.

But, hey, the history of humanity - or at least the history of that part of humanity that has always embraced reason, science, and technology, claims a clear path forward.  We have to go somewhere or we will go nowhere, and Mars seems like the best alternative right now to stagnation.

So, here's the bottom line:  Don't support going to Mars because we will see benefits in our lifetimes.  Support it because this country (and the World) needs to believe in something bigger than itself.  Something that transcends all the usual human desires, resentments, and resulting strife.

Mars, it's time to go!

Idiocracy or Madness?

... have we become idiots or just gone entirely mad?

The faithful few readers of this blog may remember this post from 2011: http://waynetpov.blogspot.com/2011/11/idiots-united.html, in which I reference the movie 'Idiocracy'.  The fear of my long-ago post was also that contained in the very recent LA Times story on the subject, which is that social media has amplified stupidity to an alarming level and given voice to cretins who would otherwise be powerless and ignored.

But I am beginning to think this is looking at the situation incorrectly.  I am starting to believe that some form of mass psychosis, maybe even madness, is sweeping the land.  I say this because I know many people who are most definitely not idiots who nevertheless voted for Mr. Donald Trump (all hail his excellency!)

What makes an intelligent person vote for not only the least qualified candidate ever to run for our top office, but also the most openly morally bankrupt in a generation?  How can they cast their ballots for someone who has KKK backing, support from Russia, and who proposes to install Sarah Palin in a government office (Secretary of the Interior), give high power to both Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich, and who thinks it would be wise to deport 11 million immigrants (and ignore the inhumane effects).  Let's not also forget they would have to ignore his disgusting attitude towards women and his advocacy for torture as a 'useful' tool.

But somehow these intelligent people either ignored all those awful aspects of Trump, or dismissed them as something our system wouldn't permit him to actually do, or (gulp) embraced those horrid ideologies themselves.  Somehow, someway, these intelligent people made the most illogical, damaging choice they have ever made.  These smart people added their voices to those of the truly idiotic crazy-core of Trump supporters and gave him the reigns of the most powerful office and the most powerful military in the World.

I believe something akin to temporary (I hope) insanity gripped these intelligent people, leading them to a form of blindness to the truth. I hope they will snap out of it as the reality of what they've done begins to take shape.  I hope when this happens they will use their intelligence to resist the worst impulses of the person they've put in office, to the best of their abilities.  I hope they will join with the slightly more than half of the Nation that did not vote for Trump and will fight to keep our personal freedoms (and not just our right to carry guns into a Del Taco). 

Most of all I hope this return to sanity happens very soon, so we can all work together to ensure that Obamacare isn't repealed until a workable replacement is enacted. That we can figure out a humane compromise on immigration, and that women won't be left with no options but to seek back-alley abortions.