THE INSIGNIFICANCE OF THE HUMAN RACE

 

 

With a katrillion stars in the universe and a katrillion katrillion planets and moons orbiting these stars, it is the height of egotism to believe that it all exists simply for the reverence of a few billion humans following the Christian religion on the small insignificant planet Earth.

 

Or perhaps in our self-worship we are unaware that we live in a multi-quantum-universe, where the earth and the planets are actually electrons circling the nucleus (the sun) and that our solar system is an atom, and all the atoms (star systems) in our galaxy form a molecule, and all the molecules (galaxies) in our universe form a cell, and all the cells in the multiverse form an electron in a higher order atom - ad infimum

 until finally we enter a relative universe where the final chain of cells form the creator of all.  

 

 

Or

Perhaps the Big Bang was actually the birth of a creature in a higher universe where our universe is only a single cell.    And as our universe ages the creature in the higherverse  (a different space-time continuum) will also age.  When our universe dies, which it surely will, the creature will also die. 

 

And our universe is somewhere in there.

  And where does that leave us?  A hair on a flea on a wart on a frog on a bump on a log in a hole in the bottom of the sea. 

After all, we are made in God's image.

the Ol'Buzzard

LEGENDARY MAINE SINGER - SONGWRITER DAVE MALLETT DIED AT AGE SEVENTY-THREE

 

Coincidences, creating a strange connection with a person you don’t actually know, at pivotal times in your lifetime, can leave you with a feeling of kinship.

 

At forty-one years of age, my wife at twenty-eight, we bought an old farmhouse for ten thousand dollars.  We had no electricity, we carried our water from the creek behind the house, read by lamplight and heated with firewood – and became freshmen at the University of Maine.

One night after a late class we found there was to be entertainment at the commons.    That was the first time we heard Dave Mallett.

 

 

Just before graduation, we blanketed Alaska rural school districts with applications for teaching positions.  A week before graduation, we celebrated by making dinner reservations at 1 Stanley Avenue in Kingfield, Maine.  A historic old house, the owners prepared gourmet meals by reservation only for a limited number of guests.  After the meal, we went into the parlor and Dave Mallett and his bass player performed for ten of us.

A week later we loaded up in our small Toyota pickup, and as we pulled out of our yard headed for Alaska, I popped in a tape of Dave Mallett singing North to Alaska.

 

One summer we returned to New England on vacation and found Dave Mallett performing at a bar in Bar Harbor, Maine.

 

After teaching for eight years in the Alaska bush, we decided to return to the lower-forty-eight.   As we approached the border between Alaska and Yukon’s Alcan Highway, Alaska Public Radio announced a song by the Maine artist Dave Mallett, and as we physically left Alaska Dave Mallett was singing on our radio.

 

Several years later we returned to Maine.   The first summer back we attended the Common Ground Fair, one of the largest organic farming fairs in New England.  On the events list, we found that Dave Mallett was going to play that night.  So that night we got a blanket from our car, sat on the ground, and listened to Dave Mallet.

 

CELEBRATION

We have attended two other Dave Mallett concerts when he performed in our area.

 

Two nights ago, Dave Mallett died at his home at the age of seventy-three.

NOTHING BUT A LONG GOODBY

 

Though we never actually knew him, it has come as a shock to both my wife and I.

GOOD BY DAVE 

the Ol’Buzzard

 

THE STRAND MAGAZINE

 

 If you are a mystery buff or a Sherlock Holmes devotee you must check out the Strand Magazine. 

 

 

 

The website is www.strandmag.com 

 

The Strand is not a cheap diminutive magazine; it measures 11x8.5 inches and the pages are slick quality paper.   These are magazines you will wish to collect. 

Each issue features an interview with a major mystery writer and includes short stories by and about well-known writers.  

 

The Strand Magazine is known for publishing the original Sherlock stories,

 and each issue contains a Holmes adventure.

 

There is a downside.   Reviews contained many complaints about missing or later responses to orders:  I placed an order and promptly received an email acknowledging the order.  Ten days later nothing.  I tried to call the 800 number and discovered, after many tries over three days, that they don’t answer their phone, but send all calls to voice mail.  In frustration, I made a complaint on their Blog.  The next day I received an email that my order was in progress and a shipping date.  I have received the order and am satisfied. 

 

The magazine is worth the annoyance.

 

the Ol’Buzzard

 

 

WHY DOES AMERICA HAVE A FIXATION ON GUNS?

 

 

The answer is easy. We are a warrior nation. In our 249-year history, 150 years have been spent fighting declared wars. When we add peacekeeping missions, invasions, naval campaigns, rebellions, occupations, operations, and interventions, it would be safe to say that there has never been a time when American military forces were not in combat status somewhere on the glove.

 

American Revolution: 1775-1783

Barbary War: 1801-1805

Mexican-American War: 1846-1848

Opium War: 1856-1859

Civil War: 1861-1865

Spanish American War: 1898

Philippine War: 1899-1902

Boxer Rebellion: 1899-1901

Mexican Border War: 1910-1919

WW-I: 1914-1918

WW-II: 1939-1945

Korean War: 1950-1953

Vietnam War: 1965-1975

Gulf War: 1990-1991

Afghanistan War: 2001-2021

Iraq War: 2003-2011

 

The Indian Wars alone lasted 81 years, from 1817-1898

We glorify our military and celebrate our veterans.  They are our heroes, our knights of the realm.

Is it any wonder that posers, insecure in their manhood, line up to purchase AKs and dress up in military garb?

In this society, the gun is the man.

 

 

the Ol’Buzzard

  

1,460 DAYS

 

 

One thousand four hundred sixty days; that is how long Donald Trump will legally be president.  

If I live to see the end of Trump’s presidency, I will be approaching ninety years old. 

I do not want to waste four years of the last years of my life focusing on outrageous or outright idiotic machinations of Donald Trump.

This country may go to hell in a handbasket over the next four years (as my grandmother might have said), and I don’t want to be carrying around the basket.

So don’t give me no bad news:

 You can fuck me silly with a Handy Billy

But don't give me no bad news.

the Ol'Buzzard

 

 

A BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE ON ANOTHER TRUMP PRESIDENCY

 

I haven’t watched the news since Donald Trump won the election.  Have I missed anything?   I think not.  I know I haven’t missed my morning shot of aggravation with Morning Joe.

 

The Buddha taught that life is chaos, but everything is impermanent and will pass.   Many, if not most, things are out of our control.  Focusing on things we cannot control brings stress into our lives.

 

We are the cause of our own dissatisfaction. 

 

We are creatures of modicum intellect, living in a meaningless world. We should not squander our precious time on this earth focusing on the chaos that our species causes in this world,  but instead focus on the beauty around us in the time we have.

Donald Trump will pass, I will pass, you will pass.

“Alas, poor Yorick!  I knew him, Horatio…”

the Ol'Buzzard

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES PUBLISHED 165 YEARE AGO

 

 

To deny objective truths is to be scientifically illiterate, not to be ideologically principled.

(Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Starry Messenger perspectives on Civilization.)  

 

 

On this day, November 24^th, in 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, which ignited the sometimes violent controversy over the origin of man.

Today, the evolutionary tree of life has been so well documented that scientists consider it an ‘objective truth.’

 

Yet, one hundred and sixty-five years later there are still people, tying their personal beliefs to a two thousand years old book that was the impetus of the Dark Ages, a time of scientific ignorance and religious persecution - and with their banners flying high demand that Creationism be taught to children in school, in place the scientific objective truth of Darwinian Evolution.

Ignorance abides

the Ol’Buzzard