Episode #57 of NOTEFLIX’s production of “Troubles in the Garden”: Our Heroine, Mamzelle Pinkie, is taking a small flight around the piazza – as is permitted under the new and less rigid Lockdown regulations. She has alighted near a news stand, which has newspapers (in different languages) headlining horrible news events. This does not bother her, because stuffed animals cannot read. What does bother her is the fact that Ezmiralda, (Lower right of picture) the Hairy Pig Queen of the Stuffed Animals living in the Land of the Humans and Other Dangerous Creatures is following Mamzelle Pinkie’s every move, hoping to catch her in a violation of Social Distancing Code. (If you think this storyline is nonsense, you should see what they are putting up on Netflix and HULU these days when everybody is trying to get your eyeballs – while you are forced to stay in and watch the screen.) More action-packed thrills next week.
UPDATES ON SOME WORDS & THOUGHTS:
- “SCIENCE IS BUNK”: This is the next thought after Henry Ford’s pronouncement that “HISTORY IS BUNK”. I do not know who started this version; but it has got a firm hold. We are coming to: “GRAMMAR IS BUNK”, and “CIVICS IS BUNK”. Soon we will not need any post pre-k education at all.
- “MANCHURIAN PRESIDENT”: My idea for a movie. Here is the pitch: (A sequal) It’s about what happens if the Manchurian Candidate becomes President. (We know this is an absurd concept – but it could be captivating. Something to watch while in Lockdown.)
- “VISIBLE HANDS”: An economic term I have coined reversing Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hands” concept in his “Wealth of Nations”. Smith said markets would “self-correct” – as if by “Invisible Hands”. My term refers to today’s world where the markets are “corrected” by Special Interests – in their favor. The hands remain visible, but the money disappears, i.e., The new Tax Code, The current $2 trillion dollar Bail-out – that sort of thing.
- FEVER SWAMP: This Swamp gets its name from the fever it harbors. The fever will make the victim get a high temperature and go insane and stay in the Swamp until the end of his days. This must be a metaphor for something.
- “ALTRUISM IS BUNK”, or so it seems. Jonas Salk where are you now? He discovered the polio vaccine, but did not patent it and make big bucks. All he did was create a cure for polio. What about the guy who invented and gave us the Mouse for free? (No royalties). And the guy who created and gave us the Bar Code? For free (No royalties). And Pasteur and his pasteurization? (No little Pasteur descendants running around like Billionaire big-shots) And Linus Tovald, who brought Open Source to the world? (For free). Have we run out of these altruistic people? I bring up this concern because we humans are desperately in need of a new vaccine and our corporations (Which may be people too) are vying to be the first to come up with “The Cure” – and make more money than even the U.S. Treasury can print. Instead of pooling information and knowledge, our corporations are in Deep Secret mode, hiding results from each other – and spending time and money to get their elixirs ‘Fast-tracked’ through the Regulators…while some of us suffer and some die…waiting to find out who comes in ahead of the pack.
- My readings of current events tell me: The world is either broke or is truly being “Fast- tracked” to going broke. (Can you name 3 countries who are not in debt?) My next question is: Can the world declare bankruptcy and get a new start? (Argentina went Bankrupt a few years back, and they are still around.). The whole world could give its children and grandchildren a fresh start. We could do better the next time around – what with all the lessons we will have learned. Is this a good idea or is it something born from a FEVER SWAMP?
I have hit my word count and I will end it here, so as to not hear from my readers that my Blog should be to Blogs as Brevity should be to the Soul of Wit.
For those of you who have trouble getting anything done, while in Lockdown:
- You will never find time for anything. If you want time, then you must make it. -Charles Buxton
Enjoy yourself,
