NOTEFLIX Production’s “Troubles in the Garden” Annual Quiz: Can you tell which object in the above photo represents the ‘Highest of Intelligence’? Is it Mortimer (the brown thing on the left)?…because he looks so smart? Is it the bust of the human head, filled with all kinds of brainy maneuvers? Is it the ‘Smart Phone’, which can take you to the moon faster than the astronauts went there, and can answer any question you might have on your mind? Is it the owl, who is known for his Wisdom over the Ages? Is it the books some of the Contestants are sitting on? Is there a correct answer? Come back next week for more…
FIRST, SOME NOTES:
- When I was in College, a professor told us an ‘Educated Person’ was one who knew how to find information – how to get the answers….but today, everybody has the iPhone and SIRI & ALEXA – and all the info is in the hand. Does that make everybody ‘Educated’? Taxi drivers in London used to have to have ‘THE KNOWLEDGE’ (a 7 stage test with written, oral, and driving examinations of London’s roads and landmarks) in order to be licensed to drive around. Today they only need GOOGLE MAPS. Is this a good thing? Are we getting smarter? Dumber? Stay tuned.
- Speaking of College, some Colleges are giving out student loans in relation to sharing in eventual salaries obtained by the the degrees generated, thereby. Three thoughts on this: #1) I wonder what kind of loan a Philosophy major fetches, versus a Computer Science/Teckie type degree. #2) I would not invest in any of the ‘Student loan bundles’ no matter what the degree. #3) Harvard can afford to go high risk on these loans, for the University has an endowment greater than the Economies of half the countries in the world. Make that Four thoughts: #4) Why doesn’t Harvard let all their students get their degrees for free?
- Have you noticed when you drop something, how far away it rolls or bounces from where you think it should be? Have you noticed how often the spoon in the sink is resting directly under where the water comes out of the faucet and makes an unwelcome splash? Einstein has a theory that explains all this; but I am too uneducated and inarticulate to decode it for you. Sufficeth to say, it all has something to do with the sagging of cosmic gravity under the influence of matter and energy and spinning objects twirling at sub and super-sonic speeds…but you could ask Siri to explain it to you.
- As you might know (from an earlier posting), Eric Severide said he noticed all our problems are the result of our solutions to previous problems. If that is not bad enough, I am reading all our major problems: Climate Change, Mass Immigrations, Financial Inequality, etc., etc., have unacceptable solutions…So, it looks like we are not going to try to fix anything until something really good turns up by itself. Maybe this new device Apple is coming out with might have the answers. As I quoted Mort Sahl last week, ‘A Conservative is one who wants to do the right thing, but not right now.” Currently, I think the Liberal has taken that same position – and now, today’s Conservative does not want to do the right thing, ever, because it would cost too much in dollars. Couple that with losing elections…well, it’s just too much to bear.
Enough of this, let’s hear from MATHUZALA, our resident rodent guest columnist:
MATHUZALA SPEAKS:
- “You speak of ‘Re-distribution of Wealth’. What Re-distribution? There was no ‘Distribution’ in the first place. It has all been a Free-For-All in the Grab Box, and your rules and regulations are so the small guy does not get what the big guy has. Contrary to what your Pessimists say, there are solutions. WE can change all that. …WE have a Plan where everybody gets to eat all they want and they get taken care of if they get sick and the climate changes back to where it used to be…”
Were you to want to know more from MATHUZALA, and his ‘Plan’, please go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble and buy “THE RAT PAPERS”..and you will find out what is what.
NOTES FROM TUSCANY:
- We had a “Slow Food” festa in the Piazza this weekend. (See photo below) Twenty one years ago the people of this town decided to rebel against all the fast food, eating on the hoof, ‘Bun ‘n run’, fast paced way of life, and focus on slowing things down a bit. Enjoy the pasta, the cheese, the vino – laugh a little, talk about it …take your time with it all….that sort of idea. Sounds crazy, no? Life is so nice over here, you do not even have to take ‘Selfies’.
(The man in the video is selling tortellini – two kilo minimum…It was so good, I should have bought five kilos…)
A few quotes:
- “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than knowledge.” -Darwin
- “Fifty percent of people won’t vote, and fifty percent don’t read newspapers. I hope it’s the same fifty percent.” -Gore Vidal
- “Live every day as if it were your last – because someday you’re going to be right.” -Mohammad Ali
So, that is what it is – for now…and you take it slow out there.
