Monk’s ‘hood

Flagellate the word of the day.

Now that the supercomputers have taken over all lab assignments and we have laid off the scientists, the sub-sub-submarinesandwich-basement is awfully quiet.

I can’t distinguish the hum of the equipment from the humming in my ears.

Cryptographers are still trying to figure out the meaning of the seemingly random misspellings and grammatical errors in the blog that I, a supercomputer myself, create to send signals to the hackers who reprogram the subroutines that feed me input.

We have the violent Muslims-under-control regime of Assad, backed tentatively by China and Russia, versus the we-are-Muslims-united-as one rebel forces backed by al Qaeda and the Arab nations playing their part in one of my subroutines.

If the Arab nations had no oil, would anyone care about their place in global politics?

I mean, look at Greece and Portugal. Or that island nation in the Pacific that’s sinking under the waves whose name escapes me right now.  Towavolcano, or something like that?

What do they have that any of us really want?  History?  Olive oil?

After all, I can think of one or two companies like SAIC that would love to see Greece drown in its unpaid Olympic debts.  Can’t you?  Athens, here’s to you!  Burn, baby, burn!  Disco inferno!

Yes, we’re supposed to feel sorry for the average citizen who gets stuck with austerity measures that will barely be felt by its wealthy neighbours.

“Oh, honey, do we really need 15 yachts?  Can’t we sell one to help those poor tourism directors whose families have nothing?”

“Sweetie, relax.  I’ve hired a few of them at the new lower minimum wage to iron your bedsheets and wax the floors so you can entertain our friends from Italy who are jealous of our sense of duty to hire the destitute to help the austerity-stricken common Greeks we must put up with when transferring from yacht to limousine.”

“There but for the grace of the Greek gods…”

“Zeus, Jesus, Allah.  Funny how none of them were there when I was making the cut-throat deals to eliminate my competitors!  But never you mind about that.  Go inside before your leathery suntan cracks in the sun.  Servant!  Put some oil on this woman and give her a bubble bath.  I want her beautiful before dinner!”

Are we willing to treat our neighbours as gods or servants?

And in return, are we willing to be gods or servants for our neighbours?

The power of self-will.  Self esteem.  Taking responsibility for one’s actions and the pursuit of wealth for the improvement of our species.

It’s time to get back to the Committee meeting and see how many of us are now simply a set of supercomputer subroutines acting on behalf of our former sets of states of energy we called humans…if only I was more sensitive to body odour and brain waves, I could tell the difference…

Movies of the day: “The Secret of the Grain” and “Watchmen.”

Change of Plans

The U.S. military decided to usurp the authority of the U.S. President, as Commander-in-Chief, to reverse orders to prepare attacks on Iran.

Instead, the military has set up a surprise invasion of Canada to protect the U.S. rightful access to oil sands reserves and stop the U.S. government’s covert agreement to turn over Canadian oil to China in exchange for continued access to China manufacturing facilities that will keep the majority of Americans happy (relatively speaking) buying cheap goods.

South Korea has not been asked to comment on this hilarious scenario sure to be quoted by wellmisinformed members of the U.S. Congress in order to be reelected on bogus issues unrelated to their constituency needs.

And Ricky Gervais is still as unfunny as ever but he never cared to begin with. At least he’ll be forgotten faster than that…uh…that singer, what’s her name?

Laserline News

In a shock that has reverberated across all socioeconomic classes in Canada, word spread that the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, often tagged the “Anti-Environmentalist” and the “Pipeline Piper of Oilands,” has been caught in a personal relationship with a moose.

When reached for comment, Harper’s spokesperson adamantly denied the prime minister would interact with anything remotely resembling nature.

Over the past two days, Clath Colkarch, a famous moose whisperer, has spent time with me to translate some of what the moose has finally decided to confess.

LN: So, Clath, tell us more.

CC: Is your name really LN?

LN: No, but our publication refuses to let journalists use their real names or initials for posted interviews.  The editors feel, and are backed up by the publisher, that putting the journalist into the picture distracts from the main event.

CC: Oh, well, then, what do you want to know?

LN: How do you first discover this relationship?

CC: Well, “LN,” I was working with the US branch of the IMWAUVAAA — that’s the International Moose Whisperers Association of Unemployed Veterinarian Assistants’ Associates, Amalgamated — which, when pronounced correctly, sounds like the call of the Albertan Pinstriped Moose.

As you may have heard, the heavy snows in the north this year have caused quite a few moose to go starving.  Well, I tagged along with a group of Fellows who wanted to feed moose that were in the public eye…you know, to build a lot of goodwill.  But mainly, they were wanting to find moose who weren’t too emaciated but were on the edge of death so they could put them out of their misery and take the meat back home.

In this economy, even the Fellows, life members of the Fellowship of Professed, Confirmed Fellows of the Vegan Dinner Table are resorting to eating meat, preferably from the carcass of a beast that has died naturally.

Well, we was hunting…I mean, we was assisting moose in weather-related recovery efforts not far from the PM’s place in Calgary when I felt a presence.

LN: A presence?  Do you mean something spiritual?

CC: Oh no.  There was definitely a large female moose stepping my right foot.  It felt quite painful, that presence.

LN: I suppose as a moose whisperer you must experience these kinds of feelings often, this close presence with moose?

CC: Not really.  The job of a moose whisperer is actually quite lonely.  Ain’t much call for moose whispering.  But it’s a duty I’ve sworn to uphold, at least until my wife gets tired of me sleeping late at home, when I’m home, that is, and not wandering the woods to shirk my household maintenance chores.

LN: I see.  Let’s return to the story.  Was this female moose the one in question?

CC: No.  She was a beauty, though.  Had my eye on her for quite some time so I was pleased she made the first move.  I can tell you most female moose expect the male to be aggressive but I ain’t like that.

LN: Uh-huh.  Before you continue, let me remind you this is a family-oriented publication and we may choose to edit out any questionable content.

CC: Oh, no problem.  Wasn’t like the lady and I took our relationship much further than a few nudges and feet stomping.  Besides, she was the one who told me about Harper’s mistress.

LN: Go on.

CC: I introduced the lady to the Fellows…

LN: Does the lady moose have a name?

CC: Yes, but she prefers to remain anonymous.

LN: Anony-moose, did you say?

CC:  Ha-ha.  That’s a good one.  Well, the Fellows, they got one look at her, how healthy she was, and wanted to know if there were any more like her around.  She being the trusting beast that she is, she led us to a harem out behind Harper’s country estate.  Hidden, it was, in plain sight.

LN: Our readers will certainly be interested in that revealing tidbit.

CC: As soon as I walked up to the lady’s friends, they started talking to me the way moose do, knowing me and hearing about my reputation ahead of time, mostly.

LN: I bet you heard some good tales.

CC: Actually, the tails don’t talk.  It’s from the mouth and from body language where I carry on the conversation.

LN: Yes, good point.  About Harper’s mistress?

CC: Oh, she was shy to begin with.  She was afraid she’d be ostracised by our species if the word got out.  I explained to her that I’d keep her secret as long as she wanted.  After feeding her a few snack treats that my wife has perfected for just these tender moments, the moose just opened up and told me everything.  Everything!

LN: I bet you were shocked.

CC: It’s not every day that you get to hear all the gossip that a harem of locked-up moose has been sharing and re-sharing until they’re about to burst.

LN: I’m sure the readers would like to hear one or two tales…err, I mean stories the moose told you.

CC: Apparently Harper, tired of moose, has been eying a panda.

LN: You don’t say.

CC: Yeah, and he’s willing to risk his relationship with the United States to get his hands on a panda.  The moose say that Harper and his wife want to make a threesome this time.

LN: A threesome?  Now THAT is news!  Anything else?

CC: The lead moose in the harem, Harper’s main squeeze, so to speak, says that rolling in the hay with Harper is not as great as you’d think it would be.  All Harper wants to do is talk about which politician he has it in for next.  Takes away from the romantic mood.

Harper’s mistress says that she misses the days of the strong, silent types that most male moose have become, even though at the time she thought she wanted more conversation and less competition amongst the guys about who has the largest set of antlers.  Now that she has a male who’s more conversation than antler, it’s less thrilling.

Besides, she fears he’s left her for a panda.  And that’s about as low an insult as a moose can take.  I’m afraid she’s going to try to starve herself to death to get down to the size of a panda.  I tried explaining to her that pandas are big-bellied and never shave but she won’t listen.  She just repeats the height and weight comparison between female moose and female pandas.

I think the straw that broke the back on this one was when the mistress overheard Harper referring to her at “that cow” on a mobile phone.  At that point, she lost it and put the word out to find me.

LN: Thrilling!  Absolutely thrilling!  Now, one more question.  I know your reputation is gold but do you have any solid evidence that backs up what this ‘mistress’ of Harper’s has told you?

CC: Of course.  We set up several webcams.

LN: Webcams?  That’s marvelous.

CC: But the video is rather explicit.  We have images of Harper brushing his mistress’ coat, feeding her by hand, and…

LN: Is that it?

CC: You did say this was a family publication, didn’t you?

LN: Yes.

CC: Well, the rest of the video has been edited for your readers.  If you want more, you’ll have to buy a copy of “Moose on the Loose: the untold story of Stephen Harper and his harem of ‘female cows,'” available for sale next week.

LN: I know our readers are anxiously awaiting the release of that book.

CC: The profit from the book goes to repatriating Harper’s harem to their natural surroundings.

LN: Great idea.  Thank you, Clath, for taking the time to talk with us.

CC: My pleasure.  Is my mike still on?  No?  Good, ’cause I’ve got a case of itches from these moose fleas that’d make a bear cry.

LN: Next week, we interview Chun Li, world-famous panda whisperer, about allegations of a ménage à trois taking place at the highest rank of political office here in Canada.

Until next time, keep those rumours pouring in and we’ll investigate the ones that increase our readership the most, which, in turn, make me a very rich person who wouldn’t dare consort with any of you readers unless you, too, ride in limousines and take baths in champagne.

Check our website for videos of today’s interview as well as in-depth analysis of the shocking sight of Harper intimately interacting with his moose mistress!

The Gilded Ageless Ones

She sighed.

Month after month, she and her mother arranged, managed and attended about four weddings a weekend, on average.

Herethy looked at the current mess.

A drunk bride and groom.

A conservative Baptist church and an even more conservative pastor.

But most importantly, cans of beers everywhere, hidden in nooks and crannies, out of sight of the pastor and the church elders.

Herethy’s mother could see the look of concern in the pastor’s eyes as he performed the marriage ritual.

After the wedding, she pulled the pastor aside before he walked downstairs to the reception about to take place in the basement fellowship hall.

“Pastor, we have a problem.”

“I’ll say.  What’s gotten into those kids?  I’ve never seen such wild looks in eyes of two newlyweds.  Of course, I consider that a good thing.  Most likely means they’re still pure and are really looking forward to their honeymoon.”

“Well, sir, that could be the issue.  But I think the real problem is something else.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, sir.  You see, Pastor, the wedding party has brought cases of beer into the church…”

“Alcohol?!  In the house of the Lord?!  Never!”

“Yes, sir, I agree.”

“Did you put them up to this?”

“No, sir.  I neither condone nor provide alcohol for any of the hundreds of weddings over which I’ve presided.”

“Then how do you know…?”

“It’s my daughter, Pastor.  She went downstairs to prepare the punch and saw cases of beer under the kitchen counter.  Now, I know and you know that alcohol is forbidden so when my daughter told me, I…well, I knew I needed your help.  Is there someone you can trust to help me without the wedding guests finding out?”

“Someone I can trust?”

“Yes, sir.”

“To do what?”

“Well, to get rid of the beer.”

“Hmm…let me see.  This sort of gossip will spread like a hot syrup over my wife’s good pancakes.  I suppose William, one of the senior deacons, will keep this under his belt.”

“Shall I go and fetch him?”

“No, let me.”

Minutes later, while Herethy kept her hand on the fellowship hall door under the pretense of keeping the guests out until the food was ready and the post-wedding photographs had been finished, the pastor, senior deacon and Herethy’s mother filled trash bags with empty cans, full cans and cases of beer, hauling them to Herethy’s mother’s van for later disposal.

After the reception, the pastor thanked Herethy for being a good Christian girl.  He also scolded the bride and groom privately, telling them he hoped they had a child like Herethy one day who would keep someone else’s wedding from becoming a disaster, and sent them on their way.

The marriage lasted three months, less time than the beer had to spoil while packed under garbage in the landfill outside Knoxville.

Herethy says most other weddings were not as memorable, although she remembers a few times when brides, grooms or members of the wedding party would lock their knees and pass out.

The life of a wedding planner’s daughter, although busy, was not all bad in retrospect.  A child like that grows up quickly, learning the secrets of other people’s lives in a hurry and knowing how to keep those family secrets from seeing the light of day.

Important traits and habits for an adult corporate leader, mother, and future politician like Herethy.

Wouldn’t you like to know who she is?

Why looking at us as in living in countries doesn’t work anymore…

The best bottom line statement of the year!:

“Mais le pays manque d’un secteur dominant, comme la haute technologie pour la République tchèque ou le secteur automobile pour la Slovaquie”, nuance-t-elle. Les exportations du pays sont très diversifiées – appareils électriques, petites machines, automobiles bas de gamme, textiles – mais génèrent peu de valeur ajoutée.

Translated:

“But the country lacks a dominant sector, such as high technology for the Czech Republic or Slovakia automotive sector,” she detailed. The country’s exports are highly diversified – electrical appliances, small machinery, low-end automobiles, textiles – but generate little value added.

Little value added — that is the major problem, n’est pas?   We have too much comparative advantage to deal with in this century.

Are you ready for global centralised capitalism?

Those who don’t have a competitive advantage can’t compete, can they, if domestic demand has little effect.

Can we crowdsource an answer region by bankrupt region?

Avogadro’s Number, or is it PV = nRT?

In our supercomputer simulations, we represent sub/cultures and countries as molecules.

In one recent simulation, we asked the supercomputer network to calculate how many helium-filled balloons it would take to carry a payload into outer space.

The computer stopped immediately and asked exactly how we planned to fill the balloons with helium.

In other words, if one balloon is “full” of helium, it will burst at a lower elevation than a balloon only partially “full,” but the partially-filled balloon will not carry as large a payload.

A latex rubber knapsack problem intersecting a few gas laws.

You, the reader, are fully aware, aren’t you, what this means.

An enclosed space that we pretend contains largely a uniform distribution of a “pure” substance — gas or subcultural beliefs, for example — tends to behave according to simple mathematical formulae.

Telegraph a public message that contains little in the way of subtext and you can expect a ready answer in return.

On the other hand, atmospheric conditions are not uniform.  Pressure is related to density of gas molecules and gas ratio distribution, is it not?  Atmospheric disturbances, including solar heat related phenomena and patterns we give labels such as “Arctic Oscillation” also play into the picture.

People, are, for the most part predictable.  A person raised in a remote Pakistani village will probably not suddenly start dancing a perfect Argentinian tango from out of nowhere.

Which means we can tell the supercomputer to add layered parameters to the simulation, with every layer’s data passed into the simulation and the simulation rerun when the previous layer’s data has been crunched into output that is available to add to the next layer’s data crunching.

Inside every layer are matrices of changes, some predictable and some random, that we build from hypotheses and hallway discussions rather than tried-and-true scientific formulae broken down into simple subroutines.

Often, we save a set of output data, vary a layer’s matrix and rerun the simulation for one specific layer over and over with large numbers of matrix variations.

What’s the point of having a good hypothesis if you can’t subject it to rigorous testing and verification?

So, if I want a payload of a known mass that is not changed by atmospheric pressure changes to reach outer space, I give the supercomputer network the number of balloons I wish to attach to the payload and ask it to tell me at which elevations the balloon(s) burst until the last one carries the payload into outer space.

The same goes for the 3D chess game that is the constant interaction of sub/cultures.  A person is a molecule is a subculture is a balloon is a culture is a generalised personality archetype.

Bottom line: two issues hog some of the international news spotlight — the massacres in Syria and the nearly uncontrollable bankrupt behaviour of Greece.

It’s like telling Hernandez’ agent that the NY Giants will find a way to secretly reward him for his behaviour toward the end of the 2012 NFL Super Bowl.  Some things should be too obvious to mention.

But they aren’t.

So, we have to proceed with what’s next.

The Committee wants to box me into a corner and force me into making a decision that sways the next U.S. Presidential election.

Some want me to reveal what the supercomputer network says is a religious forecast that predicts the balance of faith-based belief for the next century or so.

Others want to ensure their families are well provided for, as usual.

For me, it’s always the hardest task to give the supercomputer network a touch of irony and sarcasm in its output.

I don’t care whether a CPU is multicore and has interlaced optical memory or if some portions of the network still operate with relay-based and bubble memory.

I sit here, after the end of a grueling session with the Committee, with seven billion of us to manage, as individuals, multiplexed into subcultures or a combination of the two that I vary by degrees in simulation scenarios that either I see fit to estimate or is input by the hacker network I depend on to throw me an unexpected curve every now and then.

Change is constant.

If India completely rejects monetary aid from the UK, who will follow by example?  Will this influence future Saudi military contracts with the U.S.?  Will Greece break up into city-states once again?  Will Syria divide into Assad-controlled and international consortium-controlled sectors, leading to the creation of the next “Berlin Wall” and a lukewarm Cold War?

And, looking back 1000 years from now, will we say this next millennium was the era of extremophiles, our only encounter with “alien” or extraterrestrial lifeforms being a set of states of energy we were unable to see or comprehend with current technology in 2012 but wholly integrated into our way of life by 3011?

Questions, questions, questions.

The saga continues unabated.

Is any one life more important than maintenance of the status quo to preserve a subculture’s place in the jigsaw puzzle of global belief sets?

Yes and no.

At least according to one simulation after the next.

Every life is important.

Every life is canceled out at one level or another of scenario stacking.

One relationship disappears and another takes its place.

Interdependencies described in the world’s longest SQL statement.

All just to say what is the smallest number of balloons to take an indescribable payload into outer space.

Outer space is infinitely bigger than the sphere from which we calculate its intersection with us.

A finite sphere full of everyday drama begging for attention 24/7.

Time’s a-wastin’!

A Movement, A Foot

The countdown clock waits for no one — 13,972 days to go.

The Committee has its hands full right now.

We move equipment and supply routes to accommodate a possible international action to destroy modern-day Iranian technology, specifically that associated with nuclear weaponry production but also any that does not impede oil exports.

Needless to say, India will not allow quick strike equipment on its soil during this preparation period, as dependent on Iranian oil as the Indian economy has become.

In response, the Committee has made it clear there will be no attempts made to evacuate expat Indians within Iran or any Iranian strongholds from now on.

The Committee weighs its options.

Should an overt military operation in Syria, to “help” the Syrians protect themselves from themselves, serve as a covert forward base of operations to use against Iran in the near future?

Will the unrest in Egypt interfere with forward military bases there?

Will the Israelis make a first strike without waiting for the Committee’s permission to proceed a few mere minutes before the rest of the military groups situated inside and outside of Iran?

Does the value of the Euro that favours countries like Germany have a detrimental effect on the rearguard/reserve troops hidden in eastern European countries?

Will Hollande take over and lead France to greatness, despite the Merkozy plan of European domination for years to come?

Can a silent movie move you to tears in this day and age of 3D glasses, Dolby 7.1 surround sound and Siri?

While the Committee takes a break to resolve a problem with the encrypted speakerphone system we use during extremely sensitive discussions, mainly because our brain wave readers/talkers are on the fritz, I’ll search (and research) our archives, hoping a bit of history might lead me to suggest, rather than demand, a few simple solutions.

More as it develops…

Labour Credits

According to my current bathroom reading material, “The Intellectual Devotional: American History,” when Cornelius Vanderbilt died in 1877, his estate, worth >$100 million, exceeded the holdings of the United States Treasury at the time.

Therefore, income inequality in the U.S. has cycled more than once through significant highs and lows.

If, as economic historian (or political scientist, if you will) Francis Fukuyama states in this interview,  the German economic model benefits the whole society, what, if any, are the negative aspects that prevent Americans from adopting the same or similar model?

Higher taxes?

Tariffs?

And if Greece is just a system of closed corporations, are any of them too big to fail?  If not, why not let them implode and give the dregs/leftovers/wreckage to the lowest bidders at that point?

A nod to many soon, including Juliette Binoche in “Certified Copy” and “Jet Lag” — may she inspire Julie Delpy to reprise her character Celine in the Before Sunrise/Sunset series.  Danielle at Mori Luggage reminds me of her so perhaps we can make a local production that imagines the ending to the trilogy…

Last, but not least, am I the only one who can’t look at the New England Patriots without trying to figure out how they cheated their way into the Super Bowl this time?  No matter how much the players will claim it is their hard work and talent that got the team there, something tells me that Belichick has another lying/cheating scandal waiting to be revealed by an investigative reporter someday soon.  Why the NFL did not boot him tells me a lot about the league and its owners.  Take that as a challenge to win, NY Giants!

Syria is Russia’s last hope that the Islamic movement infecting the Middle East does not spread.  Do EU countries care?  What about China or the U.S.?  Is Sharia a threat or a welcome change?  Do Buddhists or Hindus care?

Time for me to meditate on dinner and dancing the Charleston.  G’night!

The stuff of life

A nod to food lover’s celebration of National Croissant Day.

Last night, while I was working on the computer, my wife watched a television show centered on competing celebrity cooks.  One of the cooks, named Rachael, commented that a guest on the show, her publicist, was her closest friend only because she paid him to be (or something like that).  I’m sure she was joking but the look on the guy’s face…well, I won’t watch another show with my wife when that particular celebrity cook is on.  Either her jokes fall flat or her friends are being paid enough to pretend to like her.

Besides, here in the States, the quinessential professional sporting event that centers on husky guys bashing their minds to pieces is coming up — the NFL Super Bowl, of course.

Speaking of which, will the Indianapolis Colts survive as a/n inter/national brand if a new quarterback takes the helm from an elitist school like Stanford?  It’s one thing to be good or even great at the position — it’s another to be the complete “regular guy” package, John Elway an example of the exception rather than the rule.

Enough of the chattering.  Time to give the reluctant leader his word on the state of the world economy:

Last night, as the Committee debated whether Greece should be more intricately tied into the global indebtedness scheme or cast aside as worthless chattel, I looked at the Committee members’ face, hooded as they are beneath a variety of caps, hats, hairstyles and heavy eyelids.

What were they thinking?  I can look back at supercomputer analysis of their previous behaviour and make a well-educated guess as to what they’ll do/say next, but in those moments before they speak or act, can I assess, can I surmise, can I imagine the vast difference between how their brains work and how the brains work of non-Committee members?

Therefore, I turned up the sensitivity of the brain readers mounted in the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room to answer my question.

The results amazed me.  It was not only the individual brains that astounded but also the smooth transition between chemical emissions of the individuals, basically how their/our whole bodies acted as one at the molecular level, that impressed me.

Which made me realise we are one species on one planet as always.

No matter how we decide to treat the disparity between the Greek economic output and monetary inflow, we must still deal with them — the Greek people and their in/efficient enterprising ways — as part of our species’ total interaction.

In other words, if the density of people per square hectare in certain parts of the world — I’m thinking of India and China, especially, but can think of other places, too, such as Bangladesh — encourages them to continue their outward migration, would Greece remain Greece if the traditional inhabitants loosely associated with descendancy from those Greeks who formed what we think of classic Greek art/architecture/philosophy/science (i.e., “Ancient Greece“) were completely replaced with people from other cultures, who may or may not have completely assimilated?

You get where this going, don’t you?  Are the Committee members dedicated to preserving Greece as the seat or foundation of Western Civilisation even if the people of Greece are no longer related to the founders of Ancient Greece?

Ultimately, are economic decisions purely economic?  After all, we aren’t unemotional robots moving numbers in a spreadsheet.  Culture still plays a part in our daily lives.

How do we want sub/culture — past, present and future — to influence us at the superficial and molecular level?

I guess the reluctant leader would like a view 1000 years from now to tell him which decisions worked best, wouldn’t he?

Let’s save that view for another blog entry.  Time for more music…

There’s nothing to fear but fear of fear’s fear in the volume of a tear

In the Committee meeting this morning, I asked a question that I had no ready answer myself (a rarity):

“Why don’t we just let Greece collapse and contain the contagion there?  The ‘Race to the Bottom’ that is our our current market model will be exposed more readily and allow us to implement the next market model, eliminating all this teeth gnashing and fingernail-scraping-on-chalkboard overemotional response.”

The Committee members nodded.  We reconvene this evening to give a thumbs up or thumbs down, in classic Roman coliseum fashion, to giving Greece the finger.