One percent of one hundred equals one - one hundred multiplied by one equals one hundred.
I was thinking this when I bought an item in a shop and it cost me $9.99. So, I considered asking for my change from a $10 dollar note. Of course I never would have received it, One cent coins disappeared in 1990 along with their piggy bank chum, the 2 cent coin. Even though they they were no longer minted, they were still legal tender but they were just too expensive to produce and distribute compared to their worth.
Whatever happened to my original one cent - where did it go?
I understand that I can't hold it in my hand as change but somehow it should be mine. It was unjust. The shopkeeper assured me that it was not his profit because many of the items in his shop carried a lower price and the total stock sales averaged out. But I noticed that there were never prices of $9.91 or $9.96. Every transaction is rounded off to the nearest 5 cents. So 1,2,9 and 8 become 0, 3,4,6 and 7 become 5, so who's got the change and where is my one?
It doesn't seem to exist as real tender except when it appears on paper as a digit. Very clever accounting. It's counted but not accounted for.
It was initially considered that the original range of coins introduced in Australia in 1966, at the change to decimal currency, represented the least number of coins required to make any given amount. They were the 1,2,5,10,20 and 50 cent coins. Take any of these out of circulation and out of your pocket and and you must either carry more money or spend more money to get change.
How has my cent disappeared?
The Cent ceased to become significant with the introduction of plastic card money. Bankcard was the first mass produced credit card in 1974 and at its peak membership in 1984, the $1 coin was introduced. The $2 coin came in 1988 and then 'eftpos' in 1989. One and two cent coins stopped in 1990. Bankcard ceased operation in 2006 even though it was created and supported by the largest banks in the country.
What a strange thing that is. My coin cent went missing when plastic money arrived! It no longer counted in my pocket but still added on a receipt, and it had piled up with all the missing others in endless accounting balance sheets for the last thirty years.
But maybe there is a way to get my cent back.
But I need to buy in bulk to increase the value of my dollar whereas the seller makes more profit from selling things individually. If I buy 10 things at 99 cents for $9.90 I get 10 cents change from $10. The shop sold 10 things. If I only buy one thing I lose one cent. They sell 10 things singularly and make ten cents profit over the sale price. There is actually an automatic 1% profit margin in everything that is sold and the only way I will get my one cent change is if I buy 3 things and get 5 cents change. But if I don't, the money disappears.
Who gets the money if I only buy one thing?
Obviously I'm being encouraged to buy in bulk and buy with plastic but there is also something else going on here. If all my cents and your cents are not being repaid and being hoarded somewhere, isn't that theft or fraud or deception? And if all these accumulated cents are being spent some how or where, shouldn't I know about it?
Maybe I do, but I have become so accustomed to the large frivolous money movements orchestrated by banks, countries and economies that I barely notice the small details. Of course there is only one big problem at the moment - it's called a RECESSION and it's the one we had to have to return a semblance of balance back to the economy.
The Great Depression of the 1930's has since been followed by a few minor recessions. But now, the common thread is the inability of the banks to call in loans when the borrower does not have time or money to pay. Worsening future prospects cause the banks to begin refusing loans and start hoarding money and then the downward spiral begins. As Irving Fisher said in 1933, about the mechanics of boom to bust : "A fall in nominal interest rates and a rise in deflation adjusted interest rates."
It is possible that key decisions made by central banks to re-establish the Gold Standard following its abandonment after the First World War was the primary cause of the great depression *(see: Ahamed 2009). The financial crisis that preceeded the great depression began with a stock market crash and spread to the banking system. Whereas the current financial crisis began in the credit markets and then spread to the banking system and the stock market.
A few comparisons indicate some similarities between the severity of the 1933 and the 2007 depressions.
World trade volumes fell by 30% over three years then, but now they have already quickly dropped by 20%. An extended period of strong growth in stock prices before both crises and the falls during the current downturn are of a similar size to those in the first 12 to 18 months of the Great Depression. Gross Domestic Product in OECD countries during the first year of this current depression fell only slightly less than in the first year of the GD *(see: Gruen and Clark 2009).
Highlighting a few comparisons between in actual money value for the same periods will help to illuminate the insanity of the current situation.
Australian Net Debt in 2009 = $647 Billion
USA Net Debt in 2009 = $11.4 Trillion
Australian Exports in 2009 = $123 Billion
USA Exports in 2008 = $1.84 Trillion
Australian Exports in 1933 = 98.7 Million Pounds Sterling
USA Exports in 1933 = $1.7 Billion
$25 in the USA in 1969 would buy the equivalent of $150 in 2010.
In 1969 Richard Nixon abolished the USA Gold Standard. This effectively turned the USA economy into a FIAT economy, ie: no backing for money.
The USA is the only country in the world that enjoys the luxury of paying off its debts in the same currency that it alone can print. It has enjoyed this privilege since 1971 because of its military and economic dominance and because the rest of the world needed to do business in a stable currency and the USA dollar fitted the bill. (*1).
In the 1980's, Reaganomics preached that greed was good and science was no good. At the same time Australian Banks were deregulated. Coincidentally, The $1 coin was also introduced to the currency at that time and was soon followed by the introduction of EFTPOS plastic money transactions.
The price of gold has been rising since 2000 but gold production has not. In late 1998 the gold price was in the mid $200 and annual global production was just under 2500 tonnes per year. Since then the gold price is now up 340% yet production in 2010 is set to be just over 2400 tonnes. (*2).
Compare this chart of Gold versus major currencies over the last ten years: www.bullionvault.com
Commodity currencies, high-saving countries, managed floats, large debt-to-GDP ratios.....none of it mattered, real money beat paper money over the last ten years. (*3).
Has anyone yet noticed a pattern to economic fluctuations in the periods since the Great Depression, the 1960's, the 1980's and 2010?
When Ronald Reagan moved into the White House, total U.S. debt equaled 168% of GDP. The next 27 years took the total to 370%; it was heralded as a triumph of the Anglo-Saxon free enterprise system, but it left people with an additional $27 trillion of debt. (*4).
There are two important factors at play here, INFLATION and DEREGULATION.
Bankers and Accountants the world over know how to manipulate the figures to their advantage. (they really don't deserve to have a capital letter attached to their title, but they are so important people - they like to think!)
How is it that entire countries are hitting the wall?
The list of casualties continues to increase: Iceland, Dubai, United Kingdom, Greece, Spain, Italy. How many more "P.I.G.S." will fall before the entire world needs to re-structure and re-finance?
(Remember: the USA net debt in 2009 was $11.4 Trillion dollars. The UK has just announced cuts in public sector spending by $36 Billion dollars. Please say those figures slowly to realize the true size of the amount of money that is being lost. Also consider that the Europeans and the Americans have differing definitions of Billion and Trillion!).
I keep wondering where all this money is coming from and going to. I am amazed that there are still some people who are actually making fortunes from government mandated schemes such as superannuation, internet banking, investments and the stock market. ( In Australia there is a $1.4 Trillion dollar 'super' honeypot just waiting to be milked).
With plastic money (invisible money) so readily available for everyone to spend over the last 20 years it has been easy to be conned into a false sense of security regarding our actual individual worth. Most individuals, economies and governments don't know how much money they have or even where that money actually is.
The often respected financial accountants are the wizards of the 20th century!
Be very wary of the emperor's new clothes!
Watch out for delusion by stealth and the illusion of wealth.
Inflation, inflation, inflation - the price of everything keeps going up, automatically indexed in tandem with some unknown long since forgotten benchmark.
A case in point. Please let me illustrate by considering the real value of one of the oldest currencies in the world, the Lire, and one of the newest currencies in the world, the Euro.
The smallest coin in the Italian currency is 50 Lire. This is equivalent to USA 2.58 cents. The smallest banknote is 1000 Lire which is equivalent to 0.5 of the Euro (the Lire originally represented 1 pound weight of silver, like the pound sterling).
1 Euro = 1.58 $ Australian dollar.
$100 Australian dollars = 127,297.88 Italian lire before 1999.
$100 Australian dollars = 0.08 XAU gold ounces.
Do you see what is really happening here?
Because the government economies are slaves to inflation, they need to continually adjust their exchange rates to stay in the race. Your money is always not worth what you thought it was!
Plastic money, ie: any card transactions, is a very clever instrument for disguising the real value of what you just spent.
Clearing times for cheques and internet banking transactions are illusory.
The wizards of finance have perpetuated a myth that financial transactions are not instant. The reality is that they are instant, but just not for you or me.
You better believe it - someone, somewhere, somehow, has found a way to spend those cents, make a profit on them and return the original amount to your account.
This should not be a legal way to do business - it is fraud and deception.
If $1 AUD = 1272.9788 Lire before 1999, how much of this value actually disappeared with the conversion to the Euro? And where did it go and who has it? It has to be somewhere. Those anally obsessed accountants would not let such a trifling amount slip through their fingers. Or would they if they could? It's very likely they found the way to disguise the loss by clever manipulation of one of the basic Keynesian principles of generating economic growth for governments: "Hire people to dig holes and fill them up."
We were conned! Governments have enforced inflation and taxation by stealth so as to manipulate the false economies presented by the bean counters. Stock markets, the Dow Jones Index, time zone differences, daily fluctuations in exchange rates, the abolition of the gold standard, easy credit plastic card money and the obsession with turnovers instead of profit, and the policies of greed have catapulted all of us into the greatest recession the world has ever experienced.
Do not be deceived by the spin doctors. The economy of the entire world is sick, and the medicine that our governments pump into the ailing patient is still called HELP but it is really only CREDIT.
The patient cannot be revived with bad medicine - it is not dead - but in limbo, where it will stay until democracy realizes that BIG BROTHER is manipulating us all.
Where is all the money that is being promised that will revive our economy coming from?
Yep, now I know. All those cents that have been rounded up or down. All that money that is counted but not accounted for. All that credit card plastic money. All that money that doesn't really exist but we are encouraged to spend - complacent as we revel in the luxury of greed.
Someone knows were all those missing cents are and they are hell bent on spending them.
I'm as mad as hell and I want MY cents back!
Do you want YOURS?
.....................................................................................
(References:
*1 - Daily Reckoning, 16.03.10
*2 - Daily Reckoning, 16.12.09
*3 - Daily Reckoning, 06.01.10
*4 - Daily Reckoning, 11.05.09).
And finally, I would like to suggest the address of a web-site that will help you keep track of your missing cents :
http://www.atn.com.au/info/banking.htm
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The Nature of One
Pythagorean doctrines included a belief that the ultimate reality of the universe consists in number. They regarded even numbers as female and odd numbers as male. The number 5 was called 'marriage' because it was the product of the first even number 2 and the first odd number 3. The reason being that the ancient Greeks considered the number 1 a unit and not a proper number, which had to express a multiplicity.
Greek alchemists symbolized totality as a circle, an image of the global unity of everything that exists and can be conceived. Their reasoning led them away from unity and back gain, to use it as basis on which to 'assess the value of things'.
Unity is therefore the point of departure, a symbol of absolute origin and absolute end (universe means 'turned towards one'). But if singularity is the origin then duality must be the end!
The singular cannot exist without the plural. One cannot exist without two. A necessary definition of one is that to have 'one of a thing' really means to have one of a number of things, at a minimum, two. To 'have one of' there must be another.
There must be plural 'one', a pair of or a few or several or more - otherwise it is just have the 'thing', it would not need to be assigned a numerical value. It would be on its own in a singular state of existence - one of. But to be 'one of' it must have 'another of' just like it.
For example; If there is only one 'pen', I have a pen; it is not necessary to assign a number value 'one of' , as if to ask the question "is there another"? Therefore to give it value of existence, numerically it only exists if there is another. One cannot exist without two.
It is a world of duality. We are a body of two limbs, two eyes and two halves of the brain, two halves of the cell, a sum of two parents. There even seem to be two Gods reigning over good and evil - but I'm in two minds about this. There cannot be one without the other. Yin and Yang, proton and neutron, up and down, go and stop, heaven and hell, backwards and forwards, light and dark.
For each force there is an equal and opposite reaction. The fabric of time itself is a slave to multiplicity. 'One' can only exist if the 'other' also does.
A final word - ENTROPY - the natural order or the universe to find balance. A balance only exists between 'two' things not 'one'.
Greek alchemists symbolized totality as a circle, an image of the global unity of everything that exists and can be conceived. Their reasoning led them away from unity and back gain, to use it as basis on which to 'assess the value of things'.
Unity is therefore the point of departure, a symbol of absolute origin and absolute end (universe means 'turned towards one'). But if singularity is the origin then duality must be the end!
The singular cannot exist without the plural. One cannot exist without two. A necessary definition of one is that to have 'one of a thing' really means to have one of a number of things, at a minimum, two. To 'have one of' there must be another.
There must be plural 'one', a pair of or a few or several or more - otherwise it is just have the 'thing', it would not need to be assigned a numerical value. It would be on its own in a singular state of existence - one of. But to be 'one of' it must have 'another of' just like it.
For example; If there is only one 'pen', I have a pen; it is not necessary to assign a number value 'one of' , as if to ask the question "is there another"? Therefore to give it value of existence, numerically it only exists if there is another. One cannot exist without two.
It is a world of duality. We are a body of two limbs, two eyes and two halves of the brain, two halves of the cell, a sum of two parents. There even seem to be two Gods reigning over good and evil - but I'm in two minds about this. There cannot be one without the other. Yin and Yang, proton and neutron, up and down, go and stop, heaven and hell, backwards and forwards, light and dark.
For each force there is an equal and opposite reaction. The fabric of time itself is a slave to multiplicity. 'One' can only exist if the 'other' also does.
A final word - ENTROPY - the natural order or the universe to find balance. A balance only exists between 'two' things not 'one'.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Reefer Madness
In response to an article "Why is it bad to smoke weed and OK to sell beer?" by David Sirota at Salon.com (2009-10-23) - I posted this comment :
Marijuana has had a bad reputation since a campaign in the 1930's by the American press. Randolph Hearst started publishing articles linking cannabis use with violent crime, Blacks and Mexicans. He renamed cannabis "marijuana", dissociating it from the hemp that for generations had been used as medicine, paper, oil, fabric and rope. The stories triggered the support of racist white organizations who wanted cannabis prohibited, and Hearst with his friend Harry Anslinger, the Director of the Bureau of Narcotics, managed to get "marijuana" made illegal in 1937. Prohibition of alcohol ended at the same time.
The advantage for Randolph was that once the hemp, rope and paper industries had been destroyed by this legislation, he was free to use his own pine plantations and paper mills. He also funded movies such as "Reefa Madness" which portrayed a negative image of cannabis related products.
The timing is interesting for other reasons.
Until then, hempseed oil was one of the most common oils used for lighting, lubrication, cooking and as an additive to paint and varnish. After 1935 virtually all of these oils and strong hemp fibre were replaced with petrochemicals and nylon made by Dupont.
Over the next 30 years marijuana was portrayed as a badge of rebellion in films, books and music, reaching cult status with the beatniks and the hippies. It still appears to be as popular as ever and as misunderstood. Nearly 50 years later it still is, but it has lost its 'cool' to the other mind altering substances that are a sign of the times.
All the academic and medical studies of its affects are inconclusive and there are no reports linking it to reckless, violent or dangerous behaviour. There is no evidence that it is a harmful drug. There is no objective analysis of the effects of its use compared to other drugs that are just as commonly available, like alcohol or tobacco.
Smoking marijuana is no longer the act defiance it once was. For $25 you can buy eniugh alcohol to put you in a serious coma or kill yourself. If you smoked $25 of dope, you would probably fall blissfully asleep in front of the TV with a half eaten chocolate bar in your hand.
We have adopted a set of double standards forced on us by past barons of media and industry. Marijuana smokers are hapless victims of the cultural obsession with the with the 'war' on drugs, violence, alcoholism and cancer. It's OK to get out of it, but it seems to matter to the authorities just what substance we abuse to do it. Our means of recreation and enlightenment seem to have to be sanctioned by our government nannies and then these issues will be swept from the public domain and open discussion in a pathetic display of acquiescing to minority opinion.
The continued debate about prohibition, legislation or decriminalization of marijuana highlights the gap between government policy and public perception. Maybe there is just not enough money to be made were its use be legitimized. But you can bet your last reefer, that as soon as the Australian government perfects a way to licence, grow, distribute sell and tax marijuana it will suddenly become legal. The news media will celebrate their victory for public values and the tobacco companies will be already in line for licences to grow, distribute and sell their very own patented version of Mary J.
"The lethal dose of cannabis is a two-kilo block dropped on your head from the 25th floor of a high-rise building." (Quote from a leading British health professional).
Marijuana has had a bad reputation since a campaign in the 1930's by the American press. Randolph Hearst started publishing articles linking cannabis use with violent crime, Blacks and Mexicans. He renamed cannabis "marijuana", dissociating it from the hemp that for generations had been used as medicine, paper, oil, fabric and rope. The stories triggered the support of racist white organizations who wanted cannabis prohibited, and Hearst with his friend Harry Anslinger, the Director of the Bureau of Narcotics, managed to get "marijuana" made illegal in 1937. Prohibition of alcohol ended at the same time.
The advantage for Randolph was that once the hemp, rope and paper industries had been destroyed by this legislation, he was free to use his own pine plantations and paper mills. He also funded movies such as "Reefa Madness" which portrayed a negative image of cannabis related products.
The timing is interesting for other reasons.
Until then, hempseed oil was one of the most common oils used for lighting, lubrication, cooking and as an additive to paint and varnish. After 1935 virtually all of these oils and strong hemp fibre were replaced with petrochemicals and nylon made by Dupont.
Over the next 30 years marijuana was portrayed as a badge of rebellion in films, books and music, reaching cult status with the beatniks and the hippies. It still appears to be as popular as ever and as misunderstood. Nearly 50 years later it still is, but it has lost its 'cool' to the other mind altering substances that are a sign of the times.
All the academic and medical studies of its affects are inconclusive and there are no reports linking it to reckless, violent or dangerous behaviour. There is no evidence that it is a harmful drug. There is no objective analysis of the effects of its use compared to other drugs that are just as commonly available, like alcohol or tobacco.
Smoking marijuana is no longer the act defiance it once was. For $25 you can buy eniugh alcohol to put you in a serious coma or kill yourself. If you smoked $25 of dope, you would probably fall blissfully asleep in front of the TV with a half eaten chocolate bar in your hand.
We have adopted a set of double standards forced on us by past barons of media and industry. Marijuana smokers are hapless victims of the cultural obsession with the with the 'war' on drugs, violence, alcoholism and cancer. It's OK to get out of it, but it seems to matter to the authorities just what substance we abuse to do it. Our means of recreation and enlightenment seem to have to be sanctioned by our government nannies and then these issues will be swept from the public domain and open discussion in a pathetic display of acquiescing to minority opinion.
The continued debate about prohibition, legislation or decriminalization of marijuana highlights the gap between government policy and public perception. Maybe there is just not enough money to be made were its use be legitimized. But you can bet your last reefer, that as soon as the Australian government perfects a way to licence, grow, distribute sell and tax marijuana it will suddenly become legal. The news media will celebrate their victory for public values and the tobacco companies will be already in line for licences to grow, distribute and sell their very own patented version of Mary J.
"The lethal dose of cannabis is a two-kilo block dropped on your head from the 25th floor of a high-rise building." (Quote from a leading British health professional).
Monday, November 23, 2009
Misadventures of an attention whore.
In response to an article "A nation of attention whores" by Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon.com (2009-10-16) - I posted this comment :
I wanna' be famous.
Yep, me too, just like you and everybody else. I want to be a popular celebrity and I have become obsessed with achieving that goal. This new addiction has overwhelmed me and I have succumbed to a new mantra of greed: "I want it now and I want it forever".
Andy Warhol's quote has inspired me. He said - "In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes" (he is often misquoted). Well Andy, it is the future and I now only have one option left available to me (I've tried everything else)! I'm going to join the worldwide web interchatnet community of Myspacefacebookskypetwittmessenger. Yep, that's for me. I'll join in a big way, everything, all of them now, right at this moment. Here we go, my personality will now become my aethernality.
But crikey, have I got some decisions to make before I present my new ego to the world. But first I am required to prove I am a person, not an animal, by verifying secret words. I need to register and validate, create and confirm. I must invent passwords and divulge personal information or choose to be anonymous and lie. So many choices, so little time. My own portrait photo or should I use a fake? An amusing profile if I'm looking for a date? How honest should I be in this pseudo digital text fest as I divulge and disguise information that is unsubstantiated and unconfidential?
Should I be concerned that privacy is no longer sacrosanct and the invasion of privacy has become a peculiar perversion. Miss-confidential is slowly being undressed before our very eyes. Sharing has become daring and everybody wants to know and watch. Quick, I must do, share or say something right now, someone might notice. Hey, look at me - I'm important!
I wanna' be a celebrity - I can hardly wait.
Wow, look at how many friends I have. That was quick. See, all these people like me already. And look at the access I have to places and things and people all over the world and everybody wants to know me. Me, me! Now I can truly connect with all those other people who are already celebrities. Now I can make all those witty little comments and have a cool bio and some pics to share and a list of my favourites. I can check in with Britney, share recipes with Martha and catch all the goss, choose my hottest person, make connections, do my stuff and get noticed.
Now look what's happened. I can't believe it, oh wow! Tom Anderson is now my friend and he's sharing his celeb pals and gals with me. And look, now I've got followers and friends and some of them want to share details with me. They all seem very friendly and quite willing to get to know me better and one of them has sent me a picture. She's a nice girl and she has a sister and they were wondering if I might like to join them there in the spa with that bottle of baby oil and.......just hang on a minute! What is going on here? She shouldn't be doing that! Not on camera in front of the world and on my screen right in my face! Oh no, this is not good. Now I'm over excited about my new friends and I'm just going to have to click here and move that over there until.......oh no, what was that? Woops! That shouldn't have happened. She is such a naughty girl and I'm a little bit distracted here. She can't do that! Oh no, I can't do that! Not here, not now, not with the videocam still on, gimme a break!!
Oh my gosh, now I really am famous - how cool is that?
Look at the screen. My god, what a mess. It probably wasn't exactly what Andy had in mind but it certainly worked for me. Do you feel like a cigarette after that?
Damn the infernal eternal world wide netweb! In 15 minutes I'm famous, but not as the type of celebrity I had in mind. I have just been seduced like a bee to pollen and have just managed to splash my ego and all it's digital glory all over the world.
I'm famous now, but for all the wrong reasons. Good on ya Martha. Up yours Britney. Get a life Tom!
Welcome fame. Here it is. There it was.
Certainly can't edit that. Nup, there is no 'delete' button for that one. No 'undo' will fix that. To hell with 'refresh', once was enough thank you! Worse than hitting 'reply' or 'send to all'. Hello you idiot, are you sure you want to f****n save this? Yes, I am certainly a d******d sending that into the eternal digital library.
I shoulda' thought about that, definitely not cool! Forever available for viewing, imprinted in the aethernet for anyone and everyone to see anytime, anywhere, forever. My 15 minutes of fame complete with all the glorious consequences.
It's hard not to be famous when you are no longer anonymous.
( In 1968, Andy Warhol became bored with his famous line. He changed it to : "In 15 minutes everybody will be famous".)
The Scottish artist, Momus, said it another way : "In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people".
Personally, I think it's all a wank.
(This is an edited version of an original comment by goblinono on Salon.com)
I wanna' be famous.
Yep, me too, just like you and everybody else. I want to be a popular celebrity and I have become obsessed with achieving that goal. This new addiction has overwhelmed me and I have succumbed to a new mantra of greed: "I want it now and I want it forever".
Andy Warhol's quote has inspired me. He said - "In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes" (he is often misquoted). Well Andy, it is the future and I now only have one option left available to me (I've tried everything else)! I'm going to join the worldwide web interchatnet community of Myspacefacebookskypetwittmessenger. Yep, that's for me. I'll join in a big way, everything, all of them now, right at this moment. Here we go, my personality will now become my aethernality.
But crikey, have I got some decisions to make before I present my new ego to the world. But first I am required to prove I am a person, not an animal, by verifying secret words. I need to register and validate, create and confirm. I must invent passwords and divulge personal information or choose to be anonymous and lie. So many choices, so little time. My own portrait photo or should I use a fake? An amusing profile if I'm looking for a date? How honest should I be in this pseudo digital text fest as I divulge and disguise information that is unsubstantiated and unconfidential?
Should I be concerned that privacy is no longer sacrosanct and the invasion of privacy has become a peculiar perversion. Miss-confidential is slowly being undressed before our very eyes. Sharing has become daring and everybody wants to know and watch. Quick, I must do, share or say something right now, someone might notice. Hey, look at me - I'm important!
I wanna' be a celebrity - I can hardly wait.
Wow, look at how many friends I have. That was quick. See, all these people like me already. And look at the access I have to places and things and people all over the world and everybody wants to know me. Me, me! Now I can truly connect with all those other people who are already celebrities. Now I can make all those witty little comments and have a cool bio and some pics to share and a list of my favourites. I can check in with Britney, share recipes with Martha and catch all the goss, choose my hottest person, make connections, do my stuff and get noticed.
Now look what's happened. I can't believe it, oh wow! Tom Anderson is now my friend and he's sharing his celeb pals and gals with me. And look, now I've got followers and friends and some of them want to share details with me. They all seem very friendly and quite willing to get to know me better and one of them has sent me a picture. She's a nice girl and she has a sister and they were wondering if I might like to join them there in the spa with that bottle of baby oil and.......just hang on a minute! What is going on here? She shouldn't be doing that! Not on camera in front of the world and on my screen right in my face! Oh no, this is not good. Now I'm over excited about my new friends and I'm just going to have to click here and move that over there until.......oh no, what was that? Woops! That shouldn't have happened. She is such a naughty girl and I'm a little bit distracted here. She can't do that! Oh no, I can't do that! Not here, not now, not with the videocam still on, gimme a break!!
Oh my gosh, now I really am famous - how cool is that?
Look at the screen. My god, what a mess. It probably wasn't exactly what Andy had in mind but it certainly worked for me. Do you feel like a cigarette after that?
Damn the infernal eternal world wide netweb! In 15 minutes I'm famous, but not as the type of celebrity I had in mind. I have just been seduced like a bee to pollen and have just managed to splash my ego and all it's digital glory all over the world.
I'm famous now, but for all the wrong reasons. Good on ya Martha. Up yours Britney. Get a life Tom!
Welcome fame. Here it is. There it was.
Certainly can't edit that. Nup, there is no 'delete' button for that one. No 'undo' will fix that. To hell with 'refresh', once was enough thank you! Worse than hitting 'reply' or 'send to all'. Hello you idiot, are you sure you want to f****n save this? Yes, I am certainly a d******d sending that into the eternal digital library.
I shoulda' thought about that, definitely not cool! Forever available for viewing, imprinted in the aethernet for anyone and everyone to see anytime, anywhere, forever. My 15 minutes of fame complete with all the glorious consequences.
It's hard not to be famous when you are no longer anonymous.
( In 1968, Andy Warhol became bored with his famous line. He changed it to : "In 15 minutes everybody will be famous".)
The Scottish artist, Momus, said it another way : "In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people".
Personally, I think it's all a wank.
(This is an edited version of an original comment by goblinono on Salon.com)
No, but it certainly made men miserable.
In response to an article "Did feminism make women miserable?" by Barbara Ehrenreich at Salon.com (2009-19-15) - I posted this comment :
Oh no, please don't place that bait in front of me. How can I possibly resist a chance to speak on behalf of many men who think they were conned. How much longer was the feminist movement going to continue deluding itself that they were actually all about equal rights. Damn, the bitches had a good thing going when they were barefoot and pregnant and devoted to domestic duties. Hey girls, you were on a roll, why did you have to go and mess it all up!
No wonder men think women lack credibility. Why would you want to go and ruin a perfectly good arrangement? Men have dicks. We grunt and we groan and take out the garbage, we conquer and build and dominate - that's what we do, it's a dick thing.You wanna be like us, go and grow a dick. Face it, you aren't us and you can't deceive us any more. You pretty yourself and mask your true intentions and use your sex as a lure, but you won't admit it. You moan and bitch and carry on about how hard it is to be female, what with mother nature's regular reminders of your need to breed; and you spend almost a quarter of your lives bitching and another two quarters preparing to bitch. Hell, that's one week out of four when you're relatively sane - and we gotta live with you! Cut the crap! All that the burning your bras' said was "hey, now they hang just like your balls". Idiots. Who did you think was setting your agenda? Are you sure you were not manipulated by a powerful, vocal minority?
In over thirty years of seeking workplace equality you still have not managed to break through that glass ceiling. There is no equality in the workplace, you are still under-represented in top jobs and income. The only equality you have is your sheer abundance in the workplace. You have taken over large meaningless employment sectors like banks, fast food, call centers, receptionists, marketing consultants, assistants and pole dancers. Wow, great achievement. And if I ever hear one of you tell me again - "I will terminate this phone call if you do not alter your tone of voice" - I will jam my negotiating skills down your freakin' throat!
Do you realize what you did to the economy by demanding equal rights? You managed to force real wages down and boosted unemployment! You took all the menial jobs that blokes had and because you weren't experienced or didn't have the strength or guts to do the real dirty work, you were paid less. All wages went down to create a level playing field and male management saw the advantage in introducing you to other employment sectors. No more overtime, less working hours, the capacity to employ two people for the price of one. You managed to take over management of the pornography industry and then complained that men were degrading women when in fact you encouraged that exploitation because it was a way for your to make more money from our vulnerabilities. You weren't at home bringing up our kids, teaching them decency and morality. No, you wanted to work so that you could have everything men had and become independent. Who the hell is going to bring up our kids when you want a career? You keep behaving like this and sooner or later there is going to be a backlash from men - and it won't be a little flick with the leather whip either dear.
Leave us alone you charlatans, witches and harlots, go and be a natural woman, stop trying to be a man, stop trying to find ways to get through life easy by marrying money. Hey, no wonder we die early and leave you with our fortune. No wonder I'll pay you zillions in a settlement - just to get you the hell outa' my life! Stop making millions from a divorce, eg- you never taught Greg Norman to play golf. Stop blaming me for all your troubles and stop hating me for being preoccupied with sex. And wake up and look at the damage your have already done. I'm sick of hearing you complain that you can't find a good man and you don't know where they are. Do you want to know where they are and why you can't find 'em? The good men, the real men, aren't hanging out in bars waiting to pick you up - no, the real men are at home, living on a meager wage, paying off your debts, watching you rip off a third of their earnings and trying to bring up the kids you so badly wanted but left behind because you wanted a career and equality. You won't find a good man where you are looking because he's too busy fixing up the mess you left when you deserted because you didn't get what you wanted - you poor little thing. He's the man staying home at night, passing the time, dreaming, hoping, self medicating and trying to keep his life on track while loving his kids he hardly ever sees because you say he's not a fit father - go f**k yourself. No you won't find him where you are looking because he doesn't want to be found. He's had enough of women and their demands for equality. He's trying to build a better life for himself, alone, coz' he's sick of spending his life fixing up your problems and being bribed with your sex. Yeah, I know; I can already hear all the females talking about me as another man with issues - "get over it"! Nup, not this little black duck nor lot's of others whose spirit has been broken.
I have a problem with why you want to need to be liberated. Hey, I can repair a machine but all I can ever do is lubricate a woman - there is no repair manual, it's a bloke thing. Stop giving me so much criticism and condemnation and don't even think of getting me started on any other issues of sex, inequality, taboos or deviance coz' i'm done with feminism. I'm over it, it's sorted, I'm liberated. You deal with it. Not tonight dear, I've got a headache.
(Oh, and I am sorry to all those lovely women I have just insulted. They know they do not fit in the category that suits my ignorant, middle aged, jaded, bigoted, dysfunctional, sexist, homophobic, politically incorrect maleness. God bless you - you are beautiful.)
It's such a shame that some of you ruined it for all.
(This is an edited version of an original comment posted by goblinono on Salon.com).
Oh no, please don't place that bait in front of me. How can I possibly resist a chance to speak on behalf of many men who think they were conned. How much longer was the feminist movement going to continue deluding itself that they were actually all about equal rights. Damn, the bitches had a good thing going when they were barefoot and pregnant and devoted to domestic duties. Hey girls, you were on a roll, why did you have to go and mess it all up!
No wonder men think women lack credibility. Why would you want to go and ruin a perfectly good arrangement? Men have dicks. We grunt and we groan and take out the garbage, we conquer and build and dominate - that's what we do, it's a dick thing.You wanna be like us, go and grow a dick. Face it, you aren't us and you can't deceive us any more. You pretty yourself and mask your true intentions and use your sex as a lure, but you won't admit it. You moan and bitch and carry on about how hard it is to be female, what with mother nature's regular reminders of your need to breed; and you spend almost a quarter of your lives bitching and another two quarters preparing to bitch. Hell, that's one week out of four when you're relatively sane - and we gotta live with you! Cut the crap! All that the burning your bras' said was "hey, now they hang just like your balls". Idiots. Who did you think was setting your agenda? Are you sure you were not manipulated by a powerful, vocal minority?
In over thirty years of seeking workplace equality you still have not managed to break through that glass ceiling. There is no equality in the workplace, you are still under-represented in top jobs and income. The only equality you have is your sheer abundance in the workplace. You have taken over large meaningless employment sectors like banks, fast food, call centers, receptionists, marketing consultants, assistants and pole dancers. Wow, great achievement. And if I ever hear one of you tell me again - "I will terminate this phone call if you do not alter your tone of voice" - I will jam my negotiating skills down your freakin' throat!
Do you realize what you did to the economy by demanding equal rights? You managed to force real wages down and boosted unemployment! You took all the menial jobs that blokes had and because you weren't experienced or didn't have the strength or guts to do the real dirty work, you were paid less. All wages went down to create a level playing field and male management saw the advantage in introducing you to other employment sectors. No more overtime, less working hours, the capacity to employ two people for the price of one. You managed to take over management of the pornography industry and then complained that men were degrading women when in fact you encouraged that exploitation because it was a way for your to make more money from our vulnerabilities. You weren't at home bringing up our kids, teaching them decency and morality. No, you wanted to work so that you could have everything men had and become independent. Who the hell is going to bring up our kids when you want a career? You keep behaving like this and sooner or later there is going to be a backlash from men - and it won't be a little flick with the leather whip either dear.
Leave us alone you charlatans, witches and harlots, go and be a natural woman, stop trying to be a man, stop trying to find ways to get through life easy by marrying money. Hey, no wonder we die early and leave you with our fortune. No wonder I'll pay you zillions in a settlement - just to get you the hell outa' my life! Stop making millions from a divorce, eg- you never taught Greg Norman to play golf. Stop blaming me for all your troubles and stop hating me for being preoccupied with sex. And wake up and look at the damage your have already done. I'm sick of hearing you complain that you can't find a good man and you don't know where they are. Do you want to know where they are and why you can't find 'em? The good men, the real men, aren't hanging out in bars waiting to pick you up - no, the real men are at home, living on a meager wage, paying off your debts, watching you rip off a third of their earnings and trying to bring up the kids you so badly wanted but left behind because you wanted a career and equality. You won't find a good man where you are looking because he's too busy fixing up the mess you left when you deserted because you didn't get what you wanted - you poor little thing. He's the man staying home at night, passing the time, dreaming, hoping, self medicating and trying to keep his life on track while loving his kids he hardly ever sees because you say he's not a fit father - go f**k yourself. No you won't find him where you are looking because he doesn't want to be found. He's had enough of women and their demands for equality. He's trying to build a better life for himself, alone, coz' he's sick of spending his life fixing up your problems and being bribed with your sex. Yeah, I know; I can already hear all the females talking about me as another man with issues - "get over it"! Nup, not this little black duck nor lot's of others whose spirit has been broken.
I have a problem with why you want to need to be liberated. Hey, I can repair a machine but all I can ever do is lubricate a woman - there is no repair manual, it's a bloke thing. Stop giving me so much criticism and condemnation and don't even think of getting me started on any other issues of sex, inequality, taboos or deviance coz' i'm done with feminism. I'm over it, it's sorted, I'm liberated. You deal with it. Not tonight dear, I've got a headache.
(Oh, and I am sorry to all those lovely women I have just insulted. They know they do not fit in the category that suits my ignorant, middle aged, jaded, bigoted, dysfunctional, sexist, homophobic, politically incorrect maleness. God bless you - you are beautiful.)
It's such a shame that some of you ruined it for all.
(This is an edited version of an original comment posted by goblinono on Salon.com).
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Non - Motivational Quote of the Day
"I am doomed to an eternity of compulsive work. No set goal satisfies. Success only breeds a new goal. The golden apple devoured has seeds. It is endless."
: Bette Davis
: Bette Davis
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Motivational Quote of the Day
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
: Robert Louis Stevenson
Um, excuse me Robert but I think I have a few problems with that.
By the end of a day harvesting and reaping I really don't have much time to consider if the outcome was any good. It's exhausting work concentrating hard on planting all the little things that are going to grow up into all the big things. You see, it's a problem with the size. I keep getting this daily bag of goodies that obviously offers all solutions to match all choices but everything in it is different, none of it is matched or fits together.
It's such a challenge to decide what to choose - they're all there but rolling around loose. You do understand that I'm supposed to do something with all these colours and shapes and whistles and bells don't you? What do you mean that I don't know what I'm doing - of course I bloody well don't!
Am I supposed to be a knowledge farmer, is there a book written for this? What seeds do I plant? How often do I plant them? Should I keep a record of what I planted where? Do I retrace my steps to make sure I planted well? Should I keep my planting to a schedule or just distribute them randomly? Is it a seasonal thing and do I need any fertilizer?
Gimme a break! About the only fertilizer my seeds have seems to be bullshit. Hey, I don't even know if some or all the seeds will grow and I certainly don't know when. Of course, some of the seeds may have been given to me by others who work this pasture, but how do I know they are good seeds? How does anyone know - maybe they're just blanks, duds, decoys put there to fool me.
Oh, and I forgot about the shape and size of the pasture, not to mention the weather. I don't really want contamination from some other farmer who might not have checked his seeds or the direction of the wind when he planted them. I may end up with a beautiful harvest of something I know nothing about.
How do I even know if my seeds have the right parentage. They don't actually come with a certificate of authenticity. What if the seeds were accidentally planted in Bernie Madoff's garden? Are they his seeds or mine when the time comes to harvest and then they may appear to be not actually anything at all?
How the hell am I ever going to get any time to even judge the harvest, I'm just too damned busy planting! You think I'll be sitting on my laurels counting all the seeds produced. I think not. I will be far too busy weeding out all the nasty little toxic things that threaten to wreak havoc on my pristine environment.
I've worked damn hard trying to establish a good seed planting program. I started young, been doing it for years. There is no way I am just going to stand back and let the harvest produce itself. Hey, this needs constant maintenance. I've decided to give up sleep and start patrolling at night. If I let this get out of hand the seeds will mutate into something horrible.
When I'm not planting I worry. I worry who might steal my seeds, exchange my seeds, play tricks with my seeds, teach them to do other things that I may never have intended - despicable things. I've taken to patrolling my seeds checking for viruses. And I wait for the little darlings to grow into a successful harvest. Now if they don't, then I will have this huge, hulking, stinking, fermenting, useless harvest and then that's gotta be dumped somewhere. I know where! I'll sneak over in the dead of night and just leave it neatly arranged on my neighbours property. He will think it's a bonus from all the seeds that he planted.
: Robert Louis Stevenson
Um, excuse me Robert but I think I have a few problems with that.
By the end of a day harvesting and reaping I really don't have much time to consider if the outcome was any good. It's exhausting work concentrating hard on planting all the little things that are going to grow up into all the big things. You see, it's a problem with the size. I keep getting this daily bag of goodies that obviously offers all solutions to match all choices but everything in it is different, none of it is matched or fits together.
It's such a challenge to decide what to choose - they're all there but rolling around loose. You do understand that I'm supposed to do something with all these colours and shapes and whistles and bells don't you? What do you mean that I don't know what I'm doing - of course I bloody well don't!
Am I supposed to be a knowledge farmer, is there a book written for this? What seeds do I plant? How often do I plant them? Should I keep a record of what I planted where? Do I retrace my steps to make sure I planted well? Should I keep my planting to a schedule or just distribute them randomly? Is it a seasonal thing and do I need any fertilizer?
Gimme a break! About the only fertilizer my seeds have seems to be bullshit. Hey, I don't even know if some or all the seeds will grow and I certainly don't know when. Of course, some of the seeds may have been given to me by others who work this pasture, but how do I know they are good seeds? How does anyone know - maybe they're just blanks, duds, decoys put there to fool me.
Oh, and I forgot about the shape and size of the pasture, not to mention the weather. I don't really want contamination from some other farmer who might not have checked his seeds or the direction of the wind when he planted them. I may end up with a beautiful harvest of something I know nothing about.
How do I even know if my seeds have the right parentage. They don't actually come with a certificate of authenticity. What if the seeds were accidentally planted in Bernie Madoff's garden? Are they his seeds or mine when the time comes to harvest and then they may appear to be not actually anything at all?
How the hell am I ever going to get any time to even judge the harvest, I'm just too damned busy planting! You think I'll be sitting on my laurels counting all the seeds produced. I think not. I will be far too busy weeding out all the nasty little toxic things that threaten to wreak havoc on my pristine environment.
I've worked damn hard trying to establish a good seed planting program. I started young, been doing it for years. There is no way I am just going to stand back and let the harvest produce itself. Hey, this needs constant maintenance. I've decided to give up sleep and start patrolling at night. If I let this get out of hand the seeds will mutate into something horrible.
When I'm not planting I worry. I worry who might steal my seeds, exchange my seeds, play tricks with my seeds, teach them to do other things that I may never have intended - despicable things. I've taken to patrolling my seeds checking for viruses. And I wait for the little darlings to grow into a successful harvest. Now if they don't, then I will have this huge, hulking, stinking, fermenting, useless harvest and then that's gotta be dumped somewhere. I know where! I'll sneak over in the dead of night and just leave it neatly arranged on my neighbours property. He will think it's a bonus from all the seeds that he planted.
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