Monday, August 28, 2006

Confessions of an Angelino


#44: Little Bo Talks "Peep!"

About Using Botox: Paralyzing the facial muscles so they can’t reveal one’s creases, wrinkles and subtle curves creates a distorted read. The alleged enhancement upstages the persona! It’s distracting to talk to a dead face that, however expressionlessly, talks back.

It’s counterintuitive in such a circumstance; we’re supposed to be paying our respects and moving on. And yet, injected and paid for, the face continues to attempt to emote, a turtle shell with a mouth and eyes, I strain to listen, but cannot remember what she said.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Pluto Loses Planet Status: August 24, 2006






Pluto and Chiron

Pluto! Pluto! I will miss you so!
Gone from the textbooks and the acronymic memorization sentences
that will now trail off without, "Period."
After Neptune, hanging in space, a semicolon;

Kicked out of the solar system!
Reclassified to “dwarf planet”!
(Why add a jab
to your galactic demotion?)

In quiet diligence in your oblique orbit
same as before you were ever seen
and recognized,
now shunned,
Oh Pluto!

Worse all over,
I suppose things could be,
if this had happened
to Uranus.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Correcting our Blunders


As the anniversary of 9/11 gets closer, and following the catastrophe averted in London in August, let's take a look back over the past half decade. Are we safer? No. Is hatred cracked open and flooding the middle east? Yes. Did the US with its pre-emptive attack on Iraq set off the powderkeg? You bet!

The problem is war solves nothing and resolves to hate. US manipulations of middle east governments in the 20th Century have turned out to be dreadful mistakes. We need to do the right thing now, and begin to correct our blunders, starting with immediate withdrawal from Iraq.

Here's an idea, let's bring in the Peace Corps. Maybe if the children of all nations grow up to love us, because we have taught them what we know about making life comfortable and pleasant, nobody will think of blowing anybody up anymore. And we have the perfect training ground for building a beautiful city, teaching about water purification, re-establishing educational institutions, organizing chaotic living situations, and bringing new life to the bereft - it was called New Orleans last time I checked.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Creatures of Instinct, Lucky for Us


As I drove home from work today, I saw a licence plate frame on the car ahead of me that said, "What would you do if you were not afraid?"

If I were not afraid I would:

  • jump off a cliff
  • charge up my credit card to the max and throw away the bills
  • stick my hand in fire to see if it is as soft as it looks
  • climb over the fence at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and run screaming toward the lions while wearing a suit made of bacon.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Visceral Understanding


Sometimes science just doesn't have the answer yet. The best scientific mind knows to lead with imagination and follow up with method, standards, formulas. It has a healthy skepticism, and an honest humility. The "C" students in science who grew up to fear risk for the threat of loss of status, shut down options. They point to the past and discover nothing new - citing lack of precedent as proof.

Well not everything in this world has had scientific scrutiny. And not everything that has been examined has been seen from every angle or with the wisdom that comes with time. (We are, after all, but primates figuring out our universe as we go).

Shining pristine at the forefront of discovery is imagination, every time. The world is flat; no it's not. Lobotomies are the only cure for depression; far from it. AIDS is a gay disease; turns out it's everybody's problem. Autism is caused by bad mothering - NOT! Can't get to the moon! Can't even fly! Nothin's faster than the Pony Express!

Albert Einstein was the one who said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Perhaps before he ever said it outright, he knew it, which was what allowed him - that day when he lay daydreaming under a tree - to follow his imagination as it ran to the end of the universe. Yet, no matter how far his thoughts went, there he would be, back under the tree. This led him to envision curved space, and, being a mathematical sort, to create the special theory of relativity.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Observe Your World


What if all the liars stopped lying? It would be great - wouldn't it - to trust implicitly all day long? Wouldn't it be dreamy to never have to put up your guard, never wonder whether what you saw was what you were getting? You could be sure of what people were doing because they'd do what they said they were doing and say what they meant. Now they might not always do what you wished they'd do, but at least they wouldn't lie about it.

But if all the liars stopped lying, it would be bad for the economy! The courts would be empty! All the lawyers and judges and social workers and psychologists would have to go play cards at the park. It would be even more devastating than if we were to stop using fossil fuels. See, at least if we stay dishonest and greedy and destructive, when we bring the world to an end, it won't hurt so much - cause we'll be glad to go!