Offhand, Occasionally Mysterious, yet Resolvable, Remarks

Parents, remember, it is your responsibility to prevent your kids from reading what you don’t want them to read.  Learn about parental controls, and employ them.  If you are a parent, you need to rate sites as you see fit.

• I want to join the Social Register?  I want to join high society.  How much money do you need to sign up?  It’s old money?  I have a few old ones in a jar.  What is old money?...  Okay, I don’t want to join the Social Register.

• Have you ever felt that Job had it too easy?  That he was not all-time suffering champ?

• I have faith: In all the future may have in store; in the experience my past provided; in the people I once knew; and the people I know today.

• If you have a losing hand, you have to call it in at some point.  If you have an idea, or a notion of some kind, if there’s no interest, you cannot keep betting as though there will be interest eventually.

• Who do you answer to?  Who is a major authority in deciding if you have achieved some measure of success?  This could be God, Jesus Christ (the God of the Christian people, of course), Jehovah (the God of the Jewish people, of course), or the Creator (which I prefer because this encompasses all of life optimally acting in concert to advance society).

  This could also be your parents, if they still are alive (although even if they have passed, you might channel them, knowing their understanding of you).  Your spouse, your sibling, or your romantic interest, might also be highly regarded, and your actions matter to them, so you make sure you do well by them.

  You would also have to answer to your boss, or your manager.  Those given to solitude, on their own, might only answer to themselves, to their own conscience.

• Police organizations met in Albany a few months ago.  At one seminar, a small device was handed around.  A NCPD cop said, “it’s a fuse.”  A NYPD looked at it for a bit, and said, “it’s not blown, the car’s in good shape.”

  Two Troupers from North of Albany, discussed it over:  “It’s big for a fuse, high amperage, durable casing, a Vette.”  Her partner says, “it’s kinda clean, 2015 Vette.”  She hands it back, “We see those cruising the Northway, running drugs North.”

  The SCPD cop takes it.  Looks it over, and puts it in his pocket.  That night at a bar, in uniform, he approaches a young woman.  “Whatcha got?,” she says.  “It’s an IED.”  “You mean an IUD?,” she laughs.  “Yeah, that’s it, an IUD.  What’s your name?”

• [cackle] “This is a high-end stakeout (x of y) without a search warrant, and without a crime.  I have a family.  I can’t do this anymore.  He doesn’t deal drugs, he doesn’t do drugs.  He doesn’t drink.  He loves women.  He’s a danger to society?  So he writes a blog.  I’ve seen social media accounts devoted to death threats.

  He misses his parents.  He’s left of center, so is half of America.  His porn is very limited, clean.

  Resisting arrest?  Is not answering the doorbell, resisting arrest?  These days who answers the doorbell for charities, or door-to-door salesmen?  He saw ours walking up his driveway with intent.  He photographed it.  Deleted it.  I heard it said no to life, unholy.  The unpixelated, one looked eager.

  He is sensitive.  Clinically.  But he wants emancipation from the ill label.  Bipolar doesn’t have a blood test, just a doctor giving out diagnoses.  He’s becoming agoraphobic, PTSD, too.  They want to talk to him.  Translate: Rough him up.  Translate: Put a bullet through his skull.

  A neighbor calls 911 on him all the time.  He likes loud music, but this is one-acre zoning, is she in the walls?  It’s a very attractive property his dad left him.

  He has vertigo, like his sister.  HQ wants him on a drunkeness charge.  This one won’t back down, because he’s right.  He’s clean as a whistle.  And we go after him?  The second has no time for this.  They’re coming up with infamous crimes fitting his, well, the worst is rambunctious.

  He’s become our only suspect for cold cases.  We patrol him only?  Does Biden need a suicide here?  He may have to leave for Canada, he’s pegged as a terrorist, when he’s anything but one.  Three-oh-seven-p-m, over and out!  I’m done!”  [cackle]

• My grandfather had five lessons for his son, my father:

  • Buy land, they’re not making any more of it.
  • Learn to box (okay, this was around World War II).
  • Do not lend money to anyone, give it away.  If they need money, they likely won’t be paying it back.
  • Get an education, at least until you’re twenty-one years of age.
  • Do not drink.

• Dad taught me (and his Dad told him): No matter how far you roam, you can always come back home.

• I’m generally not depressed.  I credit this to keeping busy, and being grateful for all I have.  I have three squares a day, in a nice home (that I own).  I still have family, and socialize with them and others often.  I have a well-honed skill set.  I spent many years getting an education.

  I have more than everyone in the Third World of developing nations.  Most there live their entire lives in shacks, and have food insecurity.  I am grateful that I can get a snack from my refrigerator at midnight.  They must often be the grateful dead, grateful on their death, with vague, uncertain expectations of entering heaven.

• In Heaven:

  The British are the police.
  The German are the engineers.
  The Swiss are the bankers.
  The French are the artists.
  And the Italians are the chefs.

  In Hell:

  The British are the chefs.
  The Swiss are the artists.
  The French are the bankers.
  The Italians are the engineers.
  And the German are the police.
  

  —Anon

  [Being from sturdy Jewish stock, do I have lasting resentments about the Holocaust?]

• Treat your women like a princess or a queen, and you will be well-rewarded.

• I have never used the services of a sex worker, but why are they illegal?  Consenting adults should be able to do anything they want.  Don’t we live in a democracy?

• “Nazis are protected class.”

• “Define dorky.”

• Is there a job or career that you are just not cut out to do?  Either your DNA is wrong for it, you don’t have the patience to do the job well, you’re not a nerd or prude at all, or you’re above or beneath that type of work.

• Can Big Brother exist today?  Say a home was wire-tapped, and equipped with x-ray cameras above the ceiling?  Is that so far-fetched?  Say a neighbor had a vendetta against you, and had the county install this monitoring equipment.  Impossible, we know...

• “That’s abuse.”  And that is abnormal usage of conversation, use not related to normal topics such as the weather, or the news.

• “Those who have little to say, yet maintain their superiority, are aloof and narcissistic.”  —Either self-explanatory, or Sigmund Freud in his The Psychopathology of Everyday Life.

• Enjoy your parents’ company and counsel while ye may, because by the time you become a senior citizen, those days with mom and dad are mostly over (or they were for me).  If you’re fortunate, you’ll have fond memories of them (as I did), or else survive your estrangement.

• The concept of a human God removes all responsibility from humanity, and places it upon the clouds.  When the godliness is not above us, but around us, we are the only ones responsible for our fate.  Humans decide our future, not any reliance on ghosts above us.

• Pornography is not volunteer work.  Being a porn star is generally not seen as an honorable profession.  They do it for the money.  At least the money is typically good.

• Those who know the least about vice, and the illusion it creates, are the most into vice.  Gambling is a very good example.  The house always wins.  This is how casinos stay in business.  The probabilities are always greatly in favor of the house.  If you are ignorant of this fact, you will lose your shirt.

• Who is my God as I understand him?  (Which is a bit of a conceit, if you stop and think about it.)  God, or Creation, more accurately, is not residing above us, but around us.  God in the historical sense, has been seen as a type of man, or homo sapiens, that we are modeled after, or made in the image of.

  I suggest that God is not a person, but entirely greater than a person, and a universal energy capable of Creation.  Evolution cannot be random DNA mistakes honed down into today’s human.  There would be too many random mistakes to be made that survive to create a person.

  There would be too many fossil records of DNA mistakes that just do not exist.  Instead life in its self-sufficient and magnificent design, does imply a guided, directed evolution, one more than simple trial and error.  Memory, sexuality, energy production, motion, excretion, all these systems imply a directed path to their existence, not a random one.

  There does seem, to me at least, to be an overarching architect to Creation, one seen in all of the variety of life.  A heart beats, a horse gallops, a fish swims, all through random DNA mutation?  Of course not, there is much more at the helm.

  This may challenge the orthodoxy a bit, yet only through dialog can hidden truths be uncovered.

• The French have no such thing as organic food per se, the groceries there only have organic food.  Go up to any French woman or man in the street, and ask them, “What does ‘organic’ mean (or the French, ‘biologique’)?”  They will simply shrug their shoulders, or giggle in bemusement (a few may howl in laughter, these are the “grande grastronomiques”, or bistro executifs).

  August is “restoratif temps,” time to restore, or a month long celebration of life, good living, and coquilles St. Jacques (shrimp in the style of Jack).  [Editor’s note: My French is a little rusty, but it was my best subject in “grammery.”]

  Speaking of French education, and successful women, Gwyneth “Gwynnie” Paltrow spent most of her formative, teenage years in espana, or Spain, in a tiny hamlet known as Villa del Buk, and formerly known for fishing.  The Buk, as it is often known, is an Ameri-Euro nouveau riche enclave for the well-heeled.  As most of us already know, Ms. Paltrow is trilingual, she is also fluent in French.

  Ashley Judd, not so surprisingly, is (or was) a good friend of Gwyneth, and as a French literature major, has read Madame Bovary over fifteen times.  Ms. Judd was a standout at the University of Kentucky, not only for her stunning good looks, but because she was the first and only recipient of the “Foothills of Kentucky Scholarship” to go all four years without any shoes.

• If Jesus the Christ ever returns, will anyone notice?  Or will he need to be crucified again before they do?  [Canadian editon only.]

• Learn as much as you can about money: Where to invest it profitably; how to invest it wisely (are you a speculative or long-term investor); and how to spend it so you don’t run out of it (spend time seeking value when you purchase).

• The old adage still holds true: Do not suffer fools gladly (irregardless of stature).

• What should be done to those putting on airs for fun and profit, and getting away with them?  I’m taking a survey.

• To reiterate for newbies: God is not above us; Creation, manifest of the God-like, is around us.

• All the police do is teach lessons.  Hopefully, they’re the right lessons.

• Organic grapes, raisins, and apple juice, talk about being blessed with snacks in America — and as far away as my refrigerator.

• If you want someone to fall in love with you, there must be something about you to love.  And there are those who are unloveable, there’s nothing about them to love.  Taunt and report types do exist.

• A ten-year-old to a police officer: “Do you have change of a dollar?”

  “No.”

  “Please, I want to play a game at the arcade.”

  “Hmm. Okay.”  The policeman takes four quarters out of his pocket, and hands them to the kid.  The youngster gives the officer a dollar.  “What’s the name of the arcade game?”

  “Mario Brothers.”

  “Kid, here’s another four quarters.”  Reaches into his pcoket, and hands the youngster another four quarters.  “Just stay away from—”

  “Alien Kill?”

  “I was going to say drugs, but stay away from Alien Kill, too...”

• Police officers from all over New York State descended onto Albany last winter.  A small electronic device was handed to a Nassau County Police Officer.  “It’s a car fuse.”  He passed it along to a New York City policeman: “It’s not blown, the car’s in good shape.”

  An officer from North of Albany, a State Trooper driving the Northway said: “That’s Chevy.”  Her partner said: “That’s a bigger fuse, high amperage, a muscle car, probably talking Vette.”  “Yeah, Canada run at speed, international, at least a hundred.”

  An SCPD officer took it with him.  Then later while drinking, in uniform, took it out of his pocket.  A young woman approaches him: “Whatcha got, officer?”  “It’s an IED.”  She giggles: “Huh, you mean a, well, an IUD?”  “Yeah, like that.  What’s your name?...”

• Living in a mansion may not feel like home, yet living in a two-room studio may.  This all depends on how comfortable you are with yourself, how much you like yourself, and how warm your relationships are, or were.  All help to warm the cockles of your heart, and make any space feel like home.

• Be proud of yourself, and of your life.  You’ve likely come very far.

• Are you searching for an appropriate grace to say at supper?  How about this: “FOOD!”  This suggests appreciation of the fact that you eat, and forgotten multitudes don’t eat, three squares a day.

• Democracy in action: Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer trash-talking on the Senate floor about soybean subsidies.

• Vengeance is a dish best served with, I don’t know, tater tots, fish sticks, or just prepared anyway you prepare any other, tasty dish.  [Canadian edition, I don’t think the American censors will approve this.]

• Have you ever suspected that the current generation doesn’t know how to have a little fun?

• “Vus du vilst dus vil ich oich.
  I want everything you want.” 
  —Jews of every stripe addressing those who find Hitler appealing; 1937.
  
  “J. & J. Kammen Music Co.
  305 Roebling Street
  Brooklyn, N.Y.
  Made in U.S.A.”
  
  [I must be honest.  The pdf link above is within copyright of Sholom Secunda.  Seventy years beyond his death is 1974 plus 70, or 2044.  Yet because I am not profiting from the free publicity I am offering Secunda’s family (The Other Letter is essentially a non-profit, at least so far as income generation), and because of the Fair Use Doctrine, which allows to link for academic research, I believe I can post this without any penalty.]

• When my Dad was in his late eighties, I bought him wireless earpods for his birthday.  Little did I know, that this was the equivalent of giving your cat a Hewlett-Packard scientific calculator, and expecting it to derive Einstein’s equations from his Special Theory of Relativity.  The cat is stumped, as was my Dad.  “What do these do again?”

• Officer of the law, or officer of the peace, does this vary by jurisdiction?  Is this a continuum?

• For a while, I went with Vanna White, hostess and letter-turner, of Wheel of Fortune fame.  Ms. White has an electronic letter board in her backyard, so we would turn a few letters.  Vanna told me about her duties on the show.  If the contest gets heated, she’ll walk over to a contestant, and casually ask from where they hail.  What food is common there?  Are there nearby parks?  Etcetera.

  Fascinating as those conversations are, the mic is never live when they occur.  This reassurance (as Dundee during Ali-Foreman) also helps to get the contestant back on track after big winnings.

  Another thing Vanna told me was that she has to memorize the answer to the word puzzle so she knows where to find the letters to turn.  She cannot forget this, or else she’ll be walking aimlessly back and forth, going: “Darn, an ‘L’?  Where was that ‘L’?”

  “You seemed to have found a soulmate, Other, why’d you break up?”  Ask Vanna.  I would have married her, but she had other plans, so alas we parted ways.

• How I see god is as Creation, and not as a ghost, in a throne, up in the clouds, with thunderbolts.  We can depend on one another, on our individual strengths and weaknesses, we can move mountains collectively.  To believe in uni-God really defies basic reality.  God is not above us, but around us.

  Creation comprises genetic reincarnation, families of species in concert defying the odds of existing as life, when life itself seems really impossible.

  Channeling an ancient god at church could just as well be channeling a sage relative in your living room.  Mom channeled: “The best things are here in time.”  “Air Force One requesting runway one for HFX.”

  If you disagreed with the Bible back in the day, you were burned to the stake.  Do I face similar condemnation.

• Run for the hills upon hearing: “I’ll tell you how to live your life, invest your money...”

• Life is an adventure.  Don’t miss out.  Stay on track.

• ...All for what you just read here...

• Would you say that people need more or less freedom?  Is this a major characteristic delineating the far Right, from anyone else?  Is America the land of the free, or the land of the restrained?

• Good advice: Do not spend sums of cash on vice.

• How do you corral a witch?  That’s right, with a broomstick.

• European films don’t necessarily have happy endings.  Hollywood has San Bernadino endings, named after the cinema focus groups assembled in that SoCal city.  Hollywood endings tend to neatly tie together all the disparate, dramatic pieces back together into one crowd-satisfying whole.  Jaws ends with the famous oceanside, fishy, BBQ scene; Umbrellas du Cherbourg ends with the couple made for one another going their seperate ways.

• Heartbreak defined: Someone going through a real, real, hard time, and there isn’t a thing you, or they, can do about it.

• If you could be the resident of any other nation besides where you live today, would you move, or would you stay put?

• God forbid you had to choose between being blind, or being deaf, but if you did, which one would you choose?  I think I’d choose being blind, because I enjoy music, and good conversation.

• Do your animal “friends” a favor, and try having a vegan meal.  Who knows, maybe you will say goodbye to slaughterhouse “food.”  You might want to entertain the thought of becoming a vegan.

  Am I a vegan?  No.  But I do talk a good game.  Would I like to become one?  If I knew I could get body-building protein in my diet, I would, maybe.  It’s just that soy protein, the main ingredient in any vegan diet, tastes like, hmm, I’ll be diplomatic, tastes likes soy protein, and not boeuf bourgignon, or scallops Rockefeller.

  That said, I generally don’t eat beef, I mostly draw the line at eating poultry.  If it is far up the evolutionary scale, I avoid it.  McDonalds had a special on bush meat, which I steered clear of.

• I sometimes offer my opinion, which may be different from your opinion, but that’s okay.

• I’ll try my best, and see where that will take me.

• Have you ever wanted to give the finger to Instagram for posting a “keep it within our guidelines” warning?  You could, you know, and it won’      Instagram really prefers you post bland, ra-ra messages, backing anything the celebrity says, not anything really interesting and original.  If the star du jour says how much he loves hunting Bambi, you say: “I hate Bambi, too!  Down with Bambi!”

  Social media was not made with privacy interests at the fore.  It can (or does) function as a persoanl info collection tool.  All that I’m saying, is that after 9/11, corporate governance was not given plenty of latitude in following people, it was given carte blanche.  Law enforcement gets reports from social media platforms.  (Heard on good authority, but it is hearsay, I cannot say for certain if that’s actually being distributed.)

• If you are serious about life, and your prospects, do not do drugs (and alcohol is a drug).  They slow you down, they make you dumb, they are expensive.  Without sounding too heavy-handed, drugs can really get in your way, and make your life extremely difficult.

• I believe the Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) is right, American food is safe, and free of carcinogens.  My alma mater, Stony Brook University, offered a seminar topic: Not everything can give you cancer (os some such title).  The professor explained how they test for carcinogens.  They feed rats huge amounts of the

• Is homosexuality a second choice, the first choice being heterosexuality?  Is homosexuality ever a first choice?  Are there a sizable population of gays and lesbians who know they aren’t heterosexual?  I am straight, so I cannot say for certain, but I would say that it is the first choice of gays and lesbians, to be gay or lesbian.  Homosexual pornography cannot be produced without real homosexuals, it would be too gross for straight people to do.  Is this another taboo subject?  Why would it be though?

• Take the time to take stock, and check your bearings.  Are you going where you want to go?

• Have you ever watched the Super Bowl, where the main product shilled is suds.  There’s the easy camaraderie, the instant social acceptance, and the sex appeal all wrapped inside an off-color glass bottle.  Life-ending alcoholism is never mentioned, or even possible, according to the brewers.  How different is the Super Bowl from a brewers’ convention.

  A little aside about the Super Bowl.  It’s on a tape delay of thirty seconds.  During the next Super Bowl, play a radio broadcast of the game.  This will be in real time, the television broadcast is delayed for at least thiry seocnds.  Why is that?  Probably to control what America sees that evening, without incidents.

  Another aside about how to win the office, football pool.  Subtract average points for, from average points against, for both teams.  This is average margin of victory, or loss.  Bet on whichever team has the greatest margin of victoty, including any point spread.  I consistently won a twenty-plus entrant pool at work using this method.

• Rhetorical questions do not require an answer, the answer is implied by the sentence.  As a result, these sentences do not need question marks.

• If you can manufacture a quality bass amplifier (or mixer), where you actually can clearly make out the bass among the other instruments, the world is your blue oyster cult.

• I should admit something: I romanticize my teenage years; but my oh my, what a mess — that’s all I’m sayin’.  Oh, and the drug subculture mostly sucked, but the music...

• People who like getting high on drugs (and alcohol is a drug) need to realize that in the long term, there are downsides.  Drugs are expensive, and addictive; they are unhealthy (e.g., beer bellies, alcohol has “empty” calories); drugs can negatively impact relationships; and inebriant use can have very unfortuate legal consequences.

• People who are overweight, do not need additional motivation to lose weight.  They are well-aware of the fact that their weight exceeds the norm for height.  They don’t need to be told again that they are chubby, tubby, a walrus, a whale, gargantua, godzilla, eating for two, and so on.  These entreaties to shed pounds by trained “pros,” or just untrained a-holes, do much more harm than good, and because they are yet more name-calling hurt to deal with, postpone the return to healthy girth.

• Do not worship false gods.  This is one of the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  Judaism and Christianity are considered Abrahamic religions, and both warn against idolatry, or false idols.  Beware of cults, demagogues, and anyone wanting to run your life.  [Advanced class.]

• Rights in this country, are a privilege, not a guarantee.  If you abuse your rights in favor of malevolence, the privilege can be revoked.  As an example: You have a right to dial 9-1-1 for emergencies, if you call hundreds of times, that right will be abrogated, curtailed.

• If you can make someone happy, that’s really what it’s all about.  Life is tough enough, if you can help lighten the load for someone, you’ve done real good.

• Is there a case against rock and roll?  Afficianodos are so stuck up about their tastes, that they feel fully superior just because Lynyrd Skynyrd, while stars-and-bars racist, have learned to play several, very good, songs.

• If you need an SOS emergency line, you can direct message POTUS, our United States President.  Tap a “POTUS” heading on Instagram, tap “message,” and explain your emergency.  Don’t have a clue what am I talking about?  Drop off an offending license plate, or phone number at a convenience store or pizzeria.  Cops frequent both, and would be interested in license plates, or phone numbers, followed by exclamation marks, or other punctuation.

• Even if you learn nothing about life, at least you’re doing better than rocks, and well, masonry.

• Villagers in Kazykstan live past one-hundred-twenty years.  Why though?  Apparently they eat plenty of yogurt, especially plain yogurt with honey from nearby hives.  That’s living.

• How we doing tonight?  That’s good.  I’m glad I finally teach the advanced class, no long explanations — punchy...

• Taylor Swift has Easter eggs in her work, little puzzles that when solved earn trips to Hawaiian, Swift concerts.  Well, I’ve thought about this, I have, but that’s only as far as I’ve gotten...

• Most people are good.  Even Hitler was good to his fellow Nazis, although he gassed, cremated alive, starved, and worked to death, those not his kind.  This is a key lesson of tolerance — everybody tolerates somebody sometime.  Oh, never mind.  (See the FUBAR remark for further clarification— and what do you know—)

• How does one measure bad ideas?  How does one know a FUBAR (effed up beyond all recognition)?  Believe me, it is not very difficult to tell...

• Can you imagine the pressure the Messiah would face upon his return?  Is he perfect?  Does he deserve our appreciation?  Must he die again, as foreseen by some readings of the New Testament?

• There are really two versions of Jesus the Christ: The literal, Biblical version; and the messiah one may think of in contemplating god.  The perception of the former can be lessened with new critique of the Bible, but the latter is much more substantial, this is what the Christian should consider: their personal relationship with their god outside of ancient scripture.

• A downturn in your life, while difficult at minimum, could give you an enhanced sense of gratitude and humility.  You might see life differently knowing how others live life with very little (especially in Third World countries).

• There are times when a really good song on the radio makes all the difference.

• What do you like best about America?  I would say the First Amendment, freedom of the press, whereby grievances can be freely redressed per the United States Constitution.  More than anything else, this is what the fighting is all about, why America exceeds just about every other country.  Our Founding Fathers explicitly allowed for the free exchange of ideas.

  The Supreme Court stands behind the First Amendment in challenges much more than they will a lumber company cutting down giant Sequoias and claiming: “Who cares about thousand-year trees, we all need Post-its.”

  Second favorite is Hollywood, America’s long history of leadership in cinema, and of course, those actresses who charm audiences coast to coast, and internationally.

  Third is American food: plentiful, fresh, and delicious (assuming you are not poor, and do not have food insecurity).

• It is always darkest just before the dawn.

• How many pairs of speakers have you blown?  We all aim for none, but there are times when...

• When all hope is lost, think of your mother, and her patient counsel, as possible succor.  “This, too, shall pass.”  (Assuming Mom was not some strung-out alkie.)

• A journey of a thousand miles begins with a walk around the block.

• In 1925, Tex Rickard, President of Madison Square Garden, watched a hockey game between the New York Rangers, and the Montreal Canadians.  Up from Canada, they were good, unstoppable, truth be told.  Mister Rickard asked what the “H” stood for on their jersey.  He was told that they were the Habitants, or farmers (the “H” actually stands for hockey).

  The winningest team today, in the National Hockey League is the Montreal Canadians, or the Habs as they are informally known.  The Habs are quite a sports franchise for a team of farmers.

  True, a Canada hockey franchise hasn’t brought home the Stanley Cup since 1992, but every team in the league is roughly half Canadian, with Russians, Minnesotans, and Wisconsins thrown in for good measure.  In 1970, though, the NHL was almost entirely Canadian, with 96.1% from Canada.

  (The reason I say “up from Canada,” is because it is downwind from New York to the Maritimes, so one goes down to, say, Nova Scotia, not up as the relative globe position might suggest.  I cannot find a reference for this, but my Dad would say it, and the reason was because of tradewinds.  My father was from Boston.  I brag.  My great uncle Walter worked for Quebec Power according to pa in his memoir.  I brag again.  Hmm, I do brag, don’t I...)

• Is there a homeless settlement in your town?  How do you know?

  The U.S. doesn’t see this so often, but there are entire populations, especially in South America and Africa, that get the short end of the stick, that get screwed over.  Women especially, degrade themselves to hold onto dear life.  Many try to preserve this vision of fairy land that the world is perfect, that reality must be sugar-coated, when in fact, it is touch and go for millions of people.

  My point is this: America has it better than most anyone else on earth, or at least the upper half does.  If you’re from a minority group, you can be taunted just because of your skin color, here and everywhere.

    [Canadian version.]

• It has been said that women are given a raw deal, that metaphorically speaking, they are n*ggers.  Guys would say, “No way!”  But what would women say?  I bet they would agree, that being female is being unlucky in life.  Their career roles are limited, especially with motherhood.  Because they make less money in general, they are beholden to males who can take full advantage by being manipulative, even more so in marriage.

• A key to successful dieting is only eating when you’re hungry, not when you are angry, lonely, or tired.  (In Twelve-Step, there is the concept of HALT, do not engage in problematic behavior due to being hungry, angry, lonely, or tired.)  My body fat is less than one percent, and I credit this to daily workouts, body-is-my-temple bull.  Actually, I’m in decent shape.  Define “decent”?  I could play middle linebacker for the New York Giants, but I choose not to because, well, I don’t know.  Am I full of it?  Come on, New York Giants?  Geez, yeah, I’m Lawrence Taylor.  Am I giving away my age?  How ’bout those Yankees?  Those Red Sox?  Those Habs?

• Be kind, if you can.  Be grateful, you’re not desperate Third World.  Be good, do good deeds.  Avoid criticizing, if you can — this was once God’s Creation.

• A European movie won’t necessarily have a happy ending.  Hollywood generally aims for San Bernandino (test group) endings, where the leading lady and gentleman head off into the sunset in their ragtop Rolls (talk about confidence in where you parked your car).

• Other, get with it, please, okay?

• “I say so, so therefore it is so.”  Have you met god?  You have now.  Not me, of course.

• Raise your hand: Are you a Canadian wannabe?  Never mind.

• Words to consider: “Live a little before you die;” and “try not to be an a-hole.”

• An Other Letter Public Service Announcement: Acting in pornography is not volunteer work.  It’s all illusion, it is all fake, it is all for the mean green.

• Other Letter, in an Other Concert Series, is lining up the event of the summer, the Women-only Extravaganza in Central Park.  Headliners to include: The Go-gos; Heart; Wynonna Judd; Brandi Carlisle; Beth Orton; Miranda Lambert; and on and on.

  Part a sisterhood rally, part just great music, bringing women together to combat domestic violence, and end childhood poverty, as well as to support a women’s right to choose.  Slated to be special guests are Joni Mitchell, and Ashley Judd.  Ms. Judd will address various women’s issues as only she can.

  Excepting Satan-worshippers and witches, all are welcome, including ex-convicts.

  [Editor’s note: This is only on the drawing board right now, which is probably where it will languish forever — I average thirty-five visitors a day.]

• If all you have left to your name is your clothes on your back, at least you have clothes.   Say grace before each meal, to the tune of: I eat and many do not have food.  For the grace of Creation go I.

  [Why Creation and not God?  Who believes there is a guy in the clouds keeping an eye over us, shooting down lightning bolts on occasion?  God is not above us, but everywhere around us, as in the life force of Creation and love.  Why is love so predominant?  That is why there is species reproduction, and why we manage to get along as a civilization.  Our brains can experience kindness and love, and this allows society to continue without continual all-out war.]

• Outside of a workplace context, no one likes to be told what to do.

• Rumors to the contrary, the Other Letter will not be taken over by an Eastern syndicate.

• Try to keep stuff in perspective: A thousand years from now, our lives will have amounted to nothing.  In ten-thousand years, our nation will not have mattered all that much.  And in a million years, who knows how much will be left of any civilization on Earth.

• No more questions!

• The truth shall set them free.

• Have you ever answered your door expecting it to be the Prize Patrol?  Then you wonder: Why on Earth did you grow a twenty-foot pot plant, and put it out on your deck.

• “Do your own thing,” was a common mantra of the Sixties in America.  What would be a common mantra of today?  “That’s actionable;” or, “Kate Upton is wrong!”  (It’s a long story, involving production values, a semi-clad model, and a woman so voluptuous that she’s kind of a, well, a freak of nature.  To all you intimidated women out there, don’t worry, Ms. Upton is a freak of nature...  Guys are like: “Well played, Other.  Didn’t you mean Kate is the seventh wonder of the World?”  —Yeah, that’s what I meant.)

  Which brings us to another topic: What could Kate Upton possibly be wrong about?  I’ll say it: Jumping jacks — Kate Upton is wrong for gym class.  There, I said it.  Kate is probably the type of girl who did not attend a single gym class her entire scholastic career (Heather Graham likely falls into that category, as well — sports bras be damned).

  [Editor’s note: Occasionally, I phrase something that has likely never been written before in the English language, or in any language.  Here, that would be: “sports bras be damned.”]

• The status quo, the conventional, does not rule.  Okay, well, it rules small minds.

• This, too, shall pass.  What is this about?  Did you get outside today?  The Northeast was pretty much up in smoke from the Canadian fires.

• Just governments exist to serve the people.  We, the people, do not exist to serve the government.

• A writing tip or two: Avoid clichés like the plague.  Like a Jazz musician, don’t play the same phrase twice, avoid redundant wording.  When your intro to a passage states how many points you’ll be making, accurately state the number of points following (not “a writing tip or two.”)

• 1970’s T-shirt: “I used to be angry, now I’m just amused.”

• You may find a time, when if you’re not philosophical concerning a matter, that we’re really just biding our time, circling the sun, then you is in for a real tough time.

• Fear is not a useful emotion.  [Editor’s note: This creates a thorny legal issue for certain readers who should really be reading the National Enquirer.  If you do not notice fear, you might, for instance, get hit by a train.  In light of this possiblity, however remote, I have established a restitution fund to pay for those hit by trains after reading the first sentence.  If someone you know gets hit by a train, and reads the Other Letter, and is current in their reading (no Trump-era readers, please), then I will reimburse their family with an item from my music collection.  Have a nice day.]

• Ashley Judd needed one course to earn her baccalaureate Degree from U. of K., and that course required one paper.  Ashley’s major was French literature, and her paper was on the adjective “dangereux,” and its use throughout the history of the Franco language.  Dangereux is conjugated dangereuse when describing a female.  On and on, to make a long story short, Ms. Judd’s paper got an A, she pocketed her degree, and to this day, she is the foremost expert on the French adjective, dangereux.  (Editor’s note: I was not exactly the best French language student.  There were students who just picked it up, I wasn’t one of those people.)

• Don’t piss money away on vices like gambling.  This is sound, profitable advice for those who can follow it.  Casinos stay in business by knowing the probabilities of gaming, and using them to their advantage.

• Did you ever feel glad just to be alive?  That the world is a welcoming place.  That you fit right in.  That by virtue of your kindness, you have a secure place in the universe (as opposed to trashing what’s good).  Is this fairy land time, or can anyone find their niche over time.

• I miss my folks.  My mom wsa the best ever mom, very special in many ways.  If I felt down about anything, she could pick me right back up again.  My father was a great role model.  One trait he imbued in me from him was his work ethic, and that he always avoided any condescension, especially of minorities.

• Was the world better off after the rise of the nation-state?  At some point, this planet shifted away from being an agrarian, decentralized peace-loving world, a Garden of Eden, to people at odds with one another, fighting over borders, land, and resources.

• If you wrestle with a problem long enough, it will eventually give in.  —My father would say that.

• —I give it a 97.  I can dance to it.
  —I can dance to it, too.

• Eulogies are spoken too late.  The dead would have loved to hear them, but they’re already dead.

• Honor those who gave you life.  Honor your mother and father.

• Keep tabs on your investments.  Check the performance of your portfolio monthly.  Cull out mutual fund laggards.  But please, contact your tax advisor before moving money around, before buying and selling mutual fund assets, there may be significant tax consequences regarding income, and capital gains.

  A good guide to quality mutual funds is the Morningstar Ratings.  A 5-star rating will likely outperform the market.  Keep in mind that if the entire stock market tanks, say there is a recession, then even a 5-star mutual fund will not perform well.

  You should diversify your portfolio by having a proportion of your money in fixed income funds, that is, bonds.  As you age, a greater proportion of your money should be kept in bonds.

• Are all those holy-roller, high and mighty, holier than thous, getting into heaven?  I asked Jesus the Christ this very question today, and he had this to say: “Not on my watch.”

• A capitalist economy is every man for himself.  It’s divided we stand, united we fall.  There has to be a better way.  Fast forward to 3023: All goods, worldwide, are made collectively, best-in-class.  Natural resources are never wasted on inferior products.

  The economy is two-tier.  Simply by virtue of being alive on this Earth, you have the luxury of food, housing, and basic transportation, without charge.  This is a moneyless, economic sector.  The second tier brings currency into play.  Discretionary, non-sustenance goods, may be purchased with engraved, green, bank script, the greenback we know today.

  ---

  The problem with any economic paradigm hoping for a kinder, gentler world to translate into global prosperity, is that people act out of self-interest.  People are greedy.  People want at least their share, or more, sometimes much more.

  Society and its economy must accomodate this fact, that people don’t want to give anything away that they don’t have to give away.  Socialism and communism, while lofty and noble, suffer from the fact that people want to keep all they worked to create, all of it, and then some.  People really don’t want to share.  [To paraphrase my dad, economic regimes based on philanthropy, in a sense, will likely fail.]

• “You’re on track.”  That’s a good feeling.

• It’s alright to give yourself pep talks, just don’t do it in public places.

• Respect is deserved, not demanded.  Nazis never understood this.

• Why don’t people float?  What is gravity?  Gravitrons have never been isolated, but somehow we are nicely positioned above the outside rim of this Earth.  We don’t float, we don’t crawl arduously either.

• Here’s a great recipe: Wash grapes, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and/or stemmed strawberries, then put them in a bowl.  You could include kiwi...

  The advanced class might want to consider adding cream and sugar (maybe maple syrup, maybe not).

  After preparation is done, eat.

• The real tragedy of Naomi Judd’s suicide, is that she seemed so vivacious, and joyful.  I blame the NRA in part, for providing her with the means of killing herself.  Moreover, I blame the mass media for not vigorously promoting the repeal of the Second Amendment.

  The Founding Fathers made a colossal mistake in condoning guns.  They had to, of course, so they could hold down slave rebellions.  George Washington, the father of this nation, had over a hundred slaves, and Thomas Jefferson owned over six-hundred people.

  Ultimately, Ashley can blame Tom and George for her mom’s death.  They are original sin, not the NRA. Unfortunately for gun control advocates, the NRA operates within the law.  (An aside, not a single American president has called out the NRA by name.  They are that petrified of them.  They will only point to “the gun lobby.”)

  I just heard on MSNBC that 85-percent of Americans are against guns, which is 10-percent more than required to repeal 2A.  The police are generally in favor of a 2A repeal, who needs more guns on the street.  The equivalent of a 2A repeal worked in Australia, after the Port Arthur massacre of 1996.  Included in legislation there, was gun buybacks.

  [The Other Letter is an op/ed page essentilly (opinions and editorials).  Please don’t get offended by my opinions.  I have set out to change the world and/or become a martyr.  Hopefully, only the former.  We’ll see.  I kinda have a big mouth.  I once wrote here: “If I do not sound like a 747 roaring down the runway at takeoff, I have not done my job.”  My web host , IONOS, says I get only thirty-five visitors a day.  That’s true, isn’t it?  The mouse that roared for any marketshare?]

• I am considering converting The Other Letter into a puppies and kittens site, where I only have videos of puppies and kittens running around.  Only milquetoast, a celebration of milquetoast, will be presented.  Blue skies, sunshine and rainbows, fairy tales from never never land, happy talk, will become the new mission, having succumbed to pressure from livid readers.

• Life is not always the way we want it to be, but if we work at it, we can make a life worth living and enjoying.  Those from unfortunate circumstances can still lead happy lives.  Although it’s easy for Whitey-me, to say that.

• You’re responsible for the effort, not the result.  —My Dad, who was a really nice, great guy.

• After streaming became a major force in the music industry, Taylor Swift is no longer performing concerts to promote records, she is producing records to promote concerts.  The Grateful Dead had always made their money playing at arenas, not from selling records.  In other words, because of streaming apps, Taylor Swift’s business model is the same as the Grateful Dead’s.

• “The Grateful Dead is like licorice. Not everyone likes licorice, but those who do, really like licorice.”
  --Jerry Garcia

• Back to the Stones v. Beatles.  Can there be a true winner?  The Beatles were done by 1970, Mick and Keith are still gathering no moss.  Debate amongst yourselves.  [American Edition: no Joni, no Neil, no Rush...  “I don’t get it! — American radio rarely plays Canadian legends.”]

• Get the blogger!!!

• Whistling through the wintertime, Lady Winter-Whistler once intoned to me: Pass enough tests, go upstairs, fail them, go down.

  Life is so impossible a prospect, we arose from dust, yet we exist.  Then why is the life hereafter so much to fathom?

  The Lady seemed to suggest that where we all call home is rare among the cosmos, that ours got rather far along, but deep space hasn’t an end, so we have valued family elsewhere.

• Did Jesus the Christ have much relevant to say about life today?  Decide for yourself...

• Even if they are no longer there, at least there are the memories of Mom and Dad.  Try to imagine life without those.  Tragically, some can, because they never had a real family.

• Taylor Swift has over twenty costume changes within a set, of any patented Taylor-Show™.  As contrast, the Grateful Dead wore tar-stained T-shirts, and even beyond 1990, wore jeans bought for Woodstock (Jerry: “Do 505s come in tartan, madras?”)

• I’m not put on this earth to live up to your expectations, nor you of mine.

• As long as humble me can make peace with myself by the end of the day, then that’s the battle won.  Try and succeed, or try and fail, matters most is that I try.  It can be a struggle, especially in America, to say something is good enough, even when it is not perfect.  Yet no one is perfect.

• It doesn’t hurt to be nice to people.  Unless you’re nice to the abusive, then steer clear.

• “All I want from life is to be content, have a measure of happiness.”

• “County-wide bulletin!  Blogger with keyboard!”

• Oh, that feeling — the home is all yours...

• Snack responsibly!

• Be good to yourself.

• If you do not dream dreams, how will the dreams you never dreamed, ever come true?

• If it is implied, why does it have to be stated explicitly?  Why slow the narrative, why make it boring?

• In the days of yore, there wasn’t any breakfast available in the refrigerator.  When someone woke up, they had to forage for the first meal of the day, so it might be hours after awakening before they had the day’s first meal.

• The natives are restless.

• America, what’s not to love!  Bread, circuses, and Heather Graham — and the First Amendment...

• Don’t tip your hand, unless Ashley Judd wants to see your hand.  Then, you tip your hand.

---

And for the seeker of Christ’s original teachings:

• Luke.23 [4] “Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.”
  — Pontius Pilate later committed suicide.

• “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”
  —Well, Jesus is without sin, so does he throw the first stone?
  John 8:2

• Don’t look up at the clouds for succor, or spiritual guidance; look all around you at Creation, life energized, and regenerating.

• I have a question for Jesus the Christ: Should impossible people be forgiven for their transgressions?...  Jesus would say: “Forgive them, they know not what they do...”  Then do the evil know what they do?  Hmm, maybe they don’t know either.