Idleness or Opportunity to Think

The Fool On The Hill

Day after day, alone on a hill
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him
They can see that he's just a fool
And he never gives an answer

But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning 'round

What happens when you have the time to see the world spinning round?

Soon after Isaac Newton had obtained his BA degree in August 1665, Cambridge University temporarily closed as a precaution against the Great Plague. Although he had been undistinguished as a Cambridge student, Newton's private studies at his home over the subsequent two years saw the development of his theories on calculus, optics, and the law of gravitation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton

More than 400 years ago, as epidemics raged in London, forcing theaters and other public places to shutter, William Shakespeare was busy crafting stories of kings going mad and thanes coveting power. He was, scholars believe, in the midst of an astonishingly potent creative period, one that produced some of the most extraordinary tragedies ever written — “King Lear” and “Macbeth” among them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/great-artistic-works-during-plagues/2020/11/05/6575cac2-1d29-11eb-90dd-abd0f7086a91_story.html

After finishing his studies in 1900, Einstein could not get accepted anywhere for a teaching post. Eventually he was offered a job by his friend’s father at a Swiss patent office in 1902, where Einstein’s task was to look through inventions, check their originality, and write clear patents to protect the inventors’ new ideas. His job lasted from 1902 to 1909, during which time Einstein published his four Annus Mirabilis (miracle year) 1905 papers. Einstein described the patent office as his ‘worldly cloister’, where he ‘hatched [his] most beautiful ideas’. https://oxsci.org/einstein-at-the-patent-office/

The COVID-19 lockdown is NOT the first lockdown in recorded history.  Periods of boredom in meaningless jobs provide lots of opportunity to do other things, such as seeing the world spinning round.  If history is an example, we can look forward to what may result.

Passing

 

The Great Pretender

Oh-oh, yes, I'm the great pretender
Adrift in a world of my own
I've played the game but to my real shame
You've left me to grieve all alone

What is the price of pretending?

The United States  is unfortunately a caste, class-based, society. There are the best schools, the best neighborhoods, the A-list, first class travel, etc. If people have certain characteristics they might be treated as if they are in a higher class.  For example a white male who graduated from two Ivy League schools might be considered to be a male WASP. At least in my own case that assumption would be wrong. I am a male and white but I am also an Irish‑Polish Catholic from a working class, union family.  My family has members with different genders, different sexual orientations, disabilities, and have, including especially me, mental health issues. But my last name is Beagan, and while Ronald Reagan was President I answered to BAY-gan and was assumed to think and act like Ronald Reagan, even though I pronounce it BEE-gan and I don’t think like former President Reagan. I should have corrected the pronunciation. But then I should have also objected to the accompanying disparaging comments and jokes about religion, nationality, gender, unions, income, sexual orientation, disabilities, mental health, etc, but I did not.

Those who have a different sexual orientation can talk about the cost that comes from being in the closet. Those light-skinned blacks who are passing for white, pay the cost of knowing that their identity could be uncovered. Not to put myself in the same category, but I have played the price of being in the closet, passing, pretending I was in another class. If I believe that there should be no classes, and that no one is better than another, then I should act as if there are no classes, and not accept the benefits that come from being incorrectly perceived to be in an “higher” class.

Will Smith

I’m A Man

Who imagine I'm not human
And my heart is made of stone
I never had no problems
And my toilet's trimmed with chrome

Being a man does  not mean making the first slap.

The Will Smith-Chris Rock spat is being viewed by many lenses.  I would like to suggest viewing it as an example of vigilantism.  Was Chris Rock’s joke about Jada Pinkett Smith hurtful and wrong.  She has a shaven head not because she is auditioning for GI Jane, or any stylistic choice,  but because she has publicly said that she has alopecia, hair loss.  If Donald Trump’s mocking of a disabled journalist was despicable, and it was, then this “joke’ by Chris Rock was not very funny either.  Chris Rock should not even have been making such a “joke”.  It was not in his prepared and approved remarks.  He was after all, there to present an award for Best Documentary on behalf of the Academy of Motion Pictures.  None of the documentaries nominated were about Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, GI Jane, or alopecia, so, IMHO, the ”joke” was not only NOT funny, it was inappropriate.

However Will Smith escalated Chris Rock’s offensive behavior and took it on himself.  He was in a position to reach the stage only because the stars had been given a special section in the Dolby Theater, supposedly because of COVID, and not because they need and deserve special treatment.  Chris Rock’s offense was against the Academy.  Any action should have been taken by the Academy.  Will Smith acted as a vigilante.  Whether it  is “playing the dozens”, “your mama”, or "pistols at dawn", a feud to protect one’s honor, or the honor of one's loved ones, is still a feud.   The Power of the Dog was about the dangers of toxic masculinity and revenge.  A picture released this year was the Last Duel. Might does not make right, i.e. trial by combat, whether that might is a slap, jousting, a sword, a gun, or anthrax-tainted rawhide.  The tribe decides what is right.  Taking justice into one’s own hands, makes you a vigilante, and does not prove your love.  Two wrongs never make a right.

If the special seating was due to COVID safety concerns, let us hope that the Academy will end it when the Pandemic ends.  No one should be treated so specially  that they think that their pride is more important than the group's pride. 

Gold

 

Goldfinger

Mister Goldfinger
Pretty girl beware of this heart of gold
This heart is cold

He loves only gold
Only gold
He loves gold
He loves only gold
Only gold
He loves gold 

Will the sanctions imposed on Russia result in a return to the gold standard? 

Prior to 1933, the US Dollar was on the gold standard. Each US Dollar could be converted into gold which could then be owned by an individual. This currency, medium of exchange, would inevitably lead to economic crashes when one group acquired most of the currency, and the supply and demand curves had to readjust. ( Because one person’s buyer is another person’s seller. It’s just  Apartment House Rules. One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor). In 1933 individual ownership of gold was made illegal which effectively took the dollar off the gold standard. The US Dollar before that time was what is called a commodity currency, it could be converted into a commodity (gold). After 1933, the dollar became what is known as a fiat currency. The US Dollar became worth what the US government said that it was worth. 

At that time international trading was still done in gold. However during World War II, the United States became the principal holder of gold in the world. If international trade was to take place, then there needed to be another medium of exchange. To promote international trade, there needed to be a fiat currency, to replace gold. At Bretton Woods in 1944, John Maynard Keynes proposed an international currency, the bancor. The United States proposed the US Dollar, convertible into gold. Needless to say the US won. 

By 1971 international trade had increased such that if the foreign countries who had accumulated US Dollars as a result of trade called for a conversion into gold, those countries would empty the US gold supply. This prompted the Nixon Shock of 1971, when the US Dollar was no longer convertible into gold by foreign nations. The rapid inflation that resulted in the 1970s was similar to the economic crashes that had been experienced domestically when the dollar was on the gold standard as the supply and demand curve adjusted. 

Trade, an exchange of goods, requires trust between the buyer and the seller, including the medium of exchange used in that trade. When one of the parties reveals themselves to be untrustworthy, say by invading Ukraine, you can refuse to trade with them. You can also say that the medium of exchange that county has acquired will no longer be honored. 

What that country could do, and apparently has done, is to say that in the future they will only deal in gold, or hard commodity currencies, for trade. The advantage of gold is not only that it has a value which has been agreed to, and it is liquid, but it is also much more untraceable than fiat currencies, and is a  means of evading international sanctions. 

This is a suitable time for the United States to suggest discussions on establishing an international fiat currency, to be a managed by an international association such as e.g. the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, or G-7, etc. The objection by Russia seems to be it can not trust the United States, so everyone should adopt the gold standard, not trust anyone and everyone should return to the gold standard. Saying that there is an international fiat currency that is NOT the US Dollar says that people should trust each other, even if you don’t trust the United States. 

Goldfinger was a villain. He loved only gold. Let’s not become villains ourselves.

Ketanji Brown Jackson Nomination Hearings II

 

Respect

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB, oh

A little respect
(Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me)
Whoa, babe 

Was former President Trump correct?  Was KBJ being disrespectful?

·       Trump accused Ketanji Brown Jackson of being "disrespectful" to GOP senators at her confirmation hearings.

·       Trump said that Republican lawmakers asked Jackson questions "really nicely."

·       Jackson's grilling by Republicans was described by the media as "hyperpartisan" and "poisonous."

Insider, Joshua Zitser, Sun, March 27, 2022, 6:38 AM https://news.yahoo.com/trump-attacked-ketanji-brown-jackson-103838583.html

And here I thought the Orange Menace watched TV. Clearly he wasn’t watching the same TV as me.  Republicans such as Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Marsha Blackburn were respectful and KBJ was disrespectful? Is black really white, and white really black, also? Just more evidence that it you want to uncover the truth, it is the opposite of what Donald Trump is saying.

In response to questions from the Republican Senators on the Judiciary Committee that were not only disrespectful, they were inane, irrelevant, deceitful, demeaning, illegal, etc. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson responded with respect and grace In fact it was the most graceful demonstration I have seen since Fred Astaire danced with Ginger Rodgers. And like Ms. Rodgers, KBJ did it backwards and in high heels. Like Senator Booker, I believe that "You (KBJ) have earned this spot. You are worthy.”

Breaking News

 

Man Bites Dog

Extra! Extra! Extra! Extra! Man bites dog!
Extra! Man bites dog! Extra! Man bites dog!
Man bites dog! Man bites dog! Man bites dog!

Breaking News! Senator McConnell will not vote for the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson! 

I received a Breaking News Alert on my iPhone.  It was a Dog Bites Man headline and was hardly breaking news.  Did anyone seriously expect Senator Mitch “Yertle the Turtle” McConnell to vote to confirm Judge KBJ?  He has never seen a Republican nomination that he opposed, nor a Democratic nomination that he endorses.  Now if he voted to confirm THAT would be a Man Bites Dog headline.  Otherwise this is a Dog Bites Man story and not worth the designation as breaking news.

Vladimir Putin II

 

Wonderful World

Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took

But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me, too
What a wonderful world this would be

Vladimir Putin doesn’t much about know history….or about love.

Valdy, Valdy, Valdy. And here I thought that it was Americans who did not know Russian history. It sounds like you are not too hot on that subject either. In a speech on March 25^th, President Putin said that the West was trying to cancel the culture of a 1000 year old county, including cancelling such composers as Tchaikovsky.

1000 years? Really? Really? The Russian Federation, of which you are the President, dates only back to 1991. The USSR, which preceded the Russian Federation, was established in 1921. Ukraine was in the USSR only because the Russian Bolsheviks invaded, and conquered, the Ukraine People’s Republic. Ukraine was an independent country between the assassination of the last Romanov Tsar in 1917 and 1921. While Nicholas II was the last of the Romanovs  (by the way, I think Amazon Prime should be told that its series the Romanoffs has been cancelled. Yes, it is spelled different but that is because you Russians use that funny alphabet which can have multiple translations. The series was there the last that I looked!), he actually was descended from Peter II and Catherine the Great ( by the way The Great is currently a series on Hulu starring Elle Fanning as Catharine.  Is it being canceled too?).  That pair were actually Germans who changed their name from Holstein-Gottorp to Romanov when they assumed the throne. Peter spoke little Russian). But that was in 1762. The last actual Romanov was Tsarina  Elizabeth Petrovna who died in 1762. The Russian Empire was declared by Peter the Great in 1721 which, do the math, was NOT 1000 years ago. The first actual Romanov Tsar, not the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanovs, was Tsar Michael who ruled from 1613 to 1645. The First Tsar of Russia, who was not a Romanov, and whose title you are clearly want, was Ivan the Terrible who ruled from 1547 to 1584. A thousand years ago Russia was ruled by the Mongol Golden Horde, you know of Genghis and Kubla Khan fame, or is it too soon to mention that. The Rus Kiev, modern day Kviv, was founded in 880, but the Dukes of Moscow conquered and ruled Kiev beginning in 1389. But the Ukrainians are their own people. They have their own language and their own religion, Ukrainian Catholicism or Orthodoxy, which is different than Russian Orthodoxy, and everything. Just because Russia ruled Ukraine once, it does not mean that you can rule it forever.

As to cancelling Tchaikovsky, that is news to me. Does that mean the Boston Pops won’t be playing the 1812 Overture on the 4^th of July as it does every year, because it is such a beautiful patriotic commemoration, in this case of the Russian defeat of the invasion by Napoleon? Is the Pops going to be playing an updated version where the Russian National Anthem fades as the Church bells ring? Does canceling Tchaikovsky  mean that his Nutcracker ballet won’t be performed in virtually every American city during the Christmas season? Canceling the persons performing Tchaikovsky who also support your invasion does not mean that we are cancelling Tchaikovsky. You do realize that Tchaikovsky died in 1890 and is not in a position to support you?

Clearly you don’t know much about history. Your absence would make it a wonderful world.