Another Technological Annoyance

It was bound to happen. I am not sure if it is the end of civilization, but it's at least close. What do I refer to? Sigh....an addendum to the technology I most hate, the cell phone. It's the so called "selfie-stick.  The selfie-stick is a long expandable poll, which allow users to hold their cell phones a few feet away so they can snap pictures of themselves, admiringly, I guess. No more do self absorbed types need  to bother passers-by to take their pictures, no more fretting about strangers taking lousy shots or running off with their phones (darn it!).

They claim is that the selfie-stick allows narcissists to take clearer, wider shots of themselves so they can post them  on their social media, to the annoyance of the rest of us. But what about the interaction that came with politely asking a stranger to snap the photo? Is not travel about meeting and conversing with locals? Just as the cell phone tends to cut off relationships, even awareness of the "real" world, in favor of a restricted "connection", the selfie-stick does the same.  Our electronic technology tends to limit our interaction with the culture as a whole in favor of our own private world. Selfie-sticks a in keeping with that and probably why those who find the self absorption of them as unappealing as I call them the "narcissi-stick".

Selfie-sticks are just showing up at tourist attractions in many destinations all over the world.  The selfie-sticks range in price from $5 to $50. Simpler models merely grip the phone, so users must trigger the shot with a self timer on the camera. But the fancier ones use Blue tooth technology or connect the phone to the stick with a cord, with a button on the grip triggering the shot. Here's a cnn video abut Korean government reaction against the selfie-stick that shows you how those things work  http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/15/living/selfie-sticks/index.html

So is the selfie-stick another annoyance reflection of modern narcissism or just a clever tool for better mobile photography? Hmmmm I suggest if you use a selfie-stick that when you're done taking a picture you can hit yourself in the head with your selfie-stick. It might know some sense into you!

Mardi Gras Music

I never get tired of Mardi Gras, and it's about as good I time as any to be in New Orleans. So I have dusted out my Mardi Gras music treasure trove to get me in the mood for the world's greatest free show...that would be Mardi Gras.
Did you know there is a huge Mardi Gras music genre in New Orleans? Given the nature of the free spirited ness of the festival and that New Orleans is a music city, Mardi Gras music evolved there. Almost all of the songs were written by locals, many of them during the heyday of Mardi Gras music,  in the 50's and 60's. They have endured and become beloved.  There are many such tunes, and if in the city you'll hear them played often from now until after Mardi Gras is over. Here are a few Yu tube links for a sample to get you into the mood. They represent a wide range of the style of Mardi Gras music.  Listen to the whole tune before judging it, and pay attention to the off- beat lyrics in  them. New Orleans defines off-beat, singular, and different and these songs give you a taste of  it
The first is the official theme song of Mardi Gras, 'If Ever I cease to Love". The nonsense words are appropriate to the idea of Carnival.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR5lANGWr8o
The next one is 'Big Chief'' with some amazing gymnastics in famed Jackson Square
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voB6WiP83NU
If you like beat of that one, here is the same song with vocals by famed N.O. musician "Professor Longhair".  Bizarre tribute by black New Orleans to the American Indians who lived in the area. I love the whistling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjZ0RgxtLvY
Next is Carnival Time by Al Johnson. This song defines what Mardi Gras is to the locals. Catch the opening lines that shows the New Orleans attitude- "The Queen's room is smoking and the bathrooms burning down, throw the baby out the window let the joint burn down. Because it's carnival time".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccu2_MRMF5Y&index=4&list=PLA8736288583E3FD4
Do you remember long ago that Paul Simon had a big hit with a Mardi Gras song. Here it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkaMN-T_HKw&spfreload=1
Here is one of my favorites that shows the jazz influence. Jazz was invented in and is still embraced in New Orleans. It's an instrumental called 'Second Line' (people at a parade, in their enthusiasm, follow a parade and dance to music in their own so called parade. In New Orleans they are called "second liners".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w58XVr5YE8w
Those are just a few of my favorites. There are many more, but I suspect you had enough listening to those. One more note about this Mardi Gras music thing. Did you know that the famous Bob Dylan song, 'Mr. Tambourine Man', was written by Dylan after he witnessed a Mardi Gras parade in the city and was entranced by the tambourines in a marching group he saw.  He went back to his hotel and wrote the song.  Happy Mardi Gras!

Most Annoying

Today's remarks are directed about and toward what we in Portland have way too much of- the environmentally conscious, politically correct, mindlessly liberal, backpack/sling addicted, judgmental and protesting imbeciles. I can't figure out how they function, or even why. I can't even find a noun to name them. They may be from another planet, because they have never accepted the restraints and realities of earth. They are the ones who eat only organic foods for health reasons, but abuse their bodies with drugs as often as they can afford them.

In Portland we have hordes of this type, they who campaign for the legalization of marijuana, while at the same time advocating that cigarettes not even be allowed in open outdoor spaces. It does not figure, but then logic is a rare commodity for them. Since few of them seem to have ever learned to think for themselves, they have no ability to distinguish between a  proper protest or cause and the trendy ones they adore, as in "The War on Women" (There is no such  war here),  "Income Inequality" (They don't understand that capitalism is all about income inequality and self actualization) or  "Police Abuse" (In fact, the criminals are abusing the police more often than the police abuse them).

It's not hard to understand why they are so utterly out of touch. It's because they live in their own bubble, not in the physical world they inhabit. The real world is too unpleasant for them and won't pay attention to their nonsense. That's why you'll often hear them parrot the slogans that make them feel self righteous. They can be heard saying, "The debate of global warming is over" or "Jesus was a hippie". I think all the technological devices they use may have impaired their brains. Instead of hugging their children and encouraging them to go outside and play with other humans, these dolts hand junior an ipod so they themselves can log on to their own escapist technology without distraction.

Maybe the favorite cause of the Portland version of these creatures is the bike path.  They love bike paths and demand that budgets for road maintenance give equal funding for installing more bike paths adjacent to the city roads. This is problem because it leaves too little funds to repair and build the highways that 98% of the population use  (only about 2% of Portlanders use the bike paths). No wonder that Portland has the country's best bike paths and some of the country's worst roads.

I probably should end these remarks right now because they will most certainly be "offended' by my remarks. They want censorship of anything they deem "incorrect thinking", because, well only they know what is right.  I do hope that they find a bike path that will release them from their bubble.

Love Those Possessions

I saw another one of those news stories about a man who had fallen in love with his car.  He didn't like his car, he was in love with it in the same way a man falls in love with a woman. He is planning to secure the right to legally marry the car. I suppose on their honeymoon night, the car will claim she has a dead battery instead of a headache.  I guess he loves putting his loose change in her glove compartment...or something. The phenomenon of humans feeling love for material things is either more common or just more reported, given our insufferable inability to escape all of those devices. 

Oh, and is there any single material device today that humans fall in love with more often than a cell phone?  Probably not. But then the electronic medium are seductive to both sexes. I also think some people  prefer their Ipods to their children.  Well, in some cases they may have a good reason or two to feel that way. Their Ipod doesn't talk back or get the neighbor's daughter pregnant. And if the ipod no longer pleases the owner he can throw it away for a new one. I am pretty sure we can't throw away our kids.

Sometimes humans are unsure about their own self worth and it is easier to show affection toward outward material things rather than to have others reaffirm their worth. Those cell phones never question a human's worth, never judge what kind of person they are.  And they are a more personal object than the traditional favored possessions of previous generations, the house, car, that clothing item worn for many years. Now we love things so much we bond with and interact with them repeatedly every day.

I suppose, if asked, we would have many different answers to the "which possession do you love most" question. And material possessions are not inherently bad. We all receive satisfaction from possessions, and we use our possessions to establish common points of interest. Having things makes us feel we are more desirable as humans, that others will value us more.

But in the end, material possessions do not determine who we are as human beings. Ok, maybe to the cell phone addicts they do!

More Islamic Hate

Thou shalt not apologize for opinions. That should be an Islamic commandment. But it's not so among some sects of that religion. You know which ones. The world knows, But few humans inside it will speak out and condemn the intolerance and hatred of those groups. The Parisian massacre of 12 journalists at the headquarters of a humor magazine, Charlie Hebdo, that parodied  "The Prophet" Mohammed, was the second attack on freedom of speech against that magazine (In 2011 Charlie Hebdo's offices were firebombed after a cartoon made fun of issue of Mohammed). France has been more than welcoming to so many Muslim immigrants, for this to happen there is beyond sad.

Even in the very real face of this murderous violence, the question facing all journalists, thinkers and artists is this, shall the pen be mightier than radical Islam's sword? This is no time to stop drawing  cartoons about Islamic nuts or any other deranged and evil faction that threatens humanity. The martyrs in Paris who died for the right of free speech are showing us that we ought to speak out even more against intolerance and hatred, especially if it emanates from hate groups lie the perpetrators of this carnage.  The only good to come of this horrific assault on humanity is that it further aids us in identifying the haters and their hateful followers for what they are.

And who should lead the charge against those who practice madness in their Muslim theology?  I suggest it is the ones who have been most quiet in the face of Islamic extremism, the mainstream Muslims. They might stop and think why their religion has been redefined by those crazies who have found refuge within it, all while they twiddled their thumbs and pretended not to see. Strange, when Nazi's ruled Germany and later so much more of Europe in the years prior to and after the start of W.W. II, Christians pretended in the same way as they watched Jewish people slaughtered.  Humans do sometimes have a tendency to run from a  fight they don't see is their own. But all fights against fascism and intolerance belong to all of us, directly or not.

And the best, fairest response from we who are not Muslims to this inhuman attack is to promise that we will defend freedom of speech every time it is threatened, stop bowing to those who claim offense and the right to kill in response to being "offended:, and stand up to every thug that thinks, for whatever their perverted reasons, that they have the right to silence others because of an imagined "offense".

Top Related Google Food Searches

For the past 14 years, Google has carefully kept track of what its users have searched for and, at the end of the year, released a wide ranging report on queries about everything from health to pop culture to entertainment — and especially food. There are more than 1 trillion Google queries in nearly 150 languages every year. No, I don't have the results of them all.

But there were a few curious ones this year.  Searches for “strawberries and cream” most often happened as expected everywhere in the world during the Wimbledon tennis tournament that made that dish a hit. Among oddities, the Japanese searched for French food more than the French, Australians searched for Argentinean food more than Argentines, and Brits searched for Indian food more than Indians. And guess what the Jewish population most searched for on Christmas Day.  It was Chinese food! Tradition has it that many Jews eat Chinese and go to the movies on Christmas Day, since their religion has nothing to do with the holiday itself.

Evidently, the food police and food nuts were still eating the trendy and allegedly healthier foods. According to the latest Google search data, people searched for a lot of health foods. They were clustered near the top of the Google search list. This year, it was all about goji berries and chia seeds, which replaced last year's trendy health food  kale and quinoa.  Those two didn't even make the top ten this year, proving that real food like donuts, which every year are in the hearts of eaters as well as on the list, trump health food every year.

Before I spoil your appetite, here's a link to the Google slide show highlighting some edible things we most searched for in 2014. http://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/top-food-and-drink-searches-2014-according-google-slideshow

Memories Are Important

I read a newspaper story today that was one of the typical retrospective columns that appear at the end of a calendar year, a kid of year in review. It was about which celebrities died during the course of the year. Most of the names I would not have remembered had the story not reminded me. Those kinds of remembrances are interesting because they remind us of what happened, of how important those stories once were to us, and about how trivial they seem now that we are removed by the calendar from the time when they happened and were reported on.

It reminds us of how transient life is. If we hold on to information too long it seems to damage our ability to function in the present. Memories are important, but I think they are only selectively important. I remember (this is an example of a good memory for it is useful here) that an author once wrote that "We must always have old memories, and young hopes." Strange, because once we are older (like me) the young accuse us of having too many old memories, while we accuse the young of having had too few to understand much of what happens each day.  Our experiences remembered become a substitute of our inability to do in the present.

There is an advantage to having the bad memory that inevitably comes with aging. If our memory is bad we can enjoy the same good things for the first time. Too, we can use our bad memory as an excuse. "Oh, I forgot", almost always works better for the old than the young. We are expected to forget when we are old, while the young are vilified as inattentive because they have too few memories to retrieve. But then, our memories give us roses in December and the feeling that things were better in "the good old days" when we most need it.

When we lose the ability to retain and categorize our memories we have Alzheimer disease or some other from of dementia associated with dying brain cells. We become too confused to remember the essential, but ironically, our long term memory of even the most ordinary and irrelevant memories is enhanced. Old memories linger while new ones die. But that just shows us how each of us remembers different things for different reasons, and for no reason we can understand.  How frightening must be memory confusion and loss to the ones afflicted with those brain/memory diseases.

As the Irish say, "May you never forget what is worth remembering, nor ever remember what is best forgotten."