Holy Frakkin' 3AM, or the Road to Unabashed Theorizing

I've been writing letters all night. Various reasons both professional, personal, and objective. I am not sure what the triplicate of both would be. Throth? Which isn't bad as it is close to Thoth, who has got the cool breeze in spaces. He's a clever bite at that. (turns of phrase wholly intentional, I'm proofreading this one)

He's all word and such. Language. The great evolution. Which is, I figure, sorta like this:

Evolution is a physiological adaptation to environmental stimuli that transmits from one generation to the next. For the mass of terrestrial existence that has been transmitted through genetic coding, through DNA, with subsequent resulting slowness.

The brain, as humans understand their's (though I hardly feel stupid enough to believe that we are either the only conscious life-form on this planet or in the entirety of the universe) is the first organ that induces in itself a physiological change. When we learn, the natural response of the brain is to create new neural connections and folds within the brain. Our brains change with every new piece of information we gather.

But evolution requires transmission to successive generations, and the products of learning do not transmit organically. The brain of a newborn does not reflect the accumulated knowledge of its parentage. But, I mean, I have this thing all worked out positing that the brain is a single generation evolutionary matrix.

And I am totally justified because the brain is also the first organ to create an extra-organic codex for the transmission of its adaptations: LANGUAGE. So not only is Thoth the god of language, but also the god of evolution and thus throth made god.

Spare the rod and fear the Wroth.

tweats- because you can't tweat enough

Retweeting @sarahw Oprah goes crazy for the Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/5p9hlx because I used to work the ebooks dammit! 15 minutes ago from web

@sarahw @brubaker This is truly a disturbing universe. about 1 hour ago from web in reply to sarahw

I'm up to my nethers in it! about 1 hour ago from web

@Jimmykitty The first time I got drunk was on Zima and Black Velvet at a 4th of July party. about 2 hours ago from web in reply to Jimmykitty

@corbst3r Give 'em hell about 2 hours ago from web in reply to corbst3r

I need to discover lunch. It's like the age of discovery all over again, excepting without the chewing. about 2 hours ago from web

@tropicalsteve I often try to remind myself, that if I only do this to "make it", it isn't worth doing. about 12 hours ago from web in reply to tropicalsteve

This has been a night of excitement, encouragement, conversion. But it has been above all a night of peace and appreciation. about 13 hours ago from web

Listening to Patti Smith and strongly thanking God for intelligent women. about 14 hours ago from web

The first sense of relief from the funk of the past week which is driving me far, far from sleep. about 14 hours ago from web

Possible career shift and something to apply for at least which may prove more acceptable overall. about 14 hours ago from web

Three new ideas, one novel, one GN, and something else entirely. about 14 hours ago from web

So by not drinking coffee during the day, only in the evening, really weaning if you drink it when you work through the night? about 14 hours ago from web

@sarahw That is a wonderful piece. We didn't make enough of the warmth while the light was shining. about 14 hours ago from web in reply to sarahw

drawing done (man I suck). now writing, then more drawing. someday sleep, but ache in jaw forestalling slumber anyway. about 16 hours ago from web

@funrama That is a much better way of looking things than just calling Greenspan an idiot. about 19 hours ago from web in reply to funrama

I did not know pat Kavanagh had left Julian Barnes for Jeannette Winterson. about 21 hours ago from web

Alan Greenspan is an idiot. about 22 hours ago from web

@chapmanchapman Yeah, I just heard about that today too. Jesus. about 22 hours ago from web in reply to chapmanchapman

Life is full of glorious uncertainty and mesmerizing doubts. about 22 hours ago from web

The Need to Post something

I'm posting to this blog.

I went to LA.

It was my first time on the west coast.

It is the furthest I've physically been from home as I have always been, wait for it, poor.

Spiritually and mentally I have traveled much, much further. Nearly unfathomable distances further.

It was a good trip. I'd go back.

There was a hot springs, and the Getty Museum.

Swell times at a wedding as well.

That is my post. Thank you

After stopping at the book seller

It is impossible to shop for books now by David Foster Wallace as we once used to. We'd always "keep an eye out". He was one of the handful of authors whose name was always keyed into the search matrix as it scrolled from one side of the shelf to the next, snaking its way down or back up from the last row. He was one of those writers that it was worthwhile to hunker down in search of (I'm 6'4", so its a long way to the floor), but I was always willing to be crouched uncomfortably on the balls of my feet and packed like an accordian. You might see one of his books in every third trip to the used book store, and you always strongly considered getting whatever was there, even if you already had a copy.

It's not possible to that anymore, and for the first time ever, Infinite Jest has made the Time's Bestseller list. His books are selling for over $300 for the hardcover first edition on half.com. I'm guessing new editions of all the books are in the works, replete with fresh introductions, but all of this is just moonlight. It is a reflection without the warmth.

It is strange to me that this one light is so engaging now in its absense, strange and very sad.

Green Deal Un-Dux

The Original Version of my article posted on GreenJersey.org. I very much like the version that was presented on the site. It's just I like being bombastic at times, and this has that in spades. Du jour.

The Green Deal


The worst perpetrators of plan-for-the-best, ignore-the-consequences mindset, the financial industry and our deregulatory-happy government, have thrown on the plate of the American people a poorly cooked "bailout" plan that looks a lot less appetizing than the endangered Atlantic wolffish. It's a meal we are going to remember for some time, since the current financial crisis will have long-term effects on our country's economy. Even the damage which has already been done will take years to undo, and we have ONLY ONE REAL path if we are to see this country recover: a re-envisioning of the economic landscape to spur on Green Industrialization.

While the bailout plan overall is a dubious necessity - a seeming last stand against an economic apocalypse - the one lining, more gray than silver, is the inclusion of $17 billion in renewable energy incentives. It is a small and paultry sum. Ten times as much would only begin to approach an actual solution to the problems we face, problems created when the fabled "free market" has held free reign, and the current administration, unrestrained and unabashed in their war-cries against oversight and regulation, have allowed those corporate interests to run roughshod over controls in nearly every sector - media ownership, environmental controls, and of course, banking - all to the detriment of this country.

They have proven themselves unworthy stewards of our nation's future. They have denounced learning and scholarship, prudence and measured action, and above all environmental sustainability, as un-American, and now we might all suffer the doom of the mistakes they have repeated.

To correct these mistakes we must re-enact the solutions of the past. The U.S. emerged from the depths of the Great Depression by the bootstraps of two important initiatives - the New Deal and the industrial ramp-up to World War II. The economic woes of the past echo at with every bell on trading floor, and we too have found a great enemy to defeat. That enemy is not a man, and he does not live in a cave making the occasional video that spouts hatred for the West.

It is oil. Oil is the enemy. Oil and the belief that hard to reach and limited resources will sustain a technological civilization that seeks to grow.

Thomas Friedman writes in his latest book Hot, Flat, and Crowded, "We can no longer expect to enjoy peace and security, economic growth, and human rights if we continue to ignore the key problems of the Energy-Climate Era: energy supply and demand, petrodictatorship, climate energy, energy poverty, and biodiversity loss."

We cannot afford to remain blind to the reality that EVERY problem we face as Americans is tied into the unstable foundation of our dependence on oil and fossil fuels. But as Adam Stein at Grist.org writes, funding and credit available to clean energy industry initiatives is now threatened because of the fiscal crisis. The resources of the private sector to bring about change and market driven growth for energy alternatives will be hobbled, if not crippled, by the current economic climate.

This is the time when the argument must be hammered home: that eliminating the use of fossil fuels and restructuring our energy network will generate tens of thousands of new jobs, create a massive new industry providing broader tax revenue, bring in revitalizing investment options for the financial sector, and provide increased security from terrorists by reducing their primary source of funding. The only clear path forward to resuscitate our economy and provide a cleaner, safer world for our children will be through the next administration's ownership of this issue. Let us hope they have something good cooking.