moral corruption and ineptitude in politics

In light of this week’s events surrounding Brett Kavanaugh and the Republicans aiming to jam him through to the Supreme Court, I offer the following reminders.

The moral superiority of the right is well established now as the most moral in all the land. And anyone who is confused about how one can act, how men can act, in public or in private with women, need only to address the public record.

Donald Trump, republican president of the United States quote: “I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn’t get there. And she was married. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful – I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Thoughts on the Brett Kavanaugh hearing

I watched yesterday’s hearing. I hear a lot of people were glued to their TVs yesterday, too.

I rarely watch news and found it interesting to see what I usually only listen to on the radio. The nuances of seeing a hearing definitely made a big difference.

I welled up with tears several times watching and hearing Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony. It wrenched my heart in ways that I can only begin to imagine what pain she’s dealing with.

I’m not sure whether to believe her or not. But the testimony was compelling, and her sweetness and authenticity were remarkable.

Then Brett Kavanaugh entered and blasted off to the moon with his angry rant against a conspiratorial plot to ruin his life and family. He doesn’t believe he deserves this kind of treatment, and he’s up in arms that this is ruining his name.

I get it. But there’s one thing that is mind-boggling. 

Dear Young People, Don’t Vote

This country belongs to whomever shows up. And do you know who shows up for every election? Old people. But only 46% of people18-34 years old voted in the last election. So the elderly have a disproportionate influence on our politics and our country. And a lot of them would like to keep it that way. Thanks to the many who volunteered their time and talent to help bring this campaign to life. Especially Brooklyn Fire Proof for donating studio space, Hand Held Films for donation of Red Epic Dragon camera package, lenses and lighting and Final Frame, NYC for color conform and sound mixing.

Training for myself or for a marathon, who knows?

Firstly, I’m a runner. I’ve been running for pleasure for years. After a soccer injury during a pickup game about 3 years ago, I decided it was too much of a risk to my business to play something as rough as soccer.

Before last week, I was running around around 20 to 30 miles a week.

A couple weeks ago, I talked to a friend of mine who started running. He wants to eventually run a marathon. From what I could decipher, it sounds like he wanted to lose some weight, do some good for himself and set a goal.

I asked him to share the training regimen with me. He shared two links.

https://hansons-running.com/pages/training-planshttps://www.halhigdon.com/training/marathon-training/

From what I pulled from reading both, I was doing my routine wrong. I rarely running slowly for LONG periods of time. I was doing some fast/slow runs, but by the time my long runs came on Sundays, I was always beat to hell and recovery times were horrendous.

Last week I ran three slow six mile jogs and then on Saturday, I ran a half marathon at what I consider my current race speed. I know I can go faster, but I’m too far out of speed running shape. I was able to pull off the half at an 8 minute mile pace to complete it at around 1:45.

I crushed it, too. I hardly slowed down at all. If it weren’t for the wind conditions of 15 to 20 miles an hour, I probably would have done better. I hardly feel sore either. So I think there is something to the short, slow runs.

Last year in the spring, I was running 10 miles at 7:15 per mile paces. But somewhere last year, I screwed up and lost my rhythm.

I’m hoping to get back on that train and speed up, but in the meantime, I’m going to do slow runs during the week, while reading books on tape, and then hit my music on the long runs.

Last week, I ran a total of 41 miles.

I’m patting myself on the back for that. And for crushing a half marathon.

The problem now is that I don’t really understand diet for distance running. I had a smoothie when I finished my long run on Saturday. Two hours later, I was napping and feeling like shit. So my next step is to figure out a proper eating schedule that runs hand in hand with my exercise!

Onward!

Last week

Not one! Not two! Not three! But six siblings oppose their politician brother. Priceless

I was crying laughing watching this ad opposing Paul Gosar. Rich rich rich.

More.

[S]ix of Mr Gosar’s siblings have spoken out to endorse his rival, Democrat David Brill.

If that sounds brutal on paper, the execution is even more savage. To maximise its impact, the ad doesn’t name the six speakers until the end – they’re just presented as normal Arizona folks.

It opens with “Grace, rural physician”, declaring, “Paul Gosar the congressman isn’t doing anything to support rural America.”

“Paul’s absolutely not working for his district,” says “David, lawyer”.

“If he actually cared about people in rural Arizona, I bet he’d be fighting for social security, for better access to healthcare,” agrees “Jennifer, medical interpreter”.

“He is not listening to you, and he does not have your best interests at heart,” “Tim” agrees – before dropping the bombshell line: “My name is Tim Gosar”.

Searching for the Adjacent Possible

I’m halfway through a book called “Where Good Ideas Come From,” by Steven Johnson.  The book itself is okay. A lot of it is reviewing progress throughout time as far back as the beginning of time, evolution, through the ages of discovery, Darwin, Tesla, the founders of YouTube or even the telegraph.

It talks about the slowness of the evolutionary process as opposed to the speed of technological and creative development.

It talks about the concept of the Adjacent Possible, which is described as:

… a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.

The strange and beautiful truth about the adjacent possible is that its boundaries grow as you explore them. Each new combination opens up the possibility of other new combinations.

I love this idea. I pride myself on the idea that I’ve surrounded myself with a network of creativity. I have friends and colleagues that inspire me and I them. It’s wonderful.

The book talks about how cities are a place of creativity exploration (which is EXACTLY why I moved to Chicago). The possibilities are much more available. That’s not to say there aren’t sheep or non-creatives in a city. It just means there are more possibilities to find ways to explore the adjacent possible.

One of my best friends, Bill, single-handledly inspired so much of my growth by openly sharing so much of what he knows and I shared as much as I could with him. If I could nickname him, it would be Adjacent Possible.

Where Good Ideas Comes From explains that timing is symbiotic with growth. The timing must be right. Just like the universe has so-called “perfect timing”. Or evolution needed the exactly right conditions to thrive or YouTube needed the exact timing to become as huge as it has, I needed the right timing and environment to become who I am now and where I’ll go from here.

But this growth explosion wasn’t always the case. 

Here is an 11-year-old ukulele prodigy playing Zombie by the Cranberries in the back of a car. Wow.

Rarely have I seen this level of talent. Just a cool video. Check it out and his feed on Youtube.

 

Knowing the past with precision and exactitude is my middle name

This tweet and the thread that follows (click on it) is precisely what we’re all thinking but forgot to tweet it out.

For background info, dip below the fold.

My favorite part of the Kavanaugh controversy is how people who are absolutely convinced they know exactly what happened in Judea 2,000 years ago have gaslit many Americans into believing it is literally impossible to know what happened at an event in 1983

— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) September 20, 2018

The Uminami Strandbeest is a helluva fun beast to watch.

From the Kids Should See This:

A new design that hearkens to Theo Jansen‘s original kinetic structures from the early 1990s, the PVC tube-constructed Uminami Strandbeest doesn’t get sand into its joints and requires no lubrication to move smoothly. Watch as it speeds across the sand on a beach, presumably not far from Ypenburg in The Netherlands where Jansen lives and works.

Desktop-sized Strandbeests are fun for all ages to build and play with. Kits are available from Elenco on Amazon or from Jansen’s site. You can build your own version or 3D print your own. Jansen has also created a 3D printed model that doesn’t require assembly.

Watch more strandbeest videos on this site.

Another moment of sheer joy: a cockatiel playing peekaboo underneath a newspaper. ❤️❤️❤️

Everything's terrible, so here's a cockatiel hiding in a newspaper playing peekaboo pic.twitter.com/eINGfwh9VE

— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) September 11, 2018