The Curse of Beauty

There's something to be said about the strong connections between irrational imagery and bad conceptualization.

I tend to see a type of insanity when people can't distinguish between compelling-yet-flawed ideas and the very hard substance of "material" logic.

While I'm of a mindset that accepts that nearly ANYTHING is possible, I also realize that our very physical brains cannot operate in a universe without REAL boundaries.

That's a hard fact dictated by the mechanism (biology) itself. Maybe the universe is more complicated than our biology (or at least, MY biology) can realistically fathom, but attempting to understand the realm of even the highly-improbable without clear predetermined limits is just tempting insanity...and isn't something I'd recommend for the casual explorer of the mysteries of the universe.

Gutting Social Security

I have often heard a lot of infantile complaints about the American Social Security system that I think are genuinely unfair to the friendly and knowledgeable employees I have met there.

Most Americans treat the compulsory Social Security monies subtracted from their paychecks as losses, when in fact they are assets in securing their own futures...I personally would not have been able to survive M.S. if not for the money I paid into the Social Security system before age 37, when I became SEVERELY disabled.

And having met some Social Security employees face-to-face, I'm now fully aware that they do so much with so little, so I really appreciate these folks.

The whole idea that private organizations could do a better job is just ridiculous. You need a lot more than profit-motive to protect our country's aging and disabled populations.

You can't buy empathy, but many employees of Social Security understand because they have relatives who are themselves aged or disabled--hence they have genuine experience actually helping people--experience that cannot be underestimated.

It's not a perfect system...but it works, largely because of the people running it. I think trying to monkey with it now would only hurt America.

Let's just hope the Veteran's Administration is ready for the tens-of-thousands of soldiers returning from war.

Legalized Theft

Why does it seem that so many companies spend all their time figuring out new ways to "legally" NOT provide promised services for which the consumer PAYS?

My wireless provider charges an obscene amount of money for "pay-per-use" text messaging, even though I already pay over $60 per month for text service.

I tried getting answers about this odd billing through their website, but was treated only to an automated response system that DOESN'T address the problem.

I called them, but was treated as if I was either a complete idiot, or didn't have a firm grasp of the English language. :S

I received AND sent only 10 text messages last month but was charged over $US 200 (not including the $60 fee I pay for 1000 "free" incoming messages).

I don't usually desire that ANYONE should burn in Hell for eternity, but the people who knowingly practice this sort of deceptive and questionable, yet "unresolvable" billing deserve it, IMHO.

Dead Men DO Tell Tales

When I first wrote about the mysterious death of Alexander Livinenko, I failed to mention the phenomenon of sophisticated "medical forgery" being a problem in the current Age of Technology. Though forensic science (and detection) has advanced to a fine-discipline in the current Age of Technology, one "art" that has kept pace is the art of Sophisticated Deception(tm)--meaning that as criminal evidence becomes more and more diminutive-of-substance (or more correctly diminutive-of-detectability-without-specialized-instruments), the potential for deception by people of higher-than-average-intelligence becomes increasingly problematic.

Again...the ever-more-dangerous international game of Spy vs Spy has turned the legal and diplomatic spheres into realms more suited for philosophers than for serious students of public policy.

As an average U.S. Citizen...I have approximately zero say in these matters, but the theme of Secret Enforcer vs Organized Crime just fascinates me.

Somebody test my coffee. ;)

Royal Hostages Don't Help Wars

I applaud the decision that Prince Harry WILL NOT BE DEPLOYED TO IRAQ.

While there is a certain egalitarian streak in me that recalls the idea of equality under the law, it's clear to anyone with a brain (in the West anyway) that Prince Harry is no average subject of the Crown. As such, placing him in the middle of a faction-ridden conflict with uncertain structures of leadership would just be begging for trouble. I have no doubt that the Prince is a loyal and dauntless fellow, but there are some matters best left to commanders with solid military experience.

I imagine that this intelligent decision will meet with all manner of ill-thought controversy, but what a controversy would be created if a Royal were taken hostage in a war zone! The implications would be simply too mind-boggling to consider rationally.

Again...Brave fellow this Prince, but wise move, you commanders.

Creating Wealth Through Confusion

I'm not just any idiot. I'm an extremely resourceful idiot.

Obviously, I'm making a joke, but in fact, the persistent efforts of powerful manipulators of social-psychology to maintain a confused populous for the sake of focusing wealth into the hands of the "fortunate few" IS NO LAUGHING MATTER. In fact, it's the most sinister form of social-injustice that can be practiced.

It works like this: keep people stupid and well-fed, and they will gladly bleed each other to death while simultaneously evoking the most ridiculous arguments to justify (and sanctify) their evil actions.

All the while, the most egregious (and well-organized) offenders surround themselves with approval-seeking subordinates trained in the art of "profitable obfuscation".

And historically it has been the genuine understanding of this phenomenon (rather than lack of education) that has kept innovators from promotion into the ranks of society capable of encouraging positive change to offset the destructive effects of profitable obfuscation.

But I'm just another high-minded, if self-infatuated idiot-blogger, right? And if you really believe that, then I rest my case, Your Honor.

4.5 Billion Dollar Eye

Americans of my age no doubt remember The Six Million Dollar Man, a TV-show about astronaut/ pilot Steve Austin, who survives a near-fatal lifting-body accident and is subsequently fitted with cybernetic limbs and assigned a position as a secret field-agent for the semi-fictional Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI).

Aficionados will recall that one of Steve's special appendages was a "bionic" eye that allowed him to zoom and filter ordinary visible objects and landscapes, and to "see" in the infrared and ultraviolet bands of the electromagnetic spectrum (not ordinarily visible to the human eye).

So as not to be outdone by Hollywood, NASA intends to launch a New and Improved 4.5-Billion-Dollar space telescope to replace the aging Hubble telescope currently in earth-orbit.

The new telescope is not simply a replacement, but will represent a fundamental leap in space-observation technology. It's not only much bigger than Hubble, but the new telescope [the JWST] will take advantage of a longer orbital baseline [about 188 million miles long] and much more stable location for making far more accurate 3-dimensional surveys of the universe (allowing scientists to REALLY get a perspective on the cosmos [especially relatively proximate potentially habitable star systems, like Wolf 359 and Tau Ceti]).

Now spending 4 billion dollars on a space telescope may seem like an extravagant waste of money, but at the rate humankind is trashing THIS star-system's ONLY habitable planet, it may not be too early to look around for new real estate in the neighborhood, even though the stated purpose of the JWST is to survey much more distant scapes humankind couldn't reach in tens of thousands of years.

Anyway...the point is that our perspective (in 4 dimensions) may be rapidly expanding...soon. Is it worth the price? Is our actuarial skill advanced enough to even answer the question?

Are we getting too big for our britches?

People of REAL WEALTH

I've been misperceived on many occasions as being antagonistic toward the financial industry. In actual fact, I have great respect for persons in ALL LEVELS of banking who know how to make the system work the way it SHOULD work.

And there ARE a few of them. In fact, one banker who helped me today was EXTREMELY knowledgeable and professional in piloting me around a few knuckleheads in the debt-collection business that caused about 15 separate entities to totally miss the fact that the REASON I went from a six-figure salary to being so poor that I barely have enough money for food is BECAUSE I DEVELOPED SEVERE DISABILITIES AS A RESULT OF M.S.

Anyway, this story is in praise of people (like this banker) who can look beyond a piece of data in a computer and surmise that SOME genuinely unusual circumstances require more-than-the-usual attention to detail.

People like this banker represent a society's TRUE WEALTH...not the mathematical sorcery that MOST businesspeople rely on.

Her understanding and persistence was worth more than a bagful of money to me. I hope she gets a promotion.

--mattergy

Author's Addendum:
Just so MORE knuckleheaded debt-collectors don't get the wrong idea...technically I never earned more than a FIVE-figure salary. But that number was closer to the average 6-figure salary than it was to the average 5-figure salary, so I tend to use the term 6-figure just to get the point across that I didn't work in fast-food.

Author's Addendum 10/18/07:
OK, so I did work at a fast-food restaurant a LONG-TIME AGO, but the point is that I left there and moved on... it's a good thing I did, too. Because it forced me to pay more into the Social Security upon which I now depend. ;)

R.I.P. Wally Schirra

People are so enamored with popular icons that they often overlook some of the truly hard-working heroes in life.

Wally Schirra was probably the most American astronaut of them all.

Few people realize that he flew several early (groundbreaking) missions in three separate programs (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo). As such he can probably be acknowledged as one of the most experienced astronauts ever.

He lived a robust and historically-meaningful life. He died of natural causes this week at the age of 84. Those who appreciate the work will miss you.

Rock on, dude. --mattergy

From Dead to Obnoxious Ain't Bad

This was me about 3 years ago. Not a pretty sight, but every once in awhile I like to remind my readers (and myself) just how far I've come. I can still only type with one hand, but I'm not complaining. As you see...things can be a LOT worse.

The really interesting thing about this shot is how peaceful I look, even though that blue thing in my neck is connected to my Superior Vena Cava, just outside my heart, and the red thing is hooked right into my Carotid Artery.

The reason I'm smiling is because I'm listening to Stephen Hawking's The Universe in a Nutshell, and I'm actually understanding it! Not bad for a high-school graduate enduring a procedure known as plasmapheresis (where they extract the plasma from the blood and replace it with donor plasma!)

Anyway, my life is actually a LOT harder now (I have to shop for groceries via bus, while using a cane--try carrying a week's supply of food while walking with a cane and crossing a busy street). But I'm grateful that we have such high-tech care available here in the United States, because losing 20% of your motor-functions at 36 is NO PICNIC.

Author's Addendum:
I'm uncertain now which artery is feeding the red tube. Maybe not the Carotid, but definitely a MAJOR artery coming off my Aorta. The blue tube is DEFINITELY returning blood to my heart through my Superior Vena Cava. As any good plumber knows, a job of this magnitude requires pipes that can handle that much liquid...

Author's Addendum #2:
As I study more closely the process of continuous flow centrifugation, I realize that BOTH of these tubes may be connected to venous blood-vessels. This is why I'm not a Plasmapherisis Nurse, like the nice lady from Texas who did THIS PARTICULAR treatment. Again...I'm genuinely appreciative of the highly-trained practitioners who tended to me when I was in the throes of my first-ever M.S. attack (presumed to be acute disseminated encephalomyelitis this early in my diagnosis).

A Personal Note to My Regular Readers

I am not such a coward that I would write a post subtly directed at people with whom I interact regularly...my experience goes far outside the 50-100 readers here who call me by name. If I have a grievance with someone, I direct it at that person SPECIFICALLY (by phone [or in-person, when possible]).

I don't hide "secret messages" in these articles, and I NEVER write to spread hate.

This is a forum for people who share common experiences, and when I write with seeming indignation, it is generally toward POORLY-REPRESENTED ENTITIES, not INDIVIDUALS.

The notable exception is the case of the Office of the President, in which a very few individuals write policy for the entire Executive Branch (unquestionably) of the Federal Government, and thus the commentary is naturally more person-centric.

Even in that instance, I write as a U.S. Citizen who cares about his country, and seeks to help its Citizens--NOT as an ill-meaning enemy.

Still, I often discover through my various circles of influence, that someone has errantly misperceived a controversial topic as being directed at themselves...an unfortunate phenomenon over which I have NO CONTROL.

But as edgy as my commentary can be, I really am an honorable guy, not a self-seeking mouthpiece for some hidden cause. And I DON'T COUCH PERSONAL CRITICISM into broad topics.

It's just not my style.

Just be assured that I rarely speak lightly about matters that can be everywhere-seen as meaningful and important to many people.

--mattergy