"Miracle" Hurricane Sweeps Slave States

Things Below Sea Level Get Wet.
Evacuation Forces Looters To Abandon Booty.
In Four Days You Could Have Walked To Texas.
Stolen Guns Make Better Murder Weapons.
Wet Things Burning.
Louisiana Refugees Loot Texas.

Let's review:
Sept, 1900: 12,000 killed in cat. 4 hurricane, Galveston, TX
Sept, 1909: 350 killed in cat. 4 hurricane, Louisiana
Sept, 1915: 275 killed in cat. 4 hurricane, New Orleans, LA
Sept, 1915: 270 killed in cat. 4 hurricane, Galveston, TX
Sept, 1919: 700 killed in cat. 4 hurricane, Corpus Christi, TX
Sept, 1928: 1,836 killed in cat. 4 hurricane, Lake Okeechobee, FL
Sept, 1935: 423 killed in cat. 5 hurricane, Florida Keys
Sept, 1938: 600 killed in cat. 3 hurricane, New England
Sept, 1944: 394 killed in cat. 3 hurricane, Northeastern US
June, 1957: 390 killed in cat. 4 hurricane, Louisiana, Texas

Are we seeing a pattern emerging here? Lessons:
It is gravely idiotic to remain in the path of a category 3+ hurricane,
and (this is scary) 90% of the deadliest storms arrive in September. Translation: if you still live in the South, it's time to move.
(I hear Nebraska is nice)

Suffering is suffering--gruesome--it's all so gruesome. Horror.

This Changes Everything

If you haven't seen the Killer App that will (has) forever changed the way humans view the planet Earth, as well as the internet--then redirect your browser to earth.google.com. Install the application and start typing in the addresses of all the places you've lived. Start with the house you grew up in. I entered "2449 e. 57th st., tulsa, ok"--and Google's earthcam zoomed up into space, flew across America to Oklahoma, and dropped--every so smoothly--into the state, the county--into the city, zooming further--into the street grid--into the neighborhood--and, Holy God, the earthcam gently settled directly above the most current SATELLITE PHOTO of the house in which I grew up. There was a playhouse in the back yard which is now GONE. Then I flew to the Grand Canyon, then to my old apartment in NYC, then my old apartment in LA, then my old apartment in FL, then my old apartment in Hyde Park. Then I started looking for places I lived in Asia--the satellite photos of some countries aren't that great. This IS the new Killer Application. Make no mistakes--Google Earth changes everything.

You can also fly over our military stockpiles. There are thousands of planes and bombs--lying out for inspection by Russian satellites. This also replaces Mapquest--as it will fly you from one location to the other, outlining the highways over the 3-D satellite images. This program is just so mindblowing. (Special thanks to Adam S--for turning me on to this--and pointing out THIS IS NOT GOOGLE MAPS, lol, this is a whole new thing). You can lock yourself in a room for a weekend--and travel the ENTIRE PLANET. Remember the little creek behind that hotel you honeymooned in? You can see if it's still there. That house your great grandfather built in the middle of nowhere... there are satellite photos of it.

Big brother has arrived... the skies are always watching... and ANYONE CAN TUNE IN.

Schopenhauer & Indra

Schopenhauer said that when you reach a certain age, and look back over your life, it seems to have an order. It seems to have been composed by someone. And those events which when they occurred seemed merely accidental, and occasional, and just something that happened, turn out to be the main elements in a consistent plot. So he asked who composed the plot? He said just as your dreams are composed by an aspect of yourself of which your consciousness is unaware, so your whole life has been composed by the will within you. Then he said just as those people who you met by chance became effective agents in the structuring of your life--so you have been an agent in the structuring of other lives. And the whole thing gears together like one big symphony--everything influencing and structuring everything else. He said it's as though our lives were the dream of a single dreamer in which all of the dream characters are dreaming too… so everything links to everything else, moved by the will in nature. Schopenhauer’s idea reminds me of an Indian concept called the Net of Indra, or the net of gems--wherein every gem reflects all the other ones. I had a nightmare last night--first one in almost 4 years--is everyone out there okay?

I'd like to borrow a Tranny, a Gypsy, and a Jew for an hour...

A library in Almelo, Holland is loaning humans and books. Yes, you can borrow muslims and fags--by the hour. Wow. (thanks rjr) Synchronicity - after having lunch with Leslie last Friday, I just saw him on Boston Legal. Strange show, but Candice is always wonderful. Above is a pic I took at last Friday's lunch--ian and the Lane twins.
Hank: Rest in Peace. Service at 4th Pres. xo
Scarlett is off to CA, ugh. I get lonely when she's gone, and am apt to brood. Flash: Scarlett is exec proding the show. Now planning a Feb opening. So much memorization. God help me.

Cancer of Religion

Christianity is based on the idea that the world is fallen--defective, execrable, defiled, rotten, corrupt, debased. Christians consider natural impulses evil--to be resisted and invalidated. They are commanded to be "in" this world, not "of" it. They exist in an adversarial relationship with nature. They're bananas; Nature is perfect. It was never something idyllic which later "fell". God isn't waiting to destroy this world and replace it with something better. He got it right the first time. I'm astounded by the arrogance of Christians--to condemn Nature itself. What kind of sick, retarded creature of Nature condemns Nature? Cancer. Chrisitianity is a cancer on Nature.

There is nothing I love so much as this world and the creatures in it. There is nothing so perfect as the cycle of life. Buddhism is about acceptance and peace. Christianity is about rejection and war--the body at war with the spirit, angels at war with demons, God at war with Satan--man at war with evil--and all of it bathed... in blood. What a foul religion.

I am at peace with Nature in its perfection. I am at war with nothing and no one. It's all perfect. So mind-blowingly perfect. Not to worry though: this planet was here four billion years before religion arrived, and it will be here billions of years after religion vanishes. Therein lies Hope.

Shouts out to Alex, in Austria. I wish I could pronounce "weltanschauung" as perfectly as you. I miss you. xo. Oh, I had lunch with Leslie Jordan last Friday--seems like a genuine guy, and his voice is infinitely amusing.

Six Feet Over-whelmed

Every day above ground is a good one. Wow. The Six Feet Under finale really delivered. I wept. Oh how I wept, and wept. The wrap is as excellent as any series has ever wrapped. Even if you hated the whole series--the end will grip you with such ferocity it is hard to shake--it still haunts me. Holy Wow.

[mild spoiler warning] Claire keeps driving... and I weep... and she keeps driving... and I weep. The message: life goes on... life goes on... and on... and on. Kudos to Alan Ball. What a stellar achievement in television.

Happy Birthday Madonna

On occasion I wish I was superstitious - so I could ascribe meaning to sharing Madonna's birthday. But the odds are 1 in 365, or, not that remarkable. You know how I feel about parties <barf>, I detest balloons, and can imagine few things as disquieting as being sung to. <shudder> Cards are always heinous and require feigned gushing or, worse, laughter. Gifts are strange too--I have all that I require. I guess it boils down to this: I hate anyone making a fuss over me who isn't paid to do so. On that note, I think I'll take myself to the ritz--for a nice little birthday lunch... for one.

Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these. - Susan B. Anthony

Trannies, Herms, and Gender Lies

The truth is that neither sex, without some fertilization by the complementary characters of the other, is capable of the highest reaches of human endeavor. Man, without a saving touch of woman in him, is too doltish, too naive and romantic, too easily deluded and lulled to sleep by his imagination to be anything above a cavalryman, a theologian or a stock-broker. And woman, without some trace of that divine innocence which is masculine, is too harshly the realist for those vast projections of the fancy which lie at the heart of what we call genius. Here, as elsewhere in the universe, the best effects are obtained by a mingling of elements. - H.L. Mencken

It is now legal in Illinois for any two men to marry. First, however, one of the men must remove his penis. What kind of fascist society says "you guys can get married too if you surgically mutilate your genitals to resemble ours"? Or, "turn one of those penises into a vagina, and you're gold". What makes men and women? XY=male, and XX=female? That's so tidy for conservatives--so 'black and white'. But what of XXY and XXXY (Klinefelter's), or XO (Turner's)? There are even mosaic genotypes like XY/XXY. Are these people 'men' or 'women'? Into what narrow-minded, conservative box do these people fit? Who can they marry? And, most importantly: WHERE IS THE EMPATHY? Not sympathy--that's schmaltzy sentimentality. Where is the EMPATHY? Is there a conservative alive who asks "what if I were that person?" The self-absorbtion and absence of empathy in conservatives (read: "Republicans") is appalling. Packaging is immaterial. Gender is a lie. Sexuality is a continuum.

Body Worlds and such

Holy wow. If you're in Chicago, drive don't run to the Museum of Science and Industry to see BODY WORLDS (yes, they're real). If you're not in Chicago, get here. The weather is perfect... and words cannot express how fascinating this exhibit is. I had a nice lunch today (I know it's called brunch, but you know how I feel about such). What does one do given only one lifetime? Nothing lasts. Meaning is wholly subjective. Now is all we have. To be woven together from nonentity, and given consciousness (HELLO)... only to be snuffed back out--in a cosmological nanosecond? Bittersweet. It's all so bittersweet.

I wish I was a writer, so I could articulate my thoughts, but compared to Mencken I will always be a dreadful writer--I can hardly stand chewing my own sentences after inhaling the Sage. I can, however, articulate the root of my awe: the magnitude of the existence--of anything. The gravity of the fact there's something, rather than nothing. What the fuck!? Therein lies God(?) All else is bullshit and poltroonery.

Cheetah cubs, tits, and marriage

Cheetah cubs on the transom this morning... omg... is there anything cuter than a baby cheetah? Okay, shoo. And Pam Anderson is being roasted on CC this weekend. I wonder if they'll do hep jokes? I bet they will. Those roasts are feral. I was at a married couple's house earlier in the week--one of them threw a very nice wooden chip/dip server (brand new) across the kitchen floor. In response, the other one picked it up, took it downstairs, and threw it in a dumpster. Marriage is a special kind of drug that makes people behave in the most ridiculous and embarrassing ways. My condolences to you marriage-addicts. Rough drug. So why do I favor legalizing gay marriage? It's an equality thing. Gay people should have the right to be just as miserable as everyone else.

Frontline morning & Grazer's C zone

I devoured three episodes of Frontline today... while sun licked petals dripped onto the coffee table... and the grey vault over Belmont harbor wept cool tears. Brian Grazer was on CR tonight... talking about how he only learns when he's "outside" of his "comfort zone"(!) Eeeerie!... I swear I didn't coach him. He also mentioned that most of the Nobel laureates he knows are "Brights"... yes, the Brights-net is in my links. Note: you can't join if you believe in ghosts.

"Aethlos"

THLOS
"...also called kamatos or aethlos, and these words apply also to the life-and-death struggles of heroes..."
"contest, ordeal"
"activity carried out for a prize"
"battle woe"

Angela Jordan & Market Days

Happy Birthday to Angela Jordan! xoxo I dragged myself to Market Days with Scarlett. Knowing how I feel about parties you can estimate my affection for street fairs. But it's Angela's birthday, Scarlett's home, and I need to take my own advice and get out of my comfort zone more often. Oh, and the submariners were rescued, so that's off my mind. Now I can enjoy the balance of the weekend, watch 60 Minutes, and get to bed early. I have a big day tomorrow, if you talk to God, put in a good word for me.

Any English Author Save The Bard...

Has any English author (save the bard) compacted language as densely as Mencken? I'm back to reading Mill again too. Oh! The broker called last night... got the apartment. Hallelujah. I'm moving back downtown. I pause all morning and feel trapped--with the Russian submariners. I want to enjoy market days, but can't get my mind off this sub. How do I turn down my empathy dial--so I can contemplate my own life for a few minutes? Toronto worked out okay. I hope this sub resurfaces soon.

Mankind Minus One

If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, then mankind is no more justified in silencing the one than the one —if he had the power— would be justified in silencing mankind. - John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
Most of you know my Classical Utilitarian bent, and my love for J.S. Mill. Check out this delicious blog: Mankind Minus One. Also, see University of Chicago economist Steve Levitt's Freakonomics blog--fantastic! And don't miss Frank GEHRY & Renzo PIANO on CR! I am ambidextrous to the degree that I can trim the cuticles on my right hand without drawing blood.

Gays in the Millinery

OMG. Is there anything gayer looking than the military? I just can't get my mind around how queer it all looks. So horrifying, especially the hats. Yes, hats. 'Hey look at us... big, tough, butch Marines... in our HATS!' I'm shocked there aren't more balloons in the military, balloons and hats go together. Yikes. How does the U.S. government convince heterosexual, male, armed killers to wear HATS?! Can someone PLEASE explain this to me? I feel ridiculous in my Charlie Rose baseball cap, I can't imagine how I'd feel if it had gold sculptures attached to it. It's all just so bizarre. Thank god I have a free-pass "out" of the military. Let someone else die in these loony religious wars. I'd much rather stay here... and take care of the women.

"On blue hyperacid days..."

On blue, hyperacid days the suspicion often seizes me that most of my favorite notions are nonsensical--worse, that some of them are probably downright insane. It is a sad pleasure to examine them thus at leisure, and pick out the flaws in them. What is left is little save a pile of platitudes--the apple-cores of meditation. A few propositions, perhaps, are immutably true, e.g., that no man can hold his head under water half an hour and live, that the average Congressman is a moron, that Jonah swallowed the whale. The rest is mere illusion, folly, egomania.

Nevertheless, it comforts me to think that, in one respect at least, I am superior to my chief opponents. That is in the respect that, in the main, my ideas are unpopular, and hence not profitable. No one can reasonably allege that I emit them in order to gain political office, or to get an honorary degree from the Ohio Wesleyan University, or to acquire the Legion d'honneur. Practically all the other men that I know try to capitalize their doctrines in some way or other. Who ever heard of an uplifter who was not looking for a job? Or, at all events, someone to finance his crusade? No one finances mine, such as it is. No one ever will. -- H.L.Mencken

Flying airplanes into buildings was a faith-based initiative. -- Bill Maher
I'm growing to love Kathy Griffin. She's exploding onto Bravo this month. Yay. More Mencken:

Marriage, at best, is full of a sour and inescapable comedy, but it never reaches the highest peaks of the ludicrous save when efforts are made to escape its terms--that is, when efforts are made to loosen its bounds, and so ameliorate and denaturize it. All projects to reform it by converting it into a free union of free individuals are inherently absurd. The thing is, at bottom, the most rigid of existing conventionalities, and the only way to conceal the fact and so make it bearable is to submit to it philosophically. The effect of every revolt is merely to make the bonds galling, and, what is worse, obvious. Who are happy in marriage? Those with so little imagination that they cannot picture a better state, and those so shrewd that they prefer quiet slavery to hopeless rebellion. -- HLM's Creed

Gay Marriage takes effect in Spain today. The irony... the endless irony.

anabuzz: wet macho emotion