Yearly cycle

I’m sitting on the deck, ingesting newsprint ..literally. I just realized I’ve been licking it off my fingers whenever I turn the page. Now clouds are filling the sky and blocking the sun ..it’s getting c~c~cold ..I know that there's a three day storm coming ..plenty of wind and rain they say ..this may be the last rays of sun. Doesn’t bother me, we need the rain. I’ll hunker down ..light a fire ..drink some wine ..listen to the thunder ..and celebrate another yearly cycle.

Digression of sight

The images inside my head keep crowding out what’s in front of me ..I take my hands off the keyboard ..rub my eyes ..and watch as angels pass ..and neon bolts of lightening flash. They’re still there when I open my eyes ..blocking the computer screen ..well, I really wasn’t doing anything. I follow them down the street ..not stopping for cars or trees ..damned if they don't pass right through everything ..swirling as they go ..moving faster ..I grab hold ..everything becomes a blur ..the roadside turns into a stream ..my lungs burn ..things fly by before my brain has time to find the words ..

Superstitious behavior

It took a modern-day scientist, traveling back in time, to start the biological process that lead to the human race ..God was so angry with George Steinbrenner this year that the Red Sox won the world series ..forty vestal virgins are waiting for me in heaven if I blow up the world trade center. These are superstitious beliefs ..no more valid than a lunatic shouting that the world is gonna end tomorrow. Yet, this is what some people want their school districts to teach instead of science. Many doctors get their inspiration during childhood. When I see the medical breakthroughs coming out of genetics and evolutionary biology ..I think it would be a shame to let supernatural beliefs get in the way.

Tuesday afternoon

Black and white has turned into green, yellow and red ..all the colors of a Grateful Dead concert ..there’s a farmers market downtown and I’m walking from place to place like a rat out of a cage ..following the fragrance of tangerines, honeydew and sage. I buy a carton of strawberries and eat them along the way ..I toss a buck to a street musician playing ‘here comes the sun’ ..look up and see ‘Aeon Flux’ showing at the Metro ..I breath deeply ..inhaling ocean air ..remembering that 12-foot monsters are pounding the shore today ..I’m content to be right where I am ..I duck into a funky music store ..blaring Eddie Veder ..I can’t find ‘Panic in the Disco’ ..I do find the Bob Dylan DVD I want though ..concerts from his early days with Joan Baez ..I’ll check it out later ..back on the street ..I hear a flute ..watch smiling people pass by ..and duck into a celebrity T-shirt store ..no 'Panic' here ..and no 'Gerard Way' figurines either ..but at least that made the sales girl laugh ..I duck inside a funky clothing store ..selling island jungle threads made out of hemp ..I get some drawstring pants ..plum and blue ..outside ..I buy some avocados for a salad ..and bee pollen for smoothies ..feels so positively Southern Californian.

Spymaster Bush ..?

Bush said: "In the weeks following the terrorist attacks on our nation, I authorized the National Security Agency ..to intercept communications of people with known links to Al Qaeda .." as well as a few of my former fraternity brothers (italics are mine).

I think Bush can thank Nixon for the trouble he’s in over eavesdropping. Congress passed the law requiring court approval for domestic surveillance in 1978 ..in response to the abuses of the Nixon Administration. Nixon used the CIA to spy on American citizens ..the Justice department to persecute them ..and the IRS to audit them. He targeted journalists ..college students ..and his political rivals ..the last of which got him in real trouble ..and lead to his impeachment and resignation. Nixon was mean-spirited and vindictive ..he kept a list of personal enemies ..not enemies of the state ..and he used this information to ruin people’s lives. That’s not the case here ..I don’t believe Bush is mean-spirited or vindictive ..he doesn’t seem to have a personal vendetta. He’s doing it to fight terrorists. I don’t think we need to worry about losing our civil liberties because of it. Maybe the terrorists do.

Reading behavior

Scientologists claim they can cure dyslexia. Tom Cruise is a member ..and he’s dyslexic ..so it sounds credible. I work with a foundation that gives grants to people studying reading disorders. It's a tough problem to beat. Last year they gave me an assignment to find out whether Scientology’s claims have any scientific merit. It didn’t take me long to see that they don’t publish their methods in the scientific literature. I couldn’t find any studies to support claims that the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard help people with dyslexia. There are a lot of personal testimonials from followers like Tom Cruise ..but no verifiable results.

Meditation time

I’m at the Vedanta temple for meditation ..but the thoughts swerving around my head make me feel like I’m sitting in heavy traffic ..I hope I’m not breathing too loud ..I sway in rhythm to the music ..and look around to see if I’m doing it like everyone else ..I straighten up and try to focus ..and the chair in front of me comes into view ..I look a little higher ..and see the altar ..I wonder what offerings I should make ..maybe some mangoes ..maybe some of my ‘worldly concerns’ ..I don’t want those anymore ..like my preoccupation with what other people think about me ..somebody once told me I could do that ..a Zen monk ..he said it was a good way to practice letting go.

Reading behavior

I'm practicing 'mindful reading' this morning ..seeing what pops into my head while I read ..the writer (Jack Kerouac) talks about the time he was working on an oil tanker ..and I see images of winches and booms from my own sailing experience ..only the ones here look much bigger and oilier ..I even hear oil sloshing around in the hold ..I look at the inside cover to see when it was written ..1954 ..makes me wonder how long we’ve been hooked on this stuff for.

On deck

.. sitting on the deck
wondering when I should go
up the rocky coast road.
Big Sur may not be far away
but it’s on top of the world
at the jaggedy edge of the USA

Hallucinogenic zone

Never again is what she swore ..the time before.

Land grab

There is a congressman from El Cajon California ..near San Diego ..who is so fond of Santa Rosa Island ..a wildlife sanctuary off the coast of Santa Barbara ..that he wants to turn it into his own private hunting reserve ..by declaring eminent domain ..putting it under control of the US military ..then allowing access to only himself and other members of congress. What does he think the country is ..his own backyard ?

Brain to mouth

Language pathways in the brain are still developing during adolescence ..forming a big bundle of nerve fibers that connect Broca’s area (responsible for speech) to Wernicke’s area (responsible for meaning) ..I think these fibers are supposed to make sure that what comes out of my mouth makes sense ..anyway some big study ..I forget where ..says that marijuana effects the growth of these pathways ..I guess that explains why sometimes my mouth says things that I don’t recognize.

Continuing education

I finished my final project for database servers this week ..next week I receive a take home final for visual basic ..now I know this instructor’s exams ..they’re like projects ..it’ll take me the whole week to do .. so I had to make sure the lab didn't lift my privileges on Monday ..I need them until the end of the semester..I asked Sara, head of lab support, if I should submit an authorization form ..and she said: nah ..I’ll just do it. I thought that was pretty decent of her ..but now I'm faced with the prospect of spending another week in the lab. AAGGHHHH. Think I'll take P.E. courses in the spring.

Laura and Jade

Bowlful

Zen adapts

A 1,500 year old Buddhist Monastery, on a remote mountain top in the middle of China, has flung open it's doors to modern society. They have satellite internet ..a web site ..cell phones ..and the Abbot often leaves the meditation hall to attend board meetings in Hollywood California. The monks are even getting MBA’s and learning telecommunications. Have they gone commercial ..? I think not, for me they are an example of how Buddhism adapts to changes in society. A Buddhist revival in China is creating big demand for their services ..and Hollywood studios are anxious to tell their story. It is a Buddhist tradition to accept change ~ and be part of the global community.

You can see them online at Shaolin Temple.

Death by drug arrest

We put hundreds of people to death every year in the US for violating drug laws ..they become victims of prison violence ..dying at the hands of gang members and murderers. In addition, criminal prosecution ruins lives and careers ..which often leads to destitution and suicide. Now, the number of people being killed during police raids is going up ..thanks largely to new property-forfeiture laws and ambitious government officials. In Malibu California, a small army of police smashed into the home of an innocent ranch owner ..and shot him to death when he ran in panic. Drug laws distort law enforcement priorities ..instead of chasing violent criminals, police target ordinary citizens ..and fill our prisons with people who do not belong there. Isn't there a more realistic and sophisticated approach to drug use other than criminalization ..

This was part of a long-winded comment I made to Keshi ..regarding the execution of a 25-year-old Australian in Singapore. You can see her blog at Viva forever .

Lab incident

Someone left an anonymous voice-mail with a big-shot college official saying that they saw somebody from tech support yelling at students. They did not say who it was or anything. Tech support learned about it today when their department chair sent an email around. Now, I've never heard anybody yelling in the lab ..it's actually a peaceful place ..so, who knows what really went down. The attention seems to be on Silvy tho ..he’s a big guy with a commanding presence ..and a booming voice. I think he's a colorful character ..I often see him joking around with students. He’s from New York City, where ..if you’re not yelling at someone ..your not expressing an interest in them. From that perspective ..yelling is a good thing. In any event, I think it shows how an incident can look much different to people on the outside.