Sunday, April 05, 2020

Murder Most Foul

A Chinese philosopher said:
“Live to an old age.
There remains three-tenths that cannot be known”
.
I am on my way to old age, I am still studying,
And I don’t know one-tenth of what can be known.
.
I inch ahead, adding, bit by bit, to what I know.
But as I add, other things slip away.
I hope I add more that I lose.
.
Who knows? Maybe the sand in the hourglass
is running out faster than I’m replenishing it.
There isn’t much I can do about that,
except to turn the hourglass over.




Well, as I have said elsewhere, if life comes down to nothing more than not being dead, then it really doesn't amount to much. And, as a Christian, Jacobs surely believes that there are some things more important than life. I presume he has heard of martyrdom. Perhaps he is secretly in love with despotism.
 the post-truth thought leaders at work – Snakes and Ladders.


4 April 1949 — the beginning of protection against Soviets

The United States and 11 other nations establish the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a mutual defense pact aimed at containing possible Soviet aggression against Western Europe. NATO stood as the main U.S.-led military alliance against the Soviet Union throughout the duration of the Cold War.

Read more via this link. 




Personal Postscript — Nearly my whole life (until 9/11) was influenced by the Cold War (with my 25 year Navy career much involved with Cold War deployments and duties), but since the 9/11 attacks Islamist terrorism has been the central fact of life, and now a pestilential virus determines my existence. As Gilda Radner’s SNL character would say, “It’s always something!” 






Bob Dylan’s epic – out now – on YouTube, Spotify etc.  A 17 minute masterpiece I’ve been listening to three times a day. 1964 in 17 minutes.  Took me back to being an impressionable, passionate teenager in Lancaster.  Cultural references range from Wolfman Jack, The Beatles, Gerry and The Pacemakers, Woodstock, The Age of Aquarius, Altamont to Gone With The Wind.

A great way to wallow in nostalgia during this time of uncertainty.

Close your eyes, close your door, listen and reflect on a ‘good day for living’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NbQkyvbw18).