*Snapshots of the dumbing-down of the United States of Guns, right before our very eyes: major sport awash in junk food ads, cause and affecting an already second-rate public health system….. and the addictive gifting of billions of taxpayer dollars to military corporations to “protect” citizens from fabricated threats. That’s like a gambling junkie feverishly feeding a poker machine. History records the rise and fall of many empires that lasted for centuries. This one is a quickie.
*My not-particularly-smart phone suits me fine, and cost/costs bugger all. True, I’m unable to check what my celebrity “friends” had for breakfast, so I suppose in that respect my life is quite empty.
*It’s nearly here. Let’s hope the world has vision in 2020.
*For me the greatest joy in old age is waking up. Even from an afternoon nap! One of my loved ones who lives on Guernsey wrote a story about a local 103-year old chap still full of beans, bless him. I want to squeeze every minute out of the most precious gift we’ll ever receive.
*Freedom and democracy? Puhlease, pull the other one. It’s just a slogan, created by an advertising agency to market corporate expansion. Ditto “Climate Change”, created to dilute the terrifying reality of Global Warming.
*(sigh) Here we go again. “North Korea is supplying chemical weapons to Syria”. Hmmm, kill two birds with one bomb, er stone. This “news” story couldn’t possibly have been given to the media by the CIA, could it? You can almost hear U.S. military corporations cackling gleefully while rubbing their scaly hands at the prospect of another taxpayer-funded windfall. The problem with a pathological liar like the CIA is – maybe one day they might be telling the truth.
*What a shame the CIA doesn’t devote itself to worthy causes. Such as Global Warming, children being sold for sex, and 18,000 kids dying every day from disease and starvation. Oh that’s right, the CIA would piss off corporations for not looking after their interests.
*The melodramatic news media would be buggered if they couldn’t use phrases like “there are fears”.
*What the world needs now is kindness (love would be fantastic but that might be asking for too much).
*It’s incredible how many people have a superiority complex. There are the usual suspects – politicians, corporate leaders, media windbags – but also among the worst (to my surprise) are televangelists. I groan when I hear references to “the good old days”, but were people so up themselves back then?
*If you love dogs you love them all, but surely labradors are the most affable, running up to strangers to make new friends and maybe scrounge a snack. I always imagine the thought bubble “My owners never feed me enough and I’m wasting away”.
*I could be wrong but political parties with “National” in their name seem to be very right-wing. There was one formed in Germany in 1921, and that didn’t turn out too well.
*Why do people say “to be honest”? What, do they normally lie?
*It’s a mystery to me. More and more countries are becoming right-wing because of ageing populations, even though right-wing governments only benefit a small, rich minority. Does the media – controlled by corporations – have that much influence? It’s scary but impressive. It reminds me of the old joke “50% of the wool pulled over our eyes is acrylic”.
*We’re all born with a heart but how the hell do some of them turn into stone? Perhaps excessive fumes from money causes a strange chemical reaction.
*Donald Trump’s Global Warming ignorance is completely understandable. He doesn’t watch TV news because it’s contrived, selective, and trivial…. and I believe he only reads golf magazines. And because he’s in a constant air conditioned luxury bubble 24/7 it’s unfair to expect him to know what’s happening in the real world.
*Global Warming. Daylight Saving will become increasingly unpopular.
*Global Warming TICK TOCK. The Poles are melting faster than expected. How many other calculations have been conservative so as not to piss off right-wing politicians and corporations? Oh well, just like the rest of us polar bears will have to adapt to change and become stronger swimmers and change their colour.
*Something I’d love to see before I die: honest eulogies. For example, whenever a prominent politician retires (usually after they’ve been defeated or demoted) people fall over themselves to gush praise that’s so superficial you wonder if they actually think he/she “was a self-serving prick, good riddance”.
*How to get rid of warmongers. All politicians who vote for military action should be sent to the front line, along with all their family members. I’m sure they’d be delighted and grateful to do their patriotic duty. And maybe then they’ll stop sending other people’s naive kids off to war.
*Newton’s Law of Physics says for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction.
Vincent’s Law of Kindness says for every action there’s an equal and similar reaction.
*Tsunami of stupidity. Seriously, when you look back through human history – starting from today – we really are a bunch of dickheads. Even optimists with their truckloads of half-full glasses wonder if we’ve passed the tipping point of self-destruction.
*The word “trump” comes from triumph. Sometimes a triumph turns out to be a Pyrrhic victory.
*As shameful and embarrassing as the news media is these days (and perhaps always was), the wonderful thing about being a journalist is nothing can throw you off your stride in life because absolutely nothing surprises.
*Quiet achievers, bless them. Excluding sycophants, the rich and/or famous don’t seem to have a lot of genuine touches-your-heart respect, in contrast to many “ordinary” kind souls who are neither rich nor famous.
*The bad news about ageing: you don’t need binoculars to see the finish line.
The good news about ageing: three of the greatest artists – Van Gogh, Turner, and Vivaldi – reached breathtaking creativity heights towards the end of their lives.
*Why is there no reference to Australia’s 60,000-year old aboriginal nations in the Bible? Surely God wouldn’t have snubbed these spiritual and eco-sophisticated people because they are black.
*He may have been a criminal and should’ve been jailed but disgraced (and pardoned!) U.S. president Richard Nixon is deservedly an inspiration to politicians. He went to the 1968 election promising to end the demented Vietnam War, and immediately escalated the bombing. He went to the 1972 election promising to end the same war, and voters (once bitten but not shy) re-elected him in a landslide. Pardon the oxymoron but that’s disgustingly impressive.
*The people of Vietnam should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. To get on with life the way they have less than 50-years after what was done to them is heartachingly inspirational.
*Hypocritically sounding like a negative nit-picking knocker. I treasure all artists 0-10 on your rating scale if you have one because the human species desperately needs every single artist to resist the Philistinian Army. However, I beg most of the artists on TV music channels to put their egos to one side for a moment and at least think about another career, bless them.
*Who would’ve thought. Especially if you heard the simple-minded catch-phrases of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Communism has adapted to change and seems to have a sustainable future, but you can’t say that about capitalism. It’s become laissez-unfaire because of a reactionary ruling class. Economic theory always fails to take into account obvious commonsense factors. Such as greed.
*Luddites have always been ridiculed for being anti-technology because of their riots in England 1811-1816. There was actually more to it than that. And of course their biggest critics – the newspaper owners – were determined to help their rich mates. Ha, what’s changed. Obviously there’s lots of brilliant technology, but also lots of crap. And as the human species slides down the slippery slope trashing Mother Nature, who knows, maybe Luddites may one day be praised for having foresight!
*Vladimir Putin is clearly not Mr Nice Guy but how often is there a positive news story on Russia? I reckon it’s been 99% negative for years. That’s not news, that’s propaganda. Warmongers must be ecstatic because it allows governments to take even more money from health and education to buy more bombs. There are millions of lovely decent people in Russia, just like in America. How much other “news” is fake?
*Loss loss. In politics, the problem with small minds is they think small. This is disastrous at a time the world is regarded as a global village and desperately needs co-operative big thinking.
*Endangered species. When I see a famous person who has humility I think what’s going on here, am I watching a Disney movie? But seriously, I want to hug them and thank them for not being extinct. There are so many big heads I worry we’re going to run out of room!
*Cart before the horse. Have you noticed the growing number of pill-popping ads on TV? And how ethical and responsible they are advising consumers to see a doctor if symptoms persist. Let’s tweak that slightly. I know this sounds radical but how about advising people to see a doctor BEFORE popping pills?
*When things go wrong with economies and ordinary people suffer, I think what did you honestly expect voting for politicians with Wall Street connections? Yes but they’re all the same. No they’re not. You just have to spend a few minutes doing some research. And if you keep doing what other people say – especially media “experts” – then 1) don’t whinge, and 2) you can’t blame politicians for thinking voters are all the same and are basically dickheads.
*We only use a fraction of our brain’s capability. If/when we can maximise the use of our incredible personal computer could it slow down the ageing process? Imagine if our growth-rate was 1/10th! Mind you, pluses and minuses. You’d have to change a baby’s nappy for 20 years!
*What the world needs now – not – is well-off people moaning about how their lives turned out. One of the worst celebrity whingers is Hillary “Couldabeen” Clinton. FFS I’m simply grateful my parents married otherwise I wouldn’t have been born! To quote the famous American philosopher George W. Bush: we have bigger fish to roast. Such as Global Warming and rich warmongers stealing taxpayers’ money from worthy causes.
*I have my faults but at least I’ll go to my grave with my conscience clear, knowing I never voted for a buffoon.
*Melodramatic media. Another of their vacuous cliches is “A growing number”, with the story often devoid of any facts and figures. This means 1) the story is fake, or 2) it’s lazy journalism. Either way it’s #(sigh).
*Melodramatic media. A favourite sport cliche is “do or die”. I don’t know about Ye Olden Tymes but I’m not aware of any sportsperson who died after losing. In Aussie Rules footy a player who exaggerates to try to get a free kick is accused of “adding some mayonnaise”. The media must have warehouses full of mayonnaise!
*When I’m enjoying the beauty of Vivaldi, Van Gogh and Turner I wonder why inspirational geniuses like this aren’t world leaders instead of small-minded dullards preoccupied with (yawn) stockpiling mountains of money.
*With the human species at the crossroads it really is “nice to be important but more important to be nice”. There’s a lot of kindness talk but less kindness walk. We need more world leaders to join the walk.
*Alcoholics have an addiction and are urged to do an AA program that includes apologising to victims of their behaviour. We need a Greedies Anonymous!
*It’s understandable the British royal family has PR stunts like awards lolly-scrambles in its fight for survival, but shame on those who give credibility to the “blue bloods” nonsense by accepting these immature “I’m special” awards.
*Jimi Hendrix is inspirational in so many ways. He was a workaholic perfectionist constantly exploring variations, and sometimes in the recording studio did dozens of takes. Music’s Vasco da Gama! Jimi gave me the idea of trying variations with my “The War on Dickheads” because of its fairly narrow focus.
*When you hear some of the brutally honest lyrics by Jimi and Bob Dylan the sugar-coated autobiographies by many famous people – especially politicians – is laughable. They have no shortcomings, apparently! You can’t connect with people like that. In one especially painful confession by Jimi – called “Shame shame shame” – he wrote about his cruelty to his brother when he got a big head from superstardom. At least he wasn’t cruel to millions of people, and at least he quickly made amends.
*Speaking of inspiration, to my amateur ears it sounds like part-10 of Vivaldi’s 300-year old masterpiece “The Four Seasons” inspired the menacing music in famous films such as “Psycho” and “Jaws”.
*Corporations are the new Mafia whose motto is “Whatever it takes”. And that includes a – um – sensible understanding with the CIA and FBI which are run by political appointees who have – um – pragmatic viewpoints. The bottom line is to keep America great. Whatever it takes.
*We’ve wasted too many crucial years for me to have any sympathy for Global Warming victims who happily re-elected governments that did FA about eco-destruction. Like Albert Einstein basically said – you shake your head in disbelief at the stupidity of Homo Dumbo.
*Global Warming sceptics are MLD (Major League Dickheads) but to be fair to them the Earth did seem flat once.
*Parents, bless them. Some of the best things we learn from them is what not to do. I say this as a child and a parent!
*At least China, Russia and North Korea have never dropped a nuclear bomb on a city, let alone two (as of March 2018, anyway).
*Daylight Saving has ended. Good riddance! Don’t come back! My curtains have faded! But seriously, at my age who needs daylight at 9pm when I’ve had a busy day of things like naps, and TV programs that are begging me to go to bed.
*Global Warming began after Daylight Saving was introduced. Maybe all that saved daylight has heated the planet.
*After the U.S. has completed its investigation into claims that Russia meddled in America’s politics I have high hopes it will continue this virtuous search for the truth and investigate if America has meddled in politics in Europe, Asia, and Central and South America since – I dunno – the 1950s.
*All empires have had a tiny minority who had the wealth and power and used jackboot tactics to control the have-nots, and they all eventually collapsed.
*When right-wing governments say tax cuts for the rich will help reduce poverty, I don’t understand how. Do you think they mean tax increases? Then again, it may be a complex theory and I’m just dumb.
*Warmongers heaven. The last time I looked 26% of the U.S. budget was spent on the military. Fair enough I suppose but with every Tom, Dick and Harry armed with nuclear weapons these days I’m not sure anyone is frothing at the mouth to start World War 3. Referring to the devolution of human intelligence, Albert Einstein said World War 4 would be fought with sticks and stones.
*Suspicious minds. We know the U.S. has for a long time seen Russia and China as threats, but with America having a constant wargasm for decades you can understand why Russia and China see the U.S. as a threat.
*Global Warming. I can’t see much of a future for inter-continental missile systems due to a much more pressing issue, but I can see a huge future for inter-continental air conditioning systems.
*Surely the human species can’t be as dumb as it appears to be. It’s as if aliens have infiltrated us and – knowing we are gullible – have got into positions of power to lead us down the path to self-destruction.
*People who go into politics think it’s all about winning, whatever it takes. That was kinda OK decades ago when enlightened world leadership wasn’t critical, but Global Warming now demands much more than short-term election-cycle mediocrity.
*Courteous driver. When I’m having my weekly Big Day Out and see another car with a “Baby on board” sign on the rear window I turn down the stereo.
*That was my 600th observation, so the amended front cover of my planned (e?) book is “The War on Dickheads. 600 shock horror observations”. That last bit is a thank you to the media for their inspiration.
*I’m excited about the next generation of “Smart” phones, TVs, etc. They’ll have to be called “Smarter”. And then after that “Even smarter”. Goodness gracious me, if we don’t keep up-to-date people will think we have a “Dumb” phone! Oh the shame.
*Do you think the advertising industry called them “Smart” because they reckon the average person is dumb and wouldn’t have noticed the difference?
*We never hear about many amazing, important people because they don’t hire publicists, unlike “celebrities” who are in the media ad nauseam. This means the media have many stories largely written for them, and this means a beautiful ka-ching sound for media owners because they need less staff. Kinda ironical.
*Capitalism is disappearing into its own Black Hole. It didn’t have to turn out this way but economic theorists kept omitting the G word from their equations. The Greedies have never had sufficient self-control to say enough is enough. Australia’s former richest man (he’s dead now) used to fly to Las Vegas on weekends in his private jet and gamble away millions of dollars. To some people he was a legend. Those people are further evidence of the stupidity of Homo Dumbo.
*Making mountains out of molehills. We should leave that to the experts – the media. I’m planning the world’s shortest self-help book, called “Molehills”. It’ll have only 1 page, with the advice “Try not to make mountains out of molehills”. Many divorces could’ve been avoided. Even wars! Many idiot politicians would not have been elected.