The Piece of Mindful blog is in a state of transition … this format has been sent off to some local WordPress guys for a workover, and is in beta stage. In the end, if all goes according to plan, a trip here will offer one of several choices … the four authors who currently write here, or the various menus on the side. There will be some glitches … all photos used in the past will revert to a standard size, but with minimal effort we can fix that.
Author: Mark Tokarski
Just a man who likes to read, argue, and occasionally be surprised.
Thanks Obama
Josh, in his paper (part one) on the Business Plot, took a look at racketeering while on his way to other destinations. It works as in this example: Suppose you have a small business in an urban neighborhood, and a man comes in (wearing, if course, a Trilby hat and dark trench coat), and offers to sell you insurance to prevent your windows from being broken out. You have to buy the “insurance,” as it is understood that of you don’t, your windows will be broken out.
Interesting links …
Josh does some really interesting genealogy work on the George Washington. I swear, the guy has a nose for a bloodline. Put him on a trail, he doesn’t let up till he is looking right up the schnoz of his prey.
An American hero
Mark Lacy of Tuscon, Arizona, happened to be in Las Vegas and witnessed the shootings first hand. The above grab is from a 5:55 interview with him (did it run 2:22 long?) which included the following exchange:
Interviewer: “Did you consider that this might mean the end for you?”
Lacy: “Never crossed my mind.”
Trotter and LeBon … Trotter and LeBon … Trotter and Le ….
This may seem off-topic given our current focus on Las Vegas, but I think plays right in.
Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud and “father of modern advertising” wrote a book in 1928 called “Propaganda,” an easy read and accessible for anyone with basic reading skills. But the content of that book surely was not meant for the everyman, so I have to suspect that the reading habits of the American public then were like now, only a few engaged. He was talking over the crowd to the people in the balcony who could rattle their jewelry in appreciation.
Continue reading “Trotter and LeBon … Trotter and LeBon … Trotter and Le ….”
Cutting Through the Fog: Notes on the Route 91 Shooting on 10/1
Josh chimes in with some welcome writing and insight on the Las Vegas affair.
The Columbine effect
In the discussions below we have described a large herd out there, the unthinking majority of Americans, as “the 95%.” Some think that too generous. Perhaps half of the adults are easily herded into voting booths. They can easily be reduced to ridiculous debates about whether one of two despicable candidates, say Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, offers a better choice.
Half doesn’t bother to vote. Some might take comfort in that, as it is the proper choice. I doubt, however, that the decision is a result of critical thought. They are just distracted by poverty, football, substance abuse, entertainment and low-paying repetitive jobs that destroy their minds. The sad conclusion is that the 95% are hopelessly under control, so that from the standpoint of those in power, their only task is to isolate them from the minority of people who do learn how to reason and solve problems.
Words of hope for the five percent
I don’t read much anymore, or better said, I don’t find much worth reading anymore. I love reading. It has been my morning activity for decades, the reason I come bounding down the stairs after awakening at ridiculously early senior citizen hours. (For any who wonder, I am 67 and in excellent health, still able to do all of the very hard work involved in living in a mountain home. Every year my wife and I look at the future and wonder how much longer we can keep this up, and the answer is always … five more years.)
But what is there to read? You can take every book in the current events or history section of the library or at Barnes and Noble and have a bonfire, and nothing of value except paper would be lost.
Just one photo …
Here is just one photo from the latest event, taken from the comments in the post below. Stop and have a gander, and then ask …
- Why is no one tending to these victims? How long will they just lay there?
- How much time did the photographer spend on this photo? He got the angle right, and the lighting is superb. His camera, obviously a very good one, was f-stopped in such a way that objects in foreground and background are blurred, and only the victims are in focus.
What happens in Vegas …
Comments are mounting down below, people giving mostly numeric clues suggesting that the event in Las Vegas was fake.
I am putting this post up as a place to comment on the event. I am not going to write about it, as we have enough astute commenters that I am not needed anyway. Should be interesting.
Piece of Mindful 