My Resolution Score
On December 31, 2022, I made three New Year’s resolutions:
1. Not to make any New Year’s resolutions;
2. To get to bed before midnight;
3. To break all of my New Year’s resolutions.
I broke resolution #1 when I made it; I broke resolution #2 at midnight; and I broke resolution #3 as much as I did not.
I figure that I kept 1/2 out of 3, which equals 1 out of 6. That’s a relatively good ratio.
The Secret of Jewish Success
Once upon a time, on Long Island, three ladies were playing bridge.
Mrs. Smythe looked over her cards and remarked, “My son is a major-league football coach.”
Mrs. Abercrombie said, “Very good, my dear. But my son is a police chief.”
Mrs. Fitch said, “Ladies, ladies, let’s not quarrel! And besides, my son is a banker.”
She laid down her cards. The other women rolled their eyes and pushed over their bets. It wasn’t fair, but what can you do?
Meanwhile, on the other end of Long Island, three other ladies were playing Mah-Jonng.
Mrs. Shapiro looked over her tiles and remarked, “My son is an Ivy-league college professor.”
Mrs. Goldstein said, “Very good, my dear. But my son is a judge.”
Mrs. Cohen said, “Ladies, ladies, let’s not quarrel! And besides, my son is a doctor.”
She laid down her tiles. The other women rolled their eyes and pushed over their bets. It wasn’t fair, but what can you do?
Moral: Success is relative.
The Broken Battlefield
Once upon a time, there was an ancient battlefield, on which many a war had been won or lost. The generals knew it well. But then one day the earth shook. The quake broke open a wide fissure all the way down the middle of the battlefield.
From then on, whenever the generals sent their armies there, their men and horses would fall into the fissure, and battle was impossible. The generals would then withdraw; but they always returned, to find the fissure still there.
Moral:
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.
Comment:
Jonathan Schell compared the condition of war in the nuclear age to this.
What Ummah?
Israel: “Here, take in your cousins.”
Kuwait: “No, they sided with Saddam Hussein.”
Jordan: “They tried to overthrow our government.”
Syria: “We’re in a civil war right now.”
Lebanon: “They grabbed land for a mini-state.”
Iran: “They’re not our cousins.”
Saudi Arabia: “They’re poor.”
Egypt: “They’re troublemakers.”
All: “They’re somebody else’s problem.”
Israel’s tragedy is that it has real enemies. Palestine’s far worse tragedy is that it has no real friends.
On the Magabomber, False Flags, and Stochastic Terrorism
From 2016
They caught the MAGAbomber, praise be; in part from the fingerprint he left on one of the two bombs he sent to Maxine Waters. I hope Waters gains some comfort from that instance of karma.
The Trumpists still claim a “false flag”. I find this philosophically disturbing. “False flag” is a universal reality denial. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor... or so FDR wants you to believe. The sun rose in the east today... but it was a fake sun rising in a fake east. Two plus two is four... according to the liberal media. Your great-great-grandmother is dead... but her skeleton is a crisis actor. And so on. Of course that’s insanity; specifically psychotic dissociation.
But at least we now see the limits on stochastic terrorism. The trouble with stochastic terrorism is that though the Leader can guide the Minions, at first, eventually he can’t; and though the Minions can’t be linked to the Leader, at first, eventually they can. Control without responsibility becomes responsibility without control.
Day-Star Disappointment
Once upon a time, God dreamed that Life spoke with the Sun. Life said, “I love you.”
The Sun replied “And I love you.”
Life told the Sun, “Never change.”
The Sun told Life, “Do change.”
But God then dreamed that both were doomed to disappointment; for over cosmic time, the Sun will change, but Life will not change.
Moral: Love is tragic.
Worse than a Curse
Once upon a time, the Elves and the Dwarves waged magical battle against each other. The war ended when the combatants branded the land with this deadly curse: that anyone who dwells there 200 years shall die in agony. The immortal Elves and Dwarves dared not stay on the cursed land, so they all fled.
But mortal Men had no fear of the curse, for they died before 200 years anyhow. The Men stayed on the land, and thrived even better than before the war, due to the absence of Elves and Dwarves.
To the Men, Elves and Dwarves were worse than a curse.
Moral: You might not be missed.
Comment: I write this with the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in mind. It is now too radioactive for human habitation, but it’s home to a thriving wildlife population. They’re radioactive but they’re free from humankind. To them we’re worse than radiation.
