Altius, Fortius, and Whatever.

I know I haven't blogged (a new verb?) for a few days, but I've really been busy formatting Vol. III of Pater Noster. I received a complaint from my daughter about the blog vacuum and I wrote a comment saying she was spoiled. Her response was that yes, she was spoiled because she's a JAP and blamed me for making her one! How true that is, is not for me to say. But a father's love is to give the daughters anything they ask for and for the sons--well, give them rules and a lawnmower. Speaking of sons, Rhoda's son, Jon--who recently married again (2)--is having financial problems. He's a Supervisor at a car wash in Virginia, and I suppose people are washing their own cars to save on gas. Consequently Jon's salary has been cut down, but bills have to be paid, and we sent him some cash and suggested he dump the credit card and the Internet service for awhile. But Jon is just one who is suffering from America's economic problems. President Bush is going to leave Obama or McCain with a tremendous debt and a headache. When he took office there was no debt. Who would have guessed that before election day in 2008 the price of gas would be over $4 a gallon? And now you have to look for bargains when you shop for groceries. Hey, I remember when, on Saturday nights I used to eat six hot dogs for 30 cents...no charge for the mustard or the sauerkraut. Then I would down them with a Mission Orange soda. Well, why am I writing like this? There is not much that can be done about what's happening in the U.S. these days...and in the world.

The Olympic Games will be coming on August 8, and I, for one, am looking forward to them. I particularly want to see the swimming, the gymnastics, the boxing, the soccer, and the track and field. I know China is about 10 hours ahead of us, so what the TV schedule will be is a puzzle--but I get the TV Guide, and that should help. The games are supposed to be politically free, but since when has that happened? And it's certainly not going to happen in China. I'm sure there will be demonstrations somewhere complaining about the violation of human rights. It's going to be a very interesting couple of weeks.

As for Rhoda's bout with pneumonia, she is about 90% better. She has been very good taking care of herself with her medications and for using the nebulizer that we have from the time a couple of years ago when she was in need of it. Right now, I'm feeling very healthy. Just had some blood work at the V.A. and my primary doctor called and said my cholesterol was 146 and my triglycerides (whatever that is) was 130 something. All the rest of the stuff in the report was pretty good according to him. My big problem is walking...I do it like a sailor who is three sheets to the wind. Nothing of vital interest to write about now. Yesterday we saw "Mama Mia" and I thought it was 100% filled with joy and music. In fact I feel it was one of the top five movies I ever saw. ABBA deserves a lot of credit for that. Then tomorrow morning we are going on a City of Hope excursion to the Mardi Gras, a casino in Hallandale. Slot machines are Vegas style and you can play for pennies, nickels, dimes, etc. Will give the results in the next blog--if I remember.

"The grave's a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace." (Andrew Marvell)

Rho is almost all over her bout with pneumonia. Luckily, she recognized her symptoms and caught the bugger in time. While she was ill, it made me wonder what life would be like without her. Actually, the thought really never occurred to me before-- considering the fact that I'm 14 years older than she is. But let's fantasize a little about that scary possibility, and I suppose,sadly, that it is a possibility. First of all, let's begin with the process of waking up in the morning. (Why is it waking "up" and not waking "down"?) O.K., let's not go there. Anyway, I know that most mornings Rho "makes" the bed. That bit of frazzled linguistics always puzzled me; it is my understanding that someone has already made the bed...and that fact allows us to sleep in it. I believe that what is meant is to "neaten" the covers or something to that effect. But as far as I'm concerned, if I'm living alone, I wouldn't care about neatening the covers. Just get into the already made bed and pull the covers over you neatly--or not. It's no big deal. Don't need a wife for that. It's a man thing.

OK. So far, it's working (except for the messy bed--but who sees it?). I usually get out of bed about 11:30a.m., wash up, get into the kitchen, and take a puff out of my "puffer". Have to do that according to her because I have COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease...not an addiction to cannabis). Then I read the newspaper, sports page first...the rest is minor stuff like what Bush has to say. I get most of my world news off the internet, anyway. After doing the x-word puzzle, I take my morning pills with some apple juice. By this time, it's about 1:30 and I'm ready for breakfast. Now this is where I'm in trouble. Rhoda fills our pill boxes every week with the right pills in each box. Now, if she's not around, I haven't the slightest idea of what pills I'm taking nor when to take them--Monday to Sunday? Morning, noon, or night? So what to do? My plan is to stop taking any pills at all, and as symptoms pile up, I go to the VA doctor and he starts me on the right pills. Now I'm living, and I know when the pills are to be taken. But I can't find the pill box.

For breakfast, there's nothing in the fridge, because I can't walk up and down those isles buying stuff...but I can go out. It'll only cost me half of what it would have cost me if she was around, so I can afford it. What about the laundry? She's very good at sorting black from white, red from blue, green from brown, and all colors ad absurdum before putting them in the wash. If I were to do the laundry, I fear that she would be looking over my shoulder, so that's a good excuse for me not doing the laundry. I would take them to the Chinese laundry...except I don't know where to find one. I suppose I'd just leave the bundle at my favorite Chinese restaurant. They'd get the idea.

I really don't want to continue this discourse because it's making me nervous and exacerbating not only my PTSD and my COPD, but all my other D's including my PD. So, I suppose the solution and cure for these symptoms is for me to go first. Gladly. And as Hamlet would say, "...the rest is silence."

Cyclops, Cerberus, and The Graduate

Hi Friends of the Red Baron. Nice to write you again, to tell you about some unusual comments to a recent blog during which I alluded to the Greco-Persian War some 4 centuries B.C. I had the temerity to say that Xerxes led the Persians to defeat. However, one anonymous common-tater who apparently has one eye and/or dyslexia indignantly complained that "Telex", his former employer had nothing to do with that war. Well, at least he recognized the "x". In order to assuage the Cyclop's linguistic trauma and alleviate his anguish, the kindly Baron wrote that it was "Mimeo" who fought the Greeks because he had "copied" Sparta's battle strategies. I became convinced that because of this untoward generosity and mutilation of history I had to de-cretinize my mental capacities perhaps by chewing on some shoe-leather. And a final common-tater in this Cerberus-like dialogue suggested it was Sal "Mineo", not "Mimeo" who lost the war. This guy needs to see a surgeon quickly for a lobotomy, and perhaps for humanity's benefit, he will think better with half a brain than a whole one--which obviously confuses him. The Baron would like to put this whole matter to rest right now, after having done some lengthy and important research in "Playboy" and "The Readers' Digest Large Print Edition" on the history of that war. I knew there was some guy who led the Persians who had an "x" in his name. And now I know it was "FedEx" who tried to deliver the goods to the Spartans and Greeks. After the loss, the Greeks used the booty to come to America and open restaurants. PARACKALO!!

As previously mentioned, I got a phone call from one of my former students who graduated in 1958, and now 50 years later is 68 years old! Amazing. He wanted me to know that the class is planning a 50th Reunion and would like me to come. Now this was a class I began teaching when I was 30 and hot to trot. I took over the 9th grade in Sea Cliff H.S. in 1954 and moved with them to the new North Shore H.S. in Glen Head. I taught the same kids for four years, and got very fond of all of them, especially when the girls were sophomores. There is nothing like a sophomore high school girl; I cannot explain it. At any rate, I would love to attend this reunion in Long Island in September, but I do not wish to fly another mile in my life, and Rhoda won't allow me to drive up there alone, so we are left with a very tough Gordian knot.

"Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides." (King Lear)

Perhaps some of you may have noticed that my font for these blogs is always the same...it's called "Verdana." I use it because it's one of the few fonts that my publisher uses to print books. I also have the text "right justified" as you can tell because when I copy and paste these blogs into a word document for Volume III of "Pater Noster in Condoland", I don't have much else to do except to change the color to black and white and eliminate the italics. (I love to write in italics because it mirrors cursive handwriting). Also in the black and white version, I have included many more images that support the themes. At least I hope it's obvious to a reader that they support the themes, just as I try to have the titles to these blogs do the same. And the last theme I had (Yesterday ?) was on the subject of discovering Truth through the quest of knowledge and wisdom. And joyfully, it stirred a couple of people to get off the couch, ditch the TV remote and write a comment. Every writer loves to have his audience react in some way, and I stimulated a whole three people to do just that. Well, a journey of 1000 miles begins with three very small steps...so I've heard.

One of my anonymous commentators complained vigorously that as an ex-employee of the Xerox company he objects to the idea that his company had anything to do with fighting Sparta and the Greeks off in Ancient Greece. I suppose "Xerxes" is close enough to cause confusion in his confused state of mind. However, as the Red Baron, I wish to apologize for any misconception that may occur to other Xerox cretins because of my use of the word "Xerxes". I will, therefore, change my text to read "In 400 - or + BCE, MIMEO and the Persians fought the Greeks and Spartans.

I'm getting very anxious about whom our esteemed candidates will choose as their running mates--because the choices might very well tip the election into one camp or the other...I'm hoping it will tip the scales into the Obama camp. I've been following Obama's travels through the Middle East and now for the next few days into Europe, where he is an overwhelming favorite with the people and their governments. It seems to me from what I've read and heard thus far he is certainly on top of every campaign issue, regardless of the fact that he has been accused by his adversary about a lack of experience. That doesn't seem to be a factor in his triumphant tour in world capitals. In fact I just had to laugh when one interviewed German citizen referred to him as "Der Shvartze JFK". Over there it's a compliment. Over here, the word "schvartze" is pejorative. It's the yiddish version of the N word. So be it. Obama will be the next President of the United States in a landslide.

(P.S. If you believe it was Mimeo who fought Sparta and not Xerox, it's O.K. It won't be the first time that history has been hijacked.)

"Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set ye free." (John 8:32)

A few weeks ago we went to dinner with some neighbors from our building. We are becoming a very close bunch. And of the men, I would even deign to call a couple, my good friends. They are all much younger than I am and, because of this fact, and as a matter of record, I obviously have more knowledge and wisdom than they do. One of my friends, during a discourse at dinner, and while he was slurping a martini as though it was a two cents plain, said he yearns for knowledge and wisdom...actually knowledge and wisdom are the same...well like two sides of a coin. I could see, like Dr. Faustus, that he craves to learn whatever there is to learn. That mindset is the very beginning of "scholarship." Well, if you want to learn, where do you start? That's a good question, and the only one. The wellspring of knowledge must begin with the genius of philosophy, and philosophy includes five fields of discourse: Aesthetics, Ethics, Logic, Politics and Metaphysics. Now there you have a lot of territory to cover. If your first love is art, then you begin with Aesthetics. If you desire to learn why men behave the way they do and what role religion plays in our lives, then you read what the philosophers have to say about Ethics. When I say "read", I don't think you will get very far in understanding without "study". These fields of discourse demand study. If you don't like to read and study, then just go about your daily regimen and forget about knowledge and wisdom. Sit by the pool and talk about the weather and restaurants. As Robert Frost says, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one less travelled by...and that has made all the difference." If your goal is to acquire knowledge, then you have to take the road less travelled by. Logic is the study of ideal methods of thought and research: deduction and induction, hypothesis and experiment. Politics is the study of ideal social organization and government such as monarchy, aristocracy, theocracy, democracy, socialism, oligarchy, and etc.

Several hundreds of years BC, Greece and Sparta fought off Xerxes and the Persians. Following that war, Sparta brought all her troops home, demobilized them and suffered economic disaster as a natural occurrence of that process. McCain and Obama, take heed. Now at that time Athens was a "democracy" but there wasn't a whole lot of democracy to be had. She had a population of about 400,000 of whom 250,000 were slaves with no rights at all. That leaves 150,000 Greeks to wallow in "freedom" such as there was.

The General Assembly was the supreme power, but not too many citizens were sufficiently interested in joining that body. The Supreme Court consisted of over 1000 members chosen in alphabetical order from the census roll which made bribery a lost hobby of political wannabes. So, how democratic was that? Answer: very democratic...but Athens' detractors said it was a stupid form of government.

And so what about America? Do we have a "democracy" for our government? Answer: I think not. I believe we have an Oligarchy or an Aristocracy. Only a few in Washington wield power, and only the wealthy can afford to run for office. Plato was an advocate of and by"aristocracy" Plato meant not only the rich should govern, but also only men with brilliant minds. That is not typical of our government. So at this point one might rightfully ask what is the purpose of gaining knowledge and wisdom? Answer: to learn the Truth. And to learn the truth, the scholar must not neglect metaphysics, the study of the relationship between mind and matter.

I shall not continue with everything I have to say for fear of losing most of my audience. So for the few who remain, run as fast as you can to the book store or library and read "The Story of Philosophy" by Will Durant from whom I sometimes borrow some nuggets of wisdom and knowledge--and that's the truth.

"In delay there lies no plenty; Then come kiss me sweet and twenty." (12th Night)

What's going on in this country and the world? In England a 54 year-old Greg Norman is leading the British Open. Here in the United States we have a black man running for President of the United States, and all the polls I've seen have him leading his opponent, John McCain. I call Obama a "black" man because if I call him an"African American"then I would have to call others ItalianAmericans,GermanAmericans,JewishAmericans, and Native Americans, etc. I don't want to get involved in that conundrum. Here in America, we have, basically, a heterogeneous group of whites, blacks, and Latinos. If this combination can ever get along with each other and work together to improve life in our country--well that's a lot of power and it can't be stopped. There is nothing like it in the rest of the world. Incidentally, call me "pisha", but I'm still voting for Obama. If you don't, you're making a huge mistake. ...

Moving on to another subject, which I'm certain irritates a lot of people is the habit of your friends, acquaintances, or even relatives, sending out inane e-mail jokes, or long political propaganda, or meaningless and mindless articles, or pictures of animals in cute poses, or anything but NEWS ABOUT THEMSELVES. Not only are you asked many times to pass these items that clog your inbox, to everybody you know, but most of them have a lengthy list of e-mail addresses along with the junk mail. It seems knowing how to blind copy (BC) is not one of the skills involved, and of course if the mail is one that's been forwarded several times, and you are 10th on the list, there must not be a "delete" button attached to their computer. At the very least this is discourteous computer behavior. I have people sending me this junk and never, ever writing anything about their daily lives that might interest me as I'm doing for them in these blogs. If this happens often, I put their e-mails on my spam list. I really can't understand what kind of pleasure people get by e-mailing these things in batches. Like Macbeth says, "When trouble comes, it comes not in single spies, but in battalions." Of course, if a friend sends me porn, that's a different matter. I have never lost interest or felt shame in viewing people sans clothing making consensual love. It's nature at its best.

"Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie..." (All's Well That Ends Well)

I just browsed through my publisher's web site and I discovered that I've got $21 in royalties saved there for distribution at the end of November. Actually, I wasn't expecting even that much, but it is satisfying to know that some friends have bought my books. I really don't mind the sales count; I just like publishing my books. There will be another one in a couple of months. Perhaps it might interest you to know that I decide the value of royalties to a book. So, I just keep it to a couple of books...er bucks so that they will be affordable.

Friday, August 18

This day didn't start off well. Rh+ had such a bad night coughing that in the morning she was definitely Rh-. Her lungs have never been too great so she was concerned about pneumonia. We went to our doctor and he prescribed two kinds of anti-biotics and one for blood pressure. And he took a blood test. He really wanted to put her in the hospital. However, we went to another office where she had a chest x-ray. Now, all we have to do is wait for the results. Bummer. I hate when she's sick. I also hate when I'm sick, but I hate it worst when she's sick...as a matter of fact, the doctor just called with the test results and told her she does indeed have pneumonia. Worst bummer! (See, Baron is right up to the minute here). Now we'll have to wait and see what the medications and the nebulizer do to alleviate the problem. If it doesn't help, she will have to go into the hospital.

"Cease to lament for that thou canst not help,

And study help for that which thou lament'st

Time is the nurse and breeder of all good"

(Two Gentlemen of Verona)