My former boss/man-ager was in touch lately and asked if I was interested in helping dub her next piece of puppy. Brainstorming... This old brain ain't nearly as rubbery as it was, so we'll see -- I'll try to limber up...[cracking my metaphorical (brain) knuckles <snap! snap! crack!>]
Ken and Anne Shapazian. The dog is a Cheyenne, Cayenne, he looks shy, your name's Anne, but you mentioned he looks a little reddish, there's the Cayenne like the pepper, Cay (rhymes with sky) for short. Cheyenne Wyoming always makes me think of that color. And my daughter's name is Shion (pronounced she-OWN, but my mom called her SHY-on before she heard it spoken -- a hundred times), Those are both gender neutral. The color of tanned leather (Tanner) but browner and redder, Tan-lea (which means "so read" in Spanish and which is phonetically "so red" like, she's brown, but such a reddish brown that she's so red for being brown). Curly Sienna, her actual color (as my eye sees it and brain knows it) is a sienna. Sienna, which I've been to, which I love and have amazing memories of (probably better memories than the actual experience, but that's one of the benefits of a healthy imagination -- your memories are MORE than reality, providing you're erroring on the side of better and not worse). Si-enna, See-enna or Sigh-enna. Sigh -- puppies make you sigh from time to time.
Half way between Newfoundland and Germany (the breeding grounds for the Labrador and Poodle, respectively), is the North Atlantic between Iceland and Greenland. NORTHATLANTIC. That's CITNALTAHTRON (sitnaltatron) spelled backward which would be an apt name for a robot in Sanskrit, but not so much a furry friend. The middle four letters are alta. Well, that took me nowhere. Alta evokes the snow-capped peaks of the Alps, which is nice (though not necessarily meaningful to the breed), and I imagine calling for your lost dog "Alta!" which could be Ul-tuh or Al-ta (rhumes with pal-ta). If you were a Chargers fan, the middle two letters are LT (for Ladanian Tomlinson) which would definitely have good vibes and connotations for you. And a fair name for a pooch.
You're French, Mercier, and La-Poo as in L'peu (means "the little" in English according to Google Translate - always). or L'pu which means "the able" or L'peau - "the skin"?
In homage to Guiness, the color is closer to a Porter or Dunkel. Porter is more dignified, but Dunkel is more Fun-kel. And if it's a male and he breeds, he could become Uncle Dunkel.
OK, so that's a little for this evening. If that gives you some thought, send them back to me and I'll chew on those for awhile. Which reminds me of when Guiness(?) ate your diningroom furniture. Or parts thereof.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Monday, January 8, 2018
For The Good Of The Republic
Every person in prison, every person marginalized, trivialized, left behind, suboptimized, disenfranchised, underutilized, disengaged, distracted from, and otherwise lessened weakens our great nation.
There's are some societies around the world with a lot less diversity (racial, religious, ethnicity) and a lot more cultural cohesion (Japan and Korea, Scandinavia), and they reap some of the advantages. They have their own problems, to be sure, but their countries work more like "well-run machines" than does ours.
America, on the other hand, is way more diverse, and we are anything but culturally coherent these days. But there are certain things about America which have powered our excellence, and diversity, our independence, our entrepreneurial spirit and fearlessness (in business, et al.) which have worked to our distinct and spectacular advantages for a century and more. Every silver lining has a dark side, and the dark sides of those positive attributes have been an indisputable drag on what could have been an even more productive and satisfying epoch.
You want to supercharge the full economy? You want to energize the masses? You want to help America reach its potential? Then you have to fight for a system that makes every person believe they are in this together, that every person is inherently worthwhile and will reap a fair benefit for their hard work and willingness to step up and take a risk. That means fighting against every form of discrimination, from the blatant racism to more subtle institutional (both intentional and unintentional) racism, sexism and harassment, religions and all-gender discrimination, agism, etc. Whose a better part of your work team: Someone being belittled or criticized for their sexual orientation, or that same person surrounded by people accept and support who they are? Who's going to try harder to make it to work when things get tough: someone who is payed a living wage with medical benefits, or someone who is being shortchanged because they're women?
I struggle with many union policies and mindsets, but when I think of how the rich and powerful take advantage of the workforce, and when you can just look at the way wages have fallen compared to management and C-suite compensation, I see how critical they are to the strength of our economy. Left to their own devices, the economical forces will continue to widen inequality weakening middle class, and creating a very desperate lower class, which is a cancer to the health of a nation. Not cool at all.
Is it obvious? The health of our democracy is fully dependent on leaders at all levels working constantly to fight anything that defines others as less, that perpetuates a widening wealth inequality, or makes puts up barriers to someone striving to do their best. No doubt, hard work must be rewarded and sloth should be punished, but an unfiltered look are reality makes it clear that we are far from optimum. This will take major work on many fronts from education to social policy to market incentives to financial regulation reform, but if everyone picks part of the problem near and dear to themselves to help improve, it is not (yet) beyond us.
There's are some societies around the world with a lot less diversity (racial, religious, ethnicity) and a lot more cultural cohesion (Japan and Korea, Scandinavia), and they reap some of the advantages. They have their own problems, to be sure, but their countries work more like "well-run machines" than does ours.
America, on the other hand, is way more diverse, and we are anything but culturally coherent these days. But there are certain things about America which have powered our excellence, and diversity, our independence, our entrepreneurial spirit and fearlessness (in business, et al.) which have worked to our distinct and spectacular advantages for a century and more. Every silver lining has a dark side, and the dark sides of those positive attributes have been an indisputable drag on what could have been an even more productive and satisfying epoch.
You want to supercharge the full economy? You want to energize the masses? You want to help America reach its potential? Then you have to fight for a system that makes every person believe they are in this together, that every person is inherently worthwhile and will reap a fair benefit for their hard work and willingness to step up and take a risk. That means fighting against every form of discrimination, from the blatant racism to more subtle institutional (both intentional and unintentional) racism, sexism and harassment, religions and all-gender discrimination, agism, etc. Whose a better part of your work team: Someone being belittled or criticized for their sexual orientation, or that same person surrounded by people accept and support who they are? Who's going to try harder to make it to work when things get tough: someone who is payed a living wage with medical benefits, or someone who is being shortchanged because they're women?
I struggle with many union policies and mindsets, but when I think of how the rich and powerful take advantage of the workforce, and when you can just look at the way wages have fallen compared to management and C-suite compensation, I see how critical they are to the strength of our economy. Left to their own devices, the economical forces will continue to widen inequality weakening middle class, and creating a very desperate lower class, which is a cancer to the health of a nation. Not cool at all.
Is it obvious? The health of our democracy is fully dependent on leaders at all levels working constantly to fight anything that defines others as less, that perpetuates a widening wealth inequality, or makes puts up barriers to someone striving to do their best. No doubt, hard work must be rewarded and sloth should be punished, but an unfiltered look are reality makes it clear that we are far from optimum. This will take major work on many fronts from education to social policy to market incentives to financial regulation reform, but if everyone picks part of the problem near and dear to themselves to help improve, it is not (yet) beyond us.
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Trump Deserves a Tough Press
He's right that the press is harder on him than any other president. Rightfully so. Because he's the worst man to be a president, and the press is who we rely on to tell the story. The truth of his behavior is why the press is harder on him. He deserves it all.
But press, shut the fuck up about the trivial. Just because it would be a major story of any other living politician, candidate or famous person did it doesn't mean you have to elevate the petty hypocrisy to a major story. THERE ARE PLENTY OF REAL FAILURES every week in this man's dossier to address before sinking to perverse trivia.
We don't need new evidence each day about the following realities about Trump:
1. He's a constant liar. 2. He embellishes everything about himself. 3. He does so by criticizing others whenever they disagree or point out his painful or embarrassing truths. 4. He's white and as an extension of his inferiority complex, he needs for that to be supreme as well. 5. He's incapable of complex thought. 6. He doesn't care about anything that doesn't specifically make him look good or bad, and (see #1) he will lie to make himself look good to himself (no one else really believes him -- his supporters know in their souls he's full of shit).
Be hard on President trump because he's a terrible president, and be hard on his proposed policies that are making America the worst it's been in my lifetime. Race relationships have been worse, and treatment of African Americans has been worse (watch The Vietnam War on PBS if you think otherwise), but this is our biggest backslide ever. The economy has been worse. The state of war has been worse (with the exception of our current North Korean situation, for which Trump is partially to blame, but not entirely -- the Korean problem has escalated with the advancement of their march toward nuclear capabilities which would have happened no matter who is in the White House.)
But press, shut the fuck up about the trivial. Just because it would be a major story of any other living politician, candidate or famous person did it doesn't mean you have to elevate the petty hypocrisy to a major story. THERE ARE PLENTY OF REAL FAILURES every week in this man's dossier to address before sinking to perverse trivia.
We don't need new evidence each day about the following realities about Trump:
1. He's a constant liar. 2. He embellishes everything about himself. 3. He does so by criticizing others whenever they disagree or point out his painful or embarrassing truths. 4. He's white and as an extension of his inferiority complex, he needs for that to be supreme as well. 5. He's incapable of complex thought. 6. He doesn't care about anything that doesn't specifically make him look good or bad, and (see #1) he will lie to make himself look good to himself (no one else really believes him -- his supporters know in their souls he's full of shit).
Be hard on President trump because he's a terrible president, and be hard on his proposed policies that are making America the worst it's been in my lifetime. Race relationships have been worse, and treatment of African Americans has been worse (watch The Vietnam War on PBS if you think otherwise), but this is our biggest backslide ever. The economy has been worse. The state of war has been worse (with the exception of our current North Korean situation, for which Trump is partially to blame, but not entirely -- the Korean problem has escalated with the advancement of their march toward nuclear capabilities which would have happened no matter who is in the White House.)
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
The Benefits of Self Reflection - Any Mirror Will Do
A friend's Facebook post: [paraphrase] "This scriptural study of Job was a good reminder ..."
Whatever the strawman around which you want to wrap a personal reflection, it's your wrapping around it in which the benefit lies, not the strawman. Whether you take a moment of intentional analysis of one of the universal conflicts of the human condition using the Bible, Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, an episode of Sex In The City, or a scholarly article by a clinical psychologist, your throw your life experience and natural attitude up against some idea or principle and compare and contrast, judge, butt and rebut, accept and deny and so forth. It's particularly useful when there's another thoughtful member in the room making it a threesome (you, them, and the literature) or three or more (with diminishing returns).
An open dialogue with the expectation that you will come away from the encounter with a better understanding, able to understand and incorporate a heftier hunk of some small part of the universal whole.
I've come to believe that it's sometimes useful to deconstruct the universal principles of human existence to appreciate in explicit detail the nuance of any given circumstance, and later reconnect it to the singular octopus, to remember that for certain, it really always abuts the oneness of all.
About the strawmen: for any individual, different strawmen may be more accessible (a literal minded person may struggle with something spiritual or metaphorical, a Christian may find their history with scripture richer), but it's also a great exercise in expanding our perspective by branching out to less natural strawmen. For a scientist to spend more time with a piece of literature to explore selflessness and altruism, or an acolyte to dissect the implications of kin selection in evolutionary psychology to explore how "goodness" can be baked into the human psyche through the invisible hand of our genetic drive to replicate itself. Either way, it's in the ping-pong of ideas that we grow.
Whatever the strawman around which you want to wrap a personal reflection, it's your wrapping around it in which the benefit lies, not the strawman. Whether you take a moment of intentional analysis of one of the universal conflicts of the human condition using the Bible, Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, an episode of Sex In The City, or a scholarly article by a clinical psychologist, your throw your life experience and natural attitude up against some idea or principle and compare and contrast, judge, butt and rebut, accept and deny and so forth. It's particularly useful when there's another thoughtful member in the room making it a threesome (you, them, and the literature) or three or more (with diminishing returns).
An open dialogue with the expectation that you will come away from the encounter with a better understanding, able to understand and incorporate a heftier hunk of some small part of the universal whole.
I've come to believe that it's sometimes useful to deconstruct the universal principles of human existence to appreciate in explicit detail the nuance of any given circumstance, and later reconnect it to the singular octopus, to remember that for certain, it really always abuts the oneness of all.
About the strawmen: for any individual, different strawmen may be more accessible (a literal minded person may struggle with something spiritual or metaphorical, a Christian may find their history with scripture richer), but it's also a great exercise in expanding our perspective by branching out to less natural strawmen. For a scientist to spend more time with a piece of literature to explore selflessness and altruism, or an acolyte to dissect the implications of kin selection in evolutionary psychology to explore how "goodness" can be baked into the human psyche through the invisible hand of our genetic drive to replicate itself. Either way, it's in the ping-pong of ideas that we grow.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Take a Knee. Take Five of Them.
In America, you can take a knee and not be put away. Sure, some people can be against you for it, but if they weren't, then you wouldn't have to take a knee.
The question you should be asking is not should they or shouldn't they. But "Why do some Americans feel the need to make a statement like this?" And then, "What do we need to do to fix it?"
The men and women of the Armed Forces defend our freedom to take knees if we want and are proud of their job and I don't know a single person who doesn't support them. Standing up for the flag does not equal supporting our troops. I was a troop once, and I support both the troops (past, present and future), and the need to improve our treatment of minorities and immigrants in this country and the right (and responsibility) for citizens to speak their mind as they see fit with whatever platform they have.
A president who singles out individuals for his harassment, on the other hand is anathema to his office and good leadership in general. I've always stood during the National Anthem, Pledge, etc., because the flag does not represent Trump, and he is definitely not representing America or our values.
To me, the flag, the Anthem and the Pledge are symbols of our aspiration to live up to our values. We want to be a more perfect union, we want to liberty and justice for all. We want our country to be a beacon of hope to the world and a leader by example: strong, firm, compassionate, inclusive, resolute, innovative. Not shrill, strident, peevish, defensive, flip-floppy, fear-driven, hyper-reactive.
The question you should be asking is not should they or shouldn't they. But "Why do some Americans feel the need to make a statement like this?" And then, "What do we need to do to fix it?"
The men and women of the Armed Forces defend our freedom to take knees if we want and are proud of their job and I don't know a single person who doesn't support them. Standing up for the flag does not equal supporting our troops. I was a troop once, and I support both the troops (past, present and future), and the need to improve our treatment of minorities and immigrants in this country and the right (and responsibility) for citizens to speak their mind as they see fit with whatever platform they have.
A president who singles out individuals for his harassment, on the other hand is anathema to his office and good leadership in general. I've always stood during the National Anthem, Pledge, etc., because the flag does not represent Trump, and he is definitely not representing America or our values.
To me, the flag, the Anthem and the Pledge are symbols of our aspiration to live up to our values. We want to be a more perfect union, we want to liberty and justice for all. We want our country to be a beacon of hope to the world and a leader by example: strong, firm, compassionate, inclusive, resolute, innovative. Not shrill, strident, peevish, defensive, flip-floppy, fear-driven, hyper-reactive.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
What We All REALLY CAN Agree On. Let's Start There.
1. It would be nice if more and more people had decent health insurance every year. Maybe we could figure out how to make that happen.
2. It would be great if we could put more of our money toward educating our young than incarcerating our adults. Let's find a way to systematically shift every dollar spent on prisons and jails to educating and meeting the mental health needs of children.
3. Discrimination sucks. It brings people down for no reason. It never brings people up. Let's continue to fight for fair treatment for humans, and humane treatment to animals. Death to mosquitoes!
4. Trust in government is important, so fighting corruption and increasing transparency is vital.
5. People having faith in the electoral system is an important factor to trust in government. Everything we can do to make it more transparent and secure is worth it. Things to take a really good look at: The Electoral College, Gerrymandering, Term Limits, and Citizens United.
6. Our workforce must meet today's needs. People need to be thinking about the future when they start their careers, with a viable plan B always there in case something happens to the industry, job, etc. This is more important every day as we see automation and AI taking on more and more. Examples: Online banking and learning (changes the role and focus of teachers from purveyors of information to facilitators of learning techniques and critical thinking)
7. Education can be greatly improved: What we teach, how we teach, when and where we teach. All are due for some serious overhauls.
2. It would be great if we could put more of our money toward educating our young than incarcerating our adults. Let's find a way to systematically shift every dollar spent on prisons and jails to educating and meeting the mental health needs of children.
3. Discrimination sucks. It brings people down for no reason. It never brings people up. Let's continue to fight for fair treatment for humans, and humane treatment to animals. Death to mosquitoes!
4. Trust in government is important, so fighting corruption and increasing transparency is vital.
5. People having faith in the electoral system is an important factor to trust in government. Everything we can do to make it more transparent and secure is worth it. Things to take a really good look at: The Electoral College, Gerrymandering, Term Limits, and Citizens United.
6. Our workforce must meet today's needs. People need to be thinking about the future when they start their careers, with a viable plan B always there in case something happens to the industry, job, etc. This is more important every day as we see automation and AI taking on more and more. Examples: Online banking and learning (changes the role and focus of teachers from purveyors of information to facilitators of learning techniques and critical thinking)
7. Education can be greatly improved: What we teach, how we teach, when and where we teach. All are due for some serious overhauls.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Non-Partisan DACA Reality
DACA was enacted with the full knowledge by the President at the time of its borderline legality. He chose to proceed, I assume, because it was better than the alternative of not acting to support those who fell under the provisions: children brought here as minors. With Congress locked into its ridiculous "oppose everything the president does, have no real plan of your own", the sort of immigration reform that we all know needs to happen through actual legislation was an obvious non-starter.
So, along comes a new president who campaigned on undoing everything Obama did, and who proceeds to live up to his promise, sets some dumb time-frame within which Congress is now supposed to come up with a solution... Yes, its tragic.
But what can we all agree on? How about this: we enact an immigration policy that allows enough hungry, wanna-be Americans in so we can continue to employ people do keep our country going, we provide an environment of welcome to those people so they want to integrate as productive citizens/residents who wish to contribute to and benefit from what our country has to offer, who don't feel outcast and ripen for radicalization, but rather have a real hope of climbing whatever they see as the ladder of success to achieve some idea of their American dream.
I don't think anyone wants to eliminate the boarders, so find a way to police that humanely, but make the pathway to becoming an American citizen/legal resident straight-forward and viable so it makes sense. That's a tough thing to do, but with thoughtful, minimally racist (inasmuch as that's possible) people working hard, listening to the arguments all around the dial, and coming up with a solution that accomplishes our immigration goals, it's not impossible. It will never be perfect -- that's not the universe we live in -- but it can be good, and we can work to improve it as we watch the results of our initial efforts closely.
Our brainless political hatred (liberal versus conservative) in this country is making this a horrendous non-starter, so we've got to be busting that shit up. It's going to take a willingness to admit where we've been wrong and where the opposition has been right, although the right is going to have to move a little further than the left to the left than the left will to the right. You know it, but the left has started to adopt the unquestioned hatred for everything the opposition does regardless of merits (though admittedly, there's not much happening on the right these days that doesn't deserve heavy derision, but where it exists, the left needs to give credit where it's due, even if there are some disagreements about the details).
So, along comes a new president who campaigned on undoing everything Obama did, and who proceeds to live up to his promise, sets some dumb time-frame within which Congress is now supposed to come up with a solution... Yes, its tragic.
But what can we all agree on? How about this: we enact an immigration policy that allows enough hungry, wanna-be Americans in so we can continue to employ people do keep our country going, we provide an environment of welcome to those people so they want to integrate as productive citizens/residents who wish to contribute to and benefit from what our country has to offer, who don't feel outcast and ripen for radicalization, but rather have a real hope of climbing whatever they see as the ladder of success to achieve some idea of their American dream.
I don't think anyone wants to eliminate the boarders, so find a way to police that humanely, but make the pathway to becoming an American citizen/legal resident straight-forward and viable so it makes sense. That's a tough thing to do, but with thoughtful, minimally racist (inasmuch as that's possible) people working hard, listening to the arguments all around the dial, and coming up with a solution that accomplishes our immigration goals, it's not impossible. It will never be perfect -- that's not the universe we live in -- but it can be good, and we can work to improve it as we watch the results of our initial efforts closely.
Our brainless political hatred (liberal versus conservative) in this country is making this a horrendous non-starter, so we've got to be busting that shit up. It's going to take a willingness to admit where we've been wrong and where the opposition has been right, although the right is going to have to move a little further than the left to the left than the left will to the right. You know it, but the left has started to adopt the unquestioned hatred for everything the opposition does regardless of merits (though admittedly, there's not much happening on the right these days that doesn't deserve heavy derision, but where it exists, the left needs to give credit where it's due, even if there are some disagreements about the details).
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