FROM STICKS AND STONES TO ROBOTS AND DRONES

THE BIRDMEN DRONE

IN THE BLUE; IT IS STEEL

A MOTOR SINGS AND ZOOMS.


 

From SMOKE AND STEEL by Carl Sandburg

*

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”

Voltaire

 

 

The 1909 Wright Military Flyer

 

 

The RQ-4 Global Hawk

 

 

 

It is no surprise that men are now flying planes without sitting inside the cockpits.

It is something we would expect extraterrestrials to do if they were “visiting” our planet.

If they were, what would we do?

Shoot at them, of course.

*

It’s an immense "maybe", but maybe hardware in our newest military “toys” contains parts from an alien technology.

It’s as likely as moon cheese.

*

It’s o.k. as long as the most advanced drones stay in the hands of the good guys.

I wouldn’t want the bad guys to have the better robots or drones.

Would you?

*

Sticks…stones…swords…spears…arrows… gunpowder…guns…cannons…nuclear energy…rockets…robots…drones…

*

Computers.

They can be used for Good and Evil.

Just like Nuclear Energy.

It all depends on how the technology is put to use.

A toaster didn’t become a weapon, except on rare occasions when a person used it to crack the skull of another person.

*

It is no surprise that we now have robot vacuum sweepers, robot dogs, and humanoid robots.

I wish I could be surprised instead of just being shocked and dismayed.

A report by Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School cites a United States Air Force assessment that “by 2030 machine capabilities will have increased to the point that humans will have become the weakest component in a wide array of systems and processes.”

From U.N. Expert Calls for Halt in Military Robot Development

By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE

Published: May 30, 2013 array of systems and processes.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/31/world/europe/united-nations-armed-robots.html

 

*

My bravery is not equal to that of Brave New World.

I am fearful of the brave bearers of these new weapons.

Einstein said,
“Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.”

And Martin Luther King noted,

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

 

IT’S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

 

 

 

 

MORE BANG FOR THE BUCK AND OLDER

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/science/space/planck-satellite-shows-image-of-infant-universe.html?src=recg

 

 

 

 

FIRST WORDS OF THE BIG BANG:

 "Do I dare disturb the Universe?"

Drawing and caption by yours truly M.L. Squier

[p.s., The light on the edges is coming from another universe.]

 

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

 Einstein

 

“You can get very, very strange answers to problems when you start thinking about what different observers might see in different universes.”

George Efstathiou, director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/telescope-that-sees-big-bangs-afterglow-sees-older-universe-in-glimpse-of-first-split-second/2013/03/21/ada16076-920e-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html?tid=pm_pop

 

Humans occupy one solar system, in one galaxy, in one universe; but there may be dozens, hundreds, thousands…

Who knows just how many other universes are out there!

I don’t know if this is good news or bad news.

One thing for sure, men are not even close to reaching the end of their minds’ tethers.

Those tethers seem to get longer and longer by the second, just as our universe expands, but more slowly than previously thought:

The concept known as the Hubble constant, which measures how fast the universe is expanding, was adjusted to be about 3 percent slower than scientists had thought.

My blood pressure has gone down knowing this.

  I will sleep more soundly knowing that our universe is not expanding as fast as I thought it was.

Well, actually I never thought it was or wasn’t.

Who does?

 The Astroscientists, that’s who.

They chase after the big bang as if it’s a hole that’s missing from a donut, but in this case, THE COSMIC DONUT (Bavarian crème or jelly filled?)

It is awfully ironic that just as we seem to be ending our stay upon this tiny blue dot called Earth, the scientists---those inquisitive Astroscientists---believe that they are getting closer and closer to solving the riddles of Cosmology:

“We understand the very early universe potentially better than we understand the bottom of our oceans,” said Bob Nichols, director of the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth in Britain.

 

Howdy-Doody and Whoopee Do!

Raise the flag and fire the fireworks!

Give me more Space!

Truth is marching home!

Time is marching on!

IT’S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ORIGIN OF THE WHEEL

 

Cave Woman:

Darling, what have you put all over our cave’s walls?

Cave Man:

I don’t know.  They were in my dream last night.

Cave Woman:

Is this the first time you’ve had them in your dreams?

Cave Man:

Yes.

Cave Woman:

They look like those things that we see in the sky.

Cave Man:

I know. 

Cave Woman:

What do you call them?

Cave Man:

Nothing right now, but I’ll get around to calling them something.

Cave Woman:

Yeah, you always get around to things that have to be done.

Cave Man:

You just gave me an idea!  Around…a round.  It’s a round thing!

Cave Woman:

Good.  But what about giving a real name for this round thing?

Cave Man:

We’ll work on that.  We’ll have plenty of time.  We’ll…

Cave Woman:

That’s it!  WHEEL!  WHEEL!

Cave Man:

O.K. And let’s think about what we could do with it.

Cave Woman:

Yes.  Let’s turn it around in our minds.  We’ll come up with something.

 

IT’S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

 

 

READING BETWEEN THE LINES AND GULPS

The following is a very abbreviated version of Sarah Palin’s CPAC Speech on 3-16-13.  Words between parentheses are those of Mad Plato.

 

***

 

“…one reason I like Texans. They don’t mess around with our Second Amendment rights.

(But they do like to mess around!)

 All this stuff coming lately from the White House to take away the good guys’ freedom, and, the right to protect ourselves with the most naive notion that the bad guys, who ignore the laws, that all of a sudden they’re going to follow some new laws.

(I’m back to speaking in ungrammatical sentences.)

 (I know it makes some of you think of liars in another White House administration.)

 It’s not about the bad guys. No, it’s all about the lead, like solely – that chunk of metal didn’t commit the crime. That’s like saying solely, that fork made me fat.

(Or that my brain made me stupid.)

And background checks, yeah, I guess to learn more about the person’s thinking and associations and intentions. More background checks? Dandy idea Mr. President – should have started with yours.

(If you say that’s racist, then all the power to you!)

[audience going wild]

Well, it’s great to be back at CPAC. I’m so happy to be here and it feels like it’s coming home even though (home for me is skinning fish, and shooting moose and wolves) it is only my second time here, but I kinda feel like I’m getting the hang of it already, I can spot those Liberal media folk here to write their annual Conservatives in Crisis story.

It is an honor to be here. We can come together folks for an adult conversation (that includes me) about the future of our country and heaven knows, we need this.

(Need what? A future for our country?)

 So much of what passes for our national conversation is anything but.

(Or about my butt.)

Now we can’t just ignore though, that…we just lost a big election. We came in second out of two.

(I guess it is about the math.)

Second position on the dogsled team is where the view never changes and the view ain’t pretty.

(There’s a lot of blood spilling out of moose and wolves.)

We need to figure out then, our job.

(Mine was to resign.)

 What will we do next?

(Should we bomb Iran or North Korea first?)

 As we go about that, as we talk to one another, and listen to what the speakers have to say, let’s be clear about one thing, we’re not here to rebrand a party, we’re here to rebuild a country.

(We don’t want to rebrand the same ass…I mean the same elephant.)

We’re not here to put a fresh coat of rhetorical paint on our party.

(It’s already been white-washed.)

 We are not here to abandon our principles in a contest of government give-aways.

(Like the treasury and lives that were given away to finance two deceitful wars.)

 

 That’s a game we will never, ever win.

(Because war is not a game.)

 We are here to restore American and the rest is just theatrics, the rest is just sound and fury.

(My writers picked that line out of Shakespeare for me.  You betcha I’m going to read his stuff.)

You know I spend most of my time in heartland country, the heart of the heart of America and I have news for the permanent political class in Washington.

(That heart is filled with excessive amounts of cholesterol and triglycerides.)

Oh Bloomberg’s not around. Our Big Gulp’s okay. Shoot it’s just pop with low-cal ice cubes in it. I hope that’s okay. What did you think was in it?

(I stopped using LSD a long, long time ago.)

 

Seriously though, when we do see harm.

(Or sentence fragments.)

 When we see life snuffed out through violent, evil acts, imagine leadership that doesn’t seek to exploit the tragedy.

(Like we did before and after September 11, 2011.)

It’s time we all stopped preaching to the choir and let’s grow…

(Pot and our hair long.)

Whether it’s green energy or free Obama phones or prophylactics, if you don’t have a team of lobbyists in DC or a cancelled contribution check, you’re not at the table – you’re on the menu.

(You bring the beer, and I’ll bring the moose and fish.)

…if We the People have one message to send to Washington, I’m sure it would be this: Get Over Yourself. It’s not about you.

(It’s about me.)

 

IT’S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

 

HOLY SMOKE



 NEW POPE: Cardinal Jorge Maria Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires

Statue of Saint Peter outside of the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in Vatican City, Rome, Italy

 

New lightbox

 

 

 

The world is holding its breath.

Betters are betting.

Choir boys are sweating.

One thing is for sure:

The next Pope will be Catholic.

But isn’t all of that black smoke going to smudge the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling?

Just tweet the results.

No smoke!

There’s too much carbon in the air already.

Were there any bad Popes?

Yes.

“The reward for “Baddest Pope Ever” arguably goes to Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI (1431 – 1503).”

“He sired at least seven different illegitimate children by his mistresses, and didn’t hesitate to reward them with handsome endowments at the church’s expense. When low on finances, he either established new cardinals in return for payments, or he slammed wealthy people with completely fabricated charges, jailed or murdered them for said false charges, and then stole their money.”

Read more: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-worst-popes-in-history.php#ixzz2NRuYJm1Q

 

HOLD THE PHONE!

THERE IS A NEW POPE!

It just happened as I was writing.

 

IT’S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

 

 

 

IN THE NEWS AND IN THE NUDE

Early photo of Mars from the Curiosity Rover

Black smoke emerges from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. The black smoke indicates that the new pope has not been elected yet. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

 Henry Miller & Anaïs Nin

 

There have been no reports recently of Madonna taking off her clothes. 

Maybe she has turned over a new (fig) leaf.

 

***

 

Lady Gaga may soon give birth to her own monsters.

She might be planning a summer wedding to her boyfriend, actor Taylor Kinney, 31.

 

***

 

Only black smoke has come out of the papal chimney.

I wonder what the cardinals were barbecuing?

 (I know…not funny.)

 

 ***

 

Hugo Chavez is dead.

He shall be remembered for his description of George W. Bush at the United Nations in 2006:

"The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said, referring to Bush, who addressed the world body during its annual meeting. "And it smells of sulfur still today."

 

***

 

Suicide bombs continue to explode in two countries---Iraq and Afghanistan---that America invaded and occupied.

Liberated?

Is Halliburton still making a killing there?

 

***

 

First Lady Michelle Obama will be on the cover of Vogue magazine for the second time this month.

Maybe she will run for President in 2016.

Look out Hillary.

 

***

 

Mars may have supported primitive life (as the Earth still does):

 

LOS ANGELES — Drilling into a rock near its landing site, the Curiosity rover has answered a key question about Mars: The red planet long ago harbored some of the ingredients needed for primitive life to thrive.

Topping the list is evidence of water and basic elements that teeny organisms could feed on, scientists said Tuesday.

“We have found a habitable environment that is so benign and supportive of life that probably if this water was around and you had been on the planet, you would have been able to drink it,” said chief scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology.

Associated Press,

Mar 12, 2013 10:04 PM EDT

APUpdated: Tuesday, March 12, 4:04 PM

 

Just don’t give this news to any of the life forms living on the dark side of Mars.

Note:

When Mars is visited there will be plenty of water and dry ice.

But no gas.

 

 

***

And speaking of gas, a local ROCK & ROLL station reported today that Dustin Hoffman farts a lot when he’s making movies.

Mr. Hoffman can still make some very good movies, farts or no farts.

 

***

In other news:

A new form of microbial life has been found in water samples taken from a giant freshwater lake hidden under kilometers of Antarctic ice, Russian scientists said Monday. 

Sergei Bulat and Valery Lukin said in a statement that the "unidentified and unclassified" bacterium has no relation to any of the existing bacterial types. They acknowledged, however, that extensive research of the microbe that was sealed under the ice for millions of years will be necessary to prove the find and determine the bacterium's characteristics.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0311/A-new-form-of-microbe-in-Antarctic-lake

 

Is this good or bad news?

I guess it depends on what the heck this bacterium is.

Shouldn’t it be kept in quarantine until more is known about it?

 

***

Books that I’m * reading or # have finished reading:

# DRIVING MR. ALBERT: A TRIP ACROSS AMERICA WITH EINSTEIN'S BRAIN by Michael Paterniti

# The Active Side of Infinity by Carlos Castaneda

# Life of Pi by Yann Martel

# Nexus by Henry Miller

# Moloch by Henry Miller

* Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz

* CARL SANDBURG HARVEST POEMS 1910-1960

* THE BRAIN-DEAD MEGAPHONE by George Saunders

* My Life & Loves by Frank Harris

* Crazy Cock by Henry Miller

* HENRY & JUNE by Anaïs Nin

 (born Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell)

 

 

IT’S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!