Feminine Beauty

Today was a day of goodbyes at Savannah Technical College.  All my "best" students came by -- some groups of them had gotten or rigged small gifts for me, little remembrances, little things -- but they all meant a lot. Many kind words were exchanged. Once again I was often told how much they had  learned; how they never thought that they would love public speaking; and how they thought I was the key to that process.

I am used to those kind words -- but I have not become jaded to their honesty nor their real truth. What I would have liked to have said to each of them -- is how much they meant and will mean to me. How much --- frankly -- that I loved them; each and every one of them. It seems foolish to say such things -- but it is of course the honest "feminine" in me, something my long departed wife loved in me; something my friends recognize in me as "my creative side."

I do love my students -- always have, always will. And so it goes -- the last full semester is done except for the grading, and the bureaucracy.

Resist still!

Too Pooped to Participate

In my youth -- the title of this piece often indicated the "end of the semester" at school when all the work was almost done, all the exams were "taken," and the outcome of everything was still in doubt but you took to your bed nonetheless.

This term was the last time I really have felt this way -- using the "tired" excuse to justify all kinds of laziness. This malaise is not that uncommon -- and has many different names: waiting until the last minute, fatigue, stress avoidance, procrastination, hysterical paralysis, and just plain laziness. Use whichever phrase you prefer --- but take that nap!!!

And continue to RESIST!!!

The Delicate Process of Being

Having a lively attitude towards life, not being afraid of making mistakes (even gigantic ones), trying not to lead a life of "devastation" for those around you, understanding that morality is not absolute but human, realizing that those people around you may not agree with you, and finally being "open" to all experiences and people---- those elements are in balance in a true human being.

Resist Trump!!!

On Relationships Big and Small

As a person, I cherish and work to maintain friendships. These are "relationships" that for me are pure, with no strings attached of any kind. Sometimes these "relationships" can turn into something more, but in most cases they do not.

I have maintained a number of friendships with former students and faculty  at the various places I have taught. Many of them are still my "friends" -- a small (very small) number of them became closer than friends. One became my "surrogate daughter" --- very long story there. And one, before I was married -- so pre-1986, became my lover. That wonderful relationship became a lifelong friendship maintained even until today. One former friend even "saved my life" -- another very long story.

My younger students and former students have nothing to fear from me. I would always be honest with them -- supportive, not self-seeking, not controlling. I am not a pervert nor am I a "user" of any kind. I have employed former students for a variety of jobs -- packing, moving, helping to give away or sell furniture, researching, cleaning,  and other tasks. I always am honest with them; pay well; and seek no extra benefits.

I have given away money to those who need it (just for fun) -- or sometimes because a friend just needs a "lift." I don't seek becoming a "sugar daddy" nor an abuser. I am, in the current age of users and abusers (see all the stories about #metoo) an outlier for sure.   

On Trump Diminishing America

As an autocrat and a wouldbe tyrant -- Trump is also a failure. He has engaged the legal machinery of the United States Constitution on many fronts to "rise up" and defeat him.

He is in violation of the emoluments clause -- because he is a self-proclaimed "successful businessman" he claims that he can still make lots of money off of his position with his hotels, golf courses, and branding exercises. His private business portfolio is not distinct from his office. Even giving nominal control of Trump Enterprises to his children, he further crosses the line(s) on the emoluments clause because "his children" are all a part of his administration at the highest level. He is complicit to "cheating on the emoluments clause" in more than one way -- first on his own (peddling favors or influence for future or current business deals); second by forcing foreign governments and our own government to "meet and greet" and "negotiate" issues of state at Trump's own hotels, resorts, or golf clubs; third he holds the security forces of the US "hostage" by forcing the government to "rent" space from his properties to secure safety for Trump, his family, and for all their lavish travel and vacationing. On the emoluments clause --- Trump is a crooked businessman.

Now as to his "stealing the election" of 2016 -- that will never be proven conclusively. But what is obvious is that there was "collusion" to steal the election, and then a ridiculous and amateur attempt to cover up or "obstruct" the Mueller, Senate, and House investigations of the Trump campaign's, transition's, and early days of his Presidency (just before and after his inauguration) contacts with the Russians. Who was he colluding with? Was it Putin himself, or Russian hackers spreading disinformation and lies (which continue now through Trump himself) about Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and everyone and everything that casts doubts of Trump, his policies, his lifestyle, or what-have-you.

Trump is also in violation of basic decency. He has attacked Gold Star Parents, "heroes" within his own party, women, other Republicans, his own staff, his former wives, his former partners, and everyone else. He is still attacking Hillary Clinton, trying to claim that while she got all the breaks from the FBI -- he is getting unequal and unfair scrutiny. Leaving out the fact that Trump is amoral,
guilty of many cultural and moral failings, and probably a sociopathic criminal as well -- he is also a spoiled little bully with no discernible moral compass. For him -- lies are truth, and truth is always up to his own interpretation. In most every way Trump is a "total loser" as a human being -- to coin a phrase.

And so -- all of you, must continue without ceasing, to RESIST! 

Quantum Computing

Let me put a new "worrisome" idea into your Trump-addled brains! Quantum computing. If you can imagine a computing world in which computers can literally work at indefinable speeds, doubling and redoubling the amount of  "qubit" power it uses -- and still come to coherent answers, you begin to sense and understand the promise of quantum computing.

I only vaguely understand the "science" involved -- computer languages no longer consisting of  x's and o's but now x's and o's at the same time and in dizzying combinations. It's akin, in my brain at least, to the many applications that will occur as we get used to 4D technology over 3D. The concept of AI (artificial intelligence of course) now becomes an onrushing certainty. And many experts are worried that all this speech, movement, and applied physics within AI could put even the human brain at a disadvantage.

What could be the result? Perhaps a "factory" that could completely run by itself, self-autonomous and even self-aware. Humans would be forced to create relationships with self-aware robots or they might be forced to serve them (or try to destroy them). What else is possible? Living with robots as equals; perhaps adopting robot replacement parts to extend human life beyond the genome; perhaps learning and teaching humanity to our own creations as they teach robotic essence to us. If you can imagine it now -- changes wrought by quantum computing and even faster computing in the future, can make it happen.


Right now however, our job is to resist!!!

Trump is a Lying Crooked Businessman

Donald J. Trump has lied so often during his presidential campaign, and now while in office, that his words are meaningless in terms of truth. He has distorted, hyperbolized, made up things to suit the moment, covered up, obstructed, and pinioned the truth in a web of innuendo and self-righteous intrigue. He is a liar. He may be a psychopath at times. He may cause a nuclear war while pretending to be the leader of a great nation. He has no soul to show the American people -- because he has covered it up with lies.

The GOP "majority" in Congress who have gone along with him, and enabled him --- are complicit in his corruption. His family who have encouraged him, used him, and then backed off from him --- are complicit by their lack of moral standing. Like the neighbors and friends of mass murderers -- who stood by and did nothing -- Trump's family and "friends" are complicit in his crimes. History will judge them as it did the German people under Hitler, or the Russian oligarchs under Stalin, or the "blackshirts" under "Il Duce." They were and are all complicit. 

You and I are not yet complicit -- but we must continue to:

RESIST!