Dan Rather Won't Go Gentle

When Dylan Thomas wrote:

"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

Dan Rather was a young man of 22 and perhaps like me at that time, not quite convinced of his mortality and sure that he would never get old. Now both Rather and I are well passed the "three score and ten" mark, wondering how we got this far.Some say that he should walk away gracefully - quit while he's ahead but I know he wants to have that "last hurrah" and not just "fade away" as Douglas McArthur described the demise of old soldiers.
Our society has removed many taboos, sexual and otherwise but one of the new taboos is the obscenity of old age. It just isn't something to be exposed in public but instead hidden away and never mentioned in our polite, politically correct society. One day soon, people will be tested annually after the age of seventy or so and when found lacking in the abilities and faculties necessary for a dynamic and "productive" life style they will be confined in appropriate premises for their own and society's good.
I remember watching Marciano knock out Jersey Joe Walcott in the first round of their final bout. It was sad. Jersey Joe should have quit a winner.

Good luck Dan

On the Road Again

Heading out for Toulouse and the "Canal du Midi". I'll be gone about a month. Stay tuned for impressions (graphic & otherwise)

Evolutionary Developments

A "Level playing field"? Where can you find one? No two playing fields, in any sport or activity can ever be identical. One has mud and rocks another sand pits and gullies. Some have "mental hazards" almost impossible to overcome. No two of us are alike. How could our playing fields or "champs de battle" be comparable.
It really is all about the evolutionary process. Some of us are endowed with expanded capacities for mathematical thought and the superior ability to deal with spatial relations and something like geographical orientation. Men are supposed to be able to deal with map reversals and other similar cinquefoil/visual experiences better than women. But- the truth is that some men are better at some things than others, (Duh!)
and some women do the map thing a lot better than most men.

The sectors in the brain that control humor, creativity and compassion are very probably located in the same lob of the brain. It is quite likely that the development of these sectors was very different in the various sub-species that constituted the main stream of human development. In a few sectors of a few sub-species, the "creative/compassion/humor" lobe developed at a much faster rate than with other sub-specicies. In the European sub-species, this might have resulted in a bio-genetic strain that resulted in a division of cultures. The sub-species, who had a higher development of the Creative/Compassionate/Perceptive lobe were those who rose to the higher strata of the socio-economic ladder. The others were relegated to the "Peasant" level. The peasant, never understood or appreciated the "absurdity" of his position, the others (nobles, priests etc.) exploited. The peasant with a real sense of humor was truly "a hair in the soup"