the law of averages

"average figures tell only a very limited story, however, because the inequalities in land distribution that exist in every society mean that some weaker and marginal groups will be subjected to harsher scarcity than the averages reveal. in large areas of the world tens of millions of marginalized peasants already subsist on extraordinarily small, and often fragmented, plots of low quality land. over 70 percent of all rural households in the developing world are either landless or nearly landless." thomas homer-dixon "environment, scarcity, and violence."_____________________________________________________________________tom is on about peasants, cropland scarcity, and subsistence...all subjects of interest to me...and how "average" statistics can hide real suffering...averages are pretty much distortions that can be used by...oh...say economists and government flunkies ( read bureaucrats ) to make things seem less intense or threatening or misappropriated or grossly unfair than they actually are...the dow jones averages can reflect gains or loss on the stock market bu they are an average...not everyone wins...not everyone loses...but the average spreads the gain or loss out over all investors so that you don't see at a glance who got stinking rich and who took a bath...you have to take a deeper look and who has time for that? "oh...good news...the market is up!"..it strikes me as no coincidence that many ( although not all ) of the economic indicators used by the government to assess and publicize "economic health" are averages...the national bureau of economic research releases economic data based on things like "average weekly hours"...what they don't really highlight is that figure is average weekly hours worked in manufacturing...not in service or information jobs...and, usually, not solely by minimum wage workers...so who works how long at wal-mart? government doesn't know or doesn't want you to know because it might be bad news and so much of the system runs on faith..."average weekly jobless claims"...this is a seriously cooked number under the best of circumstances and anybody who works for a living knows it...it does not include those who have flat given up on finding steady work for instance...all this number does is cloud the issue.."average duration of unemployment" is another parboiled number tied directly to the last one and just as distorted and manipulated...so the government can spout averages to bend and twist the data to fit political expedience ( and they will )...i will continue to use resources like shadowstats and a closer examination of what raw data i can find to assemble a more realistic view of what's up...these people lie to protect their jobs and a ramshackle system that has serious issues...take a hard look at what's going on in your family...in your friends and co-workers' families...put aside government and media distortions ( after all they report the "government figures" as some kind of consequentialist gospel ) and see how closely it matches the "economic recovery"...some win...some lose...the winners don't want you to know how much they are winning.

irruption

the fundamental principle is this: whatever necessity is least abundantly available (relative to per capita requirements) sets an environment’s carrying capacity.” William catton overshoot________________ “without powerful restraints, humans-like all other species-exploit all available resources; the difference is that, with people, what is ‘accessible’ is defined by evolving technology” William rees the human nature of unsustainability___________ “major jumps in population, at around a.d.1300, 1600, and in the late eighteenth century, each led to intensification in agriculture and industry. as the land in the late middle ages was increasingly deforested to provide fuel and agricultural space for a growing population, basic cooking, heating, and manufacturing needs could no longer be met by burning wood. a shift to reliance on coal began, gradually and with apparent reluctance. coal was definitely a fuel source of secondary desirability being more costly to obtain and distribute than wood…” Joseph tainter the collapse of complex societies__________ “wood was also used for cooking, for heating houses, and for all industries that needed fire-power, for which demand was increasing with alarming speed even before the sixteenth century…there were many eager takers for the forest wealth which was bitterly fought over since its abundance was only apparent…” “…it was said that a single forge used as much wood as a town the size of chalons-sur-marne. enraged villagers complained of forges and foundries which devoured the trees of the forest, not leaving enough for the bakers ovens…” “charcoal reached paris in the sixteenth century by way of sens from the forest of the othe; by the eighteenth century, it was arriving form all accessible forests…” Fernand braudel the structures of everyday life: civilization and capitalism 15th-18th century, volume I__________ humans are a product of evolution and, like any species, in the absence of competition, they will expand to completely utilize the resources of an available environmental niche and human technology defines what is accessible by eliminating competition from other species…and, given the nature of humans and a close look at their recorded history, other humans as well (as alluded to in the braudel quote)…energy moves civilization…you can argue that it is technology or ideas or economics, but without some sort of energy source that meets the needs of those technologies or ideas ( economics is voodoo) they are inert…don’t think so? what happens when the power goes out at your house? get restless looking at blank screens and inert play stations? head out some wi-fi “hot spot” or a sports bar in some oasis of electricity…or just fire up the generator and turn fossil fuel into electrons? humans still devour wood…but mostly for shelter and furnishings rather than fuel these days (for the nonce…this could change...woodcutter could become a job classification again)…we moved on to coal because wood was becoming scarce…didn’t want to..wood was familiar…there was an extant infrastructure for its procurement and distribution…one for coal had to be built…costs in money and time and labor, not to mention shortages and high energy costs…new technology helped along the way and coal is still mined…still big business…but like all fossil fuels it is not a renewable resource…and all the easy stuff has been mined…it’s getting more difficult to find, harder to mine, and the quality is deteriorating…sounds a lot like oil ( current conditions are an artificial construct…the glut and low prices will not last indefinitely)…I read that fuel cell autos powered by hydrogen are the coming thing( this was on yahoo, among other places…apply salt liberally)…there will need to be a new fuel infrastructure built if this is so…the current one would just leak hydrogen dangerously…new technology…new complexity...new interconnectivity of processes…new opportunity for cascade failures and diminishing returns…when does technology become too costly to maintain…when do diminishing returns on investment in technology and infrastructure dictate a shift to simpler and more sustainable economic ( voodoo) models…that point is out there ( barring cold fusion…that could change things...but even so there is only a finite amount of matter on the planet to be changed to energy…it is not a panacea) and we will find it as a species sometime…how far will we have degraded the planet’s carrying capacity by the time we get there? as a side note to my discontent...a new "style" magazine was in the n y times today...i have not done all the math bit there were 95 full page color ads and 9 black and white...104 of 190 pages were advertizing...yet another up-scale marketing bonanza for the times...as a further note to add to this the back page of the saturday business section had a full page ad announcing a "reimagined" sunday magazine section to make its debut on february twenty-second of next year..."brands" are asked to "add your voice to the conversation...for more information about advertising and launch packages contact your account manager."...the "paper of record" panders to the elite while the rest of us watch...i haven't browsed the condominium prices in manhattan just yet...i wan to save some entertainment for later.

happy holidays from the makers of dissent

“western colonizing powers offer the native the gift of individual freedom and independence. they try to teach him self-reliance. what it amounts to is individual isolation. it means cutting off an immature and poorly furnished individual from the corporate whole and releasing him, in the words of khomaiakov, “ to the freedom of his own impotence,” eric hoffer from the true believer: thoughts on the nature of mass movements__________________________________________ if eric hoffer was alive he’d merit a shot to the nuts for this dreck...it is redolent of the nineteen-fifties consensus era it was written in and i have launched it across the room any number of times…so what do the “western colonizing powers “ ( and this is an accurate statement…whether in the overt form of colonialism or in the covert subversion of local culture through the destruction of its mainstays like local agriculture through cheap imports of industrial food or sowing discontent through engineered desires the west invades local culture like a virus ) offer? western culture with all its material accoutrements…and none of the support offered by a local, traditional culture…an “i got mine, you get yours” market economy instead of the supportive social group humans evolved in…”immature and poorly furnished” for what and by whose definition…western culture with its imperial triumphalism and hubris…its unwarranted exceptionalism…you bet they’re ill equipped for that…it’s a polar opposite for where they are wrapped in a shiny lie that steamrolls local culture…local culture is self-reliant and adapted to local conditions in a way western culture can never be…local culture recognizes limits…western culture has economists that classify limits as irrelevant externals…guess which will last longer…local culture may seem impotent in the face of the barbarian west but it can find its footing and its voice…organizations like via campesina are proliferating in defense of traditional cultures…the homogenizing west has it wrong in a multitude of respects…eric hoffer’s eurocentric view was a symptom of a malaise that carries right through to john Boehner, barak Obama, and their sycophantic mouthpiece tom freidman…I need to read some buffalobird woman to cleanse the pallet.

Too late II

THE LUXURY ISSUE 2014 View All Issues » T's Luxury Issue offers an intimate look at some of literature, art and design’s most respected figures. In the issue’s centerpiece, authors including Philip Roth, George Saunders, Marilynne Robinson and Lydia Davis revisit, in candid prose, the circumstances and motivations that shaped some of their greatest works. (They also share annotated pages from those books — a sampling of a December auction of annotated first editions by 75 authors to benefit the PEN American Center, the range of which can be seen on T’s website.) Next, we celebrate the master decorator Robert Kime, whom we encounter at his picturesque farmhouse in the north of England; Rita Konig tours the property and gets a firsthand look at the English eclecticism that Kime has brought to his high-profile clients’ homes for decades. The polymath Danish artist Olafur Eliasson opens the doors to his sprawling studio in a converted brewery in Berlin and explains how art is just one of the ways — along with politics, philanthropy and cooking — he hopes to change the world. Elsewhere, Cathy Horyn answers the question, "To fast or feast?" by doing both in Germany’s Black Forest; Andrew O’Hagan opines that, yes, life really is better in the iPhone age; Christine Smallwood puzzles over a bizarre new theme park in Rome dedicated to Italian film; and one of T’s very own editors explores New York City on three wheels in an ode to the trusty and stylish, if oft-forgotten, tricycle. See all stories from this issue >> HIGHLIGHTS William Eggleston, The Third Way: Tricycles By EMILY STOKES Long a favorite of toddlers, three-wheelers have also attracted the attention of British lords, Indian maharajahs — and now, one writer hopes, a bold new generation. Top: the fruit juice “lunch” served during the 10-day fast at the Buchinger Wilhelmi clinic on Lake Constance. Bottom: lunch at the three-Michelin-star restaurant Schwarzwaldstube in Baiersbronn includes grilled quail, a Breton lobster and a granite of sour cherries. Famine or Feast? By CATHY HORYN Is it more rewarding to subsist on broth and cold mountain treks at a German clinic for 10 days or to settle into five-course Michelin-starred meals? One writer heads to the Black Forest to find out. Slouchy Suede Bags By T MAGAZINE A luxuriously supple carryall, just in time for fashion’s new ’70s groove. The Elegance of Time By T MAGAZINE While smart watches are grabbing headlines, there’s something thoroughly modern in bucking the trend in favor of a handsome gold timepiece with no complications. Diamonds in the Rough By T MAGAZINE Jagged stones, graphic settings and a touch of black give the new gems a strikingly youthful edge. Vintage furniture and custom pieces by Vincenzo de Cotiis in his former office in Brescia, originally a sock factory from the ’40s. Industrial Elegance By STEPHEN HEYMAN The interior architect Vincenzo de Cotiis — sought after in his native Italy for the dynamic monastery-meets-laboratory approach he brings to designing furniture, homes and hotels — deserves our attention. Philip Roth at home in September. “I certainly didn’t understand while at work that henceforth I was never to be free of this psychoanalytic patient I was calling Alexander Portnoy.” Old Books, New Thoughts By PHILIP ROTH, LYDIA DAVIS, ROBERT A. CARO, GEORGE SAUNDERS, MARILYNNE ROBINSON, JENNIFER EGAN, JUNOT DÍAZ On the occasion of an auction of annotated first editions to benefit PEN American Center, seven authors look back on their early books and younger selves. Anya Hindmarch’s World of Inspiration By EVIANA HARTMAN The beloved British accessories designer turns to playful influences to breathe a little life and laughter into luxury. Unfinished wooden sculptures at Studio Olafur Eliasson, which occupies a converted brewery in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin. Olafur Eliasson on How to Do Good Art By NED BEAUMAN On the eve of his exhibition at the new Fondation Louis Vuitton, the artist discusses his work — which includes a school, an architecture practice, a charity, a cookbook and a herd of Icelandic sheep, and which is meant to make the world a better place. Really. Backstage at Dior’s spring 2015 show, where the creative and image director of Dior Makeup, Peter Philips, created subtle drama with adhesive strips across the eyelids. At Dior, Icing on the Cake By SARAH NICOLE PRICKETT Sugary pastel eyeliner made from strips of satin conjures worlds of romance and solace. One of the entrances to Cinecittà World, which opened last July. Hollywood on the Tiber By CHRISTINE SMALLWOOD What could be more melancholic, extravagant, alienated, operatic and deeply strange than Italian film? Try turning Italian film into a theme park. Poetic Justice By T MAGAZINE Finally for evening, a mood of natural elegance with loose, unadorned dresses and flat sandals._____________________________________________________________ the new york times rises to my bait every time...they go to great lengths to defend themselves as the "paper of record" for the general public and then they publish thinks like the T magazine "Luxury 2014" issue...in ethnography the rule of thumb is to write about what people say they are doing, what they think they are doing, and what they are actually doing ( not losing sight of the fact that even the most objective of ethnographers is going to have biases about what people are doing )...well...here's a quick run-down on what the n y times is doing...making money by pandering to a wealthy elite...among the tokenish articles on designer clothing, interior design, yet another article on phillip roth, and elitist kitsch they call art, are 74 full page color ads and 4 full page black and white ( full page ads were all i found )...revenue of $7,923,550 from the former and $293,680 from the latter...$8,217,230 total from an artificial section of a "newspaper" dedicated to "all the news that fit to print" as long as it turns a buck...i'll read it...but i won't trust it.

too late

comments are doubtlessly closed on this howler of an op-ed piece ( if, indeed, they were ever opened )...but despite what the public editor has to say about a broader readership the nyt is an elitist newspaper...how do i know? pick up your copy of the new york times sunday magazine...got it? open the cover and what do you find? a two page black and white advertisement ( about $146,000 and change )for a patek philippe wrist watch that you don't own, you, " merely take care of it for the next generation"...no price ( if you have to ask you can't afford it )...my guess would be around what we paid for the house...flip to the next page and what do we find? a two page color advertisement ( $214,000 and change ) for 2,282 square foot condominium ( residence D5-05 ) for the bargain price of $4.8 million ( that explains why they can afford the color ad )...i think i could swing the monthly payment...how about you? or maybe just cash on the barrel head...no sweat...i subscribe to this rag specifically to find out what the elite are doing and thinking and saying as the carom though their daily routine existence...there is no better source for what madisons's "minor party" is up to than this..if comments were open i'd have to say "too late...your shameless pandering to the wealth of wall street is showing"

novemberland

if i were german i'd be a bit nervous today...the ninth of november is replete with events of note in the history of that country and at first glance you'd think it something of a coincidence or as some sort of proof of the validity of numerology...but i can see only one event that could be coincidence here...kaiser bill abdicated on november ninth 1918...all fine and good...and he fled to a reasonably comfortable exile in holland...ludendorf and hitler staged the beer hall putsch on the anniversary of that abdication as a reasoned ( if not reasonable ) reaction to the weimar republic...it was a conscious choice...and kristallnacht, while ostensibly related to the murder do a german diplomat, was connected to that train of event "celebration"...gunter schabowski precipitated the fall of the berlin wall in 1989 by mistakenly announcing the lifting of travel restrictions to the west a day early at what was supposed to be a run of the mill press briefing and that could be a coincidence...unless gunter has some subconscious german history going on...i'm not sure about that...later he said " we were assholes. the revolution was going on right in front of us and we couldn't see it"...so much for the wisdom of politicians and bureaucrats...so much for the wisdom of the powers that be...reality and causality are made up of billions of individual decisions and action taken on a daily basis...even the best informed among us can have only the most general idea of what's going on...life is not linear and coincidences are mostly non existent...when they do crop up they are fodder for conspiracy theorists because humans think they need an explanation for everything..."..bloody ignorant apes"

the air is foul with politics

"the herd is commanded, but prefers to think otherwise at the level of consciousness." f. nietzsche____________________from local to national as i wend my way through he alimentary canal of the leviathan that is american politics i notice a lot of shit...i went to vote after work today ( and no one offered me a damned sticker either...perhaps i telegraphed my viewpoint more than i thought...damn non-verbal communication ) in the library of an aging elementary school where my children began their "education"...in a blue collar town where i have lived for almost thirty years...this town has probably never even been close to good times, much less experienced them...as technology rendered jobs in the steel mills obsolete it was towns like this that suffered first from the economic reconfiguration of the past forty years...that would be irrelevant if american politics weren't so intimate with economics and the prerogatives of wealth...as it stands it's central...so what did i vote for? the common good? politicians like to call what they do "public service" and present themselves as "guardians of the public trust"...placing their political mandate in a higher power than mere politicians... when, in fact, they are creatures of special interests...whether those interests are their own..and here i am thinking of those lonely "independent" voices that have found a way to make their contrarian personalities pay or wealth controlling its political environment...or those of larger, more monied interests...whichever is the case old joe shumpeter was spot on when he said there is no common good in american politics...it is a shiny lie that it trotted out every election day to sway votes in a popularity contest...quickly returned to storage as special interests again take control of the political debate...dispensing wisdom and disguising their cronyism as "the will of the people"...i voted...but i voted with no illusions as to what this farce was all about...give the federalist papers a close reading...hamilton's ideals are alive and well...there may be a break now for the holidays but the new year will bring the debilitating plague of the start of a presidential campaign and with no incumbent every whore in whoretown and quite a few from the provinces beyond will think this could be their time...i can smell the putrescent stench even at this distance...where is the lake of fire?