Ken's Blog

Maybe it’s really none of my biz
But I’m unnerved by a thing Wikipedia does
While you’re living it always describes you with “is”
When you die the word suddenly changes to “was”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A canonical technology from the Star Trek universe is the Holodeck. You and I walk into a room together, and we are suddenly somewhere else.

A key point here is that we are physically together. It is only the room around us that changes.

A canonical technology in the Star Wars universe is the Jedi Council. You and I are having an immersive face to face meeting, and yet we are actually far away from each other, perhaps many millions of miles apart.

A key point here is that we are not physically together. There is an illusion that we are in the same room, but in fact we are not.

In a sense this gets to a core difference between the two universes. Star Wars is largely about having the power to transcend the laws of reality. Star Trek is largely about hanging out together.

Paul Williams, who turns 84 today, is one of my favorite songwriters. His lyrics are deceptively simple, sometimes nearly childlike, but his songs invariably get to the heart of the human condition. Forthwith, one of my favorite lyrics (and there are so many to choose from!):

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what’s on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we’ve been told and some choose to believe it
I know they’re wrong, wait and see.
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

For years one of my favorite songs has long been Mickey Dolenz’ Randy Scouse Git. He wrote it in 1967, and it appeared on the Monkees’ Headquarters album.

Just today I listened to that song, and then to another one of my favorite songs, El Paso written and recorded by Marty Robbins in 1959. Since I didn’t know any other songs by Marty Robbins, I looked him up on the Wikipedia.

I learned there that one of his other most popular songs, also written and recorded in 1959, was called Big Iron. I had never heard of that song, so I went over to YouTube to hear what it sounded like.

And I discovered that the main melodic line and rhythm of Randy Scouse Git is an exact copy of Big Iron. From a musical perspective, it could almost have been the same song with an alternate title.

Now I am left wondering several things. Was Mickey Dolenz consciously aware of Big Iron (it was released only eight years before his own song), or was this a case of unconscious copying?

And just how often does this kind of thing happen?

It must be challenging to be a supporter of the current Republican candidate for U.S. president. For months you’ve been led to believe that your candidate is strong, in command, on top of things.

And then you somehow need to reckon with your candidate spouting nutty conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs, weirdly obsessing over crowd sizes, talking about having “concepts of a plan” for health care, and claiming that newborn babies in the U.S. are being summarily executed right out of the womb.

For months your candidate has been telling you that his opponent is “dumb”. Yet you witness that opponent in a debate not only articulating clear policy positions, but also effortlessly running rings around your candidate. Watching her was like watching Cassius Clay in his prime putting away a washed up old boxer.

It must be difficult, under such circumstances, to keep the faith. Faith can be hard to sustain in the face of cold hard evidence.

At a Whole Foods that I sometimes frequent, more than half of the magazines for sale at the checkout lines have generally featured Taylor Swift on their cover. That is not at all surprising, considering her popularity.

I went to that same Whole Foods store today, and noticed a remarkable change since my last visit: Not a single magazine that the store had chosen to sell at checkout featured Taylor Swift. It was as though she didn’t exist.

I wonder why that is.

Sometimes I remember that every new day is a universe of opportunity. When you wake up in the morning, anything is still possible.

This is truly a wonderful and miraculous thing. And the best part is this: If you miss that opportunity, there is always the next day.

The most brilliant thing about multiplayer computer games is that by engaging people to kill each other’s avatars, they bring people together in a spirit of joyful cooperation.

If that is not a delightful example of understanding human nature, I don’t know what is.

There were so many completely nutty moments in last Tuesday’s debate that it makes me want to print my own tee shirts with custom messages.

One tee shirt might just say “They’re coming for our pets!”

If you could print your own tee shirt, what would yours say?