Daily Ramble 35 - MILTON GLASER

April 24, 2020

MILTON GLASER

Today I am taking a break once again from the titanic task of introducing a new religion. For reinvigoration I turned to a work of art by my landlord, Milton Glaser, which is hanging on the wall near me as I write. He did it for the 2015 Fete du Graphisme festival in Paris which asked artists for posters on the theme of "Celebrer La Terre" ["Celebrate the Earth].

When I first saw it hanging in his studio I was tremendously impressed. It conflates an earthly landscape with the stars of the Milky Way, with our planet occupying its tiny place in the corner, to which we are directed by a red arrow. The blending of the local perspective with the cosmic perspective is nothing less than a stroke of genius.

Putting aside the sheer visual beauty of the work, one is delighted and stimulated by the paradoxical linking of the sylvan terrain and the cosmos. To my way of thinking, it is a beautiful way of "putting humanity in its place." An artistic encouragement to modesty - in the witty guise of a "celebration." It is a challenge to see the universe in a grain of sand, so to speak.

One moves from the human perspective to the scientific or "godlike" perspective, trying to grasp the totality with a mix of puzzlement and pleasure. I think Glaser accomplishes this multiple perspective with much more success than, for example, Braque and Picasso in their Cubist experiments. And he does it on a much grander philosophical scale.

Soon after I saw this work, I asked how I could acquire a copy. Glaser had only one. The original printing was done in a very large size on low quality paper for display in enclosed display units on the Champs Elysee in Paris. I asked if I might arrange to have one printed for myself, in a smaller size on high-quality paper. To my delight, he consented and later signed the finished print.

This work reminded me of another poster of his which also led me to make a request of him. In that instance, I asked him to pose in front of his poster entitled "The Secret of Art." With what I took to be a humorous theatricality, he assumed the pose of a con-man selling snake oil. It is actually more like a classic Zen "pointing." The poster contains a deep truth. I read it as saying "It always has another layer to unfold." Or, if you like,  it is "the stone rejected by the builders" - the thing that is discarded and overlooked. As always, the deepest truths are paradoxical.

Glaser's works have qualities of depth of meaning and beauty of expression which insure they will always yield insight and pleasure, no matter how many times one looks at them.

END

Daily Ramble 34 - THE POTATO AND ITS RELIGIOUS IMPLICATIONS

April 23, 2020 

THE POTATO AND ITS RELIGIOUS IMPLICATIONS

I start with a paradigm of food technology, the Pringle potato chip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pringles/ Originally developed by Proctor & Gamble, now owned by the Kellogg Company.

This marvel of food design and engineering is only 43% actual potato. However, I can personally testify that it is a supremely tempting concoction, both from the point of view of taste and from its physical characteristics of form and mouth feel. I do not comment on its healthiness from the medical standpoint.

I have stopped eating it because, believe it or not, it violates my religious principles!

That may sound odd, so let me explain. LUCKISM® posits that there is a characteristic in nature, in all natural material and natural things (including humans). That characteristic is the quality of chance or unknowability attaching to everything in the natural universe. The closer something is to its original, healthy state, the more of this quality or connection it has. This aspect of reality is what has been classified as god in previous stages of human development. And it is desirable for humans to come close to this quality in their lives, to engage with it as much as possible. Water, in its most natural form, is the purest example of such a substance.

However, while it is good to come close to this quality of chance, (in the case of foods, to "eat it" so to speak,) it is not good to tamper with it, transform it or weaken it. Stated differently, the more one distances oneself from natural chance and the naturally unknowable, the less benefit one receives from it.

What is the benefit? It is the connection to fundamental life energy and the connection to the deepest possible understanding of what makes reality real and life lively and harmonious. Call it enlightenment or satori or illumination or wisdom or what you like. It is the attribute which best enables one to deal with the ebb and flow of life. Let's speak of it in "god" terms to make it more understandable. The chance element in the universe is loosely analogous to the god idea, in which it was good to get close to the god, but not too close... and certainly not to actually try to tamper with the god. Of course, one important distinction should should be kept in mind - chance is real. See Ramble 31.

By this standard, in this scenario, we give great respect to the potato; we are sensitive to tampering with it - and we are offended by its Pringlization. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, (but in order to convey the thought in understandable terms), the "godliness" of the potato is "desecrated." This does not mean potato worship. It means reverence should be given to the quality it has in common with all things arising in nature. This is the reverence due something with all the qualities formerly ascribed to fictional gods except personal concern for individuals. And it's not simply a variant of nature worship. It is reverence for the underlying, chancy force under the things we can use science to partially understand - a force that is vastly beyond our understanding - a force that is always affecting and dominating the order we like to think we have imposed.

Even without the sacred aspect, the potato deserves respect. It was domesticated by Homo sapiens approximately 7 to 10,000 years ago. It was probably gathered in its wild form long before that, much in the way contemporary Bushmen find edible and water-storing roots. It is associated with the earliest eras of human civilization.

From the nutritional standpoint it contains much more caloric energy than any of the other plants cultivated for food, approximately 20% more than corn and rice. In short, it is a food worthy of regard. Beyond that, like all living things, in its development and substance, it embodies the quality we call chance.

With this in mind, just go to the Wikipedia article and examine what is done to the inherent natural "chanciness" of the potato in the course of transforming it into Pringle chips. Suffice it to say that much, if not most, of its original nature is lost in the highly determined and controlled processing it undergoes.

A skeptic might say "The chance of being processed is all part of it." To which I respond,"Yes, BUT we are trying to maximize the direct connection between the potato and humans because therein lies a greater harmony and a better world for both. Yes, chance is also at work in mechanical, transformative operations and in all technology - but it makes the natural chance much more remote. Ipso facto, one should maintain a relationship with the real potato and avoid the exploitations and desecrations of its naturally "numinous" qualities.

The "potato" line of reasoning applies a fortiori to many other things, including the use of animals as food. LUCKISM® leads to vegetarianism, among other things. The transformation of a cow into hamburger or steak is a total destruction of the chance/unknowable force in that creature. Any action which ends another creature's chance interactions with the world has moral implications which must be carefully evaluated and only tampered with if there are paramount considerations involved.

This ramble opens the subject of the application of LUCKISM® to life and its a subject which will always be an evolving one. The new religion is certainly open to discussion of its ramifications. It does not threaten damnation for those who do not follow the way it is offering. It simply sees a continuation of the path on which the world is presently moving.

By the way, I am willing to answer questions on this matter. Also, if anyone does not want to continue receiving these rambles just let me know. I will not be offended.

END

Daily Ramble 33 - EARTH DAY

April 22, 2020

EARTH DAY

Today is Earth Day. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

I will try to observe it, for appearance's sake, by avoiding some of the things I do on all the other days of the year. Just for a day, mind you. I can't live without the existential thrill of stomping my gigantic carbon footprint on the face of the earth. I can't survive without consuming and generating the mass of material and waste needed to keep my mind and body going, not to mention the holy economy. I will not be truly happy unless I can buy whatever I want, whenever I want, wherever I want. God Bless America!

The plague has caused me to defer the pleasure of buying that jet ski I've been coveting for a long time. And it looks like I won't be able to attend any NASCAR events for a while. For the moment, I have to limit myself to enjoying flying my drone, running my leaf blower and playing with my chainsaw.

Fortunately, this short period of deprivation will not last too long. I am reassured by the knowledge that the electric foot massager and the heated toilet seat I ordered are being extracted from a robotic warehouse somewhere and will soon be in a truck on its way to me.

I also take comfort from the biblical passage I have chosen for my daily bible reading. Please open your bibles to Genesis 1:28 and let us read in unison:
And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’

What a relief it is to know that what might otherwise appear to be my greed and selfishness is actually behavior sanctioned by the Almighty. Sure, there are some namby-pamby types who try to distort this clear mandate and read some eco-responsibility into it. But that is obviously pure nonsense.

Later on I will celebrate by barbecuing some thick steaks, frying some frozen french fries and finishing with ice cream, maybe chocolate with cookies and peanuts mixed into it. But now, a preliminary snack of potato chips with Coca Cola.

END

Daily Ramble 32 - AN INTERESTING FAMILY

April 21, 2020

AN INTERESTING FAMILY

While relaxing from the strain of designing a religion without any divine assistance, I bumped into an interesting Finnish family on the internet. They are relatively unique in their sustained effort to live a self-sufficient life.

I first made their acquaintance at https://www.notechmagazine.com/
which led me to an article about Lasse Nordlund,the father of the family. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasse_Nordlund

That in turn, took me to a manifesto he wrote in 2008. http://www.ymparistojakehitys.fi/susopapers/Lasse_Nordlund_Foundations_of_Our_Life.pdf

The manner in which he deals summarily with the fundamental issues of contemporary world civilization impressed me greatly.

Here's a taste. I believe it was translated from the Finnish.

Contrary to common presumption, we did not manage to make energy collection
in primary production more efficient by the use of technology, or by a sophisticated division of labour. A tractor pulling a seven-bladed plough may look efficient, but it collects food energy a lot less efficiently than a person working by hand in a garden – when we take into account the energy and working time inputs more broadly than just for the individual farmer. To figure this out, we must assess how much energy it takes to collect primary energy indirectly, in a mechanized way. The results must be compared to the energy input that would have been necessary if we had collected the same amount of energy manually, using only simple tools.

Additional photos of the family can be seen here: https://phmuseum.com/thujanen/story/forest-family-e41091207e

I suppose one of the reasons I find his writing and their accomplishments so impressive is that they address a big question which will also be raised by LUCKISM®, the religion I am developing.

The question is whether "progress" has gone too far or moved in the wrong direction. That's the shortest way to say it. If "biotics" are "outsmarting" our antibiotics, if global warming is jeopardizing normal patterns of animal life, crops and habitations, if nuclear weapons are out of control, if humanoid corporations are subverting democracy, if artificial intelligence is making us obsolete and subservient, if we are hallucinating about nesting in space before cleaning our nest on planet Earth; then perhaps it is time to reevaluate our behavior and the principles which guide it.

Nordlund seems to center his analysis on energy, showing that we are way out of balance in what we use and misuse in order to get what we need in life. Indeed, current events, such as the surplus of oil as a cause of global economic distress seems to be a sign of some perversity in the economic system. Shouldn't an abundance or surplus of an essential commodity be a cause for rejoicing?

He seems to have taken a position originally in which electricity, metal and even domesticated animals were eliminated as unnecessary or even antithetical to a balanced, self-sufficient life. He has modified his approach somewhat but it will still seem extreme to most people.

I suppose he would say that going "cold turkey" or even "lukewarm turkey" seems extreme to a drug addict. But I don't want to put words in his mouth. That's what I will say when, as I expect, LUCKISM® leads to a reappraisal, modification or even rejection of some of the areas in which we mistake unhealthy addiction for social progress.

I have to say that, to the extent dominant religions and "isms" fail to address the destructive behavior of Homo sapiens, or even exacerbate it with divine or secular justifications, they are defective and in urgent need of correction.

END

Daily Ramble 31 - LET THERE BE DICE!

April 20, 2020

LET THERE BE DICE!

Back to the subject of the new religion I am designing. (Shortened somewhat due to another round of vacuuming - but long enough to make my first point - the "sacredness" of Chance in life).

Previously, in Ramble 28, I claimed, "that the new system I am designing is based on fundamental knowledge already understood by most, if not all, of humanity and, additionally confirmed by the most advanced scientific conclusions."

What is this factor which the whole world knows but doesn't KNOW? What is it that we experience every single day of our lives without recognizing it as a potential source of fundamental life guidance? What is it that scientists are finding at the frontiers of scientific research in all fields? 

It is the element of chance. Call it randomness, unpredictability, fortune or, most understandably, plain LUCK. It is the omnipresent factor affecting everything in the universe.Yes, my fellow Homo sapiens, at the bottom of everything there is no benevolent, malevolent or detached god and no scientifically determined, single, explanatory formula. It is dice all the way down (or out, or above, or behind if you prefer those directions.) And the deeper we go, the dicier it gets.

dic·ey
adjective informal
adjective: dicey; comparative adjective: dicier; superlative adjective: diciest
unpredictable and potentially dangerous.

On the personal level all you have to do is examine everything you do, everything that happens to you. Pick some of them and ask whether they were completely free from the operation of chance. I say it's impossible. I will give examples at a later date, if they are necessary. Meanwhile Lem's piece in Ramble 8 gives an entertaining illustration of the operation of chance in life.

Also, think about the prevalence of gambling in the world, from children's games to adult casinos and ponder how that is an acknowledgement by humanity of the existence of chance and the unknowable. Commercial gambling alone engages at least a quarter of the world's population. https://www.casino.org/gambling-statistics/ And that does not begin to count the chancy acts of gambling and fortuitous events that fill ordinary life. In short, I venture to say that almost everyone recognizes the thing called "luck."

Moreover, "luck" is being confirmed on the frontiers of science. I will go into this in more detail in the future. For the moment, let it suffice to mention, among others, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in Physics, Godel's theories regarded the unprovability of fundamental mathematical premises, the work on uncomputability of Turing and Chaitin and the unpredictability of evolution on the molecular level.Even Albert Einstein, (1879-1955) one of the greatest "anti-dice men," admitted in one of his wisest moments, “As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.” Yes, we are collecting more inside our brain, but the points at which our acts generate unknowable consequences are also increasing. This happens at the borders where our knowledge meets the unknown. Of that unknown, I claim that the greatest amount is UNKNOWABLE. (more about the unknowable in the future - now it is enough to accept the importance of chance.)

I'll stop here for the moment... with this line of thought: If one was to use "luck" as a major component of a new religion, as I have, here are the qualities which give it credibility, both as to its powerful existence and later, its functionality. It has verifiability, universality, potency and mystery. It begins to sound like a classic god or better. The only thing missing is that it certainly does not care for, or show preference for anything. Nevertheless, its existence can be easily confirmed in a "religious" ceremony by a practice I will call "sublimated gambling." That will be, at the very least, as spiritually validating as such traditional practices as prayer, reading from sacred texts or ingesting ceremonial foods (solids or liquids). It will be a direct, personal connection with a godlike force - with this distinction - it is real. [And yet, never fully understood - that too is needed.]

Footnote: I am calling the new religion LUCKISM®. Later on I will explain why I have registered it as a trademark.
Below I copy the first note I have found in my files relating to the development of LUCKISM®.

From Feb. 12, 2013:
1.Chance and its interaction with order is the fundamental explanation of all that exists and all that happens.
1a. we can never gain knowledge so deep that we go below that interaction or into the operation of chance or, in general,  completely beyond ignorance.
2. Within the zone of what we know we try to act logically and reasonably. Within that zone we can often control what exists and what happens.
3. The best consolation for bad events is that they were due to the operation of chance or chance in conjunction with negligence.

Why is it needed? To balance existing comprehensive systems such as Science (in its misunderstood sense as absolute certainty) Capitalism, Communism, Fascism (keeping them from becoming totalitarian) and to supplement and surpass them where they are deficient.

END

Daily Ramble 30 - TOSSING THE CABER

April 19, 2020

TOSSING THE CABER

I grumbled yesterday when I had to move some logs, cut from a dead tree, from one place to another. Each piece was about 16 inches long and 6 inches in diameter. I carried two under one arm and one under the other, making five trips. I felt rather proud of this work after it was accomplished.

It put me in mind of another log-related physical activity which I have long admired - tossing the caber. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caber_toss

It's a Scottish sport in which a person holds upright a sort of telephone pole about 20 feet long, weighing 175 pounds, runs forward and tries to flip it so that it lands on the other end and then falls away from him or her, ideally at the 12 o'clock position.

See, for example, the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmhwRgI64-Q
For women tossing a shorter and lighter caber, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrNu2QTnfxM

This made me think of distinguishing between those sports which have a relatively direct connection to their natural environment and those which have more complexity and artificiality. In the first category we can put such things as footraces, long jumping, high jumping, javelin/discus/hammer throwing. In the second category would be golf, tennis, soccer, football, polo, baseball, skiing etc.

A further question arose. Is there any reason to think that one of these categories should be preferred in a society, and, if so, why?

The answer may have something to do with the extent to which a sport expresses natural energies or fosters "virtues" which the society rates as desirable, such as cooperation, competition or sacrifice. For example, in America I see more and more transformations of quotidien activity into competitive events on television from cake baking to employment all the way to survival. One wonders whether the encouragement of competition can go too far.

It is also interesting to think about how sports evolve from simple forms to mass events in which the government and military forces become involved. I think of the Air Force jets flying over the stadiums at football Super Bowls. I wonder if there is a tendency in complex societies ( or perhaps all societies) to ritualize sporting events until they have profound religious and political meaning. The ball games played by the Mayans come to mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Ballgame

Thus do my menial chores begin to contribute to my thoughts about world civilization.

END

Daily Ramble 29 - DECOMPRESSING

April 18, 2020

DECOMPRESSING

For decompressing after diving into the depths of the human predicament, what could be better than cartoons related, one way or another, to religion?

Daily Ramble 28 - THE INSUFFICIENCY AND DANGER OF FICTIONAL CONSTRUCTS

April 17, 2020

THE INSUFFICIENCY AND DANGER OF FICTIONAL CONSTRUCTS

This rather abstractly titled ramble is a cautious introduction to a series in which I will present my design for a new religion.

I could have called it "The Insufficiency and Danger of Most Religions." But I don't want to be seen as doing nothing more than crudely attacking existing belief systems. My intention is simply, as a first step, to point out the reasons why a new and improved way is needed for most people. If the old systems work for some people without raising the dangers I see... well, then I say, "God bless 'em!"

Moreover, there are good principles which can be extracted from the prevailing belief systems without subscribing to them completely. That can be the subject of a later ramble.

The immediate stimulus for this ramble was an article in the New York Times reporting on a new religion founded in Japan and called "Happy Science". https://www.nytimes.com/article/happy-science-japan-coronavirus-cure.html/
See also, https://happy-science.org/

The founder has apparently assumed the role of a divinity or prophet and is running a religion which is a farrago of historical, religious, scientific and science-fictional material. He recently adjusted it to exploit the corona virus pandemic. It apparently places rigorous financial obligations on its adherents. He probably picked up some of his ideas from Scientology. But there are plenty of financially motivated elements in the major religions.

According to the Times:
The exalted star at the center of the Happy Science universe is a former Wall Street trader named Ryuho Okawa, whose followers, incredibly, regard him as the incarnation of a supreme being from Venus. What’s more, he also claims to channel the spirits of hundreds of characters, dead and alive, like Freddie Mercury, Barack Obama and Steve Jobs.

This all would be amusing were it not for the fact that religions of this type seem to appeal to a significant segment of Homo sapiens throughout history. Some of the world's major religions are noticeably similar in relying on foundational  stories which are unbelievable by ordinary standards. I do not single out Happy Science because its founder once worked as a Wall Street trader. After all, we have major religions founded or inspired by a sheepherder, a carpenter, a merchant and a dissatisfied prince. (And now, why not a lawyer-turned-designer?)

What troubles me is their dependence on disintegrating fictions, less and less connected to the deepest truths about reality. So it is important to look closely into their insufficiencies and the dangers they present.

I do not deny that belief in fictions can have beneficial effects. Genuine improvement experienced by users of placebos, for example, has been firmly established in medical science. The story of a fairy who will bring a reward for the tooth which falls out has relieved the discomfort, pain or anxiety of many children losing their baby teeth. And the thought of a god or gods in heaven comforts countless people in times of trial and tribulation and motivates some to adhere to a code of proper conduct. However, these beneficial effects can only be achieved and sustained when the underlying premises are truly believed. That is becoming harder to do as the foundational fictions come into conflict with hard science and rational thought.

For the most part the state of belief in established religions is not achieved freely but comes about by coercion, by the indoctrination of children in their formative years by parents or religious schools. It usually goes together with restrictions on outside influences.

INSUFFICIENCY

All one has to do is consider the purposes of religion in order to measure the deficiencies. Shall we give first place to giving comfort with respect to death and other "discomforts" of life? If belief can still be truly sustained in "heaven" or "hell" or some sort of life after death or reincarnation, well and good. But, if not....?

Or,  if primacy is given simply to obeying the commands of a super-powerful being who created everything and supervises everything.... who really believes that? (This is getting worse because it is leading back to god-worship. Real god-worship - the kind that once convinced people to sacrifice their children with a clear conscience. Whew!)

What about the purpose of giving guidance in all the situations when fundamental guidelines are needed? What do established faiths offer that cannot be arrived at by common sense or ethical philosophical reasoning? 

Let's skip over the silly justification of religions as creating a sense of community, leave the rather obvious area of insufficiency and move on to the dangers.

DANGERS
I pass over the personal, psychological dangers that arise from trying to force oneself to maintain beliefs which one does not truly believe. I will discuss only those dangers which affect society at large. Those dangers flow primarily from religions which believe they are transmitting the commands of a creator god, or some absolute truth, concerning which believers have no doubts.

In their nature, they must generate intolerance and contempt for those who do not share their beliefs. After all, if you are getting instructions and authority from THE SUPREME RULER OF THE UNIVERSE or the ULTIMATE EXPLANATORY PRINCIPLE .... what has the right to interfere? This works to produce behavior ranging from social discriminations through slavery all the way to holy war and genocidal violence. (BTW, by my standard Nazism and Stalinistic/Maoistic Communism and the like are also religions.)

Most such faiths foster a belief in the right of humans to dominate the planet, including other forms of life and the general environment. This is leading to the deterioration we are witnessing.

How can we explain religious resistance to rules intended to reduce the spread of a plague or resistance to vaccines which reduce disease? This indicates not just a passive failure but an active threat to others.

As for those who do not truly believe, but pay lip service to the ways of the organized belief system, it is likely that they will also be a danger to society, perhaps an even greater danger, because they are more capable of cynically using the belief system for their own selfish ends.

PRELIMINARY CONCLUSION
I conclude that, at the very least, an improved belief system for Homo sapiens should avoid, to the maximum extent possible, the shortcomings I have identified above. It should be based on the most definite, verifiable perception of basic reality and on fundamental facts concerning which there is universal agreement. Nevertheless, it should not allow absolute certainty in its perfection. (That is paradoxical and properly so; I will deal with the essentiality of paradox later) An improved belief system should have a numinous quality which leaves room for harmless, mystical explorations. It should provide those ceremonies, comforts and consolations in human life for which belief systems have been relied on in the past. It should also inspire creative and artistic expressions of the highest order. With all these attributes it should lead the way to the most harmonious possible interactions in the world.

I am happy to say I believe I have designed just such a religion. I will explain it over future rambles at intervals, not all at once. I need to relax and meditate between these rather intense sessions.

What is most amazing is that the new system I am designing is based on fundamental knowledge already understood by most, if not all, of humanity and, additionally confirmed by the most advanced scientific conclusions. The problem is that humanity has not yet realized the possibility that this knowledge offers a sound foundation for a much improved religion. So I am not operating on divine instructions. I am just noticing something and bringing it to your attention.

With Sincere Modesty,
Daniel Young


END

Daily Blog 27 - A LAUGHING MATTER

 April 16, 2020

A LAUGHING MATTER

It is natural, in this time of plague, for the subject of death to occupy the attention of Homo sapiens.

I am offering some healthy ways to approach this subject, on the theory that it is not wise to think morbidly about a phenomenon which is universal and inevitable. As is my wont, I prefer the humorous approach.

For example, I am delighted by the story of the Japanese poet who instructed his students to add some carefully wrapped packages to his funeral pyre, without looking into them. They did so under the assumption the contents were manuscripts which the poet did not want published. Imagine the surprise at the cremation ceremony when the packages turned out to contain fireworks!

Bertrand Russell wrote:

The late F. W. H. Meyers used to tell how he asked a man at a dinner table what he thought would happen to him when he died. The man tried to ignore the question, but, on being pressed, replied: "Oh well, I suppose I shall inherit eternal bliss, but I wish you wouldn't talk about such unpleasant subjects."

Humorous epitaphs are also a source of enjoyment.

The following are extracted from "Everybody's Book of Epitaphs" (London, Saxon & Co. 1995)

1.     Here lies JOHN BUNN
        Who was killed by a gun.
    His name wasn't Bunn,
    But his real name was WOOD.
    But Wood wouldn't rhyme with gun.
    So I thought Bunn should.

2.    For Sir John Strange, a lawyer:

    Here lies an honest lawyer -
    that is Strange

3.    Poems and epitaphs are but stuff
    Here lies ROBERT BURROWS, that's enough.

4.    Here lies the body of Geordie Denham,
    If ye saw him now ye wadna ken him.

        [would not know him]

5.  Owen Moore is gone away,
    Owin' more than he could pay.

6.    Here lies TAM REID,
    Who was chokit to deid
    Wi' taking a feed
    O' butter and breed
    Wi' owre muckle speed,
    When he had nae need,
    But just for greed.

Here is a small selection of death cartoons from the New Yorker. More can be found at https://www.art.com/gallery/id--b711138/death-new-yorker-cartoons-posters.htm

And finally,  a few poems.


1.
nobody loses all the time  by e.e. cummings

i had an uncle named
Sol who was a born failure and
nearly everybody said he should have gone
into vaudeville perhaps because my Uncle Sol could
sing McCann He Was A Diver on Xmas Eve like Hell Itself which
may or may not account for the fact that my Uncle

Sol indulged in that possibly most inexcusable
of all to use a highfalootin phrase
luxuries that is or to
wit farming and be
it needlessly
added

my Uncle Sol's farm
failed because the chickens
ate the vegetables so
my Uncle Sol had a
chicken farm till the
skunks ate the chickens when

my Uncle Sol
had a skunk farm but
the skunks caught cold and
died so
my Uncle Sol imitated the
skunks in a subtle manner

or by drowning himself in the watertank
but somebody who'd given my Unde Sol a Victor
Victrola and records while he lived presented to
him upon the auspicious occasion of his decease a
scrumptious not to mention splendiferous funeral with
tall boys in black gloves and flowers and everything and

i remember we all cried like the Missouri
when my Uncle Sol's coffin lurched because
somebody pressed a button
(and down went
my Uncle
Sol

and started a worm farm)


2. Death Poem  by Moriya Sen'an

Ware shinaba
sakaya no kame no
shita ni ikeyo
moshi ya shizuku no
mori ya sen nan

Bury me when I die
beneath a wine barrel
in a tavern.
With luck
the cask will leak.

3. And a Victorian skipping-rope refrain:
"It wasn't the cough that carried him off," It was the coffin they carried him off in."

This comes from Victorian times. Before the advent of penicillin If you did not look after yourself, a cold went straight to the chest, turned from pneumonia into double pneumonia and you were dead within a fortnight. "It wasn't the cough that carried him off," girls sang over skipping-ropes, "It was the coffin they carried him off in."

This couplet is often mistakenly attributed to the witty American poet, Ogden Nash.

END

Daily Ramble 26 - A POSTER IDEA

April 15, 2020

A POSTER IDEA
How It Came To Be

1. The Idea is Revived

At the start of my daily walk I first looked into the mailbox and saw that some books I had ordered arrived yesterday. That made me think I had a reward waiting at the end of the walk and I felt an increased motivation to finish the walk quickly. (2 miles in 37 minutes - possibly a new record if I always kept track of these times.) That made me think of how racing greyhounds are motivated by a mechanical rabbit moving around the inside rail of the racing track. And that, in turn, brought to mind a joking poster concept I had a few years ago concerning the School of Visual Arts (for whom Milton Glaser has done many fine works.) Probably, yesterday's Chaval ramble also had an influence on my thinking because the idea was cartoonish.

2. The Original Idea

My original thought was to show a student (or mass of students) entering the School of Visual Arts pulling a recalcitrant donkey and then, leaving the school riding the donkey and motivating it by holding a picture of a carrot in front of its nose. The superficial, student-recruiting communication was to show that the skill acquired in the school allowed the student to get ahead in life more easily. The deeper point was to comment on the pervasive tactic of motivating and manipulating people with virtual or illusory rewards - a tremendous part of human life and society.

3. Refining the Idea

The question is whether the idea can be reduced  to a single image or whether it would be more effective in a series of images.

Multiple
Images: a. Student trying to pull stubborn donkey
          b. Student in art class learning to paint a carrot
           c. Student riding donkey, holding a carrot picture in front of its nose

Or,
Single image: A happy student riding away from the school as in (c) above

The first version seems funnier but requires more work and is more in the vein of cartooning. The second version could work better as a poster when accompanied by an appropriate slogan.

And so, to work!

 For quick sketching purposes, I used a prepared image of someone on a donkey, in this case, Jesus. That adds a certain spiritual/historical spice to the work. However, if this idea should ever be actually produced, the Christian overtone might have to be changed. Perhaps Buddha can ride the donkey. Or Lao Tse. Or Milton Glaser.

The additional witticism of showing the carrot as an abstract painting comes from a suggestion by my ingenious partner, Emma, and makes a nice contrast with the archaic style of the figures.

In sum, I submit that this work, crude as it is in execution, deserves to be treated as fine art. This is due to the profundity of its philosophical implications, its play with established conventions and the stimulating ambiguity of its meaning. Calling all art critics!

END

Daily Ramble 25 - CHAVAL

April 14, 2020

CHAVAL

It is time for a break from the depths of philosophy, poetry and egomania to move to the depths of cartooning. I think the greatest cartoons take us to the same profound zone as the best explorations of the philosophers or poets. Or, at least, to a wiser understanding of life and human nature. And they penetrate our armor with humor, an irresistible method.

Generally speaking, I have found European cartoonists to have more of the qualities I admire although there are also other nationalities worth considering. The most powerful work is done without words or captions. I think of Chaval, Sine and Bosc as examples. Below is a selection of  works by Chaval, civil name Yvan Francis Le Louarn (1915-1968) He died by suicide in Paris in his sealed apartment, leaving a note on the door "Mind the gas."

Until recently I wasn't aware of antisemitic cartoons he produced during the Nazi occupation of France. I haven't  been able to find any images but a description of one at https://johnpwalshblog.com/2013/04/23/french-cartoonist-feted-then-revealed-as-nazi-collaborator-chaval-and-the-purpose-of-art-history-and-exhibitions/  is as follows:

In a June 5, 2008 article Professor Ory described Chaval’s wartime cartoons as “compelling” of racist anti-Semitism.  One published Chaval wartime cartoon Professor Ory described—and the Bordeaux fine arts museum director confirmed its existence—shows two figures with exaggerated noses and wearing yellow stars on their coats. One of them wears two yellow stars and says to the other: “He made me a good price!”


Here's a Chaval which can have an extra resonance in our plague time although he was just finding a humorous visual commonality, I believe.

I show the rest without comment, resisting the temptation to add words to
his wordless portrayal of human nature and behavior.

END