December 2001 Notebook Entries

Notebook entry, December 28, 2001

Christmas is past, and New Year's lies just ahead.  It has been quite a year.  The events of September 11, have been burned into my memory forever.  I am more determined than ever that in any way I can, I hope to bring peace to the planet.  Peace in the sense of understanding our human nature.  But once understood, there are no guarantees that it will bring the end to large scale violent behavior. Anyways, here is hoping that this finds you well -- that you are warm, comfortable, well fed, feeling secure, and free to follow your bliss. 

I'm currently busy expanding a theory that I had several years ago that touches on the gap between the rich and the poor.  It is about resources -- the evaluation, the acquiring, and the retention of them and the gap that occurs between the socioeconomic classes.   I should be finished by Jan 4th or 5th.  

If I don't make another entry before then -- have a Happy New Year. 

Notebook entry, December 22, 2001

Well, it was bound to happen: In a newswire form The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, dated 12-20-01, by John Fauber, titled: Research: "We're all related to scum": comes this story that says according to research published by the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, a single-cell organism that swam in the Earth's primordial soup hundreds of millions of year ago is an evolutionary sibling of humans and all other animals. 

This paper, for the first time, gives scientific evidence of a theory that has been around for 130 years that suggested that choanoflagellates were linked to animals. To quote one Sean Carroll, "Choanoflagellate thrive today and are the closest non animal organisms to animals.  They are to animals what chimps are to humans, and by studying some of their genetic characteristics we can begin to make some strong inferences (about how animals evolved).

Of course, the news did not make the creation scientists too happy, and as one Charles Roessger was quoted as saying: "It's Rubbish.:  This is nothing new as creationist always have had a problem with the "Goo-To-You" concept of evolution. To me, it is just one step closer to understanding our true relationship with this force that seems to be watching and guiding us mere mortals. 

Notebook entry, December 15, 2001

Getting back to my entry of November 18, 2001, I have recorded two more shows on the tape that I have mention in which are examples of strong female roles that I feel will be influencing our culture in the coming years.  A new spy thriller called Alias starring Jennifer Garner playing the role of a CIA double agent of sorts and is receiving very good reviews in the local press -- I have even picked up some local buzz at my workplace. The latter is Dark Angel with Jennifer Alba, a sort of science fiction, where a dark and sinister secret government agency has produced "transgenic" humans that can do super things, and our heroine is one of these super humans who escape their clutches and who presently goes around righting wrongs and fighting off evil people.   Well, anyways, the tape is finished.  I will archive the tape along with the comments from the notebook.

Notebook entry, December 14, 2001

To my regular readers, I apologize for not writing in the notebook this past month.  I guess that I have been in a sort of a funk this past month.  The days grow shorter and gloomier; my work load at the Post Office grows.  The funk revolves around the worry about my back.  The powers to be at the top are insisting that productivity be increased by 5% a year, while at the same time my age is climbing.  I feel that these two forces of nature will collide, and that my back will no longer stand the constant bending, lifting, and carrying of the loads .The union at my station is hostile towards my person, and I shall not go into the why at this time. I have begun to study the various behaviors of the union member stewards and have begun recording those behaviors in a separate notebook. I do not intend to publish them here.  At least I don't have any plans at the moment.