Sunday, May 26, 2013

Video games with extra goodies






These remote controlled devices, better known as Drones, were in the news this week because our President stated that we need to cut back on their usage. His exact words......once the troops leave Afghanistan in 19 months........"We will no longer have the same need for force protection, and the progress we have made against core Al Qaeda will reduce the need for unmanned strikes."  He also said he would consider proposals for an independent panel, or special court, to review evidence before a drone strike is authorized.

An independent panel or special court?????????????????????  Is that equivalent to a search warrant?

Maybe I'm missing something here.....
now please acknowledge that methods of conducting military exercises are not within my realm of awareness, but it seems that if someone is looking for the dickhead terrorist and word comes down that he is now driving a white van on a mountain pass between Afghanistan and Pakistan that the window of response is relatively short.....like maybe ten minutes.  Imagine having to consult with an independent panel of a special court before taking action.  By the time a decision is reached the dickhead could be in Paris having a latte.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO USE THEM TO FIGHT THE DICKHEADS, THE DECISION NEEDS TO BE.......A RIGHT NOW DECISION.

The idea of drones has always bothered me because once a product is created than that product usually ends up at a trade show and war toy trade shows can be attended by anyone with a business card. The United States has always been able to create advanced war toys and being a capitalist free enterprise system means that those war toys will be available to anyone with enough coin.  I understand that they might not sell the latest wonder toy but they sure as hell will sell last years model.

Keep in mind that the military buys drones from civilian businesses.

When the President says that drone usage will decline sharply I get very very very nervous.

It makes me nervous because the manufactures of drones will not be happy with reducing the purchases of their newest and greatest war toy.

WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IS THE FOLLOWING ACTION.....

AGITATION IN SOME OTHER HOT AREA THAT MIGHT DEMAND AN INCREASE IN DRONE STRIKES.

PICK YOUR FAVORITE HOT AREA AROUND THE GLOBE.

IT DOESN'T TAKE MUCH TO CREATE AN AGITATION.....and God knows that if there is cooperation between the CIA and American munitions manufacturers then that agitation could happen in NUMEROUS HOT AREAS and maybe even some obscure not so hot areas.

The Drone era is here and it's out of the bag and I suspect that eventually there will have to be an international DRONE TREATY.

I MEAN IF EVERYONE HAS THEM THEN WHO GETS TO USE THEM?

I'm pretty sure that Drones equipped with munitions will eventually be banned by the UN.

Of course I always see a much brighter future
than
the
military complex participants.....

It's a future where weapons are not needed anymore because we've learned to play Scrabble to decide our differences.

It's a future that I probably won't see but your children's children might.

It has to start somewhere....so why not here and why not
now?

I realize that I started this article by explaining how the strike decision of drones has to work...but I want it made perfectly clear that I don't want drones to exist.  Of course there's a whole list of weapons that I don't want to exist but that's just me.

Michael Timothy McAlevey














Saturday, May 18, 2013

Things I won't do

There are just some things I won't do.....and resources have very little to do with the list.

But I have to assume that if I won the $600 million Powerball a few of these don't do things might be available for consideration.  At the very least I would foot the bill for some loved ones to accomplish said feats.

Some of things I won't do are simply because I do have a certain glimpse of reality.....

I won't....

kill a bee
step on a spider
eat beets
own a cat
climb Mt. Everest
forget Hoyt Axton
sing the Star Spangled Banner at Dodger Stadium
shoot a sub par round of golf
stop loving 40 foot screens
remember any grammar school teachers that weren't named
 Sister Mary Margaret
understand how political corruption is achieved
care much about food except at Dermot's house
forget how to bump a volleyball with my forearms
remember the complete lyrics to any song I didn't write
drive in the Indy 500
forget Echo Lake
explain QuantumTime Travel
walk in the fast lane on the 405
run across the outfield during a professional baseball game
see an atom split
swim with pirhana in the Amazon
write an algorithm
beat Tom in a foot race
make a mountain out of a mole hill
turn down Kerry's grilled cheese
underestimate God
sing opera
spend a week in Mumbai
forget the first game of the 1988 World Series
wear a Giants hat
stop trying to create the perfect flow design
forget how to kiss
learn how to read Hebrew
ever stop worrying about Lily
address the Supreme Court
forget Creek Rd
rob a bank
forget how much Sean liked his four best friends
stop reading newspapers
ever not feel like a dad to Laura and Grace
smoke crack
get mad at Reese Witherspoon
regret my friendship with Tom
start liking the color pea green
forget the summer of 68 and 69 in Venice
date a Catholic nun
become a Catholic Priest
cut off my nose to spite my face
tell a dirty joke to your great grandmother
swallow live termites
think war is THE ONLY answer
forget one night at June Lake
Vote for anyone named Bush
take a vacation to Afghanistan
move to New York
forget taking Warman to the hoop
forget the 4H pledge
have a snake for a pet
bowl a perfect game
ever forget the moments with Sean
pierce anything on my body
ever understand why Harry's Law got canceled
be able to read James Joyce 
paint my toenails
forget the RF and Mom's
stop looking for perfect female face
stop trying to draw perfect female face
work for a rug merchant
send donations to a Karl Rove charity
stop being amazed at how smart Butch is
stop going to movies on opening day
give up my DVR player
forget Little League experiences with Sean and Lily
forget my Angel years in Malibu
stop feeling disappointed that David Foster Wallace is gone
stop believing that Cop Rock will return
ever be convinced that AC/DC isn't the greatest rock band even     if the Stones tour at 90
and of course
have anything to do with male parts of the body that aren't mine

Just the way I roll

And then there's this break in the action

 
I post this every few months
Maybe
my
favorite
Elvis
song.
 
And I'll never stop being an Elvis fan!






















































Monday, May 13, 2013

Lost then found


Obviously written sometime in the early 70’s of the 20th Century.  I normally dated everything but this paper was torn in the right hand corner with no date. Fairly certain it was written as an introduction to a script I started writing about a writer seeking isolation on the island of Maui.  The reference to Munich makes me think this was scripted shortly after the 1972 Summer Olympics.

                                “To understand this story of an everyday man

                                      You only have to be an everyday man to understand”

    

     The complications in my life are probably no different than anyone who shall read these words.  They honestly represent the special three things that dominate us all; Love, Money and Thought.

     
For an extended period of time I calculated my troubles to be extra special. I thought no one else could be going through the changes the same as I.  That calculation was, and is, wrong in this time of total change.   From Washington to Viet-Nam, from Munich to San Francisco, from Peking to South Africa…..I am indeed experiencing incredible change but obviously….so are you.

 
The main question now seems to be…….what shall we do?  Shall we accept the changes passively and not try to incorporate our own ideas? That direction of action can be justified by the following thought.

Why complicate matters more?  Our indulgence of the various situations will create less hassle in an obviously chaotic climate. That answer is fine if you can allow yourself the minute pleasure of observation without participation.

 
I personally find it very difficult not to be aroused by activity taking place in my immediate surroundings.  Now the question comes down to immediate surroundings being defined as what specific area do I constitute as immediate surroundings.  For me it is simply an area that happens to be the size of…..Earth.  I know I don’t have the ability or the gifts to save the earth and I’m pretty sure that the actual planet doesn’t need saving nor does it really care what we, the human species, does in our short time as top of the food chain warriors.

 
I do know that I wish to be concerned and interested, and I want to be able to describe my interpretations of the current situation. By being an interested and concerned person I therefore have a duty.  That duty takes shape in the form of opinions about obvious detrimental events. And you quietly ask or think the following thought or utter the following words……Detrimental to whom or what?  And then I quietly answer……

 

Detrimental to the flourishing and blossoming existence that should be available and possible for all members of the human race.

 I can never assume within any of my personal naivety that immediate planetary transformation of beauty and harmony will take place.…..but I strongly believe that construction toward those ideals should be implemented whenever anyone considers the concept of tomorrow and what role human behavior plays in the process of developing a better tomorrow.

 
By working for a better tomorrow I accept today as being worthwhile, exciting and of course quite trying and disappointing.

 
The main factor is that by involving myself now……at this moment…..I know I am alive and that I can feel the process of what it means to be a person who cares about the future of the entire human race.

 Thus there is more worth in my duty then in someone who wishes to not care or even feel somewhat responsible for the world as it is……..

 I fully realize that there are many people who don’t feel there is a need to change.  I also understand that those people are in possession of the power, money and positions that allow them to retain a status quo.  Those people are not the motivation for me writing this story.  This story is written for those who feel they can do nothing but wish to do something.   What that something is simply comes down to the act of caring.

 
I simply want people to care about others.  Not in the sense of giving completely what they have and not in the sense of political piracy as practiced by communists and socialists.…..not dog eat dog free enterprise systems that devour the poor and enhance the wealthy…..not tyranny nor anarchy but simply something that can work……..

 ……an absolute internal thought of concern for the living free will…….of all.

and then the story starts……..

 
 Transcribed from ripped and torn single sheet of paper found inside a book on May 13 2013.

 

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Carbon Dioxide levels or Mother's day salute

When my mom passed away in 1980 carbon dioxide was probably 385 ppm.

Carbon dioxide was measured at 400 parts per million at the oldest monitoring station which is in Hawaii sets the global benchmark. The last time the worldwide carbon level was probably that high was about 2 million years ago, said Pieter Tans of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (AP)

In 1980 I would imagine that carbon dioxide measurements were probably known by less than 1 percent of the world's population. 

WHO AM I KIDDING?.......one hundredth of one percent is more likely.

Today a much larger portion of the population is aware but I'm sure the number of people who actually understand what these numbers mean for the human experience...is quite low.

My mom would think I had taken acid if I had brought it up in 1980....and she would have been correct if it had been a few years earlier. 

By the way this is the first time in my blogging career that acid has been mentioned twice in a row.
I wonder if I am looking for answers from interior windows of my mind.

Maybe it's time to listen to some Mother's day songs.

Guess what?   Nobody has ever created a standard Mother's Day song.....so



I still love you mom and thank you for everything you did for me.  Happy Mother's Day and could you talk to someone in upper management about lowering the Carbon Dioxide numbers.......getting down to 360 or so would be sweet.

Love
Timmy


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Somewhat personal

Mind Jazz is usually devoted to addressing issues that are not of a personal matter but more global in nature....things that affect everybody in the long run.  Of course I interject my artwork once in awhile but mainly that part of my existence is posted on one of my Facebook pages....Michael T. McAlevey. 

When I post pictures from www.Space.com or www.Hubblesite.org  it's because I believe you need a larger grasp of reality.

When I post music it's simply a chance to help you remember some of the great sounds that have come and gone through your life.

This morning, while reading the newspaper, I discovered that my Thyroid doctor, Boris Catz, passed away on May 2.

On October 13, 1976 a total  thryroidectomy was performed on me at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles California and I woke up in the recovery room to Dr. Catz asking me what I had been doing to make my vocal chords ten times their regular size.

On October 10, 1976  I was at the Oakland Coliseum experiencing the Grateful Dead for the first time as they opened a daytime concert for a little band known as The Who.  It was a Bill Graham series of concerts called A Day on the Green.

http://archive.org/details/gd76-10-10.hollwein.vernon.11670.sbeok.shnf

I just YouTubed the date and the link above is a complete audio of the Dead portion of that show.



If you blow up the second picture a thousand times you will see me about a quarter of an inch from the stage.

Now that Dr. Catz has passed away I think it's ok to explain why my two hour Thyroid operation actually took 5 and 1/2 hours.

The tickets to the show had been purchased back in the spring of 1976 long before there was any thought of a thyroid operation.  I was being treated for a hyperactive thyroid but my first doctor simply didn't know much about thyroid problems and the medicine prescribed was wrong and I developed a goiter sometime before the summer of 1976.  My mom heard about a thyroid doctor in Beverly Hills and I went south to meet with Dr. Boris Catz.  My standing heart rate on my first visit was 185.  Boris asked me if I had run from Northern California.  He immediately put me on Inderal and told me to do nothing for the next few months except eat and sleep.  I stayed with my mom and basically just chilled.  It gave me a great opportunity to write, pray and meditate and for the first time in my life I actually put on weight and went from 165 lbs to 190 lbs in just a few months.  My heart rate dropped to about 120 and treating the thyroid came down to two options.  Start being treated with radioactive iodine or have the thyroid (goiter) removed.  Dr. Catz highly recommended the complete thyroidectomy because radioactive iodine could affect my reproductive system.  At the time I wasn't really using my reproductive system but I did have high hopes for future moments along those lines.
 
In September Dr. Catz scheduled the operation for October 13.  I called my friends up north and told them I probably wouldn't be able to make the show and that they should sell my ticket.  A week later they called me and said they couldn't find anybody and that I should just come up on Saturday and drive back on Monday.  Since I had been extremely dormant for almost three months I figured it would be ok to take a short break before I had my throat sliced open.....so on Friday the 8th I drove up to Marin.  Saturday night I went to sleep early because our plan was to leave at 5am for the Oakland Coliseum where it was first come first serve for the infield.  I remember waking up around 4 and discovered that it was quite cold outside so I put my clothes on over my pajamas.

I then went into the living room and my friends were wide awake and were sitting on the couch looking at the coffee table like it was the Grand Canyon.  On that table was a lovely plate with six small tablets.  The name Ozley came up and while I probably considered it a bad idea I nevertheless made a decision that might have been the wrong decision but a decision made is a plan laid and the moment came and went with two of those tablets entered my mouth and quietly slipped past my large goiter and entered my blood stream.

I'm pretty sure I took the acid much too early in the day.  The show wasn't going to start until 10 am and The Who had to follow The Dead and I had no idea that The Grateful Dead liked to play for 3 or 4 hours.

I do remember visuals starting while waiting for the gates to open at 8 am and I also recall the run to the grass in front of the stage was exhausting once the gates opened.  There was a lot of pushing and shoving but most people were wearing tie-dyed clothing so it was quite colorful. I hadn't done anything physical in quite awhile and I still had a fairly rapid heart rate but while breathing hard the colors got stronger and stronger and that helped to calm me down.

We ended up about 40 feet from the stage....dead center.  Remember this was my first (and last) Dead concert and  the first 20 songs were actually mellow and grooving was pretty easy.  Grooving is what we did in the 70's and although it sounds silly now.....grooving really explains the feeling one has while on two tabs of Ozley's work listening to the beginning of a Grateful Dead concert.  It's really one of those "you had to be there" moments to understand the concept of grooving.

What song changed grooving to active dancing participation?  I'm not really sure, but things started picking up and what happened next was substantiated by my friends on the ride home.  Jerry Garcia started a rock and roll rift and every 20 seconds the following words came out of his mouth.

"COUGH IT UP"

I swear I can still hear it today....and every time he sang "COUGH IT UP" I coughed.....and I coughed in beat with the song and he got louder and my cough got louder and people started to back up and within a few minutes there was an empty path to the stage and Jerry was on the edge and there was a circle of people around me and I started taking off my clothes and of course under my clothes were my pajamas.

It's important here to remind you that I'm a natural born rock and roll dancer.  The Who were my favorite and there had been previous moments over the last few years that my dancing had been fully responsible for having sexual encounters.

Back to the moment with Jerry.......

I was absolutely convinced that I was going to cough up my Thyroid so that I wouldn't have to have my throat cut in three days.  The image of my overweight body in PJ's had to bring some people down but my mind was focused on the task at hand and I was convinced that the goiter was on its way up and out.

ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED

WHICH IS TRULY ONE OF THE MAJOR COMPONENTS OF HALLUCINATING ON GOOD CLEAR OXLEY LYSERGIC ACID DIETHYLAMIDE.

Why isn't it called LAD?

Back to the dance with Jerry.......
The last couple of coughs were so loud and strong that it actually scarred some people and the song finished and next thing I know there were a couple of Dead chicks holding on to me and telling me to just relax.

Small moments of affection, from women during aggressive hallucinations, can make everything smooth and very groovy.

I remember being led up to the concession counter and all I wanted was a couple of cups of ice.
The girl working behind the counter told me they couldn't sell ice only and I said I'm paying the full price but I don't want the Coke.  She once more told me that she couldn't do that so I ordered two large Cokes with ice and proceeded to turn the drinks upside down with my hands saving the ice as  Coke poured on the counter, which caused a big commotion but I remember shouting something about her not seeing Five Easy Pieces and maybe next time she'll focus on the issue.

To be completely truthful................ it might have been Pepsi.

By the time I got back to my spot in front of the stage I was quite spent and next thing I remember The Who is being introduced.

As my favorite band started playing I sat cross legged on the grass not moving a muscle with a very sore throat....and the funny thing is I didn't notice a lot of dancing going on around me.  It seemed like the entire infield had peeked during the Dead and now it was just time to groove.

I know I'm probably making this part up but The Who didn't play very long and swear I heard Roger yell...."Fuck em" and they left the stage after a very short set.  It turns out that it's not a good idea to follow The Dead when 80 percent of the audience are Deadheads.

On the way back to Marin one of the guys I was with said the exact following words....."dude, you are a better dancer than Mick Jagger but that coughing thing scared the shit out me."   And the other guy made a comment about my pajamas and that he was glad they didn't come off but when I started undressing......the PJ's made him laugh so hard he almost threw up.

The next day I drove back to LA and two days later I woke up looking at Dr. Boris Catz and answered his question with the only answer that made any sense.

"SINGING"

Right after Jerry Garcia passed away I ran out and bought one of his ties.

It all comes around
and gets
neatly
tied
together

I'm not saying that I still hallucinate but I honestly believe that Dr. Catz looked up Jerry Garcia the other day and asked him to explain what the hell he was doing singing that "COUGH IT UP" song on October 10, 1976 to a silly young man.

Jerry most likely just looked back at him and said......"chill dude.....here take one of these."

By the way Internet Archive is a great site if you want to hear actual shows from the past.

Michael Timothy McAlevey