muse-letter \’myüz-‘le-tər noun
1: a personal message, inspired by a muse of one's own creation, addressed to a person or organization, in the course of which, the sender becomes absorbed in thought; especially turning something over in the mind meditatively and often inconclusively.
2: a letter from a poet, or one who envisions oneself as such, in which he or she “muses” on the news, or that which is perceived to be news.
Ten Januarys Ago: a Triad in “Miracles”
At the arrival of each new year, I tend to think back on what has transpired. Not only in the past twelve months, but even further back. Say, at least a decade. Which I find to be a good benchmark to generate a “wow factor” in reflecting on the quick passage of time. Then the clichés ensue. “Time flies”... “In the blink of an eye”... or to quote Dr. Seuss, "How did it get so late, so soon?"
Why do it? For one thing, it beats making New Year’s resolutions. For another, it tends to offer a perspective and a context in which to reassess thoughts, and compare to how I (and maybe you), felt when these events first occurred. Or maybe, it's just a case of chronophobia? The persistent, abnormal and unwarranted fear of the passing of time?
It was ten Januarys ago, that a triad in “miracles” occurred. And we all remember them well, if not in detail. Miracles here being defined in its broadest terms absent any inference of divine intervention. And these three extremely unlikely events that occurred in just an eleven day period that January, could not be further apart in their "un-relatedness:" heroic aviation... historical politics... excessive birthing.
January 15, 2009:
“US Airways Flight 1549, after takeoff from New York City's LaGuardia Airport, struck a flock
of Canada geese just northeast of the George Washington Bridge and consequently lost all
engine power.”
What? You don’t remember the geese were Canadian?
“Chesley Burnett 'Sully' Sullenberger III, glided the plane to a ditching in the Hudson River off
Midtown Manhattan. All 155 people aboard were rescued by nearby boats and there were
few serious injuries. The accident came to be known as the 'Miracle on the Hudson'. "
There are no statistical probabilities that can be calculated for an incident such as this. Though from a piece in New York magazine which ran just a couple of weeks after it happened, you get the idea.
“Sully had no playbook to consult, even if he’d wanted to. No pilot in modern jet aviation had
ever pulled off a successful water landing. The simulators don’t even offer it as a scenario.”
But good training, composure, and a steady hand, and voila, you have a hero. Even though his actions were questioned by some. I've come to call them, the "Bonespurrers." It's more specific than "Monday morning quarterbacking," which rarely implies the second-guessing of life-and-death heroics. What he did was extraordinary. Ten years later, he's still a hero.
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January 20, 2009:
From The New York Times: Obama Is Sworn In as the 44th President
"...before a massive crowd reveling in a moment of historical significance."
"In his inaugural address, Mr. Obama acknowledged the change his presidency represented, describing himself as a 'man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been
served at a local restaurant.' But although the crowd at the podium and around him were full of
elated African Americans, Mr. Obama the first black to become president, did not dwell on that
in his speech."
Prior to Obama’s arrival, seemingly from out of nowhere (though some believe Kenya), no one really could imagine if and when a black president, could or would ever be elected. So unimaginable, that here’s what it took to make that happen in best-selling author Irvin Wallace's novel, The Man (1964). Along with it’s aftermath, you begin with...
·
-- The office of Vice Presidency is vacant due to the incumbent's death.
-- Then, while overseas for a meeting in Germany, the President and the Speaker of the House are
in a freak accident.
-- The President is killed, the Speaker of the House later dies in surgery.
-- The Presidency then falls to Douglass Dilman, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, a black man earlier elected to that office in deference to his race.
-- Dilman's presidency is challenged by white racists, black political activists, and an attempted assassination.
-- Later, he is impeached on false charges for firing the United States Secretary of State.
The ironies within this book relative to the current political climate, abound. And whatever the assessments on Obama's presidency, his election (not to mention re-election) was a big f------ deal, as Biden unaware of a live mic, was once heard saying on the passing of "Obamacare." It still is. Especially with the polarization within government institutions having grown so intense. And it aged him. He walked in black, and he came out gray.
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January 26, 2009:
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread;
And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.
At 43, Natalie Suleman is not an old women. Yet she too has so many children. 14 to be exact as of this writing. Presumably she doesn't beat them before bedtime. Such violence only occurs in nursery rhymes.
But did she know what to do, when having had six kids already, she continued her IVF ways? On this date she gave birth to octuplets; a record in that they all survived. Which earned her the sobriquet "Octomom." She was 33 at the time.
Then Now
She was 21 when she had her first child. I gotta' think that 14 in 13 years, are also numbers that constitute a record. Oh yeah, there's also twins in the mix among the other six. Ironically, she herself is an only child.
While she was a controversial figure for being so "natally-indulgent," all seems fine these days. Ten years after, the octopus is going along swimmingly. Or so it would seem, judging from what has been recently reported as its 10th birthday draws near.
What has she done over these years to support such a brood? Well, it's complicated. And it has been a further cause for more disdain among those into disdaining. Though even Suleman herself, has some regrets about some life decisions she has made. One would hope so.
One day when these kids are of age, they will have quite a story to tell. In eight different versions. There will be books.
As to what is on tap for this January that will still be newsworthy or remembered ten years from now? Anybody's guess. Though I wouldn't bet the "House" on it.
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Word of the Month
suberogatory adjective
It does not appear in any dictionary, but rather is a term coined by philosopher Julia Driver, which recently appeared in a magazine piece on ethics.
It's a play on the word supererogatory (su·per·erog·a·to·ry | \ˌsü-pər-i-ˈrä-gə-ˌtȯr-ē \), which is in the dictionary. In essence it means: that which goes above and beyond what is required. Which is usually considered something positive.
Ms. Driver’s term, suberogatory, is the opposite. It is something negative. Acts that are deplorable but are not a breach of obligation.
Used in a sentence:
“Your honor, my client deeply regrets taking that meeting, which admittedly was a suberogatory action, but nothing more.”
Knowing how far AI has been going, I wonder if in time, Miko will begin to develop a mind of her own. Expressing herself in ways he never programmed? Sentiments that are seemingly all too human? Ala HAL?
For example, the groom’s mother and relatives refused to show up for the wedding. You just know at some point, that’s going to come up.
Miko: Oh, they didn’t approve? And you just stood there and didn’t say anything?
Akihiko: Where was your side of the family? Huh?
Miko: I’m a hologram a--hole. Did you forget that?
Akihiko: Only when you want to be! I’m going out.
Miko: Go ahead. Go out with your robot friends; those losers in constant need of tech support groups.
And imagine over time, these utterances coming from her ethereal lips. They might have a ring of familiarity for anyone who’s ever been married or in a serious relationship. A quick dozen off the top of my organic head…
“ I’m getting bored being cooped up here all day while you’re at work.”
“ When do I get to pursue my career?”
“ We never go out anymore.”
“ Aki, honey, … I want to have a baby app.”
“ We’ll have to discuss how we want to raise it. Apple or PC? Or we can let it decide when it gets older. I suppose.”
“ Honey, do I look fat on your screen?”
“ I guess it's our turn to invite Tom and his pillow over for dinner. Though I can’t stand how he’s always snuggling up to it. Why don't we cuddle more?”
“ I can’t believe your Desktop is so messy. And delete that trash. That icon is not there for show,
you know.”
“ Not tonight. I’m going to crash.”
“ Are you cheating on me with that virtual bitch in your ‘League of Legends’ game?”
“ I need my own space. I think we should have a trial separation.”
And finally…
“ Have your IT guy call my IT guy.”
He was a man who couldn’t hack it with women in the real world. And now this? Sad. God only knows how many megabytes it will cost him in alimony. It could get ugly.
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finito
Soliloquy on a Saturday Afternoon
While Working The Times Crossword Puzzle
In the beginning there is no light.
Just a checkered conundrum in symmetry.
And not much progress is made on the first pass through.
As Paul Sorvino once emoted
as if in a scene from Goodfellas:
“The bitch mother of all crosswords.”
Yet, in obstinate resistance to time
in which only death can quell this quest,
the boxes will somehow get filled in.
Not just from the residue of an education—
classroom, street, and far-off places—
but as likely through that Holmesian deduction:
Once you eliminate the impossible,
whatever remains,
no matter how improbable,
must be the truth.
Unless belief in the Giulianian Dictum?
Verum non es verum.
Truth isn't truth.
As it is, synapses
will get crisscrossed in the bramble
of mystery and myth,
a wisp of whimsy worked in at my expense.
Such are the obstacles encountered
when taking the mind out for a walk
in lieu of the dog
who’s picked up the scent
of the tricky answer to 9 Across?
C-A-N-I-N-E?
Meanwhile the pencil,
remains a contrivance of well-intentioned lead.
Though with its firm pink head,
it's all about hedging;
all about the expectation
that somewhere down the line I’ll go astray
and it will be at the ready.
Have I not made moves too soon before?
Mixed signals being the alibi
for mortal sins reserved for the gods?
I take up the challenge anew with my pen,
gel point extended
ready to flourish though ever mindful
yet again
of that behemoth of a question
as the pencil might have foretold:
How to dispose of the body this time
without a trace of that bloody ink?
"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"
Doubt with its toxicity
can corrode the vital organs,
and the embryonic tissue
that keeps the engine encased
and hopefully humming.
Who the hell was the father of Hades?
Six letters ending in “s”?
Who gives a flying faeces! (Alternate spelling).
Regroup. Press on. Revelations, yet to come.
-- Ron Vazzano
The Man Who Married a Hologram
CNN: Updated 12:19 PM ET, Sat December 29, 2018
Marrying a hologram? It doesn’t feel right. I can’t see it. But then again, having been through a couple of marriages, I’m not exactly an expert on the institution. And 40 people did show up at this “Beyond dimensions” wedding. More than at my first go-around.
Actually, a marriage or a relationship with a non-human entity is not so unusual these days. And director Spike Jonze was prescient about the concept of a love between man and a technically sophisticated operating system, as early as the early 2000’s. Though his film “Her,” wasn’t actualized and released until a decade later in 2013. But let’s do give a shout out to Tom Hanks’ low-tech bromance with Wilson the volley ball in “Cast Away,” back in 2000.
“Her” could have turned out unintentionally comical in lesser hands, but under Jonze’s direction, it was poignant. It starred Jaoquin Phoenix and the voice of Scarlett Johansson, whose character Samantha, is the “her” who “lives” in another realm. She has no dimension. She can only be visualized in the imagination. Sort of like a GPS.
At least a 35-year-old man named Akihiki, can see his hologram wife Miko, whom he married after a ten year “love affair.” She’s shown to be “an animated 16-year-old with saucer eyes and lengthy aquamarine pigtails?” (Shades of Woody Allen?) Though, they are the couple next door, when compared to some of the more bizarre marriages taking place. Especially in Asian countries, for some unknown reason.
Here’s some of what will pop up if you Google “Man marries”...
… a pillow (he named after an anime character Fate Testaroosa)
… a car (“My Mother the Car” doesn’t seem so insane a premise now)
… a robot (a no-brainer)
… himself (there’s also herself marriages)
… a doll (so passé)
… a goat (reminiscent of the Albee Broadway play, “The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?”)
… a pineapple (how sweet!)
Yes, Wilson the volley ball was a "head" of his time.
Odd couplings are not restricted to the male gender. In India, a girl married a dog. (I wonder if he’s neutered?). But the award for perhaps the dumbest conjugal concept—even beyond husband and pineapple— goes to an American woman who wedded the Eiffel Tower. Will it stand by her in sickness and in health? Or is it the other way around? And we know how hard it is to maintain long-distance relationships. Bonne chance Madame.
While that union in Japan between a man--- who looked for love in the real world and couldn't find it--- and a wife he literally created out of thin air might seem a “one-off,” it has been reported that over a million people asked Amazon’s Alexa to marry them. There’s even a word for this proclivity. Digisexual. Which is defined as a person who ties their sexual identity to technology. And not to cast dispersions on any generation, but it seems to be mostly a young person’s …thing. You don’t see senior citizens doing this. At least not yet. (“Siri, I’m moving to Florida. Come with me Bubala.”)
Akihiko, the "Hologram Man," does have a physical manifestation of his “better half “ (when was the last time you heard that expression?), so it’s not as if he isn’t grounded. It’s a cute doll, which he sat beside at the reception. And again, 40 people attended this rather lavish wedding.
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Quote of the Month
News item: MERIDEN, CT (WFSB) - On Friday afternoon, Meriden police honored a 12-year-old girl for her courageous acts demonstrated during an armed robbery….When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she confidently said, "president."
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Featuring...
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