Jackpot !!!

The first time I went to a casino - I hit big.
Not big enough to retire, but enough to spend.
But was it the feeling of winning or the feeling one gets right before the win?

I had the fever - bad. REAL bad.
But what was the feeling or sensation I was trying to replicate?
Was it the thrill of winning? (Even several jackpots later - I could never get the same feeling.)
Was it the thrill of being on the verge of losing everything?
Was it just the unconscious effort and visual stimulation?

What I'm asking is; Is this what prayer is like?
Do we pray out of a hope for replicating a past sensation or result? (Is it like crack heads trying to replicate that first timer's high?)
Are our odds any better when we pray to God than when we pray to a machine, table or wheel?

Working At Friday's

No, that's NOT me.
I don't even know the guys.
I just pulled the photo from the Friday's site.
But I did have to wear that ugly uniform.

But the thing about working at Friday's is that we made money.
Since we served food until 1am, when other restaurants closed - those employees would come over and spend their tips on me.

But the worst days were the holidays.
Why? Because everyone would take their mothers, girlfriends or whatever out to a spot that was one or two places better than their regular haunts - but tip in the same percentages from their normal spot.
(Our regulars went to Ruth's Chris, Ruth's Christ's regulars would go to Spago, and we would get the Denny's regulars.)
Most people went to a spot that they really couldn't afford.

The past few decades have been like Mother's Day.
Too many people had jobs, homes and cars that they really weren't prepared to have.

Too many people who should have been teachers were making a nice amount of money at executive jobs,
Too many teachers should have really been janitors,
And too many politicians should have been unemployed.

Too many who could afford a bungalow in Riverside - instead, bought a beach home in Laguna.
Too many who should have stayed in their paid-off home in South Central - instead, acquired new debt to live in the Inland Empire.
Too many who could afford Baldwin Park - instead, bought a home in Baldwin Hills.
Too Many who could afford a home in Pasadena - instead, bought a home on the Palisades.


That the economy went south is no surprise.
It should have been expected.
The only real problem was that too many assumed that the holiday would last forever.

Need For Speed Reality

Does reality just exist as information - only coming into being as the need arises?
Kind of like when one is driving during one of these games - the information exists for the surrounding environment, but it only appears as one reaches the point of needing to see it.

Final Fantasy Genes

When playing an RPG - a character's abilities and inabilities are governed by those skills which one unlocks.
Are genetics/epigenetics working in the same way?
(Does all of the information for a trait or skill exist - and is it only unlocked by one's experience?)

Break Rocks

Let's just pay everybody to break rocks.
Why not?
This is roughly the model of our current economic system.
Banks failed because that many levels of profit making are not required.
The Auto Industry is failing because we don't need that many cars.
Companies are firing people because most of the work being done is redundant.

Too Easy

What do: Angela Davis, John Carlos and Tommy Smith, Jim Brown, Malcolm X, Wilt Chamberlain, and Muhammad Ali all have in common?

Besides being Black?

Or being great?

(But maybe being anti-establishment.)

These people are all an example of one's motivation being more important than their circumstance or resources.

All were born during (or grew up in) Segregation.

All had to work for their rewards.

All were battled tested and hardened.

These people were trying to escape poverty, racism or oppression.

It's easier to run fast when something is chasing you. In most of these people's cases, it was Government sanctioned oppression.

Today's poor are given more support (financial, social and cultural) but with far worse results.

Why?

Because; When one does too much for another individual - one robs that individual (or group) of the character required to maintain that level of success.

The easiest example of this is the over dependence on the government by many of today's poor. From what do they have to run? Hunger, homelessness or oppression? Probably not.

Too much is given to too many people who would be better off learning to take responsibility for themselves.

It can also be seen in all these grown ass men still living at home with their mothers - and their mothers still cooking, cleaning and paying the bills.

What happened to the days in which success was seen as the ultimate revenge?

What happened to the days when a boy wanted to grow up to be A Man?

(I can tell you - the answer is that most weren't brought up to be men - but instead, they were brought up to be dependent.)

Why do so many, instead, blame "The Man"?

But more importantly, these people (and a host of others) inspired the next generation.

Jordan, Spike, Obama, Public Enemy, Oprah etc. can all trace their cultural roots back to those who had the ability to overcome.

The Eighties were a time of HBCU's social and cultural influence (Spike Lee, Public Enemy, Cross Colors, and leather Africa medallions).

The Eighties are when it all went wrong.

Prior to the Eighties (and under much worse circumstances), people understood that they had to work to succeed.

Even the poor family on Good Times had a two parent household - with both parents having jobs.

(J.J., James, Thelma and Florida had jobs - why couldn't they afford to live in a better area? I mean... even at minimum wage x four - that should have been enough to move.)

Many of today's poor have little incentive to work harder. It would be taking a pay cut (In terms of housing, food, medical and financial assistance.)

They have nothing from which to run.

In fact - many glamorize the 'hood .

"It's all good in the 'hood'?

No, it's not.

The 'hood is supposed to be what one is trying to escape - not something to which to aspire.

After the Eighties, many who made a little money thought that they had "Made It".

But most failed to teach the next generation the costs and skills required with having more.

Many had had the rewards (material goods), but not not the skills or knowledge to acquire them on their own.

Since these children were brought up with more stuff, but less guidance - many are incapable of sustaining the lifestyle which their parents provided.

IMO - The problem isn't Segregation - it's motivation (or a lack thereof).

When people complain about the lack of leaders, they only need to look as far as someone who has gone through some shit (Although what "shit" and how much "shit" varies. But the fact that they know how to fight and persist is what matters).

These people pictured understand the game - not just how to go about gaming the system.

The next generation may have some financial success - but unless some cultural success is taught, they're in a whole lot of trouble.

Black Face / White Face

Why is it that death masks are always white,
but not seen as threatening?

Is it because those from whom they were made were white ?

Or is it the choice of material ?

But War Masks are black.

Or some variation ?

Regardless of culture.

Or continent.

But from Braveheart painting his face blue (to appear as "other") or indigenous people painting their faces (also in opposing colors - to appear as "other")...

Does the use of one's own color have a different meaning ?

Is the use of a color other than one's own meant to inspire fear ?

Maybe this is what many police officers experience when they see a Black face.

Balance of Power

California isn't the only state with financial troubles.

When the livelihoods of a few thousand bankers becomes more important than the livelihoods of millions of citizens,

We're in deep trouble.

Q: What could we have spent the two to four TRILLION dollars on - instead of bailing out bankers who lost theoretical money on a high risk craps game?

A: We could have paid the country's total outstanding credit card debts (estimated by ABC News at $960 million).

And the outstanding student loans in all of America (est. $900 million).

And given Five Hundred Billion Dollars to the better managed local credit unions to buy the bundled (and bungled) toxic assets from the "experts" on Wall Street.

And given Five Hundred Billion Dollars to the states to offset their budget woes.

AND still had One Trillion Dollars to give One Million Dollars to One Million People (Creating a whole lot of new money millionaires overnight).

So in spite of these ridiculous answers -

Which way would the country be better off?

Two Thirds of Mankind

Between the Biblical verses Revelation 9:15 and 9:18 - we can expect the world to die back to a more manageable one third of it's current population.

But in this "culling of the herd" - who will live?

Old people are being kept alive by more and more advanced drug programs and medical practices.
What would have killed the elderly a few generations ago, now can be treated with the next new creation from any one of the many pharmaceutical firms.
There was once a time; when someone could no longer produce - they were just set adrift on a barge to be received by the gods of the next life.
While this practice seems harsh - it eliminated the need for a social security program.
It kept the resources (money, food, shelter and clothing) flowing to those who could actually utilized them.
It kept the jobs for those who could still do them.
It kept the population at a more manageable level.

The poor are being paid to stay poor.
Forty thousand dollars annually in benefits (housing, medi-care, food stamps, other programs) to a non-working under-educated person vs. about ten thousand dollars annually (before taxes) in wages for a person making seven dollars an hour.
Which model makes more short term sense?
Poverty used to be so uncomfortable that the poor would hope to die to a better life in Heaven.
Or they would work in order to escape it.
These days - poverty seems like a favorable option.
Poverty in America is subsidized to the point of offering a
"retirement" plan.

The "Retirement Plan" (Jail/Prison) is so entrenched in our economy that we couldn't use all of the labor available if we ever decided to release all of non-violent offenders.
Q; What would America do with twice as many free males of color?
A; It doesn't know. Prison is just a storage area for these people.

Disease effects the poor and minorities worse.
Why? Genetics?
Or experimentation in an effort to cut back on some the overpopulation?

Dumb people used to die from accidents.
We now regulate to the point of keeping the foolish around a bit longer.
Let dumb people; do Heroin, not wear helmets or seat belts, or engage in unsafe sex.
The dumb will die off,
As will the old,
As will the sick,
As will the poor.

Maybe we're just going through a cyclical culling of the human herd.
Maybe the Earth is just making a correction of the arrogance of mankind.
Maybe the past ten years were just an anomaly - and we were never meant to have the poor, dumb, elderly and ill live so long.