Eat like a good little monkey.

"For optimal health you must learn to eat like a good little monkey." - Mr. Atwater

Fruit and nut from tree and vine

For forty million years before they left the trees and became proto-humans, our ancestors lived as good little monkeys that spent their entire lives up in the trees.  Besides an occasional insect or an infrequently available bird egg, the only food they ate was fruit and nut from tree and vine.  Our digestive system was originally designed to process this kind of food exclusively, and it remains the most healthful food to eat.  So for optimum health and maximum longevity you must learn to eat your food like a good little monkey and always remember to eat only the fruit and nut from tree and vine.

copyright (c) 2016 

William Schaeffer

In the Room

Bing Bang Boom

We're in the Room

copyright (c) 2016

William Schaeffer

Wash your Hand

"Have a Good Day, and remember to wash your hand afterwards." - Mr. Atwater

copyright (c) 2016

 William Schaeffer

Requiem for the Piano

It is a sad day when one realizes that the acoustic piano is an artifact of ancient technology. As elegant and refined as the engineering of the mechanism may be, it cannot be denied that the storage, care and maintenance necessary to keep the machine operating perfectly are no longer practical in today's modern world. Alas, "Requiem for the Piano."

copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

The Fool

"When I was young, I was a fool.
And as I aged and matured,
I became much more efficient at it."
- Mr. Atwater

copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

Talent

"Natural Talent" is a word used to describe other people's abilities as an unconscious excuse for one's  own lack of effort at even trying.

copyright (c) 2016

William Schaeffer

No Homeless in Russia

I find it interesting that there are not homeless people in either Russia or China.  Do a google search.  It is impossible to find photos of homeless camps in Russia that are anything like the camp on the traffic island at Vermont and Hollywood Blvd., or downtown Los Angles around 5th Street.  The only photos that can be found are photos of individual Russian ex-soldiers sleeping on storm grates, or children playing in alleyways.  There are no photos of homeless camps in Russia.

The reason for this is the legacy of the communist government which guaranteed all citizens a place to live.  That guarantee is STILL written into the Russian constitution that the government must provide you with a place to live.  You cannot buy a person's house unless he has another house or apartment to move to.

I talked to a Russian student today and he pretty much confirmed that "There are bums in Russia, but there are no large homeless camps."

So try it yourself: Do an internet search and look for homeless camps in Russia that look like the homeless camps on the streets and sidewalks of Los Angeles.  If you find a picture from Russia, that looks like 5th street in Los Angeles then post it here.

copyright (c) 2016

William Schaeffer

Job Security

One thing that young people do not fully appreciate about the USA American free market:

If you are more handsome, or talented, than your boss; you will eventually get fired.
If your wife is more attractive than your boss's wife; you will eventually get fired.
If your children are more attractive, or talented, than your boss's family; you will eventually get fired.

Your job security ultimately has little to do with how well you actually execute the tasks appropriate to your job classification and is based largely on the psychological stability of your immediate superior.  This has little to do with you and is based entirely on his own abilities and self image.  This is something that you have little or no control over; except to harm yourself in the process -- by hiding your own true nature.


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

Subversive Eggplants

"After I close the refrigerator door, I am certain that I can hear the eggplants talking with each other and I surely don't like what I think I can hear.  I know that they are plotting a revolution.  They are planning a takeover.  They are forming a new lunch menu and it won't be pretty.  You'll see. Eggplants just cause trouble." - Mr. Atwater


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

Musings on the number 23

23 is a prime number.  Each of the digits is a prime number and their sum is also a prime number.

Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes.  All the other primates have 24 pairs of chromosomes and humans are the only primates that have 23 pairs of chromosomes.

'W' is the 23rd letter of the alphabet.

The 23rd Psalm: 
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Psalm 23:1-6


The phrase "23 skiddoo" was very popular during the jazz age and the roaring twenties.

Most "three week vacations" last for 23 days.

Communist Party Chairman Mao Published "The 23 Articles" in 1965.

The numbers 233, 2333, and 23333  are also prime numbers, but 233333 is NOT a prime number.

This graphic art below was produced using software "Printshop 23.1"

copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

"Take two in the morning"

It seems to me that the current practice of pharmaceutical treatment of illness is at best a "generalized therapy" that helps provide an environment for physical recuperation.  At worst it is harmful and dangerous.  Unfortunately the application of this pharmaceutical treatment in many cases seems like the following scenario:

Upon noticing that the engine in your car is dangerously low on oil, you begin pouring motor oil all over the engine, while it is running, in hopes that the oil will eventually go where it is needed most.   In some cases this will happen and the engine will continue to run. Most likely, it will be so covered with oil as to be judged 'impractical to drive" by any normal person.  In many cases, the treatment will absolutely fail and the engine will seize with lack of oil.


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

Eyebrow Pencil

When I was ten years old in 1967 I noticed that all the old women in Church had no eyebrows and they used an eyeliner to draw their eyebrows on. For a long time I thought that as women aged their eyebrows fell out and they had to draw them in. Then several years later I realized that in the 1920's it was the fashion to pluck out your eyebrows and pencil them in and these women had all plucked out their own eyebrows when they were young. However, when they were in their 60's they all looked silly to a young ignorant boy. I imagine that in forty years there will be a lot of old people with funny dark colored blotches on their skin, where they once had tattoos, and young children will puzzle at that.


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

Contemporary Hat Theory

"The width of a woman's hat brim is directly proportional to her age." - Mr. Atwater


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

"God doesn't play dice with the Universe." - Albert Einstein

"God doesn't play dice with the Universe -- because he doesn't have hands." - Mr. Atwater

copyright (c) 2016

William Schaeffer

Imperfection

It is the imperfection that makes a diamond valuable.
It is the imperfection that makes a Beauty memorable.

It was an imperfection that caused the pearl to be formed.
It was an imperfection that gave birth to the Universe.


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

The Second Saint Lucy

There are TWO Saints named Saint Lucy:

1) Santa Lucia - The original St. Lucy.  Often portrayed with two human eyeballs on a plate.  Legend has it that she blinded herself to demonstrate her faith.  Her memory is celebrated on December 13.

2) Saint Lucy of Fatima - The little girl that saw the Virgin at Fatima in Portugal on May 13, 1917 was also named Lucy.   After death, she was canonized by Pope John Paul II.

copyright (c) 2016

William Schaeffer

The Second Worst Job in the World

As a Senior in Engineering School I was part of a design class that was contracted to use our newly learned mathematical modeling skills to solve real world problems.  My team was assigned a problem in deciding the optimal geometry for a numerically controlled machine part.  As a part of the assignment we had to take a tour of the factory.  This was an old brick building in the manufacturing district of South Chicago.

The staff was friendly and the tour was very educational.   I recognized a former classmate from the previous graduating year working at the factory.   Our indoctrination included a tour of the facility. The factory consisted mostly of primitive robotic machines used to manufacture precisely defined metal machine parts.

At one station I saw a man employed it what has to be one of the worst jobs in the world.  He was using a machine to cut notches in small cast steel bars, or pipes.  The bars were about 3/4 of an inch in diameter and eight inches long.  The bars were strapped to an apparatus that was submerged in high viscosity motor oil and the the notch cutting saw blade was applied to make the cut out.  All day long this man had to reach into the oil with his bare hands to adjust the pieces between cuts.  He couldn't wear gloves.

I learned a lot from that tour, but unfortunately the main thing I learned was that I did not want to work in that industry.  To this day I am haunted by the image of the man who had to reach into motor oil all day long just to insure that he cut accurate notches in little metal bars.


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

At 2 AM

I think of you
and hope you are OK


At 2 AM

It is too late to call
And you might be asleep.
I think of you
and hope you are OK.

Dark and quiet is the night
When there is no sound,

And I know you are awake.

I think of you

and hope you are OK.

America is such a lonely place,
And apartments are like cages
With locks on the inside.
I think of you
and hope you are OK.

Good night. 
Have a good dream.
It is 2 AM.
I think of you
and hope you are OK.

Jan 17, 2016

William Schaeffer

copyright(c) 2016

Love and Trust

In most traditional hunter gatherer societies, the people you spent the most of your time with were members of your family or clan; or extended family.  Most of the people you spent your intimate time with were related to you and knew your personal history.  These people were more than "just friends."  These were people that you loved and trusted with your life.

Today, in USA America, the majority of people that we spend the majority of our intimate personal time with are absolute strangers who have no interest in our lives at all.  On any ordinary day, the majority of time that Americans spend is in the work place.  In my career of thirty years I frequently worked eight, ten, or more than twelve hours a day -- frequently working six days a week.  I rarely worked less than eight hours a day, five days a week.  The majority of my waking time was spent "at work."  The majority of my work time was spent with people that I no longer even remember.  These people might have been polite, or sociable, but they were not really friends and I have little contact with any of them today.  In fact, a sizable number of those people could be classified as enemies as they actively tried to 1. make me look bad, 2. take credit for my work, 3. take my job position away, or 4. effectively kill my career.

One of the major problems with American Society is that there is no friendship in most of our simple and intimate everyday relationships. There is no love and trust.  And worse, many of those people who you are intimately connected with do not care about you.  They may even want to hurt you. In many cases, you are unaware of these motivations, because everyone pretends otherwise.

There is no love and trust in the American workplace.  And since the American workplace makes almost the whole of society, there is almost no love or trust in most relationships in America; especially when compared to the "hunter gatherer" social system that we evolved to be a part of.

There is no love or trust in America.  There probably never was.



copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

The Worst Job in the World

The worst job in the world was the guy who had to clean the blades of the screw and reset the post hole digger "bit" on this job I worked years ago. They were digging twenty foot holes [three foot wide] for a cement footing for a factory that required heavy machinery. Every time the Caterpillar Tractor brought the screw up, this kid had to get right under the blade and turn a switch. The blades were lubricated with high viscosity oil and the oil dripped right in his face and down his arm as he reached up to flip the switch. All day long, on a sunny ninety degree day, this kid had to have high viscosity motor oil dripped on his face and down his arm while his coworkers watched and supervised.


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

Playing Cards

Since I moved to East Hollywood, I frequently find playing cards on the street and sidewalk. For a while last year I was finding "pairs of cards" like 4-4, 8-8, Ace-Ace, 9-9. I found these four cards pictured below in the Fallas Store parking lot and street near Vermont and Sunset. It is possible that I am slightly more aware of this phenomenon, because i look for things on the ground to use in art projects. Now I have started to find Chinese Fortune Cookie fortunes on the ground instead of playing cards, but it was nice to find these yesterday. I have found so many of the discarded playing cards that I have started including a playing card with all my friendly USPS correspondence. Truth, but strange.

copyright (c) 2016

William Schaeffer

Presence of Joy

I think we sometimes forget that 
"Presence of Joy" is different than "Absence of Pain", 
"Abundant Health" is different than "Lack of Illness", 
and "Empathetic Feeling" is different than "Intellectual Understanding".



copyright(c)2016
William Schaeffer

TV Shrinks Your Head

After doing background acting for a couple years, I have met a number of television celebrities, or worked in the same scene with them in the background.  One curious thing I notice is that many big movie stars also have unusually large heads.  Their heads are proportionately larger in comparison to their bodies than in most average looking people.  And yet, when I watch these same actors on TV in a network broadcast of a finished TV show, their heads look properly proportional and they appear to be perfectly normal.

The only logical conclusion that I can make is that "TV Shrinks Your Head"  By some unknown process of strange quantum mechanics of signal processing entropy -- their heads actually shrink during the filming and broadcast of the show.

It is hard to believe but must be true.

TV Shrinks Your Head.


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

Strange Meanings

Rehearse = Re + Hearse = repeat practice dying

Jesus = Jupiter + Zeus = The New Super Deity

Worship = War + ship = How we sit in rows



copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

Bing Bang Bong

Bing Bang Bong
Still Going Strong


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

Music presents a Balance between Happiness and Stress

I have a theory that people are designed to experience a certain balance of misery and happiness in life; and their "art" is used to provide that balance. Most traditional arts of people in desperate grinding poverty are "bright and happy." Modern art in the West seems largely bitter, angry, and depressing. It is as if our life is so effortlessly comfortable that we bring the "necessary" anger and unhappiness into our lives with art and music. In the "Third World" life is naturally difficult and stressful, so the music [as a counter balance] is happy and joyful.



copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

Capitalism revealed

The goal state, or end state, of Capitalism is the total destruction of the society that supports this economic relationship.  Capitalism is the accumulation of capital resources by a group of people who are not ultimately personally liable for the outcome of their decisions.  The goal of this organization is the trade and exchange capital with other economic entities in order to try to accumulate as much capital wealth as possible.  The goal state is the creation of economic entities that are enormous by any human conception of wealth. Eventually one single entity will control all wealth on Earth, and instead of providing economic freedom and security to all its employees, it will have all humans trapped in perpetual enslavement by its laws and obligations.

And today these economic entities are considered by the legal system as individual persons, but they can never be sent to jail.  This legal trick, prevents the few people who benefit from this exploitation from ever being responsible for the decisions they make; and the actions that the company performs.  The company pays with a fine, and they get a golden parachute to retire.

Detroit, Michigan would be a good example.  In the 1960's Detroit was one of the wealthiest cities in the USA.  Presently in 2016, seventy five percent of the single family homes are abandoned or destroyed.  This is almost entirely due to the automotive industry closing factories and moving to other locations.  Three quarters of the lives in Detroit were willfully destroyed by the actions of the auto industry.  This was a force that was out of their control and beyond the ability of those people to deal with.  There were no effective government protections for these people and these destroyed communities.  And yet, no one was punished.  The few people who profited economically were rewarded for their decisions and they are gone.  They never really lived in Detroit anyway.

This is the future of America and the future of the World if we continue to embrace corporate capitalism in the form that it has existed until this point in time.   Already we see the infra structure decaying and we see the disparity of wealth increasing.  There is a permanent homeless camp on the traffic island in my community.  The quality of life is declining while the wealth of the corporate owners still grows.  Is this the world that we want to live in?

You decide.  It is not up to me.  The choice is yours.



copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

Your Career

Based on my personal experience, this is my opinion:

If you are like most people, you will really only have twenty years of peak earning during your career.  You might extend it to thirty years, but twenty years is the average.

This is why a home mortgage is traditionally 15 years long.  Until recently the banks actually wanted you to pay off the mortgage, instead of just fleecing you for all your available cash and savings.  Based on statistical data, they knew that the typical person only had twenty "good years" of earning potential and as a result a mortgage should be only fifteen years long to ensure successful completion.

If you are a young person and planning the arc of your life and career, let this be a signpost from the future for you.  You will only have about twenty years of peak earning capacity and that is all.  Despite your self confidence at your invincibility and endurance, it is likely that something will happen, illness, accident, economic downturn, personality conflict, and so on.  If you are like the majority of people, you most likely will not escape and the second half of your life will be spent at a lower level of economic vitality than the first half.  If you have not paid off your mortgage by this time, you will lose the house.

Take it from me.  At one time I was constantly working as a high paid VFX artist, but then age, illness, market changes, industry changes, professional misunderstandings all combined to eliminate this source of income for myself.  Even though I was just as competent and economically efficient at performing the task of rotoscoping, I was not offered very much work.  I had to sell my condo.

Presently I am a background actor.  I love it, but the pay is low and the hours are irregular.  The reason I took this work is because nobody else would hire me for any other work whatsoever even though I have a Masters Degree, Good Credit, and no criminal record.  The fact of the matter must be that I was just "too old" AND "a white man" AND "WHO REALLY KNOWS WHY???"

Most likely, this same thing will happen to you, in the future of this economy.  Just wait and see.

So, if you are planning your own economic future from the vantage point of early in life -- assume that you will only have twenty years of peak earning and only buy a Mortgage if you project that you can afford a fifteen year Mortgage.  Trust me.  Live small.  Last long.


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

bing bang bong

bing bang bong
it won't last long




copyright (c) 2016
Wm Schaeffer

Faith

"Blind Self Confidence is not a sufficient basis for forming an accurate model of the universe.  Any viable, workable model must be able to be submitted for testing and verification." - Mr. Atwater


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

Theological Truth

Nobody argues about the existence of oxygen.

Nobody debates about the effects of gravity.

Nobody disputes the distance from the Earth to the Sun.

No one complains about protons and electrons, or even neutrinos.


The only ideas that people champion are the ones that can never be proved.

The only ideas that must be taken with "faith"
are the ones that there is no practical evidence to support.

Stop believing fiction.  Stop killing people who don't.



copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer