Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Greed is not a virtue

Greed is not a virtue.

Much of what we read in essays extolling the virtues of capitalism are the benefits of Greed. Greed, and especially Monetary Greed, is hailed as "the engine" that powers the motivation to create a great business enterprise. Much of the literature explaining and extolling the virtues of Capitalism, seem to marvel at the powerful manifestations of Greed.

Unfortunately, Greed is not a virtue.

Nothing that was born of action motivated by Greed will ever yield positive results. The pictures that we are presented of the "virtues of Greed" are highly distorted and only focus on the small benefits. They largely ignore the necessary and accompanying features that always follow Greed: Lying, Cheating, Selfishness, Emotional Coldness, and a Lack of Love. This is what Greed really brings into the world: Economic Strife, Theft, Crime, Homelessness, Hunger, Hatred, and War.

Unfortunately, we are so busy admiring the few small benefits accompanying Greedy behavior, that we do not even notice that society is being destroyed and the protective social relationships we value are dissolving around us. When we finally do notice, it will be far too late.

William Schaeffer

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

The Naked Truth

William Schaeffer

Inflation rate con job

Bankers and financial advisers designed the annual inflation rate of a few percent. It is designed to fool the ordinary person. It is much more difficult to make accurate cost estimates over time when factoring an inflation rate into the equation, so people make more math mistakes.

This difficulty allows bankers to trick and fool people into making agreements they will not be able to honor and then the bankers can take all their money and assets.

Inflation rate is NOT accidental. It is a deviously planned device to fool people and take their money.

The inflation rate is SET by the Federal Reserve and the Federal Government.

You are being "had."

William A. Schaeffer

Flare for Drama

Reminds me of the TRUE STORY, of a man in Chicago who lit himself on fire to protest the war in Iraq (this was around 2005). He chose the freeway off ramp at 8:30 AM during rush hour. and he lit himself on fire. NOBODY EVEN NOTICED. A sanitation streets worker found the remains a few days later. Only through forensic evidence were they able to identify the body and upon searching his apartment found a journal with a description of his intentions. At least 2600 people drove right by the man's burning body writhing in agony and no one even noticed.

Assuming that cars were moving at a constant rate of 60 miles per hour and a car takes up 30 feet per car (including space between cars), then in an hour about 10560 cars will pass a single point. Assuming that the body was burning and writhing for fifteen minutes, then about 2640 people witnessed that event. Nobody reported it.

William Schaeffer

Eat like a "Good Little Monkey"

When considering diet, remind yourself to eat like a "Good Little Monkey."

Remember that you are descended from mammals and specifically the monkey. The diet that your body is most suited for, is very similar to the diet that those animals will eat to thrive. This is primarily the diet that your body is designed to consume -- "tree food." It is the food that was readily available to our arboreal and tree loving ancestors:

"Fruit and nut from tree and vine."

If you are eating this type of food, then you will enjoy maximum health and longevity and will be compensated for your efforts with less illness and appropriate body weight for your skeletal size.

Always remember to eat like a "Good Little Monkey" and you will be rewarded.

William Schaeffer

Drive Safe

William Schaeffer

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Naturally high

William Schaeffer

Make it happen yourself

Advice to an out-of-work actor:

"Diversify" Start your own youtube channel and videotape your own performances on your own cell phone. Write your own scripts and make it happen yourself. You got a lot of things to say and probably can think of many creative ways to say it. Make it happen yourself. If it isn't happening FOR you, THEN make it happen yourself. If the performance and the material is strong enough it will shine right through the limitations in technology. Don't just not take NO for an answer, stop even bothering to ask the question and make people start to ask YOU. "Break a leg."

William A. Schaeffer

Friday, August 25, 2017

Fruit and Nut Poem

Fruit and Nut
From Tree and Vine.

Coffee, Tea,
And I feel fine.

William Schaeffer

Popular memes

1. One gram of fiber for every one hundred calories.

2. Only drink water (or coffee, or tea).

3. Its all part of the fun.

4. Life is short, got to have fun.

5. Break two legs and fall off the stage.

6. Check the gate and don't be late.

7. Everyone's a Canadian.

8. If it were easy and fun, they wouldn't PAY YOU to do it.

9. Wallet, Keys, Phone, you're on your own.

10. Bing, Bang, Boom -- Straight to the Moon.

11. Nutty Fruitarian.

12. Urban camouflage.

13. Crazy, Ugly, Stupid -- pick one.

William Schaeffer

Ear plugs and Sun glasses

Wearing ear plugs to protect your hearing because the music is too loud (when you attend a concert) is a little like wearing sunglasses to the movie theater because the colors are too bright in the film.

Associated idea: design a final movie color correction so that you had to wear sun glasses to view the film properly.

William A. Schaeffer

Original Thought

William A. Schaeffer

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Poem

Eat Healthy
Be Safe
Have Fun

William Schaeffer

Sophisticated and Elegant

William Schaeffer

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Shocking Truth

William Schaeffer

Looking Cool

William Schaeffer

Monday, August 21, 2017

Civil War

Thoughts on removing Civil War era Statues honoring the South:

I tend to think as a soldier and not a civilian on this matter. In warfare, you respect your enemies. Some of the opposing generals became "friends" after the war. 75% of the free adult male population of the South was killed in the Civil War. Most of the families were destroyed. This was the first modern war in the history of mankind and it presaged WWI and WWII. This was the end of Feudalism and the beginning of the industrial era for the entire world. This was a significant epoch in human history. The NEXT American Civil War will be even more destructive and the entire heartland of the USA will be absolutely destroyed. We should remember our history. In the end it probably wont matter because the statues will be destroyed anyway as the cities themselves are incinerated. THIS is the price we will pay for capitalism, competition, and intolerance. Be prepared. Myself, I hope to escape to the mountains at the last minute. Either way, I am just an amused spectator.

This is way bigger than statues: the next civil war in my opinion will largely be a result of our training in grade school. We are all trained to be isolated, selfish, competitive, score keepers. We sit silently at our desks until we are allowed to talk. We have no friends, but just do assignments. The result of this training is a Nation filled with selfish. mean, hateful, lazy, self-centered people that have no real understanding of compassion, empathy, grace, love, or any sense of belonging to any group at all. The hateful talk we see in media is fueled by this training to be selfish little automatons with no sense of charity or empathy at all. Prepare for doom.

copyright (c) 2017
William Schaeffer

Sunday, August 20, 2017

The songbird

Refined and sophisticated. Aloof and solitary, living the life of the mind. The song touches your heart and you are never the same again. A surprise to all.

William Schaeffer

A Great Leader

57

If you want to be a great leader,
you must learn to follow the Tao.
Stop trying to control.
Let go of fixed plans and concepts,
and the world will govern itself.

The more prohibitions you have,
the less virtuous people will be.
The more weapons you have,
the less secure people will be.
The more subsidies you have,
the less self-reliant people will be.

Therefore the Master says:
I let go of the law,
and people become honest.
I let go of economics,
and people become prosperous.
I let go of religion,
and people become serene.
I let go of all desire for the common good,
and the good becomes common as grass.

From Tao Te Ching
by Lao Tzu
translated by Stephen Mitchell

http://www.taoteching.org.uk/chapter57.html

Digital VFX

I once described my experience in the Digital VFX industry as "A bunch of people all trying to stand on each other's shoulders." Maybe that was the voice of bitterness?

William Schaeffer

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Eye see You

I have thought how fun it might be to glue a pair of eyes on every single door handle, light switch, appliance control, and faucet in my apartment and THEN start helping the world to see by gluing pairs of eyes everywhere. Somehow, I do not think the artistic merits of the endeavor would be fully appreciated, so I desist.

Can you imagine a kitchen pantry with every single soup can and food package has a pair of google eyes glued to it? As if the entire pantry was alive with cartoon food waiting to be eaten and enjoying their party in the dark in the meantime.

Can you imagine a kitchen where every single knob and handle has a pair of eyes turning the handle into a nose (and the appliance into a face)?

***

In the future, google eyes will be small cybernetic machines that automatically track prominent objects in the environment. This will give children's toys an even more lifelike behavior. One day all light switches may be little computer eyeballs that watch for our subtle eye-blink or hand signal and then just turn OFF, or ON when we want without our really thinking about it. Of course, you could always just poke, or jab, the eye with your finger to change the settings and that might be a more enjoyable way to operate the system anyway.

Imagine your music instrument or automobile had eyes installed on the controls and you could communicate with them by blinking and pointing and they had feedback "expressions" to help you govern the behavior of the machine without really knowing it. Wow.

William Schaeffer

Friday, August 18, 2017

Through a glass darkly

I took a selfie through a magnifying glass and the surface reflections made some interesting images. I remembered the quote and could not remember the source.
After a little research I found it as a quote from 1 Corinthians 13:12.

***

(from biblegateway.com)

1 Corinthians 13:12King James Version (KJV)

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

William A. Schaeffer

Separation of Church and State

This country U.S.A. was founded on the concept of "SEPARATION of CHURCH and STATE" meaning religious concepts were not to be used to decide matters of law. Most all the founding fathers of the United States were Deists -- a religious group that has largely disappeared from the USA. Deists has a general belief in some kind of God, but not in any particular scriptural description. Their belief was similar to the contemporary concept of Agnosticism.

"Born Again Evangelical Christianity" began in the USA with the travelling tent revival shows of the 1830's. At the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence there were no Southern Baptists or any Evangelical Christians in the USA. The central concepts of contemporary "Born Again Christianity" did not exist in 1776. The entire movement has developed and grown in the USA in the past two hundred years. Additionally, the USA is the only country in the world today that has any sizable (or even countable) population of people who describe themselves as Born Again Evangelical Christians. According to some surveys today, as many as 47% of the population of the USA are self-described as Born Again Evangelical Christians.

William Schaeffer

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Welcome to the future

Response to a thread on Linkedin:

Unfortunately that still doesn't answer the primary question of why is this crap on Linkedin? This is one of those existential questions we must forever debate and never really come to a satisfactory conclusion. A possible explanation is that too many otherwise intelligent people have nothing useful to do in an economy where wealth is concentrated in the control of very few agents and is essentially "stockpiled." This causes free flow of money to stop and free economic society eventually grinds to a halt. Without a massive government intervention at some point; only an armed revolution, or natural disaster, will bring some balance back to the social system. In the meantime the common people will be subjected to such violence, terror, displacement, death, and the unbelievable horrors of war that they will need an irrational belief in divine providence just to keep from going absolutely stark raving mad. Welcome to the future. It is really going to suck.

William Schaeffer

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

The ability to not KNOW

Some questions cannot ever be answered. Our lives are so short and the Universe is so huge that there are many questions we will just never know the answer to. It is OK to "not know." It is OK to be uncertain about the great mysteries of life. It is OK to arrive at "no answer" and realize that some questions are beyond our ability to fully understand. The most important thing, however, is honesty. If we wish to have even a glimmer of truth, we must be rigorously honest with ourselves and with nature. Life is not simple and simple answers are rarely true.

But the questions are still worth asking. Even if we know we will not fully solve the puzzle, we can still learn something about a small part of the puzzle and that is much better that not learning anything at all.

Even if we cannot command and control all of the world of knowledge, we can still learn to master a small part. And even if we manage to do THAT, it is still only a small advance, a minuscule accomplishment, in the noble and superhuman effort of mankind to eventually understand and rule the universe.

William Schaeffer

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

The Supernatural Gummy Worm

Divine Gummy Intelligence reveals:

Actually, the Universe is controlled by a giant supernatural gummy worm. And if you cannot prove me wrong, that just proves that I am correct. All hail the supernatural gummy worm. All praise the divine gummy intelligence. All should prepare to receive the blessings of the supernaturally divine gummy intelligence. Praise be gummy. Praise gummy forever.

William Schaeffer

Notes on Atheism

Thomas Pecora wrote in Linkedin:

Atheism IS a Religion Atheism IS a Religion. A very powerful, extremist, fundamentalist, card-carrying Religion. It is the religion of NO religion and worships the God of NO God. And just like its many opposite counterparts its Primary Goal is Conversion. You cannot argue with these people. They live in the same bubble as any extremist. Me right. You wrong. Done. The very fact they are obsessively compelled to get other's agreement is proof of their own deep insecurity with what they believe they believe.

My Reply:

Sorry Thomas, That is not true. Atheism is a philosophical doctrine. Atheism is a scientific understanding. Atheism has nothing to do with religion. Atheists do not live in an extremist bubble. If there was documented, repeatable and verifiable evidence of the existence of any God or divine being, then that would change everything. Unfortunately there is no evidence at all that would be admissible as either court testimony, or experimental data. And until there is, it is not practically logical or very rational to believe in creative fictional stories as being really true. They are not true. They are stories. There is no evidence except hearsay evidence and THAT is no evidence at all.

Your argument is disingenuous and simple minded. You are deliberately misconstruing the essential nature of the Atheist philosophy and confusing it with the purpose that religion exists. Sorry. But keep reading philosophy and science and theology and keep thinking and studying. You are on the right track.

***

The existence of a universe is not "proof" of the existence of a "Supreme Deity," or a "Creator God." Sorry. That might be a plausible explanation, but is not proved (by any commonly understood definition of the word proof).

***

Atheism is based on lack of convincing evidence. Period. The Christian Bible itself is self contradictory about the major events in the life of Jesus. There are two different narratives for both his birth and death and these two narratives are not in agreement and cannot be reconciled. And THESE are supposed "facts" about the central and most important person in all of Christianity. If the Bible cannot get these "facts" correct, how can it be reliably correct about any thing else?

Atheism is a "scientific understanding" that strongly affirms the lack of proof for an ineffable assertion that cannot be scientifically tested.

Nobody argues about the existence of oxygen, or gravity, or time. There is a reason for this. Try and figure out that reason and you will have a greater understanding of life.

***

Christianity is specifically based on FAITH because there is no proof. You have to believe without evidence -- or proof. THAT is the essence of the concept of FAITH. You seem to have no real understanding of any of the things you are talking about. But, you do not need understanding if you have FAITH. Best of luck to you.

Logic and thoughtful intelligence is exactly what is lacking in the creationist argument. There is no logic that can justify "FAITH". This is the definition of "FAITH" in Christian Theology. FAITH is antithetical to belief and understanding. Sorry, but good luck anyway.

***

Question: What constitutes valid evidence?

Valid evidence would be either: Repeatable and independently verifiable results of a controlled experiment. Direct eye witness testimony that is admissible in a court of law (i.e. NOT Hearsay testimony).

William A. Schaeffer

Monday, August 14, 2017

The Bubble

William A. Schaeffer

Freedom

William Schaeffer

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Emerald City Blues

Los Angeles, August 12, 2017

William Schaeffer

The Hidden Room

The Mushroom

William Schaeffer

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Another Day at the Office

smile

William Schaeffer

Life is Brutal

Life is brutal

(and life is brittle)

and that is what makes it so beautiful.

William Schaeffer

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

in response to William Faulkner

"To me, all human behavior is unpredictable and, considering man's frailty... and... the ramshackle universe he functions in, it's... all irrational." - William Faulkner

in response to William Faulkner:

"The human mind is a super rational and efficient calculating engine. In a container the size of a cantaloupe is housed a little real-time computer that can model and interact with the entire universe. The calculations it performs are done with amazing speed and accuracy. Unfortunately, some of the calculations are only approximations and that is why we have things like optical illusions. More importantly, this little computer is frequently given wrong and bad information by people that should know better like: teachers, religious leaders, parents, politicians, government workers, employers, friends, merchants, and insurance salesman. When presented with all this erroneous data, it is no wonder that this little computer arrives at incorrect conclusions and seems irrational in function and behavior. It is only operating on the assumptions it has been given and these were all intentionally misleading. Therefore it seems that humans are irrational only to the degree that they have been lied to and cheated during their life. The real human mind is a shining paradigm of logic. It is honest, and straight, and true. It has only become bent and perverted over time, by exposure to other more powerfully bent and broken and selfish hurting minds."

William Schaeffer

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Baseball

Oil on stretched canvas

24 x 36 unframed, signed 1992, 2000

William A. Schaeffer

Halloween Tree

Acrylic on Canvas Board

16 x 20, framed

William Schaeffer

Homeless

Acrylic on Canvas Board

16 x 20, Framed

William A. Schaeffer

Capitalist Economic Practice

(Response to a Linkedin comment on someone being laid off after two years of work and they still had school loan debt and consumer debt and almost lost everything.)

This is one of the things that is wrong with America and the capitalist economic organization. The individual cannot negotiate effectively with large corporate entities, and frequently the individual loses everything. After devoting ones life to developing a particular skill, that skill is no longer necessary because the work has been outsourced and you are just out of luck. Even though you devoted your life to the career and the corporate employer, they are only governed by "at will hire laws" and have no responsibility to you at all. You are out of work, with no useful skills, and no one in USA America cares whether you are dead or alive. This is why there are 70,000 homeless living right on the sidewalks of Los Angeles. This is why 75% of the single family homes in Detroit are abandoned or demolished. Capitalism destroys life. Nobody cares.

The unfortunate thing is that this economic environment we live in was designed to create the exact personal conflicts that we find so traumatic. Our free market economy is designed so that you work most all your waking hours just to stay alive and have no time for anything else. How is it that we live in a time when we have more personal wealth than any other time in human history and yet we all work longer hours than any other time in human history (except for the slaves in the Roman salt mines)? Is this an accident? I think not.