It is OK

It is OK to not want to become an "Enlightened Being" in this life.

It is OK to just get caught up in the game and not make very much "progress" at all.

It is OK to just wait til the next life to worry
about all that Enlightenment and Spiritual Transcendence business.

It is OK to just have meaningless fun and not hurt anybody and just get along as best as you can right now.

Take a break -- you deserve it.

There is plenty of time in the next life to work hard and struggle greatly.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Read the book "The Black Swan" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb... A black swan is an absolutely unforeseen event that dwarfs all other considerations of influence.

 In the book he explains that in European history there were a set of "truisms" which expressed the same attitude as "Does a Bear Shit in the Woods? or "Is the Pope Catholic?" -- meaning "OF COURSE YOU IDIOT". One of those truisms for two thousand years was "Isn't a swan white?" AND THEN in early 1700 Captain Cook sailed to Australia and found a black swan. All of a sudden that saying was no longer true. It was as if the Pope wasn't Catholic and Bears no longer shit in the woods but used latrines like humans. The discovery of Black Swans was absolutely unthinkable, unanticipated, and not even considered a possibility before Captain Cook sailed to Australia... Read the book "The Black Swan" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He does a better job explaining than me.



copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

It's about time...

It's about time...



copyright (C) 2018
William Schaeffer

The 99 Cents Only Store

"If it is not at the 99 cent store,
  then I don't need it.
  I buy EVERYTHING I need
  at the 99 cent store."
  - Mr. Atwater


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

DADA

Dada, a movement in art and literature which celebrated the irrational, was born in 1916 in tranquil, neutral Switzerland while the rest of Europe was engulfed in World War I.  There in Zurich a group of aesthetes gathered at the Cafe Voltaire.  This mixed bag of poets, painters, and war protesters included Marcel Duchamp, Jean Arp, Marcel Janco, Hugo Ball, Richard Hulsenbeck, and Tristan Tzara.  They decided to respond to the madness around them by creating an art movement based on nihilism and irrationality, one that would repudiate traditional artistic values and conventions and would shock and outrage bourgeois sensibilities.  Tristan Tzara, a Romanian-born poet and the group's leader, would later publish a series of seven manifestos ("I am neither for nor against, and I do not explain, for I hate sense") and the first poems and essays in the anarchically scrambled language that the movement espoused.


from  Webster's Dictionary of Word Origins, SMITHMARK Publishers, 1995

Meat Eating is an addiction

The caseins (milk proteins) in milk cause addictive behavior in infants. These are short strings of protein that act as a sedative AND cause a pleasurable sensation in infants when consumed. This addictive property of caseins is beneficial to infants because it encourages them to drink milk and "settle down" while they are nursing. However, we are still susceptible to this addiction to caseins as adults. This is one reason why milk is added to chocolate. This is why cheese tastes so much better than other cheese substitutes. Unfortunately cooking meat, breaks down the long protein strings and produces similar short protein strings that act in a similar manner to caseins when consumed by adult humans. Eating meat causes a similar pleasurable sensation and addictive sedation. MEAT EATING IS AN ADDICTION. Sorry.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

When does it happen that you know what it is?

When does it happen that you know what it is?


When the dogs start howling
And the cats run and hide.
When the chickens start clucking
And the moon is outside...




copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Air conditioning at 60 degrees ?

There is nothing more ridiculous than running your air conditioning when it is 60 degrees outside, because you are dressed for an overnight shift when it will get to be 40 degrees and you start sweating at 60 degrees while sitting in your car in the sun and driving to work.


copyright (C) 2018
William Schaeffer

School shootings

Why has no one considered that school shootings are caused by the inherent social structure of the school environment? To me, the typical school environment seems inherently "fake," anti social, unfriendly, exploitative, dis-empowering, and "not fun." Perhaps the schools themselves, and the calculatedly artificial social environment, are responsible for the school shootings?  Maybe we need to change the schools?

If school shootings are so common as to be a regular occurrence in USA America, then maybe the structure of the school environment itself is promoting the likelihood of school shootings?  We never hear about school shootings in any other country in the world. This is likely because they just do not happen. Why is this?  What is wrong with the USA?   Curious

copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Youtube lies and cheats and steals

I had a monetization agreement with youtube to get paid advertising for my videos I posted.

I had earned almost $139 when youtube changed the agreement unilaterally.

They took away the $139 I had earned and did not pay me.

Youtube stole my money and arbitrarily changed our legal agreement. 


I have no rights or recourse to enforce our previous agreement. 

There is no way I can get the $139 I earned legally and legitimately.

I do not know how our present agreement will be changed in the future.

I do not trust youtube.


Youtube lies and cheats and steals.

Just like the rest of America.

Youtube lies and cheats and steals.



copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

a College Education

One good thing about a college education is that even if it seems worthless to your career, it was still hard work and you did the work and passed the requirements and nobody can take that away from you. You learn to sacrifice for a long term goal. By the way --- The flunk out numbers at University of Illinois were WAY WORSE than at USC today. 50% of my freshman class in Engineering never completed the work to get a degree. For forty years, the graduating senior class at University of Illinois was half the size of the freshman class. The other 50% were routinely and systematically "flunked out." For many of those boys, their lives were ruined and they are already dead. Some of my good friends flunked out years ago and never really recovered from the trauma. I was lucky to graduate I guess. The class size numbers are a matter of public record, so that can be verified.years 1945 - 1985


 I have several friends that remember being told in in advance in Freshman orientation in the College of Engineering to "look to your right and left --- half of those people will never graduate." They reported this to me after I back calculated the numbers to figure out the College of Engineering teaching strategy, which was : "It is easier to flunk out the stupid students that it is to actually teach them. The College will get better quality Engineering Graduates if we don't try to teach them all but just keep the real smart ones."

University of Illinois College of Engineering has no heart, no love, and no good intentions.  They destroyed more lives than they helped:  50% flunk out rate on unsuspecting students.  I survived.



copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

College is a scam

I'm 60 years old. I have two degrees BS Engineering 1981 and MCS Computer Science 1985 from University of Illinois. I work a minimum wage job as a security guard because no one else will hire me. I have no criminal record and a good credit rating. My college degree is worthless to me. I spent almost ten years in school. Good Luck. -- I worked 25 years in film VFX and have imdb.com credit in 40 feature films and no one will hire me.

Good Luck.
College is a scam.
America is a prison.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

youtube.com/user/atwaterpub
atwaterpub.blogspot.com

I hate this life

I hate this life.


After working in video for 40 years,
I have no career and work as a security guard

After making 1270 videos


After working on youtube for eight solid years


Youtube removed my monetization.

I have lost all hope for the future


I wish I was dead.


Nobody cares.

I wish I was dead.





copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Music for the Masses

"Music for the Masses"


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Homeless or Rich?

The biggest criticism of the capitalist or free market economy is that it causes homelessness and despair.  There is no provision or systematic importance given to caring for all people, so that is left to charities and empathetic individuals.  Inevitably this guarantees a fairly sizable class of homeless and destitute people that cannot lift themselves out of misery and despair.  Even if one person manages to muster the super human effort to escape this ultimate poverty, the structure of the system guarantees that there will always be a large lower class of unfortunate "under achievers" living in poverty.  This is a statistical certainty.  It also guarantees the existence another group of totally destitute and desperate homeless people. 

The greatest praise of capitalism and the free market economy is the splendid lifestyle that the successful achievers have created with their access to wealth and a good career.  The material goods, clothing,  a house, automobiles, vacation travel, education, a diversity of entertainments are all important.  The modern diet, access to modern medicine, and the possibility of a long healthy life are also mentioned favorably.

Which scenario do you suppose carries more moral weight and presents a stronger social argument:
1. The self satisfied enjoyment of selfish pleasures, or
2. The empathetic understanding that great numbers of people are condemned to ill health, misery, and even death in the streets?


Please leave your comment below.

copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Why there are no real friends in America

I have been surprised to find that my most important personal successes and accomplishments were ignored and disregarded the most by the people closest to me.  Only strangers allowed themselves to truly voice feelings of congratulations and approval.  This seems counter intuitive because the people closest to you should feel most empathy for you, but that appears not to be the case for me.

Here is what I think is happening:

We have been trained by the grade school system to not share in another's victory or success.  We have been trained that the only score that matters to us is our own score and everybody else in the world is a competitor that we rank ourselves against.  If you best friend gets an A on a test and you get a B then he makes you look bad and you are not happy for his success, even though you own score is perfectly acceptable.

In tribal societies and agrarian cultures, people are not trained to this experience of numerical evaluation  and competitive ranking.  Everyone of the same tribe or clan succeeds and fails together. I you have a good harvest, you all have a good harvest.  If you kill a bison, you all eat bison meat.  If you or a member of your group does something outstanding, it makes the entire group feel good and they all share in the success.

This is the essential difference between modern society and the culture that human nature was formed in.  In modern society, you are competitively ranked against every other person in school, work, and play.  You have no real empathetic and trusting friendships.  In traditional tribal or agrarian society, you were part of a group and everyone identified with the success of the entire group.  You had real friends.  You shared real experiences and real empathetic understanding.  You were not isolated from each other into optimally productive economic units and then just watched TV.

copyright (c) 2018

William Schaeffer

In the USA -- you are all alone.

In traditional societies, the friends you made in your youth were friends for life. These were the people that you shared celebrations with and these were the people that would help you in times of trouble. In the USA, when you finish college, you have lost touch with most of your childhood friends. After you work professionally for ten years, you have lost touch with most of your college friends. After you work professionally for 30 years, you have no real friends, only "business associates."  Nobody cares if you are alive or dead. You die alone.

It is the planned intention of the educational institutions in the USA to separate you from your siblings and neighbors and isolate you from any real or meaningful relationship experience in the cold steel prison we call "school."

Your own life was taken from you. Your friends and family were taken from you. You were left with a robot existence of continual mechanical servitude and you do not even notice. 


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

The concept of Prayer

The concept of Prayer was invented so people could feel like they were doing something useful when they are really powerless to do anything at all; and you don't want them to think about that fact. It keeps them busy and you know where they are and they are not causing any more problems by actually trying to do something meaningful (like actually changing the structure or organization of elements in the physical world, or "real" world).

Although superstitious incantations to appease Gods and Spirits have existed since the dawn of humanity, the concept of "personal prayer" is a unique Western Invention that was introduced by Zoroaster and Persian Zoroastrian Practice.  The practice was adopted by the Jews during the Persian Exile and is popularized in the New Testament by the people known as the Pharisees.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Childhood Abuse

In my opinion the use of the word "abuse", or "childhood abuse", is a form of "gaslighting."  It sounds so gentle and smooth and inconsequential, like a quiet misunderstanding. I prefer words like "beating", "whipping", "spanking", "paddling", "hitting", "humiliating", "terrifying", and "soul crushing hatred" -- These words more adequately describe the experience of "childhood abuse" and it is quite likely that you have no understanding whatsoever and prefer not to think about it. The clinical use of the word "abuse" itself is "abusive" because it negates and minimizes that actual horror and extreme bitterness of the real experience.

from the dictionary:

gas·light

ˈɡaslīt'

1. manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity.

copyright (c) 2018 
William Schaeffer

Social Networks

I have an idea that a society is a network of relationships. The more vibrant the society is, the stronger and more enduring those relationships are. This is like a visual image of a spider web, lace, or a loosely woven net. People are nodes and the strength of the society is the number of enduring connections each node has. The homeless have almost no connections. The society with homeless is like a big fishing net with gaping holes in it. The happy family person with a job that is rewarding and enjoyable is like a fuzzy ball with hundreds of links. The closely knit tribal society, or happy community, is like a well woven blanket.

What kind of fabric does your life weave?

copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

SPIRIT TEXTING

"SPIRIT TEXTING" - a new psychic phenomenon rendered possible by the modern cell phone. Send a text message to someone and instead of typing words just wave your fingers over the image of the keyboard. Words will magically appear among the gibberish results. Edit out most of the gibberish and you have genuine cell phone spirit writing. Communication from another dimension of thought and reality. WOW.

Try it yourself.  Choose a friend and think about them, then text them and instead of typing words, just trace out simple figures on the typewriter keyboard image:  figure 8's, circles, wavy lines, and see what happens...

copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

History of Colorization

I could probably write a book on the history of colorization, but I might be accused of yellow journalism, especially if caught red handed with stolen evidence; or by people green with envy who could have done a better job themselves. I should go for the gold, but I am feeling too blue to do any real work. I hope to be feeling in the pink soon and maybe then I'll be wearing the purple?


(Orange you glad I didn't say "banana?")

Some of my other favorite color words are
Chartreuse, Burgundy, Turquoise, Maroon,
Strawberry, Peach, and Persimmon.

copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Thoughts on Colorization - It's just DATA

One way to consider the issue of Colorization: "It's just data"

i.e. ultimately a picture, or film, or video is just "picture information" or data. The "raw data" is a certain volume of information encoded as a series of numbers. You can manipulate the data using certain general operation like matrix multiplication, averaging, truncating, removing noise (or error) -- or more sophisticated operations like compositing, painting, editing, color correcting, encoding, etc.

But no matter how you change or manipulate the image -- it is still just DATA.  It is just numbers scanned into a data file on some computer.  It is just numbers.   Nothing is being changed except numbers.   Nothing is being changed except a copy of a copy.   Nothing is being changed except you -- your impression, your image, and your memory.   But really, it's still just data.  DATA.  Numbers.

"It's just data." - Mr. Atwater


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

5150 and 72 hour hold

Research "5150 and 72 hour hold."

 Be very careful when "expressing your feelings" or "sharing your disappointments."   Never make threats or predictions.  Dress conservatively, practice good personal hygiene, do not wear logos or slogans printed on your clothing.    Avoid "standing out in a crowd."   Behave politely and deferentially with strangers.   Practice good manners and don't tell offensive jokes.    Avoid talking about political events or politicians.    Avoid talking about religion, money, or social issues.   Smile.



copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

alt-right politics and the Nazi

We have all been programmed by the film and TV media to hold Adolph Hitler and Nazism as the ultimate evil -- the ultimate anti-Hero. Unfortunately, when looking for a real Hero to model their own behavior on, too many people unconsciously choose the anti-Hero. The alt-right political movement has been molded to a large degree by the film and TV media portrayal of Nazis as the ultimate evil foe. The subconscious attraction of the anti-Hero cannot be denied.  This results in the alt-right political movement's unconscious assimilation of these Nazi ideals as something new and unique (and significant) and proper.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

We are ALONE in USA America

Too bad that we spend that majority of our waking lives in USA America interacting with people that cannot be trusted and are not really our friends. This is the source of the hatred and dishonesty in America -- Almost NONE of the relationships we have in life are based on mutual love, support, and trust. Our relationships are all based on fear, opportunity, and deception. This is the professional employment relationship environment: FEAR, OPPORTUNISM, and DECEPTION. No wonder we feel depressed and alone -- WE ARE all ALONE.  We have no real friends.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Jupiter + Zeus = Jesus

Interesting to note:

The Greeks had Zeus
and the Romans had Jupiter (pronounced Hoopiter),

but the Christians had "Hoopiter - Zeus" ,
or "Hey- Zeus"
or "Jesus" (in Spanish) 

(a sophisticated marketing technique)


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

USA = Homelessness

No there have not "always been homeless people." In most of human history in most cultures of mankind, there just were not homeless people. In the essay "On Cannibals" Michel de Montaigne documents the horrific surprise that Brazilian Natives had upon visiting Europe and learning about homelessness. In their language the word for human was "my other half." Homelessness is a unique product of Western civilization, Automation, Industrialization, and the culture of the United States of America.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

I just found a shiny new dime

I just found a shiny new dime in front of The Orchard Hardware Supply on Hollywood Boulevard


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Flat lighting for color film

The likely reason that old color films are lit so "flat" is because of the limitations of exposure in color film photography. There had to be enough light to get all three colored layers of film to be exposed. It was technically not possible to shoot good noir lighting with early color film. This is also probably why they used a blue wash for night scenes -- mask problems in color exposure.



copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Memories of colorization

When I worked in colorization at CST, we would find color production stills (if possible) and use poster art and even written descriptions to choose colors of gowns and costumes. I preferred to work on war movies because the colors of the flags and insignia were all well documented.

An interesting dilemma is when the costumes were the wrong color because of how they would expose on B + W film.  I worked on colorizing "Susanna of the Mounties."  Gary Cooper wore a gray coat during filming because red would have photographed as black. however when we added color to his coat, it ended up being either orange or pink, depending on the hue chosen.

 Back-in-the-day when I found myself in a "pleasant" discussion on the artistic and creative merits of colorization, I would wait for a natural pause in the conversation and then declare in a thoughtful and forcefully dedicated way that,

"It is my life dream to colorize ALL of Ansel Adams' photographs."

This was such an outrageous statement delivered with such integrity that invariably after a brief pause, everybody laughed and the mood was relaxed and no longer confrontational.

But seriously, after working in colorization for ten years during the "hey day" of colorization controversy, I came to the following general conclusion: People that had very acute vision and were trained as artists and photographers to look for flaws, tended to dislike colorizing. People that were not trained artists and just wanted to have a good time in life tended to have the attitude : "It is better because there is more information -- IT HAS COLOR. I like color."


copyright  (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

I found a penny

I found an old penny yesterday in the road by my apartment. 


copyright (c) 2018
Willaim Schaeffer

The Nutty Fruitarian

The most "radical" diet is the Nutty Fruitarian because they won't even kill plants for food.  They only eat fruit and nuts and leaves that would ordinarily fall off the plant in the natural course of events.

This is the food that our primate ancestors lived on for more than twenty million years.  It is the food that our human biology is most suited to consume as healthy nutrition.

"Silly little monkeys, eating simple monkey food."


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

"meat eating" promotes Capitalism

One reason that "meat eating" is promoted is that it is a more profitable and more easily manufactured according to Capitalist ideals. Fruits and vegetables have to be harvested at a particular time with a large collective of agricultural workers employed. This causes intermittent production schedules and a large pool of labor to negotiate with. Animal food products can be "harvested" at anytime with a relatively small labor force employed in a regular factory process. There is no delay or interruption of the machine like efficiency of conversion to animal food products and relatively little concern about labor demands or influence on important decisions.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Free Lance Capitalism

Throw them in the garbage
if they can't hoe corn.

Then you can pretend
they never were born.




copyright (C) 2018
William Schaeffer

Behavior is Everything. Belief is nothing.

Your true "Moral Nature" is based on you behavior and not your statement of belief.

It does not matter what you say you believe. It does not matter what you think you believe about matters you have no way of verifying or not.  It does not matter what you think the organization and structure of the Universe really is.  You will never know and that information is largely irrelevant to your real life.

All that matters is how you behave.

All that matters is your behavior and if your behavior is consistent with your supposed ideals.  Do you "practice what you preach?"  Are you kind, thoughtful, honest, empathetic, thrifty, diligent, clean, sanitary, and polite?  If so, you are a moral person.

Do you lie, cheat, steal, gossip, hoard food, hoard wealth, misrepresent the truth, and ignore the suffering of your fellow humans?  Then it does not matter who, or what, you pledge your fealty to -- you are not a moral person.

Behavior is Everything.  Belief is nothing.

copyright (c) 2018

William Schaeffer

Piano Tuesday 6 PM

William Schaeffer Piano

Tuesday February 6
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM


LAX Renaissance Hotel 
9620 Airport Blvd, 
Los Angeles, CA 90045


"Blues and Boogie Piano"

Do as I say and not as I do?

When I see you behaving with the the spirit of Love, Kindness, Forgiveness, Patience, and Peace that you ascribe to your deity, then I might be tempted to listen to your ideas.  But as long as you behave in a manner that seems distant, judgmental, critical, hateful, cruel, and filled with contempt  -- your behavior betrays your hypocrisy and your words are meaningless.  Sorry.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Throw away your Broken Things

Throw away your Broken Things.

Broken Toys.
Broken Tools.

Broken Ideas.
Broken Concepts.

Throw away your Broken Things.


Not Broken People.
Not Broken Pets.

Not Broken Dreams.
Hold onto These.

Hold onto your Broken Dreams.


Throw away your Broken Things.
But Hold onto your Broken Dreams.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Why Football?

Why Football in promoted in USA:

The main unspoken reason that football is encouraged in USA is that it trains young men to be athletic and coordinated while wearing a helmet and protective body armor. This way, if they are drafted into the military, they will already be used to being athletic while wearing a helmet with body armor and will make better soldiers. Now that warfare requires fewer ground troops and more high tech equipment, it is predicted that in the future football will not be seen as important to society.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Reaching for the Moon

Reaching for the Moon





copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Moon

Moon


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Love your Enemies

Zobo says:

"Remember to love your enemies.  Bake them cakes and send them presents.  Tell everyone else what great guys they really are. Ignore their negative qualities.  Make sure they all feel comfortable and happy.  Maybe they would like a neck massage?  Maybe they want a back rub?  It is good to remember that we are ALL God's children  -- even if those other children only want to rob you blind."


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Controlling the Slaves in Ancient Sparta

A comment on a video about the death of Jim Morrison and a video about the last 24 hours of Jimi Hendrix:

"History lesson: In ancient Sparta, The Spartans comprised about 10% of the population and ruled the slave class, called Helots, with an iron fist. It was a rite of passage for every young Spartan boy to secretly assassinate a Helot slave as a ticket to manhood. The Helots were chosen from the most distinguished and notable of their class, either for brave and noble effort, or for serious crimes. In this way all the most prominent members of the slave class, the Helots, met with an early death and the entire class of slaves was subdued and controlled. This is how the Spartans maintained such a firm control -- they secretly killed any well known person of the Helot class. This has now been common knowledge for over 2000 years."


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer

Immigration Issues

It is amusing to recollect that except in a very few cases, we are all descendants of desperate lower class alcoholics, prostitutes, and religious fanatics. America was initially populated by the scum of the Earth that found a life threatening risk in an unknown land was better than certain death from poverty and persecution at home. Even the Native American ancestors crossed the land bridge because life sucked for them in Asia and they were looking for something better. We all came from shit hole countries and all of our grandparents were shit eaters and some of us apparently still are.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer