Thomas Payne "The Age of Reason"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a0TCKhUkoo

 I have the first half of the book "The Age of Reason" by Thomas Payne as a books-on-tape on my youtube channel - atwaterpub. It is worth a watch and listen. He was one intelligent guy.  He also invented the first steel construction, or "box girder" bridge span and revolutionized the bridge construction industry. Prior to that invention, all bridges were made of stone and slow and expensive to build.

Thomas Payne built his box girder bridge in a cow pasture and it was of absolutely no use at all except "proof of concept," but they had bridges made of steel shortly after.


After this, he went to France to join the French Revolution, but was eventually imprisoned himself by the Reign of Terror.  Great Britain appealed for his release.

Thomas Payne narrowly escaped execution in the French Revolution by a miraculous comedy of errors of which he was totally unaware until his release. His cell door was marked with the execution symbol, but because it was a corner cell, the guard left the door open and nobody saw the execution symbol when the victims were rounded up. A day later the Order of Release from the British Government and the Revolutionary Government arrived and he was released. He narrowly escaped death.


Thomas Payne is most famous for writing the pamphlet "The Rights of Man" which helped inspire and give heart to the American Revolution in 1776.  At the end of his life he returned to the USA and published "The Age of Reason."  The book was not well received and went virtually unsold.  He died penniless and alone nearly ten years later.



copyright (c) 2017
William Schaeffer

Modern Times

Corporate Employment
Financial Obligations and Debt
Rigid Social Isolation

Trapped in a Matrix of Conformity




copyright (c) 2017
William Schaeffer

Forty Five Thousand Deaths in one year

If an average of 123 people kill themselves with suicide every day in the USA, then in the year 2017, almost 45,000 people will have killed themselves with suicide in the USA. FORTY FIVE THOUSAND PEOPLE killed themselves with suicide in one year. Think about it. "123 a day in the USA"



copyright (c) 2017
William Schaeffer

The Birth of the Blues

According to W.C. Handy (popularly known as the father of the blues) all blues songs come from one song, "Joe Turner," that was popular in the 1870's among migrant workers and share croppers. Apparently the 12 bar form was unusual and many folk musicians copied it. During this "oral transmission" many new verses were created and slowly the song "Joe Turner" spawned all the blues music we are familiar with today. W.C. Handy himself was educated in the classics and had an orchestra that played at social functions. One day he heard a Mississippi River dock worker playing a blues song and was captivated by the unusual sound.

The first published blues song was "Memphis Blues," by W.C. Handy, 1909. It was a sheet music hit. (this was before record albums). Unfortunately the publisher stole all the profits and W.C. Handy actually lost money. In 1914 W.C. Handy published "St.Louis Blues" which became, in time, a legendary music standard.


Curiously, legend has it, that Gospel Music was "invented" by the trombone player in Bessie Smith's Orchestra after a religious conversion in 1927. He said that he wanted to have some "good music" for the faithful to listen to also. It could be concluded that he  "Saw the Light" and the rest is history.


And while we are on the subject, Born Again Evangelical Theology is a relatively recent phenomenon, being created in the "Tent Revivalist Meetings" that were very popular in Rural America starting in the 1830's. These meeting were a cultural phenomenon and somewhat of a reaction to the Transcendentalist movement started by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and others.  Prior to that time, the philosophy of Born Again Evangelism, and the practice was virtually unknown.

Most educated Americans at the time of the American Revolution in 1776 were Protestants, or Deists - a belief that has fallen from favor and disappeared from history. Almost all the founding fathers including Thomas Jefferson ascribed to the Deist beliefs.   Thomas Jefferson even edited a "Deist" Bible.


copyright (c) 2017
William Schaeffer

I DON'T do THAT

If people say, "I don't do THAT," then you can bet that they do.

If people say, "I'm not like THAT," then you can bet that they are.

If people say, "I would never do THAT," then you can bet that they would.

If people say, "I don't talk about THAT," then you can bet that they do.

If people say, "I have lots of friends," then you can bet that they really don't.



copyright (c) 2017
William Schaeffer

People are what they accuse others of

Strangely, many people actually are the same negative person type that they accuse another of being.


For example:

1. a Narcissist insists that everybody else is selfish and only concerned about themselves
2. a low I.Q. person calling everybody stupid.
3. an ugly person who is critical of someone else's appearance
4. a police officer that steals, and is involved with organized crime



copyright (c) 2017
William Schaeffer

Nobody loves the homeless

We have 60,000 refuges living right here on the streets of Los Angeles and nobody really cares. We call them homeless, but there is little difference.


"Refugees from the bottom line (and corporate profitability)." - Zobo the Geek


The homeless are convenient scapegoat to distract us all from the real crimes of the real criminals who built the social system that made them, and so many others, homeless in the first place.


There are no homeless camps in the entire nation of Russia. Just try and find a photo on the internet. If Russia can find housing for the homeless, why cannot the USA?


I tell people there are no homeless camps in Russia; they say:

1.  Yes but life is so dreary in Russia.   The apartments are so drab and meager.
2.  Why don't you move there then.   If you are not happy, then more to Russia.
3.  That can't be true.  There are homeless everywhere.
4.  But there is no economic opportunity in Russia.  Everybody is poor.
5.  The USA is the greatest country on Earth and God Bless  America.

"When were you hungry and we fed you?  When were you naked and we clothed you?" - Anon




copyright (c) 2017
William Schaeffer