Dogs are animals of integrity. We have much to learn from them.
Year: 2010
And this scribe wishes you all a very Happy New Year.
As was famously quoted by Yogi Berra, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”
So I will just leave it at that but crave your indulgence by including a recent photograph of Mrs H and some of the dogs enjoying the recent heavy snowfall that fell on Payson and Northern Arizona on the 30th.
A few days ago I published an article that had first appeared on the CASSE Blog site entitled Top Ten Songs for a Steady State. A long-term contributor to this Blog, Per Kurowski, then added a comment to that post that I thought deserved being made into a separate item on Learning from Dogs. Here it is.
This is also a contender:
Where Do the Children Play?
Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman (1970)Well I think it’s fine, building jumbo planes.
Or taking a ride on a cosmic train.
Switch on summer from a slot machine.
Yes, get what you want to if you want, ’cause you can get anything.Chorus: I know we’ve come a long way,
We’re changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?Well you roll on roads over fresh green grass.
For your lorry loads pumping petrol gas.
And you make them long, and you make them tough.
But they just go on and on, and it seems that you can’t get off.Well you’ve cracked the sky, scrapers fill the air.
But will you keep on building higher
’til there’s no more room up there?
Will you make us laugh, will you make us cry?
Will you tell us when to live, will you tell us when to die?By the way the following song should also classify as a contender… though excuse me if when I also use music to keep sane… I might drive others insane
Thanks Per!
A fascinating piece by John Maudlin.
I came across John Maudlin’s web site some time ago and ended up subscribing to one of his Blogs, Outside the Box. To be frank, much of what John writes is a little bit too technical for me but this item did catch my eye to the extent that I read the item in full and was intrigued by it.
The article was called, “Apple, Google, NewsCorp and the Future of Content” You can read it directly here. But just to whet your appetite, here’s a small extract of what is primarily an interview with Michael Whalen:
In this issue of The Institutional Risk Analyst, we speak to Michael Whalen, [Emmy] award winning composer and new media observer about the outlook for the business of creating and delivering content. Since graduating from Berklee College of Music, Michael has taught a business for music class that has saved thousands of young artists from making terrible mistakes with content and other contractual rights. Think Frank Zappa and Warner Brothers. And yes, Michael is IRA co-founder Chris Whalen’s younger brother.
and later …
Whalen: Frankly, I think we’re going back to the 19th century in terms of the “status” of artists. They’ll be figureheads. Imagine: like Paris or Vienna of the 1900s, we’ll have wealthy patrons and small clutches of people who support the art of “real” artists. In this environment, the work we will try to sell is simply a loss leader and an inducement for us to perform or create a “custom” song, TV show or film… Yup, it’s all here now… What will be really interesting is what happens next… I am not pretending to be the “Grim Reaper” but I think the record business, the film studio system and the television networks are over as we think we know them. I think there is a new business emerging in gathering creative investment, content and creative marketing…. It will be in a structure that’s more akin to a stock market than the traditional structure we’ve seen for artistic and creative content and the platform for it will be the digital ocean we have already discussed. Based on the “buzz”, there will be a “futures” market and the idea is commoditized and funded in days – not months or years. For decades, most record companies and networks have been little more than funding sources for artists – now the truly visionary artist won’t even need these ancient businesses – the market itself will generate everything it needs to create content efficiently. It’s a little overwhelming the change that is here now vs. five years ago and that will be coming in torrents in the next few years. Amazing.
Read the full interview here – I promise you won’t regret it.
By Paul Handover
Trust all Learning from Dogs readers and their families had a wonderful Christmas Day.
Here’s a little distraction, with a serious under-message, courtesy of CASSE.
I have a friend who sees the end of the world coming soon. When he ponders the limits to economic growth, climate destabilization, and other ecological and economic problems, he tends to fall into a state of malaise. I understand to some degree where he’s coming from – I’m not one to hide my head in the sand and ignore or deny the profound problems we face. But given the amount of time that I spend contemplating the limits to growth, I can’t afford to get mired in the swamps of doom and gloom. The main way I keep a positive perspective is by working to change the root cause (i.e., pursuit of growth everlasting) of our ecological overshoot. A steady state economy that can meet people’s needs and exist within healthy environmental systems is a truly inspiring idea.
I also do some other things to keep a positive perspective. For example, I like to play and listen to music regularly. Music speaks to most of us in a way that no other art form can – we all have special songs that touch our souls. Before I go any further with this line of thought, I need to provide a brief disclaimer about my musical taste. I grew up in the 1980s on Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 radio program.
Besides indoctrinating me on some suspect styles, songs and sounds, American Top 40 taught me a lesson. It demonstrated how fun and addictive countdowns can be. In the spirit of keeping things light-hearted, I thought it would be interesting to compose a top-ten list of songs with a steady state theme. In descending order below, I’ve listed the title of the song, the performer, the album on which the song appears, and some choice lyrics. I’m sure that I’ve missed some good ones, so please feel free to comment on your favorites. I have also made a YouTube playlist in case you find yourself in a steady state mood. And now, on with the countdown…
10. The Finest Worksong
R.E.M.
Document (1987)
Take your instinct by the reins
Your better best to rearrange
What we want and what we need
Has been confused, been confused
9. Can’t Buy Me Love
by The Beatles
(1964)
Say you don’t need no diamond ring and I’ll be satisfied
Tell me that you want the kind of thing that money just can’t buy
I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love
8. Excuse Me Mr.
by Ben Harper
Fight for Your Mind (1995)
Excuse me Mr.
But isn’t that your oil in the sea
And the pollution in the air Mr.
Whose could that be
So excuse me Mr.
But I’m a mister too
And you’re givin’ Mr. a bad name
Mr. like you
7. All U Can Eat
by Ben Folds
Sunny 16 (2003)
Son, look at all the people in this restaurant
What do you think they weigh
And out the window to the parking lot
At their SUV’s taking all the space
They give no @#%!
They talk as loud as they want
They give @#%!
Just as long as there’s enough for them
6. Nothing but Flowers
by The Talking Heads
Naked (1988)
I miss the honky tonks
Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens
You got it, you got it
And as things fell apart
Nobody paid much attention
You got it, you got it
5. Paradise
by John Prine
John Prine (1971)
Then the coal company came with the world’s largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man
4. Fake Plastic Trees
by Radiohead
The Bends (1995)
She lives with a broken man
A cracked polystyrene man
Who just crumbles and burns
He used to do surgery
For girls in the eighties
But gravity always wins
3. Big Yellow Taxi
by Joni Mitchell
Ladies of the Canyon (1970)
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
2. Society
by Eddie Vedder and Jerry Hannan
Into the Wild motion picture soundtrack (2007)
It’s a mystery to me
We have a greed with which we have agreed
And you think you have to want more than you need
Until you have it all you won’t be free
1. Imagine
by John Lennon
Imagine (1971)
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
Bonus Track: Corporation Day
by Dan O’Neill, CASSE Director of European Operations
Learning from Dogs 