govt and people

Because it is a monopoly, government brings inefficiency and stagnation to most things it runs; government agencies pursue the inflation of their budgets rather than the service of their customers; pressure groups form an unholy alliance with agencies to extract more money from taxpayers for their members. Yet despite all this, most clever people still call for government to run more things and assume that if it did so, it would somehow be more perfect, more selfless, next time.

Ivan Lebanovich

      I remember the first time I met Ivan Lebanovich. At least that I can remember, I had met him before in brief interactions at the bookmart I am employed but didn't really pay attention. This time, it was outside a coffee shop he, and I frequented. He was coming up as I was leaving. It took me awhile to figure out where I had seen him. A white haired man with many contrasts, neither short nor tall, plumpish but not fat. Not handsome but not ugly. He was unkempt, although only, I presumed, because he needed a woman to groom him properly before venturing out.   He looked on a tight budget but sometimes first judgements are incorrect. He was gregarious and certainly unpretentious but sometimes those things are put on me due to  my position as assistant manager at the prestigious mart.

Stand up routine

     I go to the gym often and I see a lot of t shirts. Most of the girls t-shirts are slogan-less , I suppose because they don't need another excuse for guys to be looking at their chest. Mostly it doesn't work.
     A few of the guys have interesting slogans. This one guy has on his shirt F U X cancer. I guess he thinks there are people for cancer.
         Maybe he's mixing up the cancer society as being pro-cancer, or like  the NRA for being pro-gun or the NHL for being pro hockey, or is it pro pro hockey?
     But then I think, there are people I wish cancer on , or more specifically I wish them dead.
      For instance I recently I read in the obits that a football coach in junior high who cut me from football 40 years ago had died. I did think, that'll teach that  fat bastard.
     And then there's the knuckleheads in in traffic who cut me off or drive too slow or do a surfeit of silly driving maneuvers all which affect me, Yes I guess I do wish them all cancer. At least in the moment.
     Another guy tee says "lifting for Jesus". I believe stronger people are harder to kill but I'm not sure Jesus cares that much if you lift or not.
     But again I think, this time about the ``Jesus loves me``song,  Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong, They are weak but he is..strong. Dammit. Jesus did lift although maybe he didn`t  getting enough protein. Maybe he followed too much of a vegan diet.
     My co-worker says there are some things people shouldn't joke about, like rape. I said I can't recall ever hearing a rape joke  but I said some comedians, like George Carlin,  insist everything is potentially funny, even rape jokes. A vein bulged in her forehead and her face turned into a tomato and she says `NO, RAPE IS NEVER FUNNY`.  She`s tough and I`m pretty sure she doesn't feel the same repulsiveness about murder so I shut up.
     But again I thought. Mark Twain said something of the sort that  everything human is pathetic. The secret source of Humor itself is sorrow, not joy. There is no humor in heaven. To be sure, I am not for rape and I believe in my heart of hearts 99 plus percent of people deem it evil and the small minority that do approve of it would probably change their mind if thrown in the prison population.
     However I did later google rape jokes. None came up. Beheaded men, homemade c-4 a recipe for survival, all sorts of taboo sex, devil worship. poisons for people  etc all okay but dammit no rape jokes.I guess google must have met my co-worker.

Mathematician Stanislaw Ulam to Paul Samuelson

"Name me one proposition in all of the social sciences
which is both true and non-trivial."  -Mathematician Stanislaw Ulam to Paul Samuelson

Henry Ward Beecher

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.

Henry Ward Beecher

Humor quote Mark Twain

Everything human is pathetic. The secret source of Humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven-Mark Twain

humor quote -F. Bacon

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is. - Francis Bacon