bvs@biblevs.net

“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”

Answer: When you make the acquaintance of Fat Charley’s Grocery, next door to the 73rd Precinct in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
You must go on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish Year, the day that requires you to fast for 24 hours. You must then eat a very large Fat Charley Sandwich containing no kosher food, loaded with plenty of ham. I promise you that after that you will meet with God.

**********************
P.S. I presume you are Christian, not Jewish, and therefore not likely to be educated well enough to know that your sentence, “When…” needs “to” where you wrote “and.” No need to tell you to keep up the bad work; you will.

Many pseudo-liberals are very unhappy about lotteries. They believe the very poor, who are the principal buyers of lottery tickets, are squandering money they can’t afford. We are talking as much as $20-30 per play from people who are on welfare. The lottery, in their ill-considered view, is a drug that is sucking the blood out of the poor.

NONSENSE! The pseudo-liberals, most of whom have income above $90,000 regard playing the lottery as a sure-fire losing proposition. In fact, it is a sure-fire winning proposition. For the man with $90,000 buying a “losing” ticket” is buying a losing ticket. For him, nothing can justify spending $2 on a ticket except winning, and that, he likes to say, won’t happen. So this fine gentleman takes his $60 out to a nice dinner at least once each week.

In fact, for sensible people, the purchase of a lottery ticket is a very inexpensive way to buy a daydream. Hence, even if they lose, they win. The actual winning, should it happen, is only a bonus. It is the icing on a nice cake; it is the whipped cream on the icing; it is the cherry that sits atop the whole shebang. But whatever happens, the sensible lottery player wins. In fact, he can’t lose. What terrific daydream that last 3-6 days can yield so much pleasure as the imagined way one can use the $millions?

What would the $90,000+ pseudo-liberal have a poor person do with his money? Does he think it would be better to go out to an expensive restaurant and fritter away a few hard-earned bucks on a meal he can’t enjoy? Most people, including the poor, know best what pleases them. Poor people know that the more you spend the less value you get. Is anybody so stupid as to think a $100,000 car is twice as good as a $50,000 one? Or even that a $40 meal is twice as tasty as a $20 meal? Those who spend fortunes know that, too. They like conspicuous consumption. (about which Thorsten Veblen had much to say in his THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS). But conspicuous consumption may be good up to a point and, after that, is stupid, disgusting and foul.

I very much doubt that the $2, $10, or even $20 that a poor person spends on lottery tickets can be put to a purpose that would yield more pluck for the buck than he gets on lottery tickets.

******************************
P.S. The value of certain lotteries is approaching $1 BILLION! When lottery values get that high, buying tickets is not only lots of fun but wise and sound economically because the number of combinations in a mega jackpocket is about 175 million. If you had a spare $350 million plus the time to buy many tickets, you ought to buy 175 million tickets. Even if you had to share the winnings, you’d probably come out ahead.

SO WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH LOTS OF MONEY? LET THE GREAT ZERO MOSTEL TELL YOU.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahAOU1HZXlc

Some people like to say “I gave at the office” or “I made my annual donation two months ago.” All this is good but leaves you far short of what you opught to be doing. The likelihood that you can’t help more than you are doing is slim to none. Just skip two meals per month in your favorite fancy restaurant and send the saved money to some place where it will be appreciated much more than your local restauranteur. Consider what just happened in South Sudan.

BRUSSELS/NEW YORK, May 16, 2013—The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today strongly condemned the deliberate damage and looting of its hospital in Pibor town, in South Sudan’s Jonglei State, which has left tens of thousands of people without access to essential medical care.

The hospital’s infrastructure was systematically damaged May 11–12 in order to render it unusable without major repairs. Therapeutic medical food and hospital beds were looted. The MSF structure is the only hospital facility for Pibor County, with the nearest alternative more than 90 miles away. The hospital’s closure leaves roughly 100,000 people cut off from health care. Many of them have fled to the bush amid conflict between the South Sudan Army (SPLA) and the David YauYau armed militia group.

“A special effort was made to destroy drug supplies by strewing them on the ground, to cut and slash the warehouse tents, to ransack the hospital wards, and even to cut electricity cables and rip them from the walls,” said Richard Veerman, MSF operations coordinator for South Sudan.

From January to March, the Pibor hospital treated 3,000 people and provided surgical care to more than 100 people suffering war-related injuries, including SPLA soldiers. Prior to the attack, MSF was forced to suspend activities in Pibor on April 19 because of threats and intimidation of staff and patients.

“The rainy season has just started and we know from previous years that malaria and respiratory diseases such as pneumonia will start to claim lives if there is no health care available,” Veerman said. In a report issued in November last year, South Sudan’s Hidden Crisis, MSF documented the devastating health consequences when people are forced to flee to the bush.

An MSF team was preparing to return and restart medical activities when the looting and destruction took place. It was the sixth time an MSF medical facility has been looted or damaged in Jonglei State in the past two years.

“It is unthinkable that there will be no health care whatsoever for the next six months for some 100,000 frightened and vulnerable people hiding in the swamps,” Veerman said. “Unless we can return to resume medical activities and have the freedom to move to wherever people need assistance, this unthinkable scenario may become the horrific reality.”

MSF urges the Government of South Sudan to meet its responsibilities to ensure full respect of medical humanitarian facilities and activities. MSF also calls urgently for assurances from all parties in the Jonglei State conflict that its medical teams have unhindered freedom to return to Pibor and the ability to reach out impartially to people in need of medical assistance, on either side of the conflict. Humanitarian and medical assistance is urgently needed in Pibor County and must be resumed in the coming days or weeks.

MSF works in Akobo, Nyirol, Pibor, and Uror counties in Jonglei State. The activities in all locations, including Gumuruk Clinic in Pibor County, continue to function, with the exception of the hospital in Pibor town and the MSF clinic in the village of Lekwongole in Pibor County, which was targeted and damaged in August 2012 and where insecurity and fighting have made access impossible for MSF.

Twenty bucks to help in this crisis would be very sweet. [And maybe again in two months]

***********************************
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpBvKgL8Obo
www.samaritanspurse.org

and, of course, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

1. A U.S. service member who worked in a military sexual assault prevention program has been accused of a sexual crime. In the latest incident, an Army sergeant first class, assigned to such a program at Fort Hood, Texas, is being investigated for alleged sexual assault, pandering, abusive sexual contact and maltreatment of subordinates.

2. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was placed in charge of a branch of the Air Force’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, and he oversaw a five-person office. In the first week of May, he was arrested on allegations that he attacked a woman and groped her buttocks and breasts in an Arlington, Virginia, parking lot.

3. Jennifer Norris, a retired Air Force veteran, says she was raped, sexually assaulted and retaliated against on numerous occasions by four individuals, over a period that included her time with the Maine Air National Guard. Norris now works with the Military Rape Crisis Center and the organization Protect Our Defenders.

4. In Alaska,, a military jury this month convicted a ­Marine Corps recruiter of ­first-degree sexual assault in the rape of a 23-year-old female civilian but did not sentence him to prison.

5. In Texas, an Air Force recruiter will face a military court next month on charges of rape, forcible sodomy and other crimes involving 18 young women he tried to enlist over a three-year period.

6. In Oregon, an Army staff sergeant pleaded guilty in March to having sex with a 17-year-old girl in a recruiting office.

7. In Arizona, an Army staff sergeant was charged in November with having a sexual relationship with a minor after he allegedly took a 16-year-old student to a park on multiple occasions and exchanged nude photos with her.

8. In Oklahoma, an Air Force staff sergeant was convicted of dereliction of duty by a military court in November after he had sex with a recruit, in a relationship that began with sexually explicit text messages.

9. At Lackland Air Force Base in Texas more than 30 instructors have been investigated on suspicion of abusing or mistreating recruits.

10. A court-martial for Brig. Gen. Jeffery Sinclair, the former deputy commander of the 82nd Airborne is set to begin June 25 on charges that include forcible sodomy, indecent acts, violating orders and adultery. Sinclair is also accused of violating a prohibition against U.S. troops in Afghanistan possessing pornography. A female captain who worked for Sinclair on deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq says Sinclair physically forced her to perform oral sex. The woman says the general also threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone about their relationship.

In his defense, it is alleged that the general said:

‘I’M A GENERAL. I’LL DO WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT’.

Hey, I’m no expert but that sounds pretty good to me. I’d vote for acquittal and would recommend putting the female captain into military prison for the rest of her life. What impudence!

*****************************
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz8PpSHvBfQ

TINA! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGoLq3c4SDc

Reprinted from Epoch Times

An Australian restaurant is offering a $120 sandwich with bacon and eggs for this week, according to reports. The Sydney restaurant, 4Fourteen, is offering the breakfast roll as part of Bacon Week, reported The Telegraph in Australia. The sandwich includes duck egg, smoked gourmet truss tomatoes, duck foie grass caviar, creme fraiche, shaved truffles, and cheddar.

“It’s not something I ever thought I’d be doing but it will be interesting to see how many we’ll sell,” 4Fourteen head chef Carla Jones told the paper. “I reckon some people will buy it just to see what it’s like. I’m not sure I’d eat it–I’m not that into truffles and stuff like that.”

Bacon Week is run by Australian Pork to promote local meat processors, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

And you still want proof that there is no God?

All these precious tidbits are in the current issue of Medicine Net Daily News.

MNDN reports that kids’ reeding and Meth skills are tied to future success. Who wood have suspected that? And why are they giving kids tests on meth anyway?

In another startling article, MNDN says people should bake with less sugar. Was that article cleared with Woody Allen?

A new drug aids memory in butterflies suffering from Al’s problems with Zeimer. Or was that drug tested on mice?

Kids who spend more time in the gym and less time eating potato chips get very strong. Who can stand to read all these shocking developments?

Testosterone supplements hurt male fertility. Sorry, dear, you’ll have to get a surrogate for me.

MNDN recommends sharpening our driving skills. But I don’t know why. something to do with fewer accidents? Who knows?

Do you know that a new drug aids memory in houseflies suffering from Parkinson’s Disease? Or did I tell you that already?

I am really angry with Angelina Jolie not clearing her double mastectomy with me before going ahead with it. But why should I worry? We broke up 6 months ago.

It doesn’t much matter whether you know them or don’t. …. A roughly alphabetical listing.

Beethoven – So now I know genius is not usually a matter of mind but mainly of soul.
Marlon Brando, Charlie Chaplin – Showed me that the movies can be an art form.
Morris Dorsky – Taught me to respect the visual arts.
Ted Drange, Ed Erwin, Bob Hoffman – Intellectual companions for fifty years..and counting.
Ronald Dworkin, H.L.A. Hart, and Nelson Goodman – The best of 20th century philosophers.
Barry Fish – From him I learned friendship can endure through the ups and downs of love and hate.
Michael Flynn, Michael Giglione and Tom Paluchniak – Through thick and thin.
Sam Gendin - Showed me the quiet dignity of love and backbreaking hard work.
Sidney Hook – A paradigm of thought.
David Hume, John Stuart Mill and Plato – Kept my love of philosophy alive for fifty years.
Robert Ingersoll and Thomas Paine – Exemplars of rational atheism.
Sinclair Lewis – He taught me about American provincialism.
Robert Rosen – Taught me that philosophy was King.
Elmer Sprague – From mentor to friend.
Marcello Truzzi – In an intellectual desert called Eastern Michigan University he was there.
Emil Zatopek – Proved hero worship of athletes is not necessarily shameful.

***************
I believe I omitted at least a dozen worthies…but they won’t mind.

Jacques Barzun is dead. He died late last year at age 104 and his family’s loss is barely greater than our loss. Barzun is one of my heroes and has been that since about 1970 when I first heard of him. His was a gigantic intellect and no one can fail to appreciate his writings if one takes the trouble. His grandson Charles has found a perfect way to communicate with Barzun even now. The letter is both a touching tribute and a profound wisdom essay. Please read it all. I am very grateful to BARRY FISH for forwarding it to me.

http://chronicle.com/article/A-Letter-to-My-Grandfather/139117/

*********************************

I am filing this post in the archives under “education,” “everything,” “language,” “love,” “personalities,” and “philosophy.”

I just don’t know whether I will publish anything else this year of equal importance.

Many of you are familiar with the Müller-Lyer illusion but I will present it anyway because seeing it is useful for my thesis, which I admit is very speculative. Please begin by looking at the diagram.

Now decide which of the horizontal portions of the two lines is longer. If you measure them, you will then KNOW they are identical but you will have difficulty seeing that even after you know it to be true. Can the optical illusion be overcome? With some effort it can be, but our tendency is not to try hard. Constantly questioning our intuitive judgments is unpleasant and often unrewarding. I believe that most of us have an instinctive liking for Barack Obama and a strong intuition that he is a good man who means well. Our trust in Obama is the cognitive analogy to our trust in the perceptual experience of viewing the illusion. We are making a mistake but my merely telling you so without much argument gets me nowhere. You already know some of his his worst policy errors but you have a way of dismissing them as “not his fault.” Because you may be right, my arguments, if I presented them, would strike you as curiously flimsy. “You can’t fight City Hall,” so to speak. So I won’t.

Mental effort is hard for all of us. Just ask students at Harvard, M.I.T, or Princeton to solve this math puzzle: “A bat and a ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs a dollar more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?” Any person smart enough to be admitted to any of these schools can figure out the answer if he allows himself 20 seconds of thought but a study has proved that most of them get the answer wrong because they take the path of least resistance. The intuitive (and wrong) answer is that the ball costs ten cents. This is almost the cognitive equivalent of the Müller-Lyer illusion. Of course it doesn’t take too long to see one’s error in the bat and ball “illusion” but I simply don’t know what can be done about the Obama illusion. The trouble is that it may very well be the case that Obama really is a good man who means well but our intuitive feeling that this is so is not based on a study of evidence but is a hastily formed opinion based on his apparent affability.

Quick judgments are the very stuff of life in a world that crowds us with important decisions that will not wait. Consider this problem: “All roses are flowers. Some flowers fade quickly. Therefore some roses fade quickly.” A person who has a grasp of elementary logic sees this is a fallacious argument and may even be able to name the error. The rest of us require a moment of reflection. But why bother? What would it prove? If we get it wrong, we get it wrong. How does it bear on Obama’s goodness? Answer: I don’t know but I think it is another instance of hasty judgment. Is Obama what he seems to be? My answer is this: Why rush to judgment? If it is too much trouble to think long and hard about it, don’t form an opinion. Let history decide unless you are willing to put your brain in the hands of others. Dangerous business, that.

In the world of college presidents, nothing beats being forced out of your job under a cloud of suspicion that you are incompetent and probably a crook. When these suspicions are attached to your base salary you get a severance package that beats what you the readers will earn over the next 10 years.

In the 2011-12 fiscal year, the nation’s highest paid public university president was Graham B. Spanier, the president of Pennsylvania State University, who was forced out in November 2011 over his handling of a child sex abuse scandal involving a football coach.

Graham Spanier, the former president of Pennsylvania State University, was the nation’s highest paid public university president in the 2011-12 fiscal year.
According to the annual compensation report by The Chronicle of Higher Education, Mr. Spanier was paid $2.9 million in 2011-12, including $1.2 million in severance pay and $1.2 million in deferred compensation.

Don’t you wish someone would fire you? Other presidents hoping they will soon be disgraced and fired are: Jay Gogue of Auburn University, at $2,542,865; E. Gordon Gee of Ohio State University, at $1,899,420; and Alan G. Merten of George Mason University, at $1,869,369. Other worthies include: Jo Ann M. Gora of Ball State University ($984,647); Mary Sue Coleman of the University of Michigan system ($918,783); Charles W. Steger of Virginia Tech ($857,749); Mark G. Yudof of the University of California system ($847,149); Bernard J. Machen of the University of Florida ($834,562); and Francisco G. Cigarroa of the University of Texas system ($815,833).

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the median total compensation for the presidents of public research universities was $441,392, up 4.7 percent from the previous year’s $421,395. The median base salary, $373,800, was up 2 percent from $366,519 the previous year.