My current reading list and those to come..

I am currently reading two books.
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I am reading the Great Transformation The political and Economic Origins of our time by Karl Polyani
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The other book I am reading is The rise and fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
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books on my short list when I finish one reading either of the two mentioned above I will probably take one from the pool listed below.
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The Grand Chess Board by Zbignew Brezinski

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips

The Comedians by Graham Greene

Guns , Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond

Resource Wars by Michael T. Klare

FICTION

They were masters of the Universe(to coin Tom Wolfes phrase) /masters of illusion who maintained power over humanity with a fictional economy that distributed fictional goods and services , created fictional jobs, and fictional desires within the consumers, fictional reality...

End of year ramblings about trees, buildings, economy, and education

I love architecture and trees, in that order . I have less than even a surface knowledge about the architects and the species of trees but love both these things none the less.

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My favorite type of tree is called Melaleuca linariifolia also known as Snow in Summer, took me a long time to find out the name of the tree even though I would see them all over San Francisco.

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The tree is originally from Australia.

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I suppose the economy is getting better, but still a really tough grind for me here in Northern California.
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I did terrible at my SQL class this last semester, I am thinking about taking class again or maybe taking PHP along with an English class.

Merry Christmas -Happy New Year Planet

My Christmas is almost over, having my third delicious day off in row, really need the rest..
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Hope we all have a prosperous and peaceful 2011..

Saw headline today on internet “China to bailout EU”

As I mentioned in my blog entry 12.17.10 "Be interesting to see what happens to EU "
I wrote

"I think players like China and Russia will support the EU because those two entities wish for counter balance against the US."

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Without going into the granular details this headline is emblematic of the decline in US power.

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It displays the total failure for the US by it’s financial elites of profiting from and setting up trade policies that cause the US to run huge trade deficits with China and hence empowering the United States growing rival China with capital to challenge and threaten US security by weakening US strategic position around the globe.
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All for short term profits for multi national corporations who could care less about the United States.

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There is only one peaceful way to stop the downward trajectory of the US and that is a complete over haul of trade, tax , education and industrial polices to rebuild the US put value back into the country instead of selling the country off bit by bit.

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid - The Movie..

Saw Sam Peckinpah movie the other day Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
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Very good movie, starts out with James Coburn getting shot from several different directions in slow motion and falling in a sprawling mess.
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Peckinpah is famous for his violent gun battle scenes and he doesn’t let the audience down in this movie.
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Two other Peckinpah movies I have seen are Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, The Wild Bunch.
All three movies involve lots of gunfire, violence, and touch on Mexico.
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The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett and Billy the kid also touch on themes of the free west of the US being lost to civilization and modernization.
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Hong Kong director John Woo claimed Peckinpah inspired him for some of his gun battle scenes in his movies.
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John Woo who would then influence Quentin Tarantino of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction fame among a few of Tarintino’s better films.

45 year old Bernard Hopkins fights to Light heavyweight title draw

All time great Bernard Hopkins 2 months shy of 46th birthday fights to draw with 28 year old Light Heavyweight Champion Jean Pascal.
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Hopkins after being knockdown in the 1st and 3rd rounds goes on to dominate most of the other rounds of the fight to fight to a draw in Pascal’s home town of Quebec Canada.
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Hopkins displayed grit,will, intelligence as he used feints, ring generalship, and rough house tactics to impose his will on the approximately 18 year younger Pascal.

Poor cab drivers..

Every law and fee is directed against them except laws involving fair labor practices ..

Be interesting to see what happens to EU

If I was a betting man I would say that they keep it together, by further integrating politically.
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It sure looks bad from the perspective of Anglo-American press but they have a huge bias in tearing down the EU to distract from US own fiscal problems.
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I would not be surprised to see another 8 months of stability in the US with some inflation of food and energy prices.. followed by the EU temporarily getting it's house in order 8 months from now and the crisis swinging back to the US.(this economic crisis may ping pong around the world like this for awhile).
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Also I think players like China and Russia will support the EU because those two entities wish for counter balance against the US.
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I sometimes think if you want to know how the US is doing look at the price of gold. Gold has been retreating some lately so I think the US must be doing better for the moment.

San Francisco boutique city for the wealthy..

San Francisco boutique city for the wealthy as the city makes the city more and more inhospitable to people of average means as city puts more parking meters around town. Many of these meters charging .25 cents for 5 minutes of time ..
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City now exploring
network of express lanes — where motorists can pay to travel in dedicated areas — around the region as a way to help alleviate traffic congestion.
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Would basically limit the average persons mobility and increase the rich's mobility another step towards a two tiered ..society.

Reality.

There is the way you want it to be then there is the way it is.
Through work you can sometimes make reality the way you want it.
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Kind of like the serenity prayer.

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God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change.

Courage to change the things I can

And the wisdom to know the difference.

MONEY-BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT FOR A LONG TIME

I have been trying to figure out what money is for a long time, everything from the Federal Reserve and it's relationship with the Treasury to, Gold, Stocks, Bonds, barter, credit etc..
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Still can't figure it out..
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Some times I think about the relationship of MONEY to VALUE, to me value can be a nation, a river, an army, a social organization(corporation, gang,political party etc), an institution such as college, or a trained person like a doctor or carpenter.
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I some times think of MONEY as having claims on VALUE and I suspect right now a problem in the world system is to easily created MONEY bringing to many claims on not enough real VALUE.

Some travels around the city..VIDEO

This is a video of me working in the salt mines of San Francisco, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The street I am driving down can be seen in the lit up night time picture to the right. I am driving in the day time down the road closest to the 4 lower buildings..
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This is near the financial district.
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The city is full of older more subtle neighborhoods with a diversity of beautiful architecture and views, I may post more from those areas later..

If the presidents deficit commison where fair

The would not only be looking at cuts to services to the middle class but also look at the trillions of dollars the Federal Reserve is giving away to it's friends on Wall Street..

Rainy day in Northern California..(Sunday)

I probably should be doing my SQL homework now or doing something productive but I just can't get rolling kinda content to just sit here with my Christmas tree and chill.

Junior lightweight fighter(130 pounds) Jason Litzau pulls upset

Junior lightweight fighter(130 pounds) Jason Litzau pulls upset on November 27, 2010, on under card of Juan Manuel Marquez vs Michael Katsidis Lightweight title fight.
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Litzau a 13 to 1 betting underdog came in as expected fodder for arrogant elite Panamanian fighter
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This is one of the fights I will never forget, not because of the action but because of the drama of the written off underdog verse the arrogant elite fighter getting his comeuppance. (maybe Caballero can go back to singing with his band-Caballero sings in a reggae band )

more random prose

Ancient territorial instincts expressed in limited constrained, twisted, mutated ways, in the frontal lobe controlled disciplined petro culture.
Duels fought out with fists, guns, knives and character assassination.