Sunday, July 25, 2010

THE DAY THE WORLD (AS WE KNOW IT) ENDED


It all began with the day the World (as we know it) ended.

The exact date’s irrelevant, other than it was some day in 2010, a year I’d never expected to live to. Having read science fiction avidly, if not exclusively, since an early age (say, 7 perhaps) I, like many others, assumed that 2000 AD/CE would be the epochal year.

When, in fact, it wasn’t, I found myself, like many others, assuming some subsequent 21st-century year would be. Why not a nice, rounded 2010 then, when I became 68, or 2020, which my cardiologist advises me might be my last? But back to the common present: 2010, the year I’ve had my first tiny heart attack, an autoepochal event I’d also never expected.

Presuming a generalized chaos, I began by designing a necessary I.D. badge for myself:

PROJECT

HIGGS BOSON

PROJECT

CERN

CH Geneve Switzerland

052142

BILL COSTLEY USA

There, I thought, who could possibly doubt the number was significant? Of course, it was and is my date of birth, so that it would surely pop up, in one format or another, in any/all of my on-line profiles, enough to validate my now Higgs-altered existence. Once I was alive in the new Higgs-world, everyone’s numbers would be altered somewhat, if not obliterated, I thought. Numerical chaos would have to serve to validate everyone until new numbers were issued.

But...by whom? Any organization that looked reputable. I deliberately chose CERN because it was both quasi-obscure, vaguely known, and obviously relevant. I also assumed that nobody had a working phone number for CERN in their cyberaddress book. And that Googling CERN wouldn‘t bring up CERN's current personnel database.

Now I was ready to appear to have become the post-Higgs me, I thought. How much of the old me would I preserve? Well, all of me! I thought: it'll be easy to validate - if things haven’t changed much. If they have, everyone’s would have, so perhaps sympathetic dubiety would prevail. As a test, I Googled myself and CERN.

[G] [ Bill Costley, CERN]

In the first few listings, I found myself twice:

Bill Costley

Bill Costley: poet, playwright, journalist, editor, blogger (obviously). View my complete profile. Blog Archive. ▼ 2010 (84). ▼ July (8) ...
costleybill7.blogspot.com/ - Cached - Similar

Bill Costley - LinkedIn

San Francisco Bay Area - poet, journalist, blogger

View Bill Costley's professional profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the world's largest business network, helping professionals like Bill Costley discover ...
www.linkedin.com/in/billcostley - Cached - Similar

before I found other Bill Costleys:

Bill Costley, Education/Outreach at Traverse Area Association of RealtorsSaginaw, Michigan Area Bill Costley, Senior Paralegal at Arnold & Porter

I already knew of a Scottish hotelier/chef, and a writer specializing in German Army units, both named Bill Costley.

Would they be distracting enough? Probably, in a post-Higgs universe.

None of which associated me with CERN, unfortunately. I could hope that the general post-Higgs chaos might explain that absence to any chaotic questioner now of dubious certification themselves. Or I could hope that no one, under such chaotic circumstances, would even bother to inquire. All this probability was making me anxious while relieving that anxiety.

Was this the post-Higgs universe? How could I tell? So far, it seemed the same as the pre-Higgs one. Perhaps by Googling "post Higgs" I would find some relief.

[G] [post Higgs Boson]

Relief appears in the New Scientist:

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/07/is-a-god-particle-announcement.html

where I'm told the announcement of the Higgs Boson is due immanently. I suggest you try to calm down – if all this has discombobulated you as you are now – and just wait for it. It’s really only a matter of days now...

UPDATE: No Boson; am I still the person I was when I wrote this? R U?

Wednesday, July 21, 2010


REGGIE WANTS OWT!

Cast: Narrator, Reggie, Bill,

N: It’s daybreak & Reggie awakens,
looks down, & sees Bill’s asleep, then
reaches down with his black right paw
& carefully taps Bill’s white-haired head.

B: Reggie? Yes, I’m almost almost-awake;
& I know what you want; you want to go
R: OWT! B: Yes, I know, to go…out. If
only you had opposable thumbs! You’d
be able to open the door by yourself.

R: OWT! B: At least you know the word.
R: OWT! B: In German it’s “Aus” Reggie.
R: OWT! B: But we’re speaking English.
R: OWT! B: Oh, yes, I’ve heard you now.
R: OWT! B: Let me wake-up Reggie, let
me shave & dress & get your harness.

R: OWT? B: We’re still going out, Reggie,
I’m not ready, unlike you, I’m not dressed.
R: OWT? B: Shave…dress…harness.

N: Bill shaves & dresses. Reggie waits while
Bill takes Reggie’s harness off the hook.
B: Come Mr. Reggie, harness. Sit on my lap.
N: Reggie sits on Bill’s lap as Bill harnesses
him around the neck & under the shoulders.
Reggie leaps to the door & stands grasping
the door-knob with both paws, turning it.

R: OWT! B: Yes, you’re almost doing it by
yourself, Reggie. R: Owt? B: Yes, out. Now.
N: Bill opens the door & Reggie leaps out...
B: I guess I’m learning, Reggie. You’re OUT!

(2B cont.)

(21 JUL 10, Santa Clara CA)v2




Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Talking thru Lunch

Dr. G. & I chat over cheese-drizzled rolls
dripping with avocado. “I didn’t realize
you hadn’t eaten before” at San Jose's
Cypress St. Senior Citizens’ Center. Me:
“No, I hadn’t; I'd assumed it served
bad cafeteria food, but it doesn’t.”

Dr. G.: “It’s a well-balanced meal.” Me:
“Yes, it is; I was wrong. Have I told you
about my 10p tea-times w/Scottish
Schizophrenics in Dundee city-centre?”
Dr. G.: “Yes. Many times. Great stories.”
Me: “I enjoy every schizy one of them.”

[Honoring Glaswegian Dr. Ronnie Laing]

(20 JUN 10, Santa Clara CA)v4

Friday, July 16, 2010

Boehner-Gingrich haiku

Boehner’s a Grinch w/

a ‘boys’ regular’ haircut,

Gingrich, a Ho Tai*

* http://www.esquire.com/print-this/newt-gingrich-0910?page=all

(16 JUL 10, Santa Clara CA)v3

Whispering from

Whispered from
furthest right:

"B living donors 4
VPOTUS CHENEY,
give red hearts 2
propel him fwd 2
rightest victory..."

Who steps fwd 2?
bakers’ dozens of
walking-dead
Wyomen.


(16 JUL 10, Santa Clara CA)v6

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

SFSO friends' concert

At yest's packed Friends (donors) SFSO concert,
Dr. Ginny (donor) & I (invitee) sat beside an earnest
young mother(?) who read-aloud every word of the
2pg program notes to her son (?), citing the composers'
(Chopin, Mozart, Piazzola, Profofiev) dates while the
pre-teen boy played w/a small box of miniature
dirt-bikes. During intermission, he fled to the lobby
to play w/them alone.When she puzzled aloud over
why the waltz was considered shocking (in the pgm
notes), I explained to her that the waltz allowed the
man to touch & lift the woman by the waist, shocking
in its early Vienna years, but not since. She didn't
re-explain this detail aloud to the dirt-bike-distracted
boy who asked if they could "have some 'family-time'"
after the concert. We left before the last piece (a
Mozart trio) to get on the 50-mi. hiway back down
to Santa Clara as night was falling.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

CHENEY's NoFear (tm)

for Peter Bates

CHENEY’s NoFear™ boggles:
“Don’t sweat it” says CHENEY,
“Steele’s in my pocket, Q-balls
safe & sound. Safer & sounder.”
What does CHENEY mean by it?
Can we decode his cryptic mind?
“What I don’t fear, I don’t doubt”
crypticizes big-daddy CHENEY,
“thanx 2 CHENEY NoFear ™
America
rules the whole world.”


(06 JUL 10, Santa Clara CA)v6

for Peter Bates B'Day

Monday, July 5, 2010

Hummus War

Lebanon on Saturday claimed another victory in the continuing battle with Israel over which country can make the largest plate of the chickpea delicacy hummus -- with a 10-tonne broadside. More than 300 chefs set the new record for hummus, which the Lebanese say is their national dish despite Israeli claims, in the presence of a Guinness World Records representative who confirmed its weight at 10,452 kilograms.


HUMMUS WAR


Chick-peas get ground-up

in an alimentary war between

Lebanon & Israel, but just

where does the hummus go?

Which bank gets to bank it?

How long’s its shelf-life?



(05 JUL 10, Santa Clara CA)

Thursday, July 1, 2010

SILICON VALLEY a.m. walk

@ 7am, we walk the dusty trail into Rancho San Antonio*,
hearing Indian languages, Chinese, Korean,
Japanese, Hebrew, English:

“Claire was the owner; she sold it to her sister.”
“I had to go to the Jeu de Paume** to see it.”
“Indian food is a well-balanced diet.”

Before leaving, we watch a doe & her fawn nibble stubble.
Leaving, a yellow weed I notice is wild mustard.

(01 JUL 10, Mountain View CA)v4


* Santa Clara County park
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galerie_nationale_du_Jeu_de_Paume