"Tall coffee, decaf please" Ordering decaf coffee at 8am is bound to raise questions. My friend raised his eyebrows and said "what's up with that?". The simple answer is PVCs. Premature ventricular contractions. Apparently I have been having too many lately. The standard line from the cardiologist is that PVCs are normal and as we get older we get more of them. I have been having more than my share. "Normal" PVCs cause a fluttering in the chest. Something akin to butterflies. You feel like your heart is flip flopping. This feeling is caused by the "false" heartbeat. the ventricle contracts too early and there is no blood in the chamber so it pumps but no blood is in there to be pumped out. Excessive PVCs can cause "heavy chest". this is a feeling of heaviness in the chest similar to the descriptions of heart attack symptoms. It is very unsettling the first time it is experienced.
My friend was victorious in his trial. The issue of the unfairness of paying twice for workmen comp benefits will not be addressed in this case. Is there ever really justice if injustices are constantly not addressed? Michael Sandel's book Justice is a great book that discusses theories of justice. As with most subjects, justice is never as clear as it seems. When subjected to a philosophical analysis our general thoughts about justice often run hollow, short sighted and unsupported.
I have a trial next week. Will my client get justice? If justice is defined as a resolution to the dispute without anyone getting killed, then yes he will get justice. Beyond that justice will simply be what the eight people on the jury determine it to be.
Life is not fair. Or is it? My friend points out that we often say life is not fair because other people are better looking, smarter, richer and funnier. If everyone was the same and equal in all those characteristics would we want that kind of a world? Fairness is easy to determine on the playground in grammer school but the issue becomes more cloudy as we grow older. If everything was fair would we all be Shakespeares or janitors?
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
July 30, 2010 Routine, Financial crisis and the meaning of life
It has been said that 95% of life is routine. Some people call this a rut and others view and a comfort zone. No doubt there is comfortableness and familiarity in a routine. Does it make you less of a person or somehow unfulfilled if you stay in a rut. Sometimes the rut is very comforting especially when compared to a rough ride outside of the rut.
Today's conversation was rut filled and routine. How was the vacation? Good. Too short. How's the running program? Not good, achilles tendon still hurts. How about yours? Pretty good. i ran 4 this morning.
My friend has a trial coming up soon. The issues involve an unusal aspect of the underinsured motorist act that deals with workmen's comp liens. An issue that only two lawyers would ever be caught discussing. In a weird twist of the law a person could end of paying twice for the workmen's comp medical bills.
We discussed Michael Lewis's book, The Big Short. I have read many of the books on the financial crisis and this was one of the better ones. As a confirmed free market capitalist I am opposed to government intervention but if anything could convince me that it is sometimes needed it may be the recent financial crisis. After reading Lewis' book it is hard to come away with any conclusion other than the bankers were creating complex financial instruments for the sole purpose of increasing their profits. While financial innovation is necessary and beneficial to a global economy there is no justification for the synthetic CDOs and CDSs that were created. It appears that all of the investment bankers, e.g. Goldman Sachs, etc were at best duplicitous and at worst fraudulent when they started playing both sides of the CDO and CDS market. The focus of Lewis' book is two eccentric financial gurus who saw the coming crisis and made a fortune by shorting the mortgage backed instruments. However, the tragedy is not that those two guys made loads of money but that all the people who created the fake financial instruments; e.g. the Goldman Sachs folks, etc also made boatloads of money, were bailed out by the government and have never had to face the consequences for their irresponsible decisions.
Kafka is credited with the shortest description of the meaning of life. He reported said that "the meaning of life is that it ends". After reading Lewis' book i would describe more as "life sucks and then you die".
Today's conversation was rut filled and routine. How was the vacation? Good. Too short. How's the running program? Not good, achilles tendon still hurts. How about yours? Pretty good. i ran 4 this morning.
My friend has a trial coming up soon. The issues involve an unusal aspect of the underinsured motorist act that deals with workmen's comp liens. An issue that only two lawyers would ever be caught discussing. In a weird twist of the law a person could end of paying twice for the workmen's comp medical bills.
We discussed Michael Lewis's book, The Big Short. I have read many of the books on the financial crisis and this was one of the better ones. As a confirmed free market capitalist I am opposed to government intervention but if anything could convince me that it is sometimes needed it may be the recent financial crisis. After reading Lewis' book it is hard to come away with any conclusion other than the bankers were creating complex financial instruments for the sole purpose of increasing their profits. While financial innovation is necessary and beneficial to a global economy there is no justification for the synthetic CDOs and CDSs that were created. It appears that all of the investment bankers, e.g. Goldman Sachs, etc were at best duplicitous and at worst fraudulent when they started playing both sides of the CDO and CDS market. The focus of Lewis' book is two eccentric financial gurus who saw the coming crisis and made a fortune by shorting the mortgage backed instruments. However, the tragedy is not that those two guys made loads of money but that all the people who created the fake financial instruments; e.g. the Goldman Sachs folks, etc also made boatloads of money, were bailed out by the government and have never had to face the consequences for their irresponsible decisions.
Kafka is credited with the shortest description of the meaning of life. He reported said that "the meaning of life is that it ends". After reading Lewis' book i would describe more as "life sucks and then you die".
Thursday, July 15, 2010
July 16 "The final summons without bail"
"That's the sad thing with life. People always leaving just as other folks arrive." Josh Ritter- "Folk Bloodbath"
A friend of ours died unexpectedly. He was 53. Not surprisingly, we discussed one of our frequent topics:Death. Do we fear death or just the pain that may precede it? I expect it is the pain. Mark Twain is reported to have said about death something to the effect that he does not fear death because he was dead for billions of years before he was born and it did not give him one bit of trouble.
Does our soul exist independent of the body? Is our consciousness our soul? Is God the collective consciousness of all humans?
Time for vacation. As Mr. Buffett says in his latest effort "We've got a lot to drink about".
A friend of ours died unexpectedly. He was 53. Not surprisingly, we discussed one of our frequent topics:Death. Do we fear death or just the pain that may precede it? I expect it is the pain. Mark Twain is reported to have said about death something to the effect that he does not fear death because he was dead for billions of years before he was born and it did not give him one bit of trouble.
Does our soul exist independent of the body? Is our consciousness our soul? Is God the collective consciousness of all humans?
Time for vacation. As Mr. Buffett says in his latest effort "We've got a lot to drink about".
Sunday, July 11, 2010
June 25, 2010 NUMB AND DUMB
I recently read Padgett Powell's book "The Interrogative Mood". It caused my friend and I to raise a few questions of our own.
Is the world controlled by a small group of people, say 2500 or 10,000? Does the military industrial complex control our wars and our economy? Is there an economic disincentive to a cancer cure? Is cynicism really cynicism if that is the way things are? Would the oil industry allow an alternative energy source to be marketed if one were available? Does the oil industry buy off independent inventors who have promising alternative energy ideas? When will we run out of oil? Will an alternative energy source not be commercially available until it is cheaper than fossil fuel? Is it ok for Exxon to profit on oil without holding it accountable for the impact of fossil fuels on climate change? Is every person who drives a car also in some way responsible for the adverse impacts of fossil fuels?
Are you optimistic about the future?
Have you read the Brothers Karamazov?
Is Dick Chaney evil? Why can't we catch Osama bin Laden? Why are we in Afghanistan? Iraq? Does Haliburton control politicians and manufacture wars? Is Jimmy Buffett an accomplished songwriter?
Does it matter to 99.999% of the population if a small group of people control the world? Is 99.999% of the population NUMB AND DUMB? Is it ok to be numb and dumb? Are we brainwashed or just indifferent? Is there a difference?
Read any good books lately?
Are you a conspiracy theorist? How would this small group of people make plans for control? Who is the military industrial complex? Do they start wars or do the politicians? Does it matter who starts the wars? Is a "cure for cancer" a misnomer? Is cancer too multi-varied for a "cure"? Wouldn't a pharmaceutical company make millions on a drug that cured cancer?
Is there such thing as an optimistic cynic?
What are the many issues that must be overcome for an alternative energy source? Conversion to usable form, containment, transmission, storage? Will the sun, the genome and the Internet be our salvation as Freeman Dyson suggested in his book?
Will there be a global government one day?
Is there any valid reason to fight wars now?
Are the electrons on this screen free?
What's for supper?
Is the world controlled by a small group of people, say 2500 or 10,000? Does the military industrial complex control our wars and our economy? Is there an economic disincentive to a cancer cure? Is cynicism really cynicism if that is the way things are? Would the oil industry allow an alternative energy source to be marketed if one were available? Does the oil industry buy off independent inventors who have promising alternative energy ideas? When will we run out of oil? Will an alternative energy source not be commercially available until it is cheaper than fossil fuel? Is it ok for Exxon to profit on oil without holding it accountable for the impact of fossil fuels on climate change? Is every person who drives a car also in some way responsible for the adverse impacts of fossil fuels?
Are you optimistic about the future?
Have you read the Brothers Karamazov?
Is Dick Chaney evil? Why can't we catch Osama bin Laden? Why are we in Afghanistan? Iraq? Does Haliburton control politicians and manufacture wars? Is Jimmy Buffett an accomplished songwriter?
Does it matter to 99.999% of the population if a small group of people control the world? Is 99.999% of the population NUMB AND DUMB? Is it ok to be numb and dumb? Are we brainwashed or just indifferent? Is there a difference?
Read any good books lately?
Are you a conspiracy theorist? How would this small group of people make plans for control? Who is the military industrial complex? Do they start wars or do the politicians? Does it matter who starts the wars? Is a "cure for cancer" a misnomer? Is cancer too multi-varied for a "cure"? Wouldn't a pharmaceutical company make millions on a drug that cured cancer?
Is there such thing as an optimistic cynic?
What are the many issues that must be overcome for an alternative energy source? Conversion to usable form, containment, transmission, storage? Will the sun, the genome and the Internet be our salvation as Freeman Dyson suggested in his book?
Will there be a global government one day?
Is there any valid reason to fight wars now?
Are the electrons on this screen free?
What's for supper?
Introduction
"We come together simply to meet and talk and give our minds free play, with no further fruit. All subjects are alike to us; if weight and depth are lacking, it is no matter- there is still charm and point. A ripe and steady judgment tinges it all, and mingled with it are kindliness, freedom, gaiety, and fellowship."
Michel de Montaigne
I meet on most Fridays with a friend. The reason for our meetings is best described in Montaigne's quote above. Our topics range from the mundane to the absurd. Occasionally, I get the urge to put our discussions in print. I have no agenda but to share thoughts about life.
Earth Up!
Michel de Montaigne
I meet on most Fridays with a friend. The reason for our meetings is best described in Montaigne's quote above. Our topics range from the mundane to the absurd. Occasionally, I get the urge to put our discussions in print. I have no agenda but to share thoughts about life.
Earth Up!
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