Temple worship vs personal religion

 It's clear from the story of the tower of Babel that people should avoid building big monuments ( hear that Trump?), but people do anyway. You just have to look at D.C., Paris and the Vatican for examples.

Then there's the story of the Jewish exile. The Assyrian king Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and took the rich and elite into exile to Babylon, but he left the poor to work the land and even redistributed some of the land so the poor could have their just rewards. And the land knew 70 years of peace. People could worship the way they wanted, setting up home alters and hilltop shrines.

But then the Persian king Cyrus, toppled the Assyrians. I suppose he didn't want the expense of supporting the exiled Jewish community and sent them back to Israel/Judah. And following in the ways of the elite before and since, they rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem, decreed that is the place for worship and re-instituted all ceremonies, festivals and Temple taxes. The regular people never get much of a break.

And religions have been following suit ever since. Building big churches and spending 80% of their money on buildings and salaries.

The thing that got me thinking about this post is the Pope came out with a speech on regulating AI. Regular people don't really need to hear this. The Pope and most other world leaders are just neo-babelites. Just go find a quiet monastery somewhere and turn the Vatican and Notre Dame in Paris into housing. Can autonomous cars be any worse than the human drivers? Can AI running things be any worse than the crazy governments we have now. The rich and elite just never want to give up any power.

Sleazy owners

 The Portland Trailblazers have a new owner, Tom Dundon. I call him Tom Dumdum. He made his big bucks screwing people out of their money with sub-prime auto loans. Since he bought the team, he's been firing people and generally making himself disliked in Portland. I'd hate to lose the Blazers, but we don't need this guy in Portland. 

I just read today, that the Chicago Bears were moving out of Chicago. There's nothing wrong with Soldier Field. The owners are just jealous of the other new stadiums.

In Portland, for some reason the city owns the big arena, the Moda Center. No reason for a city government to own a concert/sports venue, but they do and don't want to lose money on it. But do we really need these sports teams with their sleazy owners?

No. Half the people who go to games don't even watch the game. They're eating or walking around the concourse. Most of the other half are gambling on their phone. So what you could do is get an AI program to set up a league profile and play simulated games with simulated players projected as holograms on the court. It'd suit me. I don't like watching these $40 million players. Nobody is worth that much. They could do the same for concerts. All these artists, musicians, authors and sports players are whiners and so are their owners.

Surveys

 Every company wants you to do a survey now. You can't even buy a cup of coffee without them wanting a survey. I got a mail in survey the other day. I wrote in across the top: pay me $10. Why should I work for nothing? Most of the surveys come by email, so you can't respond, but if they get through to me: $10.

Jesus as Han Solo

 I always think of Han Solo as the ultimate independent. You have the Empire and rebels with all their rules and procedures and prejudices. Han is just trying to make a living, trading on the fringes with whoever and whatever. Like in our world, there is a lot of cross-border stuff that goes on because countries with their capitals far, far away have no idea how to make things work in the borderlands.

I was reading this book the other day, The Idolatry of God by Peter Rollins. Most of it is just drone-on to up the word count, but I deduced a few things about Jesus and the Resurrection. 

Jesus was the ultimate outsider.  He just wanted to make things work for everyone, without regard to party politics. He gave up any identity he had in his own religion and the dominant Roman culture and government at the time, because there were just too many rules. Of course, he ran afoul of the Empire. And unlike Han, with the Millennium Falcon, it's hard to do warp speed in sandals on a dusty road.

Crucifixion was the ultimate identity eraser. The ultimate ghosting. The culture is saying, you're gone, you never were, you were never any good, we won't remember you, you won't be missed. And Jesus decided that it wasn't worth the trouble to resist, so he went back to the ex nihilo, the nothingness, that he came from. 

But he resurrected. Because he had no identity, he could come back. Creatio ex nihilo, creation from nothing. And this happens. Cosmologists have found there are virtual energy fields, even in a vacuum.

So Jesus, the ultimate outsider, can do anything, help anyone, because he has no identity. And hopefully, people learn that lesson. Don't waste the energy to set up and fuel a cultural identity. Just use what energy is available to you to do something, anything. And in the end, you, too, go back to nothingness, the ultimate power source.

Fresh and locally sourced food.

 It's nice when you go to local coffee shops and delis, to have fresh food and pastries. But when they run out, they need a backup. There's a coffee shop in downtown Portland who has run out of pastries twice when I've gone there. I need some pastry with my coffee. That's how I get my sweets instead of sugar in the coffee. So if you run out, just send someone down to a convenience store and grab some Lil' Debbie's or Hostess stuff. A couple twinkies or cupcakes aren't going to kill us.

80-20

 80% of the sentient beings in the Universe are the doers: they manufacture, operate, serve. They keep things going day in and day out. 10% are the ego leaders. They haven't a clue. I'm not saying they don't do stuff. They drop bombs, make speeches, etc., but don't do anything worth doing and the doers usually have to clean up the mess. The last 10% are the activists who actually think they can changes things. 

And it's always been like this since we lived in caves. And I'm pretty sure it's like this throughout the Universe.

College coaches

 So Trump has a new executive order to reign in new-found player freedoms. His buddy, Nick Sabin and other rich coaches rode the gravy train for decades while the players got nothing. They want a return to the old days with a federal anti-trust exemption to restrict player eligibility to 5 years and only one transfer. 

They'll never get this because players will sue against anything to block their freedom. My opinion is any student is enrolled in at least one class at a college should be eligible for as many years as they want to play. My opinion, also, is that no adults should be involved with sports until the pro level. Players should run everything through college. Adults ruin everything good about kids sports.