Conversations with Lucifer part 2

"I remember you."

He didn't look like the devil.  A chunky white middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a faint smell of stale coffee all around him.  He'd traded in his Hawaiian shirt for a teal sweatshirt and matching pants.  We were standing at a table in a cell phone store.

The last time we spoke, it was eight years ago in a dream.  I'd forgotten all about it.  He spent his time bragging about his big plans- was in such a good mood that he gave me a winning sports team, on the house.  When I woke up, I'd forgotten all about it.

"And you're going to forget this time, too."  He snapped, pacing as he sipped his drink from a mug.

Something was different.  He was irritated.  And, while he didn't look dangerous... it's not real healthy to be the focus of Lucifer.

"Not you, dork."  Apparently, he could read minds or at least my mind.  He pointed vaguely upwards.  "That one."

"What, God?"  I looked up, not seeing anything but the dirty whtie ceiling.  "What does he... she... umm..."

A chuckle escaped his lips.  "Listen, kid, when you're the creator or creation, you are a one of one.  You can be whatever you want.  God's either every gender or none at all.  But the important thing is that God is ANNOYING!"  He shouted the last word.  Strangely, none of the other people in the store turned to look at him.  Or paid any attention to us at all.  

"God's up to something."  He muttered.

"How do you know?"  I shouldn't have asked.  I know I shouldn't have asked.  Curiosity killed the cat- and probably me as well.

"How do I know... I know.  I've been playing this game for years.  Sometimes I'm ahead, sometimes they're ahead.  But now... now..."

I waited for him to continue.

"Things are going well.  Too well."  He started counting off on his fingers.  "I've got people obsessed with elections at the exact moment the quality of the people in charge is at the lowest.  People are worried about everything- the living conditions of the planet, whether AI is going to take over their jobs, drugs and mental illness."

He continued,   "My masterstroke was creating a technology that allows everyone on the planet to instantly communicate with each other, so you humans can confirm that your neighbors are, in fact, the sick nuts that you always suspected.  That was..."  He lifted his hand to perform a chef's kiss. ".... my finest work in centuries."

He was building up to something.  I let him.

"Smart."  

Did I mention that I hated that he could read my mind?

"Tough shit."  

He took another sip before continuing.  "Here's the thing.  I make moves, God makes moves.  Every time I get ahead, God changes things.  But usually I can figure out what God's doing.  Can't stop it, but I can try and counter it.  But..."  Lucifer shrugged, "I've had the the whole game to myself for eight years.  God's planning something- I just can't figure out what.  I've been getting away with murder.  It's easy mode."

He paused, "Maybe they've left.  You know, abandoned the game.  Maybe if God's gone, I'll get bored and leave all of you alone..."  A pause.

"Nah...  tormenting you human is way too much fun.  I could do it for eons.  So I'll just keep harassing you all."

"... over the small stuff."  I immediately closed my mouth.  I shouldn't have said anything.  I shouldn't have said anything.  I shouldn't...

He snapped his neck around to look at me.  "What did you say?"

"Noth-"

"You forget that I can read your puny brain?"

I sighed.  "You keep talking about the game you're playing.  But what if God is playing a different game- and one you aren't doing anything about?"

"Bah."  He spat on the floor.  "Have you looked around?  Things are going to Hell.  If I can keep up the climate change, that might be literal."

"Look..."  I grabbed a tablet and typed in a search.  Pretty soon I found what I was looking for, and showed him the chart:

"The world's population has boomed, but the number of people living in extreme poverty has dropped.  Starvation is almsot extinct- in a world of over 8 billion."

"That's just food."  He protested, but still listening.

"There's more people on earth.  They are living longer.  They are richer.  It is better to be alive now than at any point in human history.  How does that lead to you 'winning'?"  

Now he was annoyed, "OK, smartass.  COVID.  I not only brought back the plague years, but made everyone paranoid to go outside."

I nodded, "You did.  And just over a year later- one year- a vaccine was developed.  It's not perfect, but it's taken COVID from a worldwide plague to a manageable disease.  And the technology that was used to develop the vaccine is also being used to defeat other diseases."

"Face it."  I said.  "You're doing end zone celebrations while God's running up the score on you."

Lucifer scowled, grabbed the tablet, and blasted me across the face.  That's all I remember.  

What the hell happened?

 I am utterly fascinated by this chart:

Not the political aspect- Liberals being more depressed than conservatives, or women being more depressed than men.  I'm sure there are a 1,000 theories explaining that.

What I'm fascinated is why depression starting rising in 2014, and continues to rise today.

What the hell happened in 2014?

If it had started in 2008, I'd explain it was because of the economic collapse.  If it had started in 2001, I'd blame 9/11.  If it had started in 2020, I'd understand it was because of COVID.

But 2014?  What gives?

I don't see it as politics- in 2014, Congress went from Democrats to the Republicans... but the Democrats held the White House.  And since 2014, we've gone through every iteration of the two parties being in and out of power.  Depression keeps rising.  So I don't see politics being the cause of the depression.

I have two theories, and I suspect it's a combination of both, plus other factors I haven't realized yet.

The first was offered by my friend Don Mewha- who aruged that we've always been this depressed and are just doing a better job measuring.  It's a valid theory... I do think people are more willing to accept being depressed nowadays compared to the past, and that this is a recent development.

And yet... if this were the main cause, I'd expect a sudden jump in depression levels, not a steady rise over the years.  I'd also expect it to even out.  And- this is anectotal- more people I know first seem more depressed or angry now than they did a decade earlier. I'm not ruling out this idea, but I don't think this is the main reason

My other theory?  Social Media.  Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram.  It was around before 2014, but we seemed to have reached a critical mass right around when the depression levels shot up:

I'm not quite sure why there is a strong correlation between social media usage and depression levels.  Maybe because social media is a drug that pours outrage and awful behavior into it's users.  Maybe because as people have to ability to speak to the world and listen to anyone in the world, they are drawn to the most horrific stories, depressing them.  Maybe...

I don't know why.  But there seems to be a strong correlation- to the point that, if I were a father, I'd ban my children having a cell phone or account on social media until they had graduated highe school.  

I am open to being wrong on my theories.  But I don't know a better one that explains things.

Take this Stadium and shove it

It's March 1st, which means my least favorite two months of the year are completed.  It's dark, cold, often snowy or wet, and there isn't even the holidays to break up the monotony of January and February.  Mind you, on March 1st it's still dark, cold and wet, but there's more hope in the air.

Here in Cleveland, Jimmy Haslam, owner of the Cleveland Browns, is pushing for a new Stadium.  One with a retractable roof.  

Football stadiums are expensive.  The most recent stadiums have been around $2 billion- but SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles has over a $5 billion price tag.   That's over $5,000,000,000.00  And while that is in California instead of Ohio, a new stadium is going to be pricey.

Now, if Haslam, who is supposedly worth about 4.8 billion wants to pay for it himself, more power to him.  But I haven't heard that.  And Haslam is busy purchasing a stake in the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks.  He has priorities.

So he will likely 'ask' the city of Cleveland to foot the bill.  Now, Cleveland has already lost one NFL team because the owner wanted a new stadium.  So the people of Cleveland will get flashbacks that if the city doesn't pony up, the team will leave.

But First Energy Stadium is only 24 years old (aren't sports stadiums and fields supposed to last for decades?), and the NFL only has 8-9 home games a year.  Cleveland can find a lot of better uses to spend more billions of dollars to help the city.

This is a horrible idea- and if Haslam wants to flee, I'll be glad to hold the door open for him.  

The Potential and the Problem

 Nikki Haley announced that she is running for President.

I really like Nikki Haley- more than any candidate since at least Mitt Romney, and possibly longer than that.

(Note:  The fact that I liked Mitt Romney tells you that (a)  I am Conservative by nature and (b) I am a political dork.  I plead guilty to both charges)

On paper, I think Nikki Haley could make a great President, for the following reasons:

1)  She was a popular two term governor in South Carolina.  As a general rule, governors make for a better training for the Presidency than time in Congress.  Governors have to actually manage the state, and have to deal with the state legislature that often is working against their goals.  

2)  She took the position of UN Ambassador in 2017, and held the position for two years.  So she has both governing experience and foreign policy experience.

3)  In 2015, she signed a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds.  Which shows she is willing to take on her own party.

4)  She is a woman and a person of color (her parents are Sikh immigrants).  It would be good for both the GOP if she was the nominee- and it would be good for the country if, in a 2 party system, both parties showed they were open to being led by anyone, regardless of gender or background

In addition, people who have worked with her vouch that she is very smart and very hardworking.  Add everything up, and she can potentially be the next President- and that would be a good thing.

Here's my concern:  I fear she is running to win the 2004 Presidential election instead of the 2024 Presidential election.  Her first campaign events were highlighted by her supporting term limits, support from the Freedom Caucus, and wanting  "mandatory mental competency tests", for politicians over the age of 75.  While I understand the appeal (attacks both Biden and Trump), is a little too cute.

One of the biggest problems the GOP has is that they no longer know what they stand for.  In 1980, Reagan ran on a few core principles (low taxes, a stronger military to stand up to the Soviet Union, a smaller government footprint), won, and those principles drove the country.  But that was over 40 years ago.  Trump's appeal to the GOP was, in part, because he wasn't trying to be warmed-over Reagan.  Unfortuantely, Trump's appeal was a combination of a cult of personality and a constant barrage of attacks on the other party.  There was no principle except for "I should win, and they should lose".  That's not healthy.

If I can offer Nikki Haley some advice, it would be this; pick the principles and main ideas that will guide your policies because you believe it is best for the country to deal with the issues of 2024.  Don't worry about 'winning', either in the GOP Primary or the election. Because right now, I have no idea what those core principles are- so it's a blank canvass for someone to fill in.  

It might as well be you.

Various thoughts - 2023/02/14

A collection of random thoughts this week:

* Happy Valentine's Day.  If you are in a happy romantic relationship, give your partner a hug.  If not, find a friend and give them a hug.  To be fair...

* Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs for winning the Super Bowl.  They weren't my favorite team, but I have friends from Kansas City who are thrilled.

* Speaking of Kansas City, Feb 7th was the anniversay of the day I lost one of my closest friends.  Barbara Jo, I still miss you, your energy, your intelligence, your attitude towards life.

* Condolences to the Eagles, who lost a close game.  In the past 100 days, Philadelphia was runner-up in the finals of three different sports.  That's brutal- and I say this as a fan of the Cubs, Cavaliers, Guardians, and Buffalo Bills.

* I think we need clearer defintions of "Left", "Liberal", "Right", and "Conservative".  We tend us the first pair and second pair interchangably, and I think that is misleading.  In baseball, it's hard to tell the players without a scorecard.  In politics, it's hard to use labels without understanding what they mean.

* Fun link of the week:  Roll for Sandwich.  A man uses dice rolls to create his lunch.  Given my history with dice rolls, I would be terrified to try this for myself.  He makes some fascinating combinations.  

* Thank you all for reading.

The State of the Blog

I'm trying to write weekly on this blog- partly to keep writing, partly because it was a New Year's Resolution, partly because a friend and I both agreed to encourage each other to write more, partly... well, I've had this blog for over a dozen years.  I should use it.

But I'm not sure what this blog is about, exactly.  I don't write much about myself.  My philosophy is that anything I post should be expected to go out to the entire world- and I don't want or desire my entire life to be an open book.  

So I usually post about lighter things- music, sports, etc.  I used to post about politics, but I don't anymore.  Politics used to be about two differing philosophies about how to balance between the good of the individual and the good of the larger group.  Now it's more like a sports rivalry- I want my team to win but it's imperative that the other team loses.  

The quality of our lives has vastly increased over the past 200, 100, 25 years.  The quality of our politicians have gone downhill, and I've grown to cynical and apathetic to change them.  Or even argue about them anymore.

I'd rather find out about the technologies and advancements that will affect all of us.  Or learn a new skill.  Or hear a great puzzle that makes you think.  Or get a recommendation for something to watch, read, or listen.

Speaking of which- I've fallen in love with a comedic game show from the UK called Taskmaster.  It's fits my sense of humor exactly, and I highly recommend it.  I'm putting the first episode of series 5 on, but really- any of the seasons are fantastic, and just about everything is on Youtube.  Give it a shot if you have time:

Sports Thought from a casual sports fan...

 Are NBA franchises getting smarter- and NFL franchises getting stupider?

Let me explain.

The history of the NBA is that there have always been at least a quarter of the NBA franchises that made foolish, short-sighted moves that crippled their franchises.  It wasn't enough to not be one of those franchises; you had to do a better job taking advantages of those franchises than anyone else.

The perfect example:  In 1976, the New Orleans Jazz wanted to sign Gail Goodrich.  Now in his prime Goodrich was an excellent NBA player.  But in 1976 he was 32 years old and on the downside of his career.  To sign him, the Jazz relenquished their rights to Moses Malone.  And, because of the NBA compensation laws at the time, the Jazz owed the Los Angeles Lakers their 1979 first round pick- who turned out to be Magic Johnson.

The NBA is littered with examples like that- teams making bad decisions that hurt them in the long run.  Portland picking an injured Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan.  The Knicks passing up a chance to get Julius Erving.  The Cleveland Cavaliers traded so many 1st round draft picks the NBA had to step in and create The Stepien Rule to prevent an owner from sabotaging his team too badly.

But right now... most of the NBA franchises are in decent shape.  The teams with poor records have young players and are stockpiling draft picks.  The teams that have traded their draft picks are either contenders or recent contenders.  There are still one or two franchises that make some questionable moves (Minnesota Timberwolves, anyone?).  But they are the exceptions.  Maybe with all of the money going around, the owners of the NBA are getting smarter.

But that doesn't seem to be applying to the NFL.  The NFL seems to be growing in franchises that are making foolish moves that are not good in the short term and horrific in the long term.  The obsession with getting a quarterback has led them to making stupid reckless trades.  It's one thing to go all in, try to win the Super Bowl, and then suffer the long term consequences; I'm sure fans of the Los Angeles Rams accept the poor year and lack of a draft pick in exchage for the Super Bowl Victory.  But what's the point of going all in and not even making the playoffs?

Most of the moves I see in the NBA, even if I don't agree with them, I understand them.  That's not so true with the NFL.