№ 881: Question ALL Things

TIME OUT OF MIND (June 17) —

Is Bob Dylan smarter than was Aristotle,

who got nearly everything wrong?

In addition to which he did not win a Nobel

and, as you know, never wrote songs

defining his time and explaining all things

in words college sophomores could grasp

as they sang along “Bob-ing” their heads,

fantastically stoned on really great grass.

Wisdom and knowledge are never complete.

They evolve over time.

Today's genius is tomorrow's fool

if there's a shift in the paradigm.

Today, we “think” Dylan not Plato or Socrates,

content to follow mere mediocrities.

№ 813: TIME (and Ides of March for us...and Donnie)

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(with apologies to Jerry Ragovoy and Norman Meade)

TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW (March 15) —
Time's not on our side, no siree

Time's not on our side, no siree

Time will undo you, e-ven-tu-al-ly

We are goin' down
The plague's here in our town

causin' mass cas-u-al-ties, yeah

Time's not on our side, no siree

Time's not on our side, no siree

This time no TV show, it’s re-al-it-y

We are goin' down
The plague is back in town

bringin' mass cas-u-al-ties

Go ahead, Donnie, go ahead, tell us more lies

And, Donnie, do all your greasy, greedy heart desires

Remember, remember survivors will realize

that you, you in-com-pe-tent fool,

saw them as in-con-tin-ent tools

before your time on Earth (and FOX) expired, yeah

TIME ain't on your side, no siree

TIME ain't on your side, guarantee

So no more fake covers (your sick fan-ta-sy)

The virus runs amok (like CDC warned)

We're shit-out-of-luck (with you in charge)

You fat cat's ass tro-phy

Time, time, time’s not on our side, no it’s not, I said

Time, time, time’s not on your side, you shot your wad, I said

Time, time, time’s nobody's friend, no it's not

№ 552: Waiting For Nomenclature

TIME, forever, is out of joint.

Which, if you’re TIME, is precisely your point.

TIME doesn't care what you think or like:

TIME is, in fact, rather catlike.

Could be, for all that, TIME is a cat.

TIME doesn't march, TIME mostly meanders.

TIME does not wait for hapless bystanders.

It rushes, it dawdles, it stops, it erodes —

given TIME to itself, TIME often implodes,

collapsing, when apt, into TIME elapsed.

TIME is to space as space is to TIME.

TIME is to life as life is betimes —

entwined, dependent, admixed and blended.

TIME can never be comprehended.

The edge of a knife is TIME's adage for life.

At end of play, TIME leaves nowhere to hide.

Though you sing the song, TIME is NOT on your side.

 Time after time

The question of whether time moves in a loop or a line has occupied human minds for millennia. Has physics found the answer? 

Does the Universe repeat itself in space or time? Or are we barrelling endlessly forward, never to repeat this moment or arrangement of matter, never to retrace our steps?

№ 545: After Protagoras

Are We Really the Smartest Kid on the Cosmic Block?

It’s unlikely, and if we keep thinking otherwise, we might be missing some important clues about the existence of extraterrestrial life

. . . this attitude may be one sign that our intelligence isn’t very impressive—that the human race as a whole suffers from the Dunning-Kruger effect, in which those with mediocre abilities insist that they’re unusually talented or smart.

This attitude: man is the measure of things —

government, climate change, Buffalo wings —

smacks of what the Greeks meant by hubris.

The result, I expect, will not be salubrious.

Our very best scientifical thinking

clearly shows we haven't an inkling

of reality, space, time and matter

which we can't relate to pitter patter

baby steps of each little feat

we mistakenly think makes us elite.

No. 212.1: EXTRA! Trump does Jagger, sings TIME Is On My Side (no it's not!)

In March, in an interview with the magazine [Time] itself, he returned to the subject, saying: “I assume this is going to be a cover too, have I set the record? I guess, right? Covers, nobody’s had more covers.”

Trump has not had the most Time cover appearances. At the time of his Time interview he had 11, a long way behind Richard Nixon’s 55. According to Time’s own count, he has now appeared on its cover 14 times. — Guardian: Trump 'incorrect' over Time person of the year claims, magazine says

Fake news. Lying press.

Think they know better than me, I guess.

So what if Nixon had 55?

That doesn't count. He's not alive.

Fifty-six isn't beyond my reach, see!

I can print* one per day until they impeach me!

That'll give me time aplenty:

56 days till January twenty,

marking my first anniversary.

Okay, Bob Mueller, you come and get me!

——————

*WaPo: A Time magazine with Trump on the cover hangs in his golf clubs. It’s fake. (Paywall)