Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut

January 30, 2025February 21, 2025 / Benn Bell / 1 Comment

A book review

Timequake is a novel about free will. Vonnegut freely intersperses throughout the novel his own stream of consciousness. Oh, and there is also his alter ego, Kilgore Trout, who exclaims, “Oh Lordy, I am much too old experienced to start playing Russian Roulette with free will again.”

The premise of Timequake is that a Timequake, a sudden glitch in the time-space continuum, made everybody and everything do exactly what they’d done during the past decade a second time. It was déjà vu all over again for 10 years. The timeframe Vonnegut chose was February 13, 2001 – February 17, 1991. The Timequake would zapp everyone back in an instant to 1991. They had to “live” their way forward to 2001. Or you might say, back to the future again. Only when people got back to 2001 did they stop being robots of their past. Kilgore Trout would say, “Only when free will kicked in could they stop running an obstacle course of their own construction.” Free will. That is what the novel is about. Do we have it or not? That is the question. You would think that because the author mentions “when free will kicks back in” some 20-odd times he was arguing for free will. But no! Not so fast! I’m not so sure.

Other pithy comments by Kilgore Trout would include, “If brains were dynamite, there wouldn’t be enough to blow your hat off!” and “Ting-a-ling, you son of a bitch!” which is the punch line to a variation on a joke having to do with Chinese doorbells.

So, it goes.

Vonnegut goes on to say, in his own peculiar voice, that writers of his generation had reason to be optimistic because of things like the Magna Carter, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, The Emancipation Proclamation, and Article XIX of the Constitution giving women the right to vote. He advocated for two more amendments that he would like to add: Article XXIII: Every newborn shall be sincerely welcomed and cared for until maturity. And Article XXIX: Every adult who needs it shall be given meaningful work to do at a living wage.

Another pithy saying he was fond of throwing around was, “I never asked to be born in the first place!”

Photo by the author.

https://amzn.to/42BZP58

Musings from 30,000 Feet

September 24, 2024 / Benn Bell / Leave a comment

Star date 09242024

In his Critique of Dialectical Reason, (1960) Jean-Paul Sartre asks the following questions: 1) Why is violence so universal a feature of human experience, especially in politics? And 2) What becomes of man’s freedom in a world where human beings are constantly threatened by what he called the “practico-inert” (alienation)?

Example: A motorist is caught in a traffic jam created by the increased availability of cars whose original intention was to enable men to move about more freely. Human beings are increasingly and inevitably held prisoner by their own creations.

In economics, this would be an example of diminishing returns. A concept I learned in the 5^th grade, which struck me like a thunderbolt and has stuck with me ever since.

Another concept I learned a couple of years later in the 7^th grade, was the concept of manifest destiny. Again, this was like a thunderbolt out of the blue, but I think it might have set me on the wrong path for years to come. If you don’t think that schools were indoctrinating students in the 1950s you are sadly mistaken. But I digress….

KAMALA HARRIS

July 26, 2024February 20, 2025 / Benn Bell / Leave a comment

In Sanskrit, the word Kamala means Lotus Flower. The Lotus is a symbol of purity and the simultaneity of cause and effect. Out of the mud rises the fragrant Lotus Flower. This is exactly the metaphor needed at this time in this place. Kamala, the Lotus Flower, rises from the slime and muck of Donald Trump and his ilk in triumph and exaltation. Go ahead, Kamala!

Hiking the Coral Ridge Trail

June 5, 2024 / Benn Bell / 1 Comment

Jefferson Memorial Forest

There are a lot of trees down blocking the way

I had to crawl through some of them

This tree snapped creating a perfect triangle

Otherwise it was a nice day in the forest. The temperatures were in the mid-70s and sunny.

Police Crack Down on Student Protests

April 26, 2024 / Benn Bell / 3 Comments

Do you see this image? This is a picture of a student shot dead by the National Guard at Kent State University in Ohio. I remember when this happened, and I can tell you it was a dark day in America. What were the students doing? They were protesting the war in Vietnam. It was largely because of these protests that the war was brought to an end.

Fast forward to today. We have protests all over America, indeed the world, of the war Israel is waging against the Palestinians. It is not antisemitic to protest the slaughter of thousands of innocent women and children and other noncombatants. This slaughter is inhumane and tantamount to genocide, regardless of what the U.S. Government is saying. It should be protested and attention must be paid!

We see police action and the National Guard being called up in some states to quell these protests. This must stop! We do not want another Kent State. I understand that we have to support our allies, and Israel is an ally, but this needless slaughter of the innocents must stop! It goes against American values, and it goes against my values. I stand with the protesting students.

The Glass Menagerie

February 12, 2024 / Benn Bell / 1 Comment

The Glass Menagerie Starring Judith Ivy Photo by the author

In a conversation with my granddaughter, Summer, who just turned 28, a magical number by any stretch, she was telling me about a book she found at the Fat Rabbit. Now, I am a sucker for used bookstores myself, and I was infected by her enthusiasm. The book she so proudly declaimed as she pulled it from her bookbag was Tennessee Williams’, The Glass Menagerie. Imagine my surprise and happiness. The Glass Menagerie I told her is one of my favorite plays of all time. Hers too, as it turns out. I said, “You know, I have always been in love with long distance.” “I know, Big Daddy,” she shyly answered, not realizing it was a line from the play. I was lucky enough to see a production of it on Broadway a few years ago in New York. It was a wonderful production. It hit me later that the Birthday card I had given her had an image of a unicorn on it. The central symbol of the play. One of Laura’s glass animals was a unicorn representing her fragility. That gave me a chill as another moment of synchronicity had arrived. It made me happy to see Summer so excited to embrace for the first time a piece of theatre that I loved and knew so well.

5 Things You Can Do to Increase Your Longevity

January 16, 2024 / Benn Bell / 4 Comments

It is a privilege to grow old. Not everyone gets to do so. At 75, I know I am an outlier, and I hold every moment of my existence from this day forward to be a precious one and I try to live a life of gratitude.

I ran across an article on HuffPost, by Jillian Wilson, which gives the following advice on how to increase your longevity. I am happy to announce that I practice all these things regularly and they have made life immeasurably better.

5 Things You Can Do to Increase Your Longevity

Move your body regularly
Engage in social activity
Reduce stress
Challenge your brain
Make time for the things you enjoy

Does Plagiarism Matter?

January 15, 2024January 16, 2024 / Benn Bell / 1 Comment

Does plagiarism still matter? I think it does. But I don’t think it should be weaponized to cancel someone’s career. Billionaire Bill Ackman brought down Harvard’s president Claudine Gay with charges of plagiarism. With perfect karmic timing, the universe disclosed that his wife, Neri Oxman, also committed plagiarism on her doctoral thesis. If Claudine Gay paid the price, shouldn’t Neri Oxman?

Let’s see, who else has committed the grave sin of plagiarism? Joe Biden! Senator Joe Biden was accused of plagiarism, proclaimed guilty, and forced to remove himself from the 1988 presidential election campaign. He admitted that he plagiarized his text and failed to provide the right citations. Melania Trump! Melania used Michelle Obama’s words in a speech she gave in 2008 without attribution, to her great embarrassment. And the list goes on. And the beat goes on.

The fact is plagiarism is fairly ubiquitous. Why do people commit plagiarism? Many reasons, but often it is accidental, unintentional, or just plain sloppiness. Laziness is also a factor. The rules of attribution and citation are fairly rigorous and hard to follow. That is no excuse, but no one should be canceled for forgetting to place a few quotation marks around a few well-placed sources.

As for Claudine Gay, I find it a little hard to sympathize with her as she is a tenured Harvard professor with a $900,000 a-year salary and the real reason she had to resign was her tepid response to a question posed to her regarding free speech advocating the annihilation of the Jews. She and the other University presidents could have and should have done better.

Poor Things (2023)

January 12, 2024July 27, 2024 / Benn Bell / 3 Comments

Movie review

Poor Things is a cross between Frankenstein and Alice in Wonderland. One of the most original and freshest films I have seen in a long while. Emma Stone is a wonder as Bella Baxter. She fearlessly portrays the evolution of the creature animated by the mad scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter, played brilliantly by Willem Defoe. Mark Ruffalo shines as the nefariously debauched lawyer Duncan Wedderburn who whisks Bella away on a journey across the continents only to be quickly ditched by her as she outgrows him.

The story has as many twists and turns as a rabbit hole as it depicts Bellas’s evolution and sexual awakening. Poor Things is a feminist tale writ large.

Visually stunning sets and costumes are a feast for the eye that combines unusual Victorian features with a sci-fi futuristic look that dazzles.

Directed by Yorgos Lanithmos, who brought you The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. This guy is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors.

This one will be hard to beat. I give it my highest rating. Definitely the best movie in 2023 in a field of hot competitors. Best seen on the big screen.

Does it Walk Like a Duck?

January 11, 2024January 11, 2024 / Benn Bell / 1 Comment

Is Israel committing genocide?

A man gestures as Palestinians search for casualties a day after Israeli strikes on houses in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, November 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammed Al-Masri

Is Israel committing genocide? Well. let’s see. Let’s give it the duck test. Does it walk like a duck? Does it quack like a duck? South Africa seems to think so. They are taking Israel to an international tribunal to seek justice for the Palestinians.

But just ask Israel’s, prime minister. He says, Genocide? What genocide. Who are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?

22,000 Palestinians dead. Mostly innocent civilians. Mostly children. Forced migration, displacement, starvation, and no clean drinking water. Destruction of homes and hospitals.

Winking Blinken and Nod is doing everything he can to slow down the hostilities but because he represents the Disunited Mistakes, which is Israel’s biggest defender, there is little he can do.

Let’s review, then. What is genocide?

The current definition of Genocide is set out in Article II of the Genocide Convention:

Genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. If it’s not genocide it is certainly murder and the God of the Jews is pretty clear about how He feels about murder. Thou Shat Not Kill, He says. Oh, but Israel has a right to defend herself you say. Yes, but this goes way beyond self-defense.

What happened to Jews during the holocaust was a horrible tragic event of epic proportions. One of the worst cases of genocide in human history. Never Again! What happened on October 7 was a tragic horrible event and a crime against humanity. But those events do not give Israel carte blanche to destroy an entire population in retribution. You don’t use an elephant gun to kill a mosquito. You don’t use a meat cleaver when a scalpel is appropriate. In Vietnam, we used to have a saying, “We have to burn down the village to save the village.” It was an absurd notion then and an absurd notion now. Israel needs to bring this war to a conclusion and cease the hostilities at once. Those responsible for war crimes must be held accountable.

Hamas knew exactly what it was doing when it acted in such an ignominious way. They knew Israel would attack Gaza with furious vengeance. In doing so, it has turned the world’s opinion against Israel and has garnered sympathy for the Palestinian Cause. That is exactly what Hamas wanted. And Israel fell into their honey trap.