Global Confusion (with apologies to The Temptations)

Some wonderful friends recently moved to southern Alaska (hint: still farther north than almost anywhere). This week the weather there has been warmer than in much of the continental US. They also had no snow, whereas something like 50% of the continental US did. A Facebook discussion combined with the sorry state of research management, political finagling, and poor and confusing reporting, inspired this. If you haven't heard the Temptations song "Ball of Confusion", go youtube it now. I'll wait.

Back? OK, read on with my version for today.

 

People running out, people running in
Why? Because of the clothes on their skin
Sweat, freeze, fry but you can't decide
Don't know who's lyin or tellin me the truth
Vote for me and I'll set you free
Babble on, brother, babble on

Well, the only people talking real solutions ain't in power
And it seems nobody's interested in the truth but the flowers
Natural causes, carbon footprints, solar flares, automation
Correlation, determination, demonstration, disintegration
Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to my nation

Global confusion
Oh yeah, that's what the weather is today
Woo, hey, hey

The sale of votes is at an all time high
Leaders walking round with their heads in the sky
The cities blacked out in the summer time
And oh, the beat goes on

Evolution, revolution, price control, sell your soul
Shooting rockets to the moon, World economies grow too soon
Politicians say carbon taxes will solve everything
And the band played on

So, round and around and around we go
Where the world's headed, said nobody knows
Oh, great Googamooga
Can't you hear me talking to you?

Just a global confusion
Oh yeah, that's what the weather is today
Woo, hey, hey

Fear in the air, tension everywhere
Ocean level rising fast, racing to consume the gas
And it's not even safe to live on an Indian reservation
And the band played on

Eve of destruction, fracking deduction, pollution inspectors, solar collectors
Wind turbines in demand, population out of hand, Maldives, tornadoes
Hippies moving to the hills, people all over the world are shouting
'Climate change!?' and the band played on

Great Googamooga
Can't you hear me talking to you?

It's a global confusion
That's what the weather is today, hey, hey
Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya

Sayin' global confusion
That's what the weather is today, hey, hey
Let me hear ya, let me hear ya
Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya
Sayin' global confusion

If I Had a Pocket Lawnchair

For Mark Heard & Bruce Cockburn

The OOGling Anthem

by Miles O'Neal

This is all the fault of Gregory Simmons & Kyle Cheek from the notorious ``Orphans of God'' mailing list...

    here comes the riding mower -- second time today
    all the fescue seed scatters - it'll never go away
    why we don't just concrete over it, only God can say
    if i had a pocket lawnchair...i'd wait for the bus all day

    i don't believe in regulated networks, or care about commerce interstate
    i don't believe in telcos and their exhorbitant data line rates
    and when i talk with the survivors of things too sickening to relate
    if i had a pocket lawnchair...i'd leave them to their fate

    in the AOL chatrooms one hundred thousand wait
    to fall from speed starvation -- or some less humane fate.
    cry for busy modems, with all trunks busy, wait
    if i had a pocket lawnchair...i would just stagnate

    i want to meet Victoria -- at least i've got to try.
    i haven't met Bob or JenMuse, it brings tears to my eye.
    or Mark or Ti or gingerine, and i can't afford to fly
    without a pocket lawnchair...i'll just curl up and die

    19 Aug 1996
    Miles O'Neal

If you're wondering why the ``Orphans of God''- a mailing list revolving around the music of Mark Heard- has as its anthem a parody of a song by another artist, you didn't know Mark very well.

The Outer Limits... Facebook Style

(cue spooky theremin music)

``There is nothing wrong with your browser. Do not attempt to adjust the updates. We are in control. If we wish to make you see everything, we will feed you our database. If we wish to make it sparser, we will show next to nothing. We control the width. We control the automatic scrolling. We can roll the ads, make them flutter. We can change your focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next few hours, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your internet. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and aggravation which reaches from your subconscious to... The Facebook Limits.''