www.markholder.org

I'll begin by stating that Zen is not a religion. There, my Christian friends, your excuse for not reading further has been removed. While Zen derives from a school of Bhuddism, it has been descrived as "a total state of focus that incorporates a total togetherness of body and mind. Zen is a way of being." It is also a manner of perception, in which the viewer is tasked to see the subject (whatever that may be) for what it is, and not merely the viewer's biased projection reflected for the sake of the viewer's egocentric perception. Remove Self from your perception, and suddenly the world and all that is in it takes on a whole new patina. An excercise: the next time you catch a cold, don't think of it as "I'm sick," observe it from an outside point of view. Note the host and the invader(s), how the two intertwine and compete for control for the several days you'll be affected by the cold. Note how the balance of power shifts and cha

My wife and I recently enjoyed seeing Gone With The Wind projected on a movie screen, a first for us both. We'd seen it on television, but the large screen experience was something quite different. A good many years had passed since I last watched the film, and I was struck by its comedic moments, as well as its more blatant racism and misogyny (times have changed and continue to!) I was also impressed with its rather solid financial advice. For example, when raising funds for "the Cause" (AKA war), Rhett Butler made an impression on the crowd with an offer of gold for a dance. In times of political turmoil, you know, civil war, regime change and such, precious metals are more desirable than paper money issued by a government that may or may not be in power in days to come. This point is hammered home in a later scene, when Scarlett O'Hara returns home to find the family estate in ruins and her father in shock. He tells her not to worry, as he has money. At firs

Inspiration has many sources. I prefer to stand on the shoulders of giants. This series is inspired by many profound thinkers, chief among them  Philip K. Dick . Dick, or PKD, was a science fiction author, a visionary whose work and influence loom large over the present time. Indeed, it was Dick who best predicted artificial intelligence and virtual reality. He also predicted misuse of technology as a means of social control. Paranoid, drug-addled and the unwitting recipient of a series of spiritual experiences, PKD is the patron saint of our time. Remember, it was he who warned us our toasters would be spying on us. If PKD described the black iron prison that keeps us enslaved.  Terence McKenna  sought to teach us how to break out of it. Psychedelics, spirituality, science, any tool that works is to be used. McKenna advocated finding a new operating system to replace the buggy one in use, while reminding us that this is not a dress rehearsal. Life is to be lived, and the fi

I'm spending what little down time I have these days catching up on some reading. Currently I'm revisiting  Joe Bageant , author of "Deerhunting With Jesus" and other fine works. Before JD Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy" sought to explain the Appalachian mindset to a large audience, there was Joe. Born dirt poor in Virginia, Joe became a journalist and editor before finding fame as a progressive commentator, or, in Joe's words, a "redneck socialist." Joe died of cancer in 2011, and I can't help but wonder what he would have to say about the current situation (or the Obama era) if he were with us today. He did have much to say about Bush 43 and the early 2000s, much of which can be found at  Cold Type .

The 21st century has been a wild ride and we're only 19 years into it (or just beginning, according to the theory that places the beginning of a new century roughly 20 years after the turn of the calendar date). Uncertainty is the prevailing mood of our time. Wall Street and the general economy appear to have uncoupled. Those responsible for the economic crash of 2008 have gone unpunished. Military action has spread across the Middle East, while domestic strife is commonplace. How we got here has been recorded in numerous books and documentary films, and a history of the road to 2019 is beyond the scope of this post. Futureproofing will be a series devoted to tips on how to cope with the uncertainty of the present era. These tips will draw on ancient wisdom, new ideas, maybe even a few hunches. The ideas certainly aren't written in stone, nor are they to be considered legal or financial advice - see a carefully vetted professional if needed. It is my hope the Futurep

35 days into the longest-yet government shutdown is US history, it was announced that an agreement has been reached to reopen for three weeks. What happens in three weeks depends on negotiations regarding border security, something Americans are deeply concerned with and hardly effected by. Call me a wonk, but I can't help but think that a nation whose currency is backed only by "full faith and credit of the US government" needs to keep said government open. Much to my surprise, the USD remains strong, but gold price is up (the price of each rises and falls in relation to the other; a strong dollar lowers gold price, gold price increases as the dollar weakens). Crypto? Still limping from the beatdown that was 2018. Remaining hopeful in a time of supreme dysfunction isn't easy, and the temptation to fall into despair is ever present. In times like these, I reach for a book.

The migration of markholder.org to Blogger will begin in the coming days. The absinthe post was a test run and it looks good. I'm undecided how to handle some older posts, as many are well over a decade old. The Futureproofing series is still current and will make the migration and new posts in the series will appear soon after. This is an interesting process from writing HTML code to using WYSIWYG editing; I'm undecided as to which I prefer.