no title

abstractions, even abstractors, don't, strictly, exist: abstracting occurs, that's it

Wager

Thirty six million people die each year of privation. More than one per second. Victims are disproportionately African children under six.

I'm not much of a gambler. I can't remember whether a straight beats a flush. Still, I'll bet dollars against dimes that child mortality in Africa, due to malnourishment and other easily preventable causes, could be eradicated within a year for only a fraction of what socially conscientious middle class Americans (easily among the most materially privileged people in world history) will spend, in the same span, on entertaining themselves. No legislation whatsoever required, just a twitch of collective will.

Takers?

OVERTURE

Before I die, I want to visit Angkor Watt, the Pyramid of Cheops, the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum, Machu Picchu, the Parthenon, Stonehenge, and Great Zimbabwe, and in their presence contemplate the distant future.