OVER the years, I've come to know various governments like people, some friendly, some not so; some balanced, some not so; some greedy; some not so. Reflecting on our United States of America, I would have to characterize us as prickly, individualistic, not so balanced, and, with money seeming to be the new god and business the new religion, greedy without limit. But it's more than just that. It's easy to say that money and business under our capitalistic (ever increasing profit) approach res...

Continue reading ...

SUBSCRIPTIONS are clearly the way the business of humanities is going. I say business, because thus far business has penetrated almost every aspect of our lives. I recall watching business invade medicine when I was in practice, attempting to turn my love of helping others to love of money. Later, I watched the same happen in education, culminating in the private “for profit” colleges and universities, where the love of truth, knowledge and wisdom languished secondary to love of money. I ...

Continue reading ...

AI — Artificial Intelligence — https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/08/business/nightcap-chatgpt-microsoft-google/index.html — has progressed beyond Tweeting, blogging, answering phones and writing essays. Now it can make up a story to answer any question. Write a senator. Lobby. Write a novel. Spread misinformation, unintentionally or not. We’ve given the car keys to AIs. The only thing we haven’t given them is a sense of what good there is in humanity. We’ve created the ultimate sociopat...

Continue reading ...

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls” – Thomas Paine. Divisiveness seems everywhere, encroaching everything everywhere, and with it a kind of intolerance and negativism. It’s always been easier to berate, criticize and destroy than to support, solve. create and build, or at least so it seems to me. Little is accomplished by divisiveness and its ultimate expression in destruction and death individually, through mass shootings or nationalistic war. On the other hand, discriminati...

Continue reading ...

COUNTERPOINT to yesterday’s post entitled, “How Much Do I Deserve,” I though today’s post should be on what we don’t deserve. What we don’t deserve is what much of today’s world is desperately trying to serve everyone: Pre-COVID crowds and World War III. It all gets down to those two great illusions for which everyone is supposed to be competing: money and power. With the general acceptance of this long established, constantly resurfacing axiom, comes the increasingly inhumanity...

Continue reading ...

THAT pivotal question comes in many forms throughout one’s life, like, “Why should I vote for so-and-so?” or “What starting pay do you want?” or “Should I join the military?” or “Is this a good person to date?” or “Isn’t it okay to simply pay myself more?” or “Should I accept the bribe?” It all gets down to how much one believes he or she deserves. Unfortunately, while a specific answer isn’t always simple. the general one, in my opinion, fortunately is, which re...

Continue reading ...

SEVERAL have attempted to engage me in debate over the nature and effect(s) of the global wave of protests that seem to be attacking the heart of governance using chaos as it’s modus operandi. I say shades of Trotsky! This approach is neither new nor particularly effective, especially as it typically offers “down with the establishment” but nothing of value with which to replace other than money and/or power for the few: A story as old as humans attempting to govern — to control other...

Continue reading ...

THINKING about the idea of the all-inclusive, unified-field-theory multiverse? While we, as humans, continue trying to understand the nature of nature, how about the all-inclusive, unified-“money-and-power”-theory business-verse. It’s difficult enough to understand the nature of business, a totally human creation, rapidly becoming a force demanding to be reckoned with.

In the multiverse, the idea is that multiple universes exist and quite possibly sometimes even intersect briefly. Mayb...

Continue reading ...

“HURRY up and wait,” seems to be the new colloquialism of the 2022’s. There’s so much that needs to be done, but seemingly little desire to personally take part. Call it the post-sueism era, where one can find more legal reasons for not doing anything than doing something, no matter how small. Or, call it simple nihilism, where anything good that can be done can also be undone or reoriented to the dark side. Or, being simply overwhelmed and not knowing where to start. Then again, ther...

Continue reading ...

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I’m pressed to remember all the things for which I should be thankful. And there are many.

First, I am alive. While perhaps insignificant in a planetary or galactic sense, it’s quite something for which to be thankful in a personal sense. I’ve often wondered what not being alive would be like, and at least in one key sense, I suspect it would mean no more sensory delights or adventures. Then again, if passing is really just that, perhaps there ...

Continue reading ...

AUTHORS like me, Daniel Janik (aka Raymond Gaynor/Gary Martine), used to call them our “readers” in a respectful voice. ACTORS like me, Daniel S. Janik, used to call them our “fans,” treating every fan like royalty with appreciation. POLITICIANS, BUSINESSPERSONS, ADVERTISERS and INFLUENCERS typically call them or at least regard them as minions, with a decidedly derogatory tone, and, unfortunately, that attitude is spreading from business to everything business touches these days. In ...

Continue reading ...

WITH all the hype these days about recession/no recession, I’m going to take the long view and say that this may rather be the long needed relaxation — a deep, deep breath — after the Hyper-Velocity-Business years championed by former President Donald Trump. Personally, I feel it’s time to take a breath and be human, letting go of the frenetic chase for money and power.

It’s important in this decade of immense change to remember that we are meant to steward and enjoy the blessings ...

Continue reading ...

OVER the years, I’ve seen the best of ideas succeed and fail, and what I’ve learned is not only is the devil in the details, but the greatest successes doesn’t necessary follow the money.

The “devil in the details” is often more about one’s dedication and devotion to a particular effort. It’s dedication, devotion and focus that often elevates a minor project to a major success.

“Not necessarily following the money,” is another way of thinking and working “out-of-the-box....

Continue reading ...

SO much hype these days about new opportunities to “make money fast” — I call persons who heed and act on this type of call “Fast Eddies” — when, in fact, the only institution that really “makes money” is a mint, and nowadays, only representations of money, being illusions representing the great illusion, money. It isn’t altogether inappropriate to try to “make money,” though counterfeiting is indeed a federal crime — a no-no in the all to human game of money, which, w...

Continue reading ...

I’VE posted numerous times about my opinion regarding money and power, both human-created illusions that it’s possible have brought more misery to humanity, the biosphere and planet than any other individual factors, existing as I believe they do, beneath the fabled four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. My point, however is that they are not the only greatest illusions but they are human-made.

To these two, I am rapidly approaching the point where I will have to add a third: Time. H.G. Wells ...

Continue reading ...

GIVE a person a pen and a new author emerges. But give a person a gun or a nation the weapons of war, and what does one do with it? Safekeep it. Then, after a time, practice with it. Once trained, deploy it. When the opportunity presents, use it. One of the most dangerous aspects of weaponizing is the compelling pull to use it for what it was created. To kill. Whether an animal, human, or simply by virtue of purchasing such a weapon and its required means of killing (e.g. expendable bullets, ...

Continue reading ...

TODAY is the fourth of July, the day we celebrate America’s Independence. I like to think of it as the day the nation celebrates my birthday with parties, grills and fireworks, a little myth inculcated by my mother alongside Santa and the Great Pumpkin. Admittedly, letting go of the fourth being a celebration of my coming-into-the-world was the hardest of which to let go. Sigh. Still, when I watch the fireworks tonight, I’ll be happily co-celebrating my own birth.

What most American’s ...

Continue reading ...

HAVING posted yesterday on the “solution” to a cupboard-“bare” market, in the process suggesting that the “market” and by extension, our economy (at least from a “market” perspective) is run by gamblers, I’ve come to wonder who’s in charge of it all: the economy, government, the world? Or is there no one at all sitting in the drivers seat?

I’ve always held that the key to anything human, is balance and qualified cooperation. The framers of our Constitution called it “...

Continue reading ...

THIS past month, the biggest issue for me as a “fixed income consumer,” has been inflation and mal-distribution. In today’s news there was a suggestion that the “solution” is to invest more in the stock market. Personally, I’m not inclined to such. Let me explain:

The “market” (meaning “Stock Market”), in my opinion, is becoming frenzied and chaotic, having enjoyed and recently exited an unparalleled Bull market, now entering “Bear” market territory, a cutesy way of s...

Continue reading ...

I’M increasingly confronted these days with the presented need to either “believe/accept” or “not believe/reject” things (and, of course, to “show” my commitment by committing money). As a university-trained individual, I “know” that the “either-or” scenario is one of many Logical Fallacies. Still, I’m human and sometimes catch myself falling for this all-too-easy fallacy. It’s so much easier when things are black and white, rather than all shades of color including ...

Continue reading ...

I’VE had the unique experience of watching America transform from a nation of creative manufacturers and traders into a nation ruled almost entirely by business — an industry that neither creates nor produces, bent almost wholly on “making money” typically through management. I watched with horror the businessification, sometimes commercialization, of health care, then food production, then technology, then education, then transportation, now politics. What’s left from which to “t...

Continue reading ...

MEANING, “Thank God it’s Friday,” right? Well, it IS Friday, and I for one am plenty thankful for the start of another weekend, BUT, what I meant was “Thank God(dess) it’s functioning,” whether referring to one’s body (and it’s various parts), our home appliances, the internet, our government (though many would question this), the police or the United Nations. With the slow but significant exit of baby-boomers and the rise of Generation Whatever, I’m reminded of WILLIAM MALT...

Continue reading ...

GAMBLING – GAMING – WAGERING – PUNTING – SPECULATION – TAKING A CHANCE ON LADY LUCK. Gambling is as old as mortality, which is pretty old, don’t you know? We gamble every day, every hour, every minute, sometimes every second with our lives. No wonder that gambling in that first virtual world of money is so tempting. Win and you get more; lose and all you lose is money. And when that get’s boring, gambling in that second virtual world of power is even more tempting, lying between...

Continue reading ...

ONE of my most memorable scenes from the movies is Largo and James Bond playing “The Domination Game” from “Never Say Never Again” (1983), though, watching the news, it could have just as well been 2022 — https://youtu.be/wUT5CpgYXMM?t=24. On the other hand, in all fairness, one should look at the situation from the opposite perspective — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jj-PaqFrBc and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2Vuib3G7FM — including ongoing peace negotiations — https:/...

Continue reading ...

FIRST, it’s important to establish a few assumptions. Number one: The world isn’t necessarily fair. “Shit happens.” Number Two: This is especially the case when money and power are regarded as sin qua non. Thirdly: Humans are all basically the same in terms of impulsivity, intent, actions and responsibility. Finally: All actions are the inevitable result of outside causes-and-effects (“I had no choice”), though in the epitome of this style of thinking — violation, war and “no-...

Continue reading ...

PEOPLE are often generous in advice as to how to “get the most out of life,” humans being mortal and life being finite. But what is it that one should “get the most of” while alive? People who’ve lived in poverty would likely tend to say, “Money!” People whose lives have been determined by overwhelming events, like war survivors, would likely tend to say, “Power!” People who’ve lived their lives and never respected themselves or felt self-satisfaction, would likely say “...

Continue reading ...

THERE seem to me to be two fundamental currencies in human life: (1) love (think co-operation); and (2) money/power (think competition). These two currencies “empower” or “power” our lives respectively. They are often embedded within contemporary female/maternal (creation/agrarian/nurturing) and male/paternal (destroying/hunting/survival-of-the-fittest) archetypes, and played out together in literature and cinema, with one or the other eventually “winning.” In fact, neither alone ...

Continue reading ...

I generally avoid making predictions outside my soon to be completed work, “Prophecy,” the sequel to THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor — https://savant-bookstore-honolulu.square.site/product/the-edge-of-madness/136; however, given it’s still early January, I do feel compelled to comment on upcoming 2022. Last year saw the resurrection and meteoric rise of an old anti-ethic, namely the “normalization” of misinformation, be it in government, business or society. Bo...

Continue reading ...

IF there’s one thing that’s totally unscientific, it’s human behavior. Especially “leadership” behavior. I’ve seen and experienced it first hand “on the set” (see https://www.netflix.com/title/80990849 and you’ll wonder how ANY movie of value could have been made) and watched in awe and horror during the thirteen days of the Cuban Missile Crisis (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yfIoHXOO9E). So, what’s new with President Putin and the manufactured Ukraine Crises. Nothing. ...

Continue reading ...

OR should that read “Common Cents?” Certainly in today’s world money and power always “Trump” sense. But what I’m cogitating on is the first word, “common.” To me, common implies commonality, something we share with each other as humans, with animals as fellow animals, plants as, well, living things just living a bit slower, sometimes longer but certainly different from ourselves. I don’t think there’s much “common” sense left these days, replaced instead by “uncommo...

Continue reading ...

AS a professional author, I must admit that I look forward to those end-of-the-year royalties many of my publishers pay. However, this year — the second year of the Global COVID Plague — based on quarterly sales reports I’m seeing, I’m anticipating a number of those “your royalty for this year was less than $50 so we won’t issue a check” notices. Okay, so sales of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos, 2020) by Raymond Gaynor (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859), especially audiobook sa...

Continue reading ...

Now there's a question worthy of asking. It's not hard to agree that education today is "in trouble." But how could one begin to "fix" it?

Well, I hate to have to suggest it, but "Read my book!" -- UNLOCK THE GENIUS WITHIN (Rowman and Littlefield Education 2015). It's not about more money, or better equipment, or harder tests. It's about critically examining the very foundations of education today. For example, distance learning was always a sign of a second class college or university, or wor...
Continue reading ...

As a "modern" educator, I feel compelled to remind myself that education is more than business and "making money." It's the foundation of democracy. 

Ever since business pushed its way to the forefront of post secondary education, with its emphasis on publicity (modern translation = unlimited gossip/name-calling/misrepresentation/creating chaos), advertising (modern translation = saturation misrepresentation), profit (actually increasing profit), money over service and humanity, control over f...
Continue reading ...

I don't typically comment on politics, but as a retired academic, I've watched with appall the governance of our great nation under Mr. Donald Trump, a businessman extraordinaire (though not necessarily in the positive sense). I've watched our nation become a corporation, with a single dominant, overbearing CEO focused on one main area: money. I say money, rather than economy, which is an entirely different governmental topic. 

I was, at first, primarily surprised, when I learned that Mr. Trum...
Continue reading ...

It's Christmas Day, and, irrespective of one's religion, it is, in many ways, the ultimate humanity day. True, it's constantly being assaulted by individual religions vying for supremacy, businesses vying for participant's money, and hackers attempting to steal identities and information, but over the centuries, it has remained the epitome of humanism. It remains a day of reflection on all that makes us human. 


Religions are social clubs consisting of humans garnering others to share in and va...
Continue reading ...

I'm often asked where in the great scheme of things educational I think our current American system of education falls.  On the surface it seems like an easy question that begs a simple "rank" answer.  Think about it awhile, however, and both the question and any answer that might result become complexly rank.  As an academician, I value clearity, completeness and conciseness, in that order, so, I have decided to take on this "simple" question as the topic of today's entry. 

Hold your nose!  ...
Continue reading ...