Monday, October 22, 2007
Richard G. Rieben
Beau Cain, a technical writer and college teacher, author, traveling lecturer and writing consultant, till recently a Director on the Board of the international non-profit organization Society for Technical Communication (STC), now Secretary of the Libertarian Party of California (and national Treasurer of Outright Libertarians) is someone so knowledgeable about language and communication that I cannot remember anyone as much an expert in the field as he so often shows to be. For my website officially called "The Exterritorial Imperative" with its domain name Butterbach.Net he had once coined the name "Christian Butterbach's network." This is a totally appropriate way to call it, all things considered, but it had never occurred to me that way till he spelled it out somewhere on the Web. To me the ".net" previously had had a purely technical meaning, not so much a human one. Which, considering the number of email messages I have to deal with daily, can become somewhat appalling and finally generate the wish that the virtual world of cyber space will become more often replaced and compensated by meetings in flesh (honi soit qui mal y pense). Beau and I did meet in person though, maybe twice, over a period of decades, but that is another story.What's this long introduction good for? Well, maybe to postpone my painful need today to again apologize to my "network" for still not having put online my several times promised more extensive obituary and homage to my magnificent friend and author of this site Richard Rieben, the great philosopher and genius of liberty, which the world, my network, this site and I have so sadly and so prematurely lost. A consolation can only be that what he wrote will continue to live and hopefully improve, if not the world, at least the life of an ever larger number of people. Those who know his work are still too few and among those who have read it, too few have understood it. Most likely because they did not have the wealth of experience Richard had.
Now, Richard's brother William came to my help by sending me the obituary he has written, which was still unpublished. I am very grateful to him for this and you can read this tribute of a brother containing first hand information and wonderful thoughts and advice here:
Richard G. Rieben
Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 08:32 PM GMT+1 [Link]
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Normality is the pathology of everyday life
This is a sentence from the German film "Die Katze wäre eher ein Vogel" ("The Cat would rather be a Bird") shown at the 18th International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival running this week in Hamburg. And as actress Maren Kroymann said at the opening, dogs are only human after all. Which reminds me of tomcat Raffi moving around or sitting peacefully on my small balcony very close to pigeons and other birds, both leaving each other totally undisturbed. Animals and human animals are more often than not, not only different from what they are supposed to be but also said to be. And which of the two has more capacity for empathy, for understanding and learning is not yet finally settled. We the humans shouldn't be too arrogant and snooty. We are not only outnumbered but often outdone...May I have this dance?
(turn your sound up!)
Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 09:55 AM GMT+1 [Link]
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The greatest and longest lasting mutual love in my life
Today it is exactly one year that my mate Raffi passed away. Now I only can caress the Atriplex that grows on his grave and into which his molecules have transformed, offering food for caterpillars that become butterflies flying into the sky in the direction of those distant places where Raffi's soul may be now.
At first, and for a rather long time, the cells of the brain of his dead body continued to send out what science does not know yet and like a ghost he was wandering in our apartment keeping all his cherished routines. This has since faded, maybe because I and my faith have faded. I still hope though that there is some unknown reality where our souls will one day meet again and our unique individualities melt. The memories of our past happiness and mutual understanding are too great to have been in vain. Beyond the necessary changes (panta rhei) and behind them only permanence makes sense and is of final value.
Atriplex is growing on the grave for a reason. He is buried in my little garden where I had sown this French spinach species of the Saltbush, an interesting family of plants including Quinoa and Amaranth, those trendy cereals in health buff circles lately, but also beet and spinach and goosefoot, all of similar reputation, offering edible root vegetables, leaf vegetables and grains. I eat the leaves and grains of this wild plant, raw of course, to sustain the health I need against that warBush.
Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 09:14 AM GMT+1 [Link]
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Moose, anyone?
I love animals, so this site loves them too and has recently become known for showing some striking pictures and related stories. After all, aren't animals, as different as they are, all living on the same territory Earth without a territorial and legal monopoly of one species or a few over all the others, exterritorially, so to speak, in various arrangements which often approach panarchism? I won't elaborate on this now, but tell you a story (with pictures!) that you are not likely to live tomorrow morning, unless you live much farther north than even I do in Hamburg, Germany, and even then this is not very likely to happen often.
Baby Moose 12 Hours Old
The person who took the pictures that were sent to me and which I prefer to place on a separate page (in order not to have to change their size to fit into the blog), writes: "In my 33 years in Alaska I have never seen a new born baby moose. This one was not even a half a mile from our house. The mother picked a small quiet neighborhood and had her baby in the front yard at 5:30 am. Allen and I were out bike riding when we came upon the pair. The lady across the street from this house told us she saw it being born. We saw them at 5:30 pm. So the little one was 12 hours old. What an awesome place we live in to see such a sight." And what a peaceful at that, something not too common these days. Isn't trespassing on somebody's front yard like this better than that trespassing which is going on in the Near East and elsewhere? The moose wasn't looking for oil!...Moose (in North America) or elks (in Europe) are something both continents have in common. Couldn't we also have peace and rebirth of reason in common???!!!
Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 09:58 PM GMT+1 [Link]
Women Over 40
Andy Rooney, according to Wikipedia, is an American radio and television writer who became most famous as a humorist and commentator with his weekly broadcast A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney, a part of the CBS news program 60 Minutes since 1979. Those who, like me, presently do not watch TV at all or do not watch CBS, will have missed the following. They will also have missed it because it is a hoax. The lady, over 80 and a professional college educated journalist before her retirement, who sent me this, did not warn me. What she didn't know is that I have also some college education in journalism (e.g. with Prof. S. Frey, Zurich) and more cunning experience than that. So I checked. But as the text, quite independently of its anonymous author, tells, I think, some truths worth considering, I quote it below. At the very least it is fun:"As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:
A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, "What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think.
If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it's usually more interesting.
Women over 40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it.
Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated.
Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 40...
Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.
Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.
Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress.
Ladies, I apologize. For all those men who say, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?", here's an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage. Why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage!"
Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 07:43 PM GMT+1 [Link]
Pee Test
The following very clear and very well put statement flattered away from I do not know where and landed on my desk:"Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as they see fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test, which I have no problem with. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test.
Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check, because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sit on their ass.
Could you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?
Pass on if you agree"
Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 06:11 PM GMT+1 [Link]
Monday, October 1, 2007
Let's cheer up!
It looks as if I/we had no reason to. I have been cut from cyberspace, which to me means (almost) the world, for several months. A few things nevertheless reached my cave. Two major libertarian columnists, incidentally two of my personal favourite ones, one even an author of this site, announced (Fred Reed on September 28, Jonathan David Morris a month earlier) their discontinuing of their column, use the words hiatus and sabbatical, but leave it entirely open whether it will one day be resumed or not. I don't know, but I guess, I haven't checked, that there have been other similar incidents in the libertarian movement during my own involuntary "sabbatical." I also learned that libertarian attendance at this year's (maybe too) many conferences was mostly extremely low, in some cases broke negative records, bringing some of the best into financial trouble.So our so necessary and so dedicated and self-sacrificing business is in the doldrums... Add to this that governments all over the world grow like overfed babies, sucking our tits to make it look natural, giving back only the diluted artificial and unhealthy bottled milk of inflation. They'll soon lead us to bankruptcy, when, fed on that carbon dioxide myth of their own making, they'll be blown up like balloons and explode in our faces.
I drew the attention of a few friends to this picture looking like despair. Here is what John Zube had to say about it:
"Dear Christian,
It was always easy to be a pessimist - a glance at the news in mass media is enough.
One has to work hard and intelligently at becoming and remaining an optimist, i.e. seeing and using the remaining chances and their potential.
Most people were not even aware that they are serving life-time prison sentences as innocent people in nation-wide gaols. So they did not consider escaping them.
The positive signs of the times need frequent assembling and publication, particularly for freedom lovers, just as cheer leaders are needed in public ball games.
PIOT, John."
So, let's be cheer leaders!*
*Will have to think of shaving my legs first... ;-)Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 09:04 AM GMT+1 [Link]
