June 7, 2015, Sunday Sunday
We'll start with the immediate solipsism, and note my finish in the Retro Four-Miler in a faster pace than last week, but still... not... fast. Ran the first mile with my friend E., who finished about eight minutes faster than I... all in all, her (10 min. mile) pace picked up after the first mile, and mine slackened. A tough year running-wise... but, now I have my nine, and hence, have automatic guaranteed entry for the 2016 NYC Marathon, and am already entered in the 2015... if I complete both, that will be fifteen in a row, and life-time guaranteed entry... just saying.
It seems, alas, that Vladimir Putin did not have life-time guaranteed entry to the economic summit recently known as the G-8 but now known as the "G-7" (the eighth, Putin's Russia, having been, in a schoolyard style pique, kicked out for not sitting still after the coup we staged in neighboring Ukraine)... and the remaining leaders of "the seven" (US, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Canada and Italy... but not Russia, let alone China) are meeting at a Bavarian resort.
The agenda will include, presumably, more schoolyard pique directed at Russia, possibly a discussion of how well things are going in the Middle East, and maybe some talk about the looming default by Greece, and its possible "bad" implications for the euro, the EU, and what's left of the global economy. Meanwhile, it seems that Russia and China are upping the business they are doing with each other (Russia's largest bank will now price some instruments in Chinese yuan), and the same report notes possible support for Greece from those sources, possibly as part of the not-yet-formed "BRICS" bank (BRICs standing for Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, together representing an immense share of the world's land, people, economic might and resources... and conveniently not invited to the G-7).
Good times. I'm going to do what may prove to be one of the most effective political acts I can think of... I'm going to buy some soil, and then mix it with my backyard compost, and plant some vegetables in the backyard, and then plant some more on my roof, and then water them. Change is going to have to originate "bottom up": Bernie Sanders is a nice thought, but he's not going to be elected, and we can expect business as usual. As business as usual is doomed (see above), insofar as the hierarchical complexity and the insanely high transactional costs (financial, environmental, social, etc.) associated there with are bringing down our system in front of us, the best we can do is generate a little resiliency in our lives, even if only at a small and symbolic level.
Again... just saying...