The Universe Is Just a Big Bubble

I am still angry that I received a “C-" in Astrophysics 300. But, I got an “A” on my oral presentation: “Fast Velocity Clouds and the Magellanic Stream.” After 20 years, I still think that was an unfair grade … oh well.

However, as my friend, who is now an Assistant Attorney General of Maine, says: “Grades don’t matter. It matters what you learn.”

So, therefore:

The universe is just a big bubble with galaxy clusters moving in concert with the force of gravity keeping clusters in place with one another (in tandem with the grand breadth of space between each cluster like Christmas ornaments on a tree – hanging).

If one had the ability to travel from one spot in the universe and move in one direction perpetually, then this individual would end up in the same spot eventually. This means that space is really curved. But, that’s obvious, right?

On Lawrence and Pum

Ten years ago, Lawrence, “my little brother,” and I used to play chicken with the cars on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, DC during rush hour. Imagine zigzagging through moving traffic with three lanes in each direction. One mistake and one knows the outcome.

One evening, Lawrence chased a bicycle thief down Connecticut Avenue after we exited Four Provinces in Cleveland Park. He ran so fast and almost caught the bandit who furiously rode away on the stolen merchandise.

However, emotional strength – not physical strength – is what propels the athlete, the artist, the musician, or the scientist for that matter.

After an ice storm during the winter of 1998, at 8:30 PM, I ran sprints on my favorite field adjacent to Howard Law School. The night sky was black without stars, and I ran for 45 minutes after the ice had coagulated on the grass. I’m sure if anyone had seen me slip on a concrete walkway en route to the field, they would surely think me crazy especially when I laughed after falling on my back. But, the experience was cathartic. In fact, when I stop smoking, I’ll do it again.

Lawrence and I used to silently sit for hours at a time. Then, one of us turned to the other to share a thought or conclusion. There may have been an exchange of two-to-four sentences at times. Lawrence said often: “I’m writing a book in my head. Everyone has a valid perspective, and every perspective should be regarded.” As a result, I've become a collector of perspectives, which means that you have to talk to a lot of people openly and honestly.

For the Knights at HippoParamus’ Round Table

I’ve been working all my life; I had a newspaper route when I was 14 (my mother, a doctor, was making 250K during the early 80’s at that time). But, my father taught me the value of honest, hard work.

A toast to my friends:

1. Rid clutter – superfluous material items clutter the mind and prevent effectiveness. Some people, like my Mom, just pile things upon things and papers upon papers without ever remembering what items are at the bottom or even the middle of the pile.

2. In sight, in mind. Therefore, lay out the most vital, prioritized items in line-of-sight (LOS) just as a butler lines up his master’s clothing and items in view. Again: in sight, in mind. When one sees items and lists of responsibility, one remembers - real power is power over one's weaknesses.

3. Make lists constantly and check off things upon completion.

4. Prioritize and perform the most vital, check-listed items first.

5. Constantly reorganize, reassess, and reassemble oneself.

[Aside: Intention is only 1/10th of the game; execution is everything else (9/10ths).]

Team HippoParamus: Pum’s Declaration

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil [or the un-fulfillment of undiluted vision] is that good men [and women] do nothing.” – Edmond Burke

This essay is the basis for my new company, Team HippoParamus. I basically rewrote the Declaration of Independence to be the ethos of my company – but it’s not about a single individual but rather the TEAM.

I underscore here that this light-hearted piece reflects a deep respect for one of our greatest of Presidents, Thomas Jefferson, who firmly believed that the free transfer of knowledge and real art is the greatest asset of every society. By my blithe borrowing and respectful attribution, I hope you recount what a wonderful man helped build our democratic foundation. Incidentally, he tried to abolish slavery in the original draft of the Declaration of Independence but was thwarted by his colleagues – some of the founding fathers.

Because everyone now holds the copyright to the “Declaration,” we have full right to mimic his words. We have always owned the privilege to preserve, protect, and parrot his ethos.

Declaration of Responsibility

Preamble

Why not use our God-given talents to produce bounty? To fulfill a child’s dream and create lifelong reminiscences of the most innocent memories can be our gainful ultimate legitimacy. We hold these truths to be self-evident that our country is the source of our souls and triumph.

A Declaration of Privileges

That to perfect these dreams, virtuous foundations and organizations are created by magnanimous individuals, orchestrating generous acts for the joy of the greater good. That whenever any Form of scarcity becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to abolish this vacuum, institute a constructive body, laying its charity on such principles and molding its potential in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect Safety and Happiness for our breathtaking.

Generosity, indeed, will dictate that organizations firmly established on these standards shall never be corrupted by less than wholesome causes; and, accordingly, all experience has shown, that we are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long, model train of shortage, pursuing a different object verifies a reality that smashes dreams because of relative scarcity, it is our duty, to seal this abyss, and provide new Guards for our posterity’s present happiness and future security.

A Measure of Inadequacy

Such has been the patient suffering of many who are lacking; and such is now the necessity that persuades us to institute a policy of hope for bounty for all. The history of our country contains the truth of unfulfilled needs and insecurity for many deserving, hard-working people. The proof is our collective experience that speaks to a potentially candid world.

A Statement of Accountability

In every stage of experience, we have petitioned for redress in humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been unanswered by our own inability to perhaps notice and act. Non-action has spanked our dreams into bitter unfulfillment and is an unfit course for good men and women.

On My Favorite CEO

He was the nicest of men; but, unfortunately, Walt Disney cryogenically froze himself.

Well? What should we do?

Scenarios:

1) Walt's soul has escaped from his body. He could be unfrozen from his cryogenic state. But, the problem is that the body without a soul becomes a Frankenstein (i.e., Mary Shelly).

2) We could unfreeze him, and his soul might then escape from this cryogenic state to a better place.

3) His soul is indeed frozen within his body; therefore, if we unfreeze him, we’ll bring his soul and body back to earth.

I don’t want to create a Frankenstein, but then again, I don’t want Walt's soul to be blocked from infinite development.

Yours,

Pum

P.S. - Don't you think that a $146 million Golden Parachute for a recent Disney CEO who miserably failed during his first year at the helm is ridiculous? What about fiduciary responsibility to stockholders? I guess that notion went out the window. The problem is that the "corporate veil" has become an iron mask of deceit for many executives. Sorrowful; simply and despicably sad. : (

On Some Artifacts

Artifacts are just artifacts: emblems of the human spirit ignited by the GRAND SPIRIT.

Now, I believe in the human spirit more than anything else. When is an artifact more important than the human spirit? NEVER: Sirs and Madams.

We don’t have enough time to search for material items. At least, I don’t have time to do that. In no particular order:

1) The Spear of Longinus is in Vienna, Austria.

2) The Ark of the Covenant is in Axum, Ethiopia.

3) The Bhudda’s Tooth is in China.

Enough, for now.

Things are not important: people are.

Yours,

Pum

Legal Losers – How Corporate Law Really Works

As a summer associate in 1997, the partners at a “large” law firm in D.C. helped derail my law career. When I became so disenchanted with their modus operandi, I chose to JET from the profession (which was my mistake, unfortunately – I admit it wholeheartedly now).

[Aside: I should have worked for the Justice Department – whose attorneys are thrown into court right away; know the rules of Civil Procedure and Evidence inside and out; and are not afraid to enter a courtroom to support their clients with the right cause (as Radar said to Hawkeye: “Ah, Bach!" Alas!).]

Simply and frankly stated: large law firms use their law associates and partners to assault the courts with bogus, frivolous motions to simultaneously draw the resources of their opponents’ monetary supplies while billing, billing, and milking their own clients’ coffers - thereby clogging the court systems.

They are afraid to go to court because they don’t know the Rules of Civil Procedure and Evidence, and because they try to bill hours before each darn case ever gets into Discovery.

I complained to two firm partners that a client docket in Pre-discovery Phase contained six (2-inch) binders. They looked at me like I was a stupid idiot, then peered at my legs (that’s why I don’t wear dresses or skirts anymore); and thereafter ordered salmon and salads at Jaleo’s Restaurant on 7th Street near the Navy Memorial in D.C..

At a firm shindig at a partner’s home in Potomac, Maryland, I turned to the firm’s hiring partner and off-handedly remarked: “This is a nice house.” The hiring partner knew I had thrown in the towel with that stupid law firm. He directly looked into my eyes and with the swiftness and arrogance of a dying dragon’s breath declared: “This is an average house of an average young partner at [the name of the stupid firm]."

I wasn’t impressed. Simply put: I grew up in a much more beautiful house on Château Drive and another one on Piney Meetinghouse Court just down the road from this average young partner’s home in Potomac.

No matter: “the size of the house does not matter – what matters is who lives there.”