Here's Your Ticket, Pack Your Bags...

Time for jumping overboard... as David Byrne sings in Burning Down the House.  I saw him last Summer in Seattle, and anyone can play his songs... he had a street performer marching band from San Francisco back him up on the same tune in Seattle.  What I also like is he started his concert saying "Any recording of this concert is strictly forbidden, please only put flattering images of me up on the web."  Very funny libertarian.  Byrne's lyrics are text collages, and his music is compelling.  he too seems to pick up on the zeitgeist.  So what does this have to do with time for jumping overboard?

May I recommend some history reading, about what it is like when things that cannot go on, stop going on?  The first is the Forsaken Army, and English translation of a book by Heinrich Gerlach, a Wehrmacht soldier who made it out of Stalingrad.   How do people behave when it gets really, really bad?

The next is the Twelve Caesars, but Michael Grant.  OK, so Suetonius covered this topic, but Grant, a Numismatist, has something unique to offer... emperors put epigrams on their coins, which expressed clearly exactly what the emperor wanted to say.  It is amazing how such a narrow field can offer so much to history in general.

Josephus saw which way the wind was blowing and went to work for the Romans as they destroyed Jerusalem.  His Jewish Wars should be essential reading as part of the library of anyone interested in history, especially when it is time for jumping overboard.  With these witnesses, you are better able to assess for yourself what is going on today.

Remember, we are witnessing the end of only a system, not the system.  If we like, w can come up with one that works, is sustainable.  In the meantime, keep your eye on what matters, a loaf of bread, a jug of wine, a little salami, cheese...good friends...  like these two friends...

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