Mykel Off His Meds or Mykel's December 2023 Blog/Column

 

You’re STILL Wrong

or

Mykel's December 2023 Blog/Column 

Off My Meds    

by Mykel Board

INTRO: I used to think it was evil... the end of humans who can feel joy, pain, itch and scratch… know what it’s like to piss in their pants. Evil! Without feelings, without awareness… Now, I’m in love. I’m talking about Artificial Intelligence. I’m talking about the ability to just ask a question about some obscurity and get an answer in plain English… not a link to something with MAYBE a partial answer and a lot of advertising.

I can ask, What is a common first name that can be used for men and women?

And my AI program will answer: A common first name that can be used for both men and women is "Alex". It is a unisex name that can be short for both "Alexander" and "Alexandra".

It’s not my favorite answer (I like LESLIE), but it works. It’s fast and without bullshit. I’m going to use Leslie in this blog, now that I’ve introduced you to THEM.

PART ONE: I want to tear my skin off. I want to dig my fingernails into my wrist, my neck, my leg… grab the skin, rip up... off… down to the muscle. Just rip away the itch, the bites, the creeping knowledge… like Freddy Kruger victims… that if I go to sleep, I will suffer horrors.

Doctor’s on vacation. The nurse-practitioner says it’s spider bites, not bed bugs… prescribes ointment, Zyrtec. Nothing works… I spray the bed with poison: DEET, OFF, Bed-bug killer. Nothing works. The fumes give me a chronic cough and make my eyes itch.

If I tell the landlord, there’ll be worse horrors. Send in the bug sniffing dogs. Pack up everything in the apartment. Throw away books. Leave for 2 days while the exterminators go through my piggy bank to see what they can get away with. And worse, I’ll be blamed for it. Allowing my homeless pal to sleep on the couch… my nephew… visitors from Japan. I pay $870 rent… you don’t think they’re looking for a way to kick me out?

I guess I could call an exterminator myself… not tell the landlord. Leslie says: Individuals can expect to pay between $300 and $5,000 for bed bug extermination, with an average cost of $1,750. Sure, what’s an extra couple thousand bucks on my $400-a-month teacher’s pay?

Ok, I’ll itch. My homeless pal… my guests… my nephew… Sid Yiddish... will suffer the scabs. The only alternative is to tear off my skin.

PART TWO: Me in 1933: Did you know that the government is infecting Negroes with syphilis so they can see what happens to ordinary people?

Literary Device 1933: Mykel, you’re such a paranoid pawn. So American paranoid. You know in 20 years all the conspiracies will be communist? In 90 years, all the conspiracies will be alt right. You’re just the beginning. Anything you don’t like will be a conspiracy. To quote you, You’re Wrong!

FLASH TO NOW: the syphilis experiments WERE a conspiracy. A real thing. An evil conspiracy, conducted by the US government (Public Health Service) from 1932 to 1972. Leslie tells me The experiments were carried out on a group of African American men in Tuskegee, Alabama, who were purposely infected with syphilis. The goal of the study was to observe the natural progression of the disease when left untreated. The participants were not informed of their diagnosis and were denied proper treatment, even after penicillin became widely available as a cure for syphilis. Don’t you see you fuckin’ Literary Device? Conspiracies are real!

“But Mykel,” is the Device comeback, “because something is true, doesn’t mean EVERYTHING is true. In the 50s it was communism. In this century it’s TERRORISTS. Sure there may be conspiracies, but not everything is a conspiracy.”

For once, old Literary Device is right… well, partially right anyway. Right now, it’s true that anyone who finds a group of people they don’t like call that group’s actions A CONSPIRACY. Try to steal the last election? It’s a conspiracy of Trump supporters or Biden supporters… take your pick. Black Lives Matter? A conspiracy of Anti-Fa. COVID? A conspiracy of vaccine manufacturers.

A friend of mine told me that the 5G network antennas can cause cancer or some brain dysfunction. “It’s a conspiracy,” I reply. “I’ve heard.”

“No conspiracy,” she says. “Was it a conspiracy to say smoking causes cancer? It just happens… side effect –not conspiracy.”

I feel like shit for jumping on the bandwagon. SOME conspiracies are real. The Alabama experiment WAS a conspiracy. There have been secret plots to kill Castro… REAL conspiracy. I can’t be sure, but I’d guess most conspiracies AREN’T. They’re just similar people benefiting from the same action.

I’ve written before about how recycling encourages consumption. “You bought 40 individual bottles of water? Don’t you think that’s wasteful?”

“Wasteful? No! I recycle those bottles.”

Leslie says that only 9% of plastic is actually recycled. The rest goes into landfill… or bird-choking in the Atlantic/Pacific. I can tell you that ZERO percent of plastic NOT bought in the first place ends up around a seagull’s neck.

I’ve written about the recycling hoax before. But wait! There’s more!

EVERYTHING you do is used against you. I just got these two question on a recent survey. What are they trying to sell. A wind-powered router maybe?

Awww come on! But wait! There’s EVEN more!

FLASH TO THE PSYCH WARD: “Good morning Mr. Santos. It’s time for your medication. How’re you feeling today?”

“I dunno… I feel on the edge… not quite ready to make stuff up, but too tired to... you know… get out of bed.”

“Aww poor baby!” says the nurse. “Don’t worry Georgie. Allison is here. Take your lithie, bubeleh, and you can get right back to those big bad halls of congress.”

Yeah, I’m talking lithium. When I was running around breaking windows and sleeping 12 hours a day, lithium is what was in the bathroom bottle that I never used. Anyone who was off their meds was off their lithium.

Today, lithium is in everything. Teslas, that computer or cellphone you’re using to read this right now, e-bikes, where it explodes and has burned to death over 100 people in New York alone. There’s no end to lithium. It’s what powers the tree huggers.

Sure, use electric vehicles and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. You’re helping the earth. Where do you think lithium comes from? A touch from God to say thank you for saving the environment? Think again! (As if you thought in the first place.)

Leslie tells me that lithium comes from the same place OIL comes from. It’s dug up and spurted out. Lithium, like oil, is earth’s ejaculation… but without the balls to replenish it. “Brine extraction,” says Leslie, “is the most common method for obtaining lithium. It involves pumping brine from underground reservoirs known as salars or salt flats. The brine is then pumped into large evaporation ponds, where it is exposed to the sun and wind. Over time, the water evaporates, leaving behind concentrated lithium salts. The concentrated lithium salts are further processed using (deadly) chemicals.

Oh yeah, there is one other way to get lithium. NOT the same as oil, but the same as coal. Yeah, you plastic saver, lithium is MINED. The ore is dug up in mines, crushed and then undergoes a series of nasty chemical processes to separate the lithium from other minerals. One common method is called "concentrate roasting," where the ore is heated to high temperatures to convert lithium minerals into a more soluble form. The soluble lithium compounds are then leached out using other nasty chemicals. Don’t believe me? Ask Leslie!

And then what? After the lithium is made into batteries, those batteries have to be charged. Using electricity from where? Does your Tesla plug into its charger and use the power you supply by spinning the stationary bike parked next to the machine? How many humans’ skin melted away from cars alone? Leslie seems reticent to make a guess:

My knowledge only extends up to January 2022. As of that time, there have been instances of lithium-ion battery fires in electric vehicles, but the exact number can vary, and new incidents may have occurred since then. It's important to note that while lithium-ion batteries are generally considered safe, incidents can happen due to various factors such as manufacturing defects, damage to the battery, or external factors like accidents.

I can see the wealthier of you puffing out your chests. “Hah! I use solar power to power my electric charger. Take that Mykel Board contrarian.”

Yo! Mister environmentalist. What do you think is the main source of power in solar energy batteries? It’s LITHIUM! The same welled and mined chemical that’s dug up to put in your car battery.

Get it? It’s all a trick… a con… Your $200,000 Tesla, your solar roof, your recycling does nothing but encourage consumption. Your e-bike, your e-car, your solar-powered house. It’s marketing… the “e-” is no more “environmental” than the “X-” in X-ray is Twitter.

Lithium mining may not yet surpass the damage that coal mining and oil-drilling is now causing… but it will. And the Radical Chic, shown off by Tesla parading Steven King or Bill Gates is just so much free advertising for Elon Musk.

Environmentalism is a way for rich people to become richer. It’s a way to encourage people to consume more—guilt free. Spend more money! It’s good for the earth, they tell you. No, it’s not a conspiracy, unless capitalism is a conspiracy. Come to think of it…

See you in hell

Mykel Board

ENDNOTES: [You can contact me on facebook or by email at mykelboard@gmail.com. Through the post office: send those... er... private DVDs..or music or zines... or anything else (legal only!) to: Mykel Board, POB 137, New York, NY 10012-0003. If you like my writing, you can be notified when anything new is available. Send me an email with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Back blogs and columns are at https://mykelsblog.blogspot.com]

→ The Arab News reports that Islamic pilgrimages to Mecca now “resemble a trip to Disneyland.” The area has been overcome with “selfie fever”… the pilgrims bragging more than praying. Worse, “Mecca is often experienced more as a tour package centered around shopping malls rather than religious structures.” Capitalism can eat anything and spit it out any way you want it. Allah will not protect you.

→ The Japan Times has a fun story about Tosatsu, a Japanese shoe company. It seems they were making special shoes that included an upskirt camera in them. The wearer could use a toe to turn the camera on and off as the occasion calls for. Local cops got wind of the invention and were soon sifting through the company’s books to find, one-by-one, purchasers of the shoes. The charge: Aiding Voyeurism I wonder if binocular companies will be next.

→ On a more serious note: Bernie Sanders continues to show his sharp outlook and what SHOULD be called “political correctness” because it’s about politics, and it’s correct:

The horrific war in the mid-east continues. Here is a statement I released yesterday with my thoughts about a constructive path forward.

Gaza is a humanitarian disaster. No more aid to Israel without strong conditions.

Hamas is a corrupt terrorist organization which began this war by slaughtering 1,200 innocent Israeli men, women and children and taking over 200 hostages. Hamas has made clear, before and after October 7, that its goal is to destroy Israel. Under those circumstances, Israel absolutely has the right to defend itself.

While Israel has the right to go after Hamas, Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist government does not have the right to wage almost total warfare against the Palestinian people. That is morally unacceptable and in violation of international law. Displacing 1.6 million people from their homes, cutting off food, water, medical supplies, and fuel, and killing some 12,000 Palestinians - nearly half of whom are children - is in violation of every code of human decency. It must stop.

The U.S. provides $3.8 billion a year in aid to Israel and the Biden administration wants $14 billion more. The Netanyahu government, or hopefully a new Israeli government, must understand that not one penny will be coming to Israel from the U.S. unless there is a fundamental change in their military and political positions. Among other conditions that must be imposed upon any aid to Israel are:

* an end to the indiscriminate bombing which has taken thousands of civilian lives and a significant pause in military operations so that massive humanitarian assistance can come into the region;

* the right of displaced Gazans to return to their homes;

* no long-term Israeli re-occupation or blockade of Gaza;

* an end to settler violence in the West Bank and a freeze on settlement expansion;

* a commitment to broad peace talks for a two-state solution in the wake of the war.

Thank you for reading

In solidarity, Bernie Sanders

→ Bonus:

LINK TRADE DEPARTMENT:

I did a nice interview with The Aither zine. Interesting questions, complete, and questions I’ve never been asked before. You can read it here. It’s a good one.

I read that the search engines like lots of links... and it's also nice to support my friends and enemies in their blogs. So facebook me or email me if you have a blog, webpage or something else to connect to. I add you. You add me.

Here's a start:

Video of the week: My long-time friend Sid Yiddish appears on a YouTube DatingGame-like video. Guess who wins the bachlorette!

Here’s Richard Goldberg: goldberg.wordpress.com

Poetry and humor fans will like Justin Martin in The Latency

And my friend Mike R has a nice site with recipe hits from the past! (He cooked for me once... great stuff.) Check out Yesterday's Recipes.

And here's one by a member of ANTI-SEEN... a tour diary of sorts.

Andy Shelton has an interesting blog here.

Savage Hippie is a guy who has been YouTubing for a long time. Our opinions largely overlap... but he complains that I'm a Communist. I'm not! I'm a communist.

Chris Stecher publishes a zine called PRECIS. You can see the back issue links there... and he promises a new issue soon.

George Fertakis has a very nice graphics-heavy blog... with music and books featured prominently. If there’s no link here (I can’t find it temporarily), then Google… er… Duckduckgo him for information.

And my long-term pal Sid Yiddish contributes with his Mishegas Master Blog.

And connect to TRUST Zine, a long-running German punk zine… that STILL PRINTS!!! Yeah, they have a website too… of course! It’s here.

Here are a couple video links.

This from Jon Cox https://squelchchamber1.bandcamp.com/album/down-so-low

And this one from my very long-time friend Roger Armstrong.

Jim Testa moved his long running zine, Jersey Beat, to the blogosphere awhile back. You can read it here. Jim also recommended a kind of unique album… in a style you don’t see to much of these days… or any days. Neo-Hassidic Rock Opera. You can stream the album here.

Kyle Nonneman is in prison in Portland. At least he can’t be kidnapped by the secret police… I think. I post his blog for him, he can’t do it from the klink. Lots of stuff about noise metal… and some very weird politics that will either fascinate or repulse you… or both.

My long time pal, Jim Hayes rightfully complained about my leaving out his blog. He’s a great writer, so it was a tragic omission. Here it is.

Oh yeah, then there’s me. I have a blog of stuff I’ve written mostly from last century. You might enjoy it. Then again, you might not. It’s here.

Let me know if you have a blog… or a print zine… or a YouTube and want to be added to the list. You show me yours… you’ve already seen mine. god@mykelboard.com