June 29, 2014

What is a ‘bitcoin’ and what is a ‘transgender’ person?

A few years ago the comedian Mark Gungor created a funny routine on the difference between the male brain and the female brain. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend checking it out on You Tube. Mark describes the male brain as consisting of numerous boxes into which men can retreat and deal with life, one box at a time. There is a box for your wife, another for your kids, still another for your job and others for hobbies, etc. My favorite box, as described by Mark, is the ‘empty box’, where many of us males seek frequent solace unfettered by worldly crises and everyday woes and concerns. (I’ll leave it to you to check out how Mark perceives the female brain. )

I freely admit agreement with Mark’s analysis and as I age, find myself spending more time in the ‘empty box’ than any other. It’s nicer there – and quieter. That box becomes even more appealing as technology advances and my ability to absorb said change declines. (Examples:  My new car’s instruction manual is 300 pages long. I cannot possibly program the TV remote.) But I don’t care. I’ve retreated into my empty box.

I am, however, a voracious reader and much of what passes for news these days leaves me scratching my head. Gays, lesbians, blacks, Indians and those suffering from income inequality are over-reported concepts that I at least comprehend – though frequently disagree with the espoused premises that grant them minority status.

But there are two recent concepts that I do not comprehend; the newfound currency termed Bitcoin and the sexual condition labeled transgender.

Please!  Someone tell me what exactly is a bitcoin. Does it depend on exchanging dollars, renminbi or euros to have value?  If so, isn’t that just another form of money? Or, more likely, is it a phony scheme to enrich a nerdy Chinese technobrat?

Likewise, what the hell is a transgender person?  Is this a nerd who never got chosen for the softball team in high school and protests by chopping off his penis? Or is it a jealous girl pissed-off because all the good jobs go to guys? I’m not a medical genius but it seems all this slicing, dicing and re-sewing of used penises is another money maker for the ObamaCare hand wringers. Soon we’ll have a Secretary of Gender Equality competing for funds with the heads of other useless agencies like TSA and the Commerce Department. Give us a break!

Meantime, I’ll stuff my rapidly depleting brain into my empty box and hope to die before this wacky world disappears into a black hole created by global warming.

You are welcome.

jpylewmg@gmail.com