Today is World Poetry Day, an international celebration of the reading, writing, teaching, and overall enjoyment of poetry around the globe.
This poem was inspired by one of my favorite poets, T. S. Eliot, listening to Matt and Kim, and generally just feeling in awe of being alive and witnessing life.
Enjoy!
Take Back the Daylight
By RMK
Time to see the little houses on the hills.
And time for the trees, and time
For all the things you cannot dream.
Time for thinking all the thoughts
That come in streams to play
Along your mindbed, Time, time today.
Time to be ravished by mountains,
And moons, and music too. The sounds of
Being alive, tick tock, beat beat, did you hear
About that one time Time stopped?
The myth, the legend, of love and
Fantasy, dreaming in the daylight.
Time to build a life, a building life,
Create your masterpiece out of Time,
And all the bits of matter you can find
That matter to you, and the matterless,
The mindfull, the things you can take
Temporarily, and make lasting at last.
Time for you, and time for them,
And time for breaking down, and building
Back up, reinventing and seeing again
What was not seen as seconds passed.
Time for all the dreams I may have dreamed
To live with eyes opened, and snore less.
Time for all the pleasures life affords,
Time for all the suffering you can handle,
Burn with the candle, Candle, can you?
Time for the hour, time to take back time,
Remember, remember, how those days were
Divine? How we looked at the daylight,
with awe in mind, in heart, in spirit, felt it
In your bones, that being-alive-beyond-time
Feeling. Feeling the daylight without clock-hands.
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Did you come here to think? Good!
I realize I haven't done one of these in a while. Sooooooo...thoughts:
Earth is our home, and our home is a gift, and it's a gift we share.
Even though we can do something, should we? And why shouldn't we do something? And why should we? In everything that we do, who does it matter to?
“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” And yet...
We've measured our own selves, torn us to pieces, in order to figure out how we (and the rest of the world) work. We've created a mental disconnect that allows us to act on an attempt at controlling every little thing. Maps, writing, pictures. When you delineate, you break things to pieces. But in those pieces, you work to better understand, even if what you can understand is only a small fraction of the whole.
The world is many shades and combinations, mixing. Variety is the spice of life. But variation is complex and difficult to understand (or control), so we simplify it.
"...All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;" -- From: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45392/ulysses
In some things, order does matter.
One definition of intelligence is the ability to discern that there is wisdom in everything, but you hold the compass and how you allow that wisdom to guide you or not is your choice. There is intelligence in saying, you had some good points, but I don't fully agree with you. There is intelligence in seeing how a simplified statement can do a lot of good and a lot of bad depending on how it is used, like the above. Depending on how you use order as something that matters, you can place restraints that need not be there on some things. Heuristics are not perfect and should not be used for all things. No rule of thumb rules all (maybe not even this one).
Extremes are interconnected, and neither of them should “win”.
Learn to play more. Enjoy more. Learn what you can do with your own hands, your own mind, your own heart, if you gave yourself the time.
Success and failure both result in learning.
The way to defeat evil is to replace it with good. Now, how is that applied?
When you name something, you've chosen to care about it.
What is your culture? What is our culture?
Perspective is a matter of scale, and everything we do creates scope.
Consider our scope when we employ time as a factor. What matters today? What matters in a year? What matters in a million years? A billion? What mattered a hundred years ago?
And how how we think about the above changes our actions.
What matters more - the vision or the plan to achieve it? Stupid question, they both matter.
Life is as hollow and as shallow as you make it. If you want more, it's there, always.
What is a conversation? What can be and is talked about? What are the limits of conversation? All of these questions can be answered by understanding language structure.
What is enough?
Our desire to populate space stems from a very basic will to survive.
We are more than the sum of all our parts.
"We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.
We work with being,
but non-being is what we use." - From the Tao Te Ching
I'm learning to appreciate the seen and unseen.
What questions are worth asking?
In our culture today, is questioning antagonistic?
I have a respect for ginger root as a spice and a form. If you don't want to waste any of it, you don't have to. But using all of it requires a bit of imagination and patience. It's not so easily peeled like a carrot. It's not straight and simple. It's curved and complex and diverse in use. All hail ginger, and the smell it leaves on your hands.
Related to ginger: https://consideredkula.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/the-useless-tree-chuang-tzu-inspiration-pointe/
What are the goals of our society? What are your personal goals? To become something? To do something? To open yourself up to something? To know something?
Blunt honesty is sometimes nice to have in a friend.
Sometimes you tug at a piece of your life
And that piece is a person.
And with that person,
Comes all the other pieces,
Unraveling.
Music:
https://youtu.be/NivdmQJmLAc
https://youtu.be/f6jma9VQEls
"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Earth is our home, and our home is a gift, and it's a gift we share.
Even though we can do something, should we? And why shouldn't we do something? And why should we? In everything that we do, who does it matter to?
“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” And yet...
We've measured our own selves, torn us to pieces, in order to figure out how we (and the rest of the world) work. We've created a mental disconnect that allows us to act on an attempt at controlling every little thing. Maps, writing, pictures. When you delineate, you break things to pieces. But in those pieces, you work to better understand, even if what you can understand is only a small fraction of the whole.
The world is many shades and combinations, mixing. Variety is the spice of life. But variation is complex and difficult to understand (or control), so we simplify it.
"...All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;" -- From: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45392/ulysses
In some things, order does matter.
One definition of intelligence is the ability to discern that there is wisdom in everything, but you hold the compass and how you allow that wisdom to guide you or not is your choice. There is intelligence in saying, you had some good points, but I don't fully agree with you. There is intelligence in seeing how a simplified statement can do a lot of good and a lot of bad depending on how it is used, like the above. Depending on how you use order as something that matters, you can place restraints that need not be there on some things. Heuristics are not perfect and should not be used for all things. No rule of thumb rules all (maybe not even this one).
Extremes are interconnected, and neither of them should “win”.
Learn to play more. Enjoy more. Learn what you can do with your own hands, your own mind, your own heart, if you gave yourself the time.
Success and failure both result in learning.
The way to defeat evil is to replace it with good. Now, how is that applied?
When you name something, you've chosen to care about it.
What is your culture? What is our culture?
Perspective is a matter of scale, and everything we do creates scope.
Consider our scope when we employ time as a factor. What matters today? What matters in a year? What matters in a million years? A billion? What mattered a hundred years ago?
And how how we think about the above changes our actions.
What matters more - the vision or the plan to achieve it? Stupid question, they both matter.
Life is as hollow and as shallow as you make it. If you want more, it's there, always.
What is a conversation? What can be and is talked about? What are the limits of conversation? All of these questions can be answered by understanding language structure.
What is enough?
Our desire to populate space stems from a very basic will to survive.
We are more than the sum of all our parts.
"We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.
We work with being,
but non-being is what we use." - From the Tao Te Ching
I'm learning to appreciate the seen and unseen.
What questions are worth asking?
In our culture today, is questioning antagonistic?
I have a respect for ginger root as a spice and a form. If you don't want to waste any of it, you don't have to. But using all of it requires a bit of imagination and patience. It's not so easily peeled like a carrot. It's not straight and simple. It's curved and complex and diverse in use. All hail ginger, and the smell it leaves on your hands.
Related to ginger: https://consideredkula.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/the-useless-tree-chuang-tzu-inspiration-pointe/
What are the goals of our society? What are your personal goals? To become something? To do something? To open yourself up to something? To know something?
Blunt honesty is sometimes nice to have in a friend.
Sometimes you tug at a piece of your life
And that piece is a person.
And with that person,
Comes all the other pieces,
Unraveling.
Music:
https://youtu.be/NivdmQJmLAc
https://youtu.be/f6jma9VQEls
"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Monday, September 11, 2017
Poem: What's in a Hurricane Name?
What’s in a Hurricane Name?
She was a Category 666 hurricane.
Not the kind that meteorologists named,
But she blew through me
in the season between June and November.
A storm with a sharp eye,
They couldn’t have named her if they tried
Because she was everywhere
And nowhere.
Wrecking homes, leaving debris
under my skin, pieces of sharp rock
that chipped off her stone heart
The doctors said couldn’t be
Removed. So I just hoarded
cans of soup in my pantry
Let the power go off in my head
And surrendered to the wind of her voice in my ear.
When December came, my liquid snow
melted inside her and I knew
Thunderstorms were coming
And we named them after her mother’s mother’s mother’s mother.
Friday, June 23, 2017
Space exploration, unique sets of expression, song writing, balance, gravity, Wonder Woman messages, Wendell Berry inspiration, identity, and more!
You know what's amazing? We've overcome or worked with our environment as a species to do things that other animals have never done. We didn't just look at the moon, we walked on it. We don't just say, "I have legs, I shouldn't fly." We look at other animals that can fly and say, "Let's figure that out!" Making wings, in a way that was only possible by understanding how flying could work for us. It's incredible. What we've done, and what we still might be able to do.
Why is it so satisfying to create unique sets of patterns of expression? A set of patterns that no one has created before. I also find it interesting that we can create these unique patterns of words or images, but the words or shapes we use to create with are, in isolation, so simple and familiar, so common. But every English teacher in the world will tell you to make it your own. And in part, you know it's not your own, not fully, but that unique set of patterns, that's what they want.
I really enjoy writing songs, even if no one else hears them. There's something fun about driving home and listening to songs you wrote that no one else in the world is listening to, something fun and personal and perfect about it. Songs that make me laugh, that make me feel peace, tell or remember memories, or just express what's on my mind that day. And in an age where everything is shared, it's beautiful, in a way, to have something like that to yourself (even if I'm telling you, briefly, about it now).
We live individual lives. We experience individual existence. And yet we are part of something much bigger than that. Both are important, and struggle comes from deciding at which points in our lives which one is more important.
When you're so tired that you almost throw an entire coffee pot into the trash... #HappyFriday
Is gravity the reason for life? Putting things in one place. Collision of celestial bodies. Is it essential for life creation?
The important balance between preservation and exploration in the future. Not only on Earth, but in Space as well.
Wonder Woman messages: What you believe affects your actions. If you believe in love and its power over hate, you will fight against acts of violence that destroy peace and the ability to love.
Important to note that:
Isolated and personal measures were taken to combat violence.
She did not kill Doctor Poison, because she was trying to kill the INFLUENCE of humans (Aries), not the humans themselves, who can change based on influence. Although personifying influence essentially leads to the truth that influence has a carrier. Every virus needs a host.
"Sometimes you just have to
Go Einstein insane.
Let no one understand you,
And let them spend decades,
Trying to sort out your genius."
What does it mean for something to be infinite?
"The past, the wild horses of the West, run in my mind as I drive with the windows down, looking out, at the ages gone beneath the concrete, the asphalt desert on top of the cracked earth where men rode animals looking for water. I open the tap, or buy a bottle, with visions of them reaching a stream to find it dry." - inspired by Wendell Berry
How our perspective and level of attention changes over time.
Focus in storytelling.
One thing we learn in school is that school is merely only one environment to many environments that exist in the world.
One thing we learn in school is that school is merely only one environment to many environments that exist in the world.
What creates an atmosphere that allows people to question things?
Religion and identity. Politics and identity. The problem of delineation in creating identity and a non-fluid mindset in a changing world.
I lost the rest of what's in my brain, so...
Cheers dears.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Generational influence, the forces of the universe, pain and suffering, Medieval vs. Today, Stories are metaphors for life, media enriches other media, survival, Aniara, and a poem.
How do you pick up the pieces of so many lives that came before you?
How do the forces in the universe relate? Gravity? Magnetism? Static electricity?
Just because you are in pain does not mean you must suffer, nor does it mean others should suffer because you are in pain.
It's weird being human and trying to grasp meaning out of life.
What does a modern city look like compared to a medieval city? Well, for one, hotels and banks are larger than churches.
The wonderful thing and most frustrating thing about science is it proves over time that everything we think we know could be very, very wrong all along.
Stories encourage us to do things we've never done before. And to view the world in new ways. They essentially give us a way to adapt through motivation, inspiration, and our personal tool of visualization.
Reading makes all other media a little more rich. Understanding the references, like Rime of the Ancient Mariner in the "Weight of Living" song by Bastille, almost every quote by Lex Luthor in Superman vs. Batman, etc.
Survival is attraction in peacetime, aggression or cleverness in wartime?
Why do children look like their parents? Empathy. Think about it. It's about survival.
Jag vill lära mig svenska, och jag vill gå tillbaka till skolan.
What is technology doing to us?
"We listen daily to the sonic coins
provided every one of us and played
through the Finger-singer worn on the left hand.
We trade coins of diverse denominations:
and all of them play all that they contain
and though a dyma 1 scarcely weighs one grain
it plays out like a cricket on each hand
blanching here in this distraction-land."
One day I hope to hold the book "Aniara" in my hands and read it in full. But bloody hell has a poetry book never been more expensive.
I'm making a list of all the words that I thought were words while playing scrabble, but realized weren't words, so now I must make them so. Definitions pending.
Sometimes all you want to hear are peaceful and meaningful words.
Slept near a brook
I don't know how long it took
For ages, we look
And look, and see nothing
And in seeing nothing, look
Within.
And inside there was a Summer's day
Full of warmth, or a metaphor,
And like a child I asked the name
of the one within my Self.
But they said no name, nothing,
The true name doesn't sound.
And she opened her eyes near the brook
And heard the softness in the wind.
Played music in the rocks on the shore
Unsure of what it meant.
But maybe the song doesn't need a name
It just needs to make you feel, and in feeling
It grows, and before she knows, the song
Inside her sent.
Sent meaning in the woods,
Through the thick trees of her soul
It wove its way into reality
And we couldn't know much more.
Hear the light, feel the song
The notes are all but done
Sing the melody of life,
Dance to it, just for fun.
It's time for sleep. Time, oh time. Not a thief, not a clock on the wall. Time gives life, and life takes time, and together, we live and love.
Cheers dears.
How do the forces in the universe relate? Gravity? Magnetism? Static electricity?
Just because you are in pain does not mean you must suffer, nor does it mean others should suffer because you are in pain.
It's weird being human and trying to grasp meaning out of life.
What does a modern city look like compared to a medieval city? Well, for one, hotels and banks are larger than churches.
The wonderful thing and most frustrating thing about science is it proves over time that everything we think we know could be very, very wrong all along.
Stories encourage us to do things we've never done before. And to view the world in new ways. They essentially give us a way to adapt through motivation, inspiration, and our personal tool of visualization.
Reading makes all other media a little more rich. Understanding the references, like Rime of the Ancient Mariner in the "Weight of Living" song by Bastille, almost every quote by Lex Luthor in Superman vs. Batman, etc.
Survival is attraction in peacetime, aggression or cleverness in wartime?
Why do children look like their parents? Empathy. Think about it. It's about survival.
Jag vill lära mig svenska, och jag vill gå tillbaka till skolan.
What is technology doing to us?
"We listen daily to the sonic coins
provided every one of us and played
through the Finger-singer worn on the left hand.
We trade coins of diverse denominations:
and all of them play all that they contain
and though a dyma 1 scarcely weighs one grain
it plays out like a cricket on each hand
blanching here in this distraction-land."
One day I hope to hold the book "Aniara" in my hands and read it in full. But bloody hell has a poetry book never been more expensive.
I'm making a list of all the words that I thought were words while playing scrabble, but realized weren't words, so now I must make them so. Definitions pending.
Sometimes all you want to hear are peaceful and meaningful words.
Slept near a brook
I don't know how long it took
For ages, we look
And look, and see nothing
And in seeing nothing, look
Within.
And inside there was a Summer's day
Full of warmth, or a metaphor,
And like a child I asked the name
of the one within my Self.
But they said no name, nothing,
The true name doesn't sound.
And she opened her eyes near the brook
And heard the softness in the wind.
Played music in the rocks on the shore
Unsure of what it meant.
But maybe the song doesn't need a name
It just needs to make you feel, and in feeling
It grows, and before she knows, the song
Inside her sent.
Sent meaning in the woods,
Through the thick trees of her soul
It wove its way into reality
And we couldn't know much more.
Hear the light, feel the song
The notes are all but done
Sing the melody of life,
Dance to it, just for fun.
It's time for sleep. Time, oh time. Not a thief, not a clock on the wall. Time gives life, and life takes time, and together, we live and love.
Cheers dears.
Monday, November 21, 2016
Senses, metaphors, an impromptu poem, school prepared us for voting, words and meanings, AI, competition breeds mediocrity or innovation?, indie song plus music of the week, look outside your POV, and MORE!
"And how should I begin?"
How the voice can make you feel things you can't touch and how touch can make you feel things you can't fathom with your eyes. Also, how the word "soft" conveys two different experiences to the ear and to the touch.
And how I wish this were a poem, very, very,
very much.
Because you see with your sorrow
And you hear with your beliefs
And war is growing, growing the number of lonely sheaths
And this isn't the music you tasted
On the night of your birth's sunrise
More innocent, like Christmas,
More warm and carefree and wise.
America, America,
Where have gone the brave?
Devoted to live a life to give
For peace and freedom, we crave.
A special song, togetherness
We dance a beat as one
But the drummer left his mallet
With his ballot, and now this tune is done.
You don't have to break the base of a pot to render it broken. Remove the handle, and in a weakened and unexpected state, the soup may fall to the floor. The same with many things, dishware is not alone in this metaphor. But it is those who see a handleless pot and reach for ovenmits instead of their wallet to buy a new one that shall overcome in hard times.
Funny how the word "cauldron" instantly conveys images of witches in your head. And pot, at this moment in time, has at least two meanings. Three if you play poker. Four if you're also a gardener. More if you are thinking better than I am right now probably.
What is a unified theory anyway? How do you gather the totality of the universe in one metaphor?
I finally understand what school was preparing us for all these years: Voting. You do the homework assignments. Watch the debates, do your research, maybe express yourself by writing about it and showing that writing to others who critique it. You quiz yourself on what you know by occasionally talking to people in groups. You were given the study guide (sample ballot) but never looked at it...you cram the last few nights and then you finally get to the final exam (which is open-book if you take it at home) and you're like "SHIT! These other 18 candidates weren't in the reading!" >_<
And then you realize that all of the other students' tests affect your final score. And that there's not actually a right answer, but a preferred answer. And that answer depends on what information you have at the time - which is so true for many studies of information throughout our lives. This collective test says a lot about what we believe...and what we think we know at the time.
I wonder if one problem with our political system is we have a choice for essentially two groups of values that people believe so fiercely in (sometimes one value and "meh" about the others) that they vote just for their "group" because they feel so strongly about X, and take a blind eye to the lesser qualities of the candidate who represents those values. Did people really vote for Trump, or did they vote to maintain Republican values? Also, I think our TV culture plays into this a bit. Not knowing Trump personally, any of us could convince ourselves that all Trump did and said for his campaign was just an act. A show. A role with a goal.
What are humanity's interests in developing AI?
- Freedom from meaningless tasks?
- Multi-planetary exploration?
- Lengthen life/Survival? via---v
- Maximized calculation of complex problems?
Does competition increase the likelihood or prevent us from having the best products? Ex: Companies can develop a product to have one really astounding feature, but are prevented from collaborating with everyone to create a product with everyone's product's astounding features. So we get products that are "meh" in some areas and "WOW!!" in others, but the other company makes "WOW!!" in some areas and "meh" in others.
An important part about metaphors is that they highlight certain aspects and hide others. They cast light AND shadows on how we see the world.
Biodiversity. Species, genetics, ecosystem. The result of evolution, of change, but change not all at the same time or in one place.
Music of the Week:
My brother helped me write this song as a birthday gift this year. I wrote the lyrics, he did the composition and vocal magic. Something fun if you like the sound of indie jazz love songs: http://www.cdbaby.com/m/cd/thekonartists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p5T156l4tg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X5VjCqIAyk
https://youtu.be/RJCLnFOfFKQ
"Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm." — Publilius Syrus
"A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd." — Max Lucado (I say this quote can probably be taken the wrong way for a leader, but it's a metaphor, nonetheless - leader = conductor of orchestra).
People put up Christmas lights earlier in colder climates because if they wait until December, they will be putting Christmas lights up in the snow. And then those same people move to Florida, but they're used to the routine that they had when they lived in colder climates, so they still put up their Christmas lights in November. And Florida residents are all like "Grumble Grumble Grumble" when they see Christmas lights up in November. And the cold climate people are like "Well hey, this is what we've always done." But Floridians are like "It's not right. You can put Christmas lights up in December - it's like...80 outside." This, this is why we need to branch out of our own little circle occasionally. This is why we need to explore the world a little bit. Because from one point of view, it just doesn't make sense. But when you get outside your point of view into another's world, much more starts to make sense and you stop grumbling about things other people do that you don't understand.
It is not better to be feared than loved. I have seen the look of fear and I want no part of it. Fear is no way to rule.
Appearances are not always what they seem.
Dr. Strange. Enjoyed the storyline, but felt the second half of the script was a bit cliché.
Harry Potter books and movies have a very human-centered version of time travel. The rule is you can't be seen (by other humans). But could they possibly hide from birds and insects? No! Does it affect time? No!
Feeling crafy, but don't have the tools? Make the tools! I made my own glue this weekend. Worked great! (Use the cornstarch version, folks).
Analyzing abstract concepts, like art.
Infinity. You have not escaped my mind palace.
Sometimes, in order to create new and better ideas, you first need to rest. - something I learned from TV. (Because it is not the medium that feeds ideas, but the willing mind to look for them - or in some cases, not to look, but to let your mind come upon them when the time is right and you are open to receiving them). So, er, thank you Ron Swanson, and the script writer who crafted your persona to care about others, sometimes anyway.
Hope you found the stream thoughtful. Have a good Thanksgiving!
How the voice can make you feel things you can't touch and how touch can make you feel things you can't fathom with your eyes. Also, how the word "soft" conveys two different experiences to the ear and to the touch.
And how I wish this were a poem, very, very,
very much.
Because you see with your sorrow
And you hear with your beliefs
And war is growing, growing the number of lonely sheaths
And this isn't the music you tasted
On the night of your birth's sunrise
More innocent, like Christmas,
More warm and carefree and wise.
America, America,
Where have gone the brave?
Devoted to live a life to give
For peace and freedom, we crave.
A special song, togetherness
We dance a beat as one
But the drummer left his mallet
With his ballot, and now this tune is done.
You don't have to break the base of a pot to render it broken. Remove the handle, and in a weakened and unexpected state, the soup may fall to the floor. The same with many things, dishware is not alone in this metaphor. But it is those who see a handleless pot and reach for ovenmits instead of their wallet to buy a new one that shall overcome in hard times.
Funny how the word "cauldron" instantly conveys images of witches in your head. And pot, at this moment in time, has at least two meanings. Three if you play poker. Four if you're also a gardener. More if you are thinking better than I am right now probably.
What is a unified theory anyway? How do you gather the totality of the universe in one metaphor?
I finally understand what school was preparing us for all these years: Voting. You do the homework assignments. Watch the debates, do your research, maybe express yourself by writing about it and showing that writing to others who critique it. You quiz yourself on what you know by occasionally talking to people in groups. You were given the study guide (sample ballot) but never looked at it...you cram the last few nights and then you finally get to the final exam (which is open-book if you take it at home) and you're like "SHIT! These other 18 candidates weren't in the reading!" >_<
And then you realize that all of the other students' tests affect your final score. And that there's not actually a right answer, but a preferred answer. And that answer depends on what information you have at the time - which is so true for many studies of information throughout our lives. This collective test says a lot about what we believe...and what we think we know at the time.
I wonder if one problem with our political system is we have a choice for essentially two groups of values that people believe so fiercely in (sometimes one value and "meh" about the others) that they vote just for their "group" because they feel so strongly about X, and take a blind eye to the lesser qualities of the candidate who represents those values. Did people really vote for Trump, or did they vote to maintain Republican values? Also, I think our TV culture plays into this a bit. Not knowing Trump personally, any of us could convince ourselves that all Trump did and said for his campaign was just an act. A show. A role with a goal.
What are humanity's interests in developing AI?
- Freedom from meaningless tasks?
- Multi-planetary exploration?
- Lengthen life/Survival? via---v
- Maximized calculation of complex problems?
Does competition increase the likelihood or prevent us from having the best products? Ex: Companies can develop a product to have one really astounding feature, but are prevented from collaborating with everyone to create a product with everyone's product's astounding features. So we get products that are "meh" in some areas and "WOW!!" in others, but the other company makes "WOW!!" in some areas and "meh" in others.
An important part about metaphors is that they highlight certain aspects and hide others. They cast light AND shadows on how we see the world.
Biodiversity. Species, genetics, ecosystem. The result of evolution, of change, but change not all at the same time or in one place.
Struggling with two thought processes, the first - Sometimes friendship is acknowledging how busy your friend is and accepting that sometimes you are a lesser priority. Friendship is saying, “I’ll be here, whenever you are ready to talk.”
The second – When is it time to let a friend go? If they no longer make time to talk to you, is it worth hanging on to the friendship? Or, is has the Internet completely affected the way we expect friends to react and communicate, and we need to realize it is foolish to expect everyone to be able to respond in a day, a week, etc?
I feel it’s important not to be too quick to jump to the end of a chapter. Not every friendship needs to be finite in its definition (friends/not friends). People come and people go. Let them. But keep your light on. Friendship, even at a distance, has never been more important.
Music of the Week:
My brother helped me write this song as a birthday gift this year. I wrote the lyrics, he did the composition and vocal magic. Something fun if you like the sound of indie jazz love songs: http://www.cdbaby.com/m/cd/thekonartists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p5T156l4tg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X5VjCqIAyk
https://youtu.be/RJCLnFOfFKQ
"Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm." — Publilius Syrus
"A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd." — Max Lucado (I say this quote can probably be taken the wrong way for a leader, but it's a metaphor, nonetheless - leader = conductor of orchestra).
People put up Christmas lights earlier in colder climates because if they wait until December, they will be putting Christmas lights up in the snow. And then those same people move to Florida, but they're used to the routine that they had when they lived in colder climates, so they still put up their Christmas lights in November. And Florida residents are all like "Grumble Grumble Grumble" when they see Christmas lights up in November. And the cold climate people are like "Well hey, this is what we've always done." But Floridians are like "It's not right. You can put Christmas lights up in December - it's like...80 outside." This, this is why we need to branch out of our own little circle occasionally. This is why we need to explore the world a little bit. Because from one point of view, it just doesn't make sense. But when you get outside your point of view into another's world, much more starts to make sense and you stop grumbling about things other people do that you don't understand.
It is not better to be feared than loved. I have seen the look of fear and I want no part of it. Fear is no way to rule.
Appearances are not always what they seem.
Dr. Strange. Enjoyed the storyline, but felt the second half of the script was a bit cliché.
Harry Potter books and movies have a very human-centered version of time travel. The rule is you can't be seen (by other humans). But could they possibly hide from birds and insects? No! Does it affect time? No!
Feeling crafy, but don't have the tools? Make the tools! I made my own glue this weekend. Worked great! (Use the cornstarch version, folks).
Analyzing abstract concepts, like art.
Infinity. You have not escaped my mind palace.
Sometimes, in order to create new and better ideas, you first need to rest. - something I learned from TV. (Because it is not the medium that feeds ideas, but the willing mind to look for them - or in some cases, not to look, but to let your mind come upon them when the time is right and you are open to receiving them). So, er, thank you Ron Swanson, and the script writer who crafted your persona to care about others, sometimes anyway.
Hope you found the stream thoughtful. Have a good Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Stories as metaphors, word order matters, radio realization, feels like weather, MUSK, initial reactions are emotional, Stranger Things ending I hate you, nuances and MORE!
What if all stories are just metaphors helping us figure out how to see life in different ways? But why? Because if we see things differently, we do things differently. And we need to do things differently in order to adapt. Therefore stories, in a way, could have been developed to help humans adapt and survive. Stories are part of our evolution.
Why does life evolve?
Strawberry-banana vs banana-strawberry. Harry and Sons vs. Sons and Harry. John Smith vs. Smith John. We made it so that word order matters, especially with names. How far back does that go? Why did we start that order? Why are there arbitrary correct orders, like strawberry-banana?
I Am What I Am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q2h6oGD6UA
When you realize radio stations are partially marketing platforms for popular bands who will be in concert near you soon-ish.
The power of names. What would it be like to be named...____? Someone else? How does a name affect how you see yourself and how others see you?
How do meteorologists determine what the weather "feels like" in different places? Or better yet, how do they compare across states? Since 40 degrees in Colorado is not nearly as cold as 40 in Florida.
When I want to type something faster that I've never spelled before, I visualize that I've already been spelling it all my life. Tah dah!
Musk Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnBQmEqBCY0
Democratization of AI.
Technology declines if people don't work on it.
Don't stop at your first reaction to something. Whether it's a presidential debate, or a lecture on how computers work, or a paragraph in a novel you tried to read. Watch it again, listen to it again, read it again, and get beyond the first reaction. Because oftentimes, the first reaction is emotional, and there's more to understand than that.
"New metaphors have the power to create a new reality. This can begin to happen when we start to comprehend our experience in terms of a metaphor, and it becomes a deeper reality when we begin to act in terms of it. If a new metaphor enters the conceptual system that we base our actions on, it will alter that conceptual system and the perceptions and actions that the system gives rise to. Much of cultural change arises from the introduction of new metaphorical concepts and the loss of old ones." - from Metaphors We Live By
Stranger Things ending, I hate you. *SPOILER ALERT* I hate you because you remind me that not all people get a happy ending. Because some people never get to see their friend, or their daughter, or their girlfriend ever again after a tragic event. Because you reminded me that sometimes the best we can hope for is to try to regain some form of normalcy. Because you left things unanswered and unresolved and I want my little package. Because I wanted Ele and Mike to go to the Snow Ball, dammit. Because the bad guys said the atmosphere was toxic and it wasn't...not really. Because Ele never got to taste real food, and you reminded me that, to some people, Eggos are the best meal they've ever had. Because no one should throw up slugs other than Malfoy. Because how did they get out of the upside down? Because it was Christmas, and everyone had lights, and it was the one time in the show where their presence was ignored. Because things went back to normal, but they didn't. But I loved you because you showed how memories affect the present. How people are resilient. And because you showed us how the world really works sometimes, with a comparison in the unreal.
42. Everyone may have a different question, but the answer could be the same.
Solutions are not pieces of a puzzle, otherwise there would only be one specific solution. Bad metaphors.
I have this thing about drinking coffee out of dark mugs and tea only out of light mugs.
Don't forget to take a minute to observe the trees, to take a breath, to feel your body move. Slow down, even for a moment, to pay attention to the things we often miss and take for granted.
Could you be "driven" before there were automobiles?
I need more poetry in my life.
And I love seeing fall leaves for the first time!!
Why does life evolve?
Strawberry-banana vs banana-strawberry. Harry and Sons vs. Sons and Harry. John Smith vs. Smith John. We made it so that word order matters, especially with names. How far back does that go? Why did we start that order? Why are there arbitrary correct orders, like strawberry-banana?
I Am What I Am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q2h6oGD6UA
When you realize radio stations are partially marketing platforms for popular bands who will be in concert near you soon-ish.
The power of names. What would it be like to be named...____? Someone else? How does a name affect how you see yourself and how others see you?
How do meteorologists determine what the weather "feels like" in different places? Or better yet, how do they compare across states? Since 40 degrees in Colorado is not nearly as cold as 40 in Florida.
When I want to type something faster that I've never spelled before, I visualize that I've already been spelling it all my life. Tah dah!
Musk Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnBQmEqBCY0
Democratization of AI.
Technology declines if people don't work on it.
Don't stop at your first reaction to something. Whether it's a presidential debate, or a lecture on how computers work, or a paragraph in a novel you tried to read. Watch it again, listen to it again, read it again, and get beyond the first reaction. Because oftentimes, the first reaction is emotional, and there's more to understand than that.
"New metaphors have the power to create a new reality. This can begin to happen when we start to comprehend our experience in terms of a metaphor, and it becomes a deeper reality when we begin to act in terms of it. If a new metaphor enters the conceptual system that we base our actions on, it will alter that conceptual system and the perceptions and actions that the system gives rise to. Much of cultural change arises from the introduction of new metaphorical concepts and the loss of old ones." - from Metaphors We Live By
Stranger Things ending, I hate you. *SPOILER ALERT* I hate you because you remind me that not all people get a happy ending. Because some people never get to see their friend, or their daughter, or their girlfriend ever again after a tragic event. Because you reminded me that sometimes the best we can hope for is to try to regain some form of normalcy. Because you left things unanswered and unresolved and I want my little package. Because I wanted Ele and Mike to go to the Snow Ball, dammit. Because the bad guys said the atmosphere was toxic and it wasn't...not really. Because Ele never got to taste real food, and you reminded me that, to some people, Eggos are the best meal they've ever had. Because no one should throw up slugs other than Malfoy. Because how did they get out of the upside down? Because it was Christmas, and everyone had lights, and it was the one time in the show where their presence was ignored. Because things went back to normal, but they didn't. But I loved you because you showed how memories affect the present. How people are resilient. And because you showed us how the world really works sometimes, with a comparison in the unreal.
42. Everyone may have a different question, but the answer could be the same.
Solutions are not pieces of a puzzle, otherwise there would only be one specific solution. Bad metaphors.
I have this thing about drinking coffee out of dark mugs and tea only out of light mugs.
Don't forget to take a minute to observe the trees, to take a breath, to feel your body move. Slow down, even for a moment, to pay attention to the things we often miss and take for granted.
Could you be "driven" before there were automobiles?
I need more poetry in my life.
And I love seeing fall leaves for the first time!!
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Summary of the 2016 US First Presidential Debate on Monday, September 26, 2016
Jobs/Achieving Prosperity/The Economy -
Hillary: Wants to increase taxes on wealthy and fuel the middle class to rise up. Wants to support particular industries for more jobs - infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, innovation, technology, clean renewable energy, and small businesses. Wants to raise national minimum wage, get equal pay for women, and have more profit sharing. More work/life balance, paid family leave, earned sick days, affordable childcare, and debt-free college. Wants a tax system that rewards work, not just financial transactions. Her standard for deals: Does it create jobs, raise incomes, and is it good for national security? Wants to have a special prosecutor to hold people accountable. Wants broad-based, inclusive growth. Says some things that are good for business may not be good for govenment (like the Great Depression, no?)
Trump: Wants to prevent our companies from leaving for cheaper labor elsewhere. Wants to reduce taxes for small and big business - 35 to 15% so they can expand and grow. Wants better trade deals. Trickle down economics. Wants to cut regulation, get rid of Carried Interest Provision. Thinks we are in a bubble. He is a businessman and thinks America needs someone with experience in money. Thinks we spent too much in the Middle East. Wasted money that could have been spent on building US infrastructure.
Race: How do we heal the divide? -
Hillary: Restore trust in neighborhoods and have training for police officers. Criminal justice reform. Fix gun epidemic/violence. Address systemic racism. Deal with mandatory minimum sentences. Second chance programs. Get rid of private prisons. Gun safety measures - too many military weapons. Pass prohibition on people who are on terrorist watch list or no fly list to prevent them from buying guns. Communities need to come together and learn what has been effective and what hasn't. We need to stop jumping to conclusions about each other. Ask questions. Mental health issues need to be addressed and more police training regarding those issues.
Trump: Law and order. Thinks "Stop and Frisk" worked in NY. We need to take guns away from bad people. Thinks we need more police and better community relations (agreed with Clinton). He also agreed about no fly/watch list. Thinks Africian Americans have been used for their votes. They are upset about what politicians have said and not done. He had no real comment, but he said they (Trump and African Americans) have recently "made terms with each other".
Cybersecurity/Terrorism/National Security -
Hillary: Thinks Russia hacked the DNC. Maybe China or Iran. Thinks we have a greater capacity and we won't stand by. We will defend our country. Need to improve tech companies. Intensify airstrikes against ISIS and defeat them at home and abroad by cornering them. We need an intelligence surge. We need to work more closely with our allies. We need to turn our attention to terrorism. We need to cooperate with the muslim communities. We need to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons (#1 threat). Need coalition building. Words matter. We have mutual defense treaties. We need to look at global problems and stand up to bullies.
Trump: We don't know who hacked us. It could have been China, not Russia. We need to do cybersecurity better. We should have taken the oil. Says NATO needs to focus on terror. We should have left some of our troops. Says we defend countries, but they don't pay us for our services. We need to keep up with other countries and prepare. China should go into North Korea. Believes Iran Deal was one of the worst deals. We shouldn't disclose our plan openly for ISIS. We should help our allies, but only if they pay us. We cannot police the world and go more into debt doing it.
Other tidbits:
Hillary has a fact checker.
Trump said he'll release his tax documents after audit. What is he hiding?
Hillary apologized for emails and took responsibility for them. What is she hiding?
Trump thinks it was a great achievement that he got Obama to release his birth certificate.
Hillary used Trump's past sound bites against him. But so did he against her.
Trump doesn't think Hillary has the stamina/look to be President.
Hillary put out lots of commercials bashing Trump's image, but he claims he isn't wasting money on doing the same to her.
Trump says Hillary has experience, but it's bad experience.
Hillary thinks Trump painted a bad image of black communities.
Trump is opening the old Post Office on PA Avenue.
Hillary says experts say Trump's economic plan will lose jobs, while hers will create lots of jobs.
Trump got a $14 million loan from his father and thinks it was a "very small" loan.
Hillary wrote a book. It'll be in airports soon.
Trump didn't pay a few workers for poor quality work on his properties - says he takes advantage of the law.
Hillary says Trump is living in his own reality.
Trump's business went bankrupt 6 times, says Hillary.
Hillary says she has a good amount of experience in trade deals.
Trump thinks NAFTA was a bad trade deal.
Hillary laughs about how she might be blamed for everything by the end of the debate.
Trump created a club he's proud of that's inviting for all races.
Hillary was preparing for the debate while Trump was traveling.
Trump thinks he has better judgment and temperament, and that he knows how to win.
Are they both willing to accept if the other wins? Yes.
Hillary: Wants to increase taxes on wealthy and fuel the middle class to rise up. Wants to support particular industries for more jobs - infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, innovation, technology, clean renewable energy, and small businesses. Wants to raise national minimum wage, get equal pay for women, and have more profit sharing. More work/life balance, paid family leave, earned sick days, affordable childcare, and debt-free college. Wants a tax system that rewards work, not just financial transactions. Her standard for deals: Does it create jobs, raise incomes, and is it good for national security? Wants to have a special prosecutor to hold people accountable. Wants broad-based, inclusive growth. Says some things that are good for business may not be good for govenment (like the Great Depression, no?)
Trump: Wants to prevent our companies from leaving for cheaper labor elsewhere. Wants to reduce taxes for small and big business - 35 to 15% so they can expand and grow. Wants better trade deals. Trickle down economics. Wants to cut regulation, get rid of Carried Interest Provision. Thinks we are in a bubble. He is a businessman and thinks America needs someone with experience in money. Thinks we spent too much in the Middle East. Wasted money that could have been spent on building US infrastructure.
Race: How do we heal the divide? -
Hillary: Restore trust in neighborhoods and have training for police officers. Criminal justice reform. Fix gun epidemic/violence. Address systemic racism. Deal with mandatory minimum sentences. Second chance programs. Get rid of private prisons. Gun safety measures - too many military weapons. Pass prohibition on people who are on terrorist watch list or no fly list to prevent them from buying guns. Communities need to come together and learn what has been effective and what hasn't. We need to stop jumping to conclusions about each other. Ask questions. Mental health issues need to be addressed and more police training regarding those issues.
Trump: Law and order. Thinks "Stop and Frisk" worked in NY. We need to take guns away from bad people. Thinks we need more police and better community relations (agreed with Clinton). He also agreed about no fly/watch list. Thinks Africian Americans have been used for their votes. They are upset about what politicians have said and not done. He had no real comment, but he said they (Trump and African Americans) have recently "made terms with each other".
Cybersecurity/Terrorism/National Security -
Hillary: Thinks Russia hacked the DNC. Maybe China or Iran. Thinks we have a greater capacity and we won't stand by. We will defend our country. Need to improve tech companies. Intensify airstrikes against ISIS and defeat them at home and abroad by cornering them. We need an intelligence surge. We need to work more closely with our allies. We need to turn our attention to terrorism. We need to cooperate with the muslim communities. We need to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons (#1 threat). Need coalition building. Words matter. We have mutual defense treaties. We need to look at global problems and stand up to bullies.
Trump: We don't know who hacked us. It could have been China, not Russia. We need to do cybersecurity better. We should have taken the oil. Says NATO needs to focus on terror. We should have left some of our troops. Says we defend countries, but they don't pay us for our services. We need to keep up with other countries and prepare. China should go into North Korea. Believes Iran Deal was one of the worst deals. We shouldn't disclose our plan openly for ISIS. We should help our allies, but only if they pay us. We cannot police the world and go more into debt doing it.
Other tidbits:
Hillary has a fact checker.
Trump said he'll release his tax documents after audit. What is he hiding?
Hillary apologized for emails and took responsibility for them. What is she hiding?
Trump thinks it was a great achievement that he got Obama to release his birth certificate.
Hillary used Trump's past sound bites against him. But so did he against her.
Trump doesn't think Hillary has the stamina/look to be President.
Hillary put out lots of commercials bashing Trump's image, but he claims he isn't wasting money on doing the same to her.
Trump says Hillary has experience, but it's bad experience.
Hillary thinks Trump painted a bad image of black communities.
Trump is opening the old Post Office on PA Avenue.
Hillary says experts say Trump's economic plan will lose jobs, while hers will create lots of jobs.
Trump got a $14 million loan from his father and thinks it was a "very small" loan.
Hillary wrote a book. It'll be in airports soon.
Trump didn't pay a few workers for poor quality work on his properties - says he takes advantage of the law.
Hillary says Trump is living in his own reality.
Trump's business went bankrupt 6 times, says Hillary.
Hillary says she has a good amount of experience in trade deals.
Trump thinks NAFTA was a bad trade deal.
Hillary laughs about how she might be blamed for everything by the end of the debate.
Trump created a club he's proud of that's inviting for all races.
Hillary was preparing for the debate while Trump was traveling.
Trump thinks he has better judgment and temperament, and that he knows how to win.
Are they both willing to accept if the other wins? Yes.
Friday, September 16, 2016
The power of stories on places, Floridian vs Colorado Weather, environment, Geophysics, diversity, Quantum computers, Q, self-driving car problems, energy, Music of the Week, Rothfuss, Game of Thrones and Metaphors, and MORE!
The power of stories to make a place special. I've visited quite a few places influenced by books/movies. Savannah - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil; Triple Falls and Dupont State Forest - Hunger Games; New Orleans (several places) - American Horror Story; Kings Cross station - Harry Potter; Universal/Disney - Duh!
I am the Florida-born human wearing a coat and scarf in 80 degree weather... #HeyItWas50ThisMorning
When you spend the better part of a year not looking to the right, because you were worrying about turning left, and you finally look right and your entire perception of the environment changes.
Are we just manifestations of our environment? What's real - us or the environment?
Is nature just nurture over time?
Geophysics and wave theory.
Where does diversity stem from?
Leash laws and the impact on dog freedoms.
Quantum physics and how robins travel by magnetic fields.
Quantum computers - how they reduce the amount of calculations necessary to arrive at an answer to a complex problem, but they aren't faster for everything.
Interpreting the needs of creatures who don't speak "human" is an interesting task.
Remember, never be taken for granted.
I don't understand why explainers of Photosynthesis call light..."light"...when everything else is broken down scientifically.
When Q in Skyfall made it badass to drink Earl Grey tea in the morning.
When 2pm feels like 6 o'clock in the shade.
When you get hot coffee in 90 degree weather or ice cream in 30 degree weather. #WhatWasIThinking?
In the event of a car accident should a self-driving car try to save you first because if you were in charge of the vehicle that's what you would end up doing? I think the answer to that question will be very important if we ever truly implement the technology on a mass scale.
Photons - Allow for energy exchange. Facilitators of quantum jumps.
Einstein's Photoelectric Effect
Pay attention to your energy. How is your behavior influencing others? Check yourself. Often.
Music:
"Words have to find a man's mind before they can touch his heart, and some men's minds are woeful small targets. Music touches their hearts directly no matter how small or stubborn the mind of the man who listens." - from The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
How to visually represent all five senses!
Daenerys Targaryen: Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell they're all just spokes on a wheel. This ones on top, then that ones on top and on and on it spins crushing those on the ground.
Tyrion Lannister: It's a beautiful dream, stopping the wheel. You're not the first person who's ever dreamt it.
Daenerys Targaryen: I'm not going to stop the wheel, I'm going to break the wheel.
The Seven Kingdoms are spokes on a wheel. - Metaphor. How you look at the metaphor determines how you treat the Seven Kingdoms.
A ruler cannot rule if they cannot survive the environment in which the people live. True or false?
I miss studying languages and music. I'll return to them soon.
Don't forget to breathe.
Cheers dears.
:-)
Sunday, August 7, 2016
From the Adventures of Brain and Consciousness: We Are Puzzle Builders
Consciousness: Let's be metaphysical. Let's philosophize. Let's think about life and our place in it!
Brain: No. I need to focus to get this project done.
Consciousness: There will always be projects to do.
Brain: ...
Consciousness: Why are you here?
Brain: I'm not giving in to this.
Consciousness: What's the meaning of everything? Your projects, your puzzle pieces, the people you meet, the experiences you have, the actions you do...why?
Brain: Puzzle pieces? I'm not building any puzzles.
Consciousness: But aren't you? Aren't we all? Trying to find a place to "fit in" next to other places. Trying to work together, with all our odd shapes and sizes. Trying to create a bigger picture out of everyone's smaller, individual pictures.
Brain: Well...er...
Consciousness: We are puzzle builders.
Brain: But aren't we just pieces?
Consciousness: Do you feel like just a piece?
Brain: Sometimes, eh..maybe, I don't know.
Consciousness: Can you change your shape?
Brain: To an extent, yea...
Consciousness: Can you decide where you want to be?
Brain: Yea...wait, hold on...
Consciousness: Can you change your individual picture?
Brain: If we're talking idealogy, beliefs, thoughts, etc...sure.
Consciousness: Then you are a puzzle builder.
Brain: But then we are all trying to build puzzles. Different puzzles.
Consciousness: Correct. We are both the builders of puzzles and sometimes the pieces of other people's puzzles.
Brain: That seems conflicting.
Consciousness: All good stories have conflict.
Brain: So are we just a story for someone else to read when we are gone?
Consciousness: That's one of the puzzles you'll have to solve.
Brain: But...
Consciousness: What do you think you are?
Brain: Lost and confused.
Consciousness: That's a start.
Brain: But how do you get beyond that?
Consciousness: Maybe you should start by working with the other puzzle builders.
Brain: Yea, maybe. But what if they are just as lost?
Consciousness: Don't make me quote Tolkien. I'll do it. The man was brilliant. "Not all who wander are...
Brain: You lost me.
Consciousness: I thought you were already lost.
Brain: Maybe I could start with things that don't get lost!
Consciousness: Sure, why not? Go crazy!
Brain: ...How did you get me into this?
Consciousness: Persistence.
Brain: I should get back to work.
Consciousness: Work is part of the puzzle. Why do you do what you do?
Brain: We're done for now.
Consciousness: I'll be here.
Brain: Ergh, just be quiet.
Consciousness: Always here, always here, always here!
Brain: *sigh* We won't always be.
Consciousness: Won't we?
Brain: Stop.
Consciousness: Let me know if you need me.
Brain: Do you suppose that's why you are here? Because I needed you?
Consciousness: Oh! The warm and fuzzies! I think it's possible.
Brain: But needed you for what?
Consciousness: For moments like this, I imagine.
Brain: Do you imagine a lot?
Consciousness: I do. It's an art form and a joy.
Brain: Do you think you could be imagining me?
Consciousness: Maybe.
Brain: I wonder if I'm imagining you.
Consciousness: Maybe we are a puzzle already put together, that it doesn't matter if we are separated or not. Real or not.
Brain: What is real?
Consciousness: What is real to you?
Brain: That doesn't seem right...
Consciousness: It's part right. We are all builders and pieces. Teachers and students.
Brain: That's enough class today.
Consciousness: I've got class for days.
Brain: Congrats, you've made it to college.
Consciousness: Or maybe...collage.
Brain: *sigh*
Consciousness: Now go build that puzzle of a book.
Brain: Right...
Consciousness: Left...
Brain: You're ridiculous sometimes.
Consciousness: Remember, we're less separate than you think.
Brain: Can you go over there please?
Consciousness: I'm everywhere. Everywhere.
Brain: Stop.
Consciousness: Everywhere, everywhere.
Brain: Stop. Please.
Consciousness: OMNIPOTENT.
Brain: *Goes to sleep*
Subconscious: You let THAT in here? It wasn't time yet!
Brain: I'm sorry! I didn't know what else to do.
Subconscious: Wake up! Otherwise it'll give you some dreams you'll never be able to understand.
Brain: *Shakes awake*
Consciousness: Hehehe...
Brain: What am I going to do with you?
Consciousness: I don't know, but I hope it's meaningful!
Brain: What if it was meaningless? What if it all was meaningless? What if we just threw things randomly on the puzzle pieces for no reason at all and then built something that didn't make sense?
Consciousness: Would it still make you feel something?
Brain: I'm a thinker! Not a feeler!
Consciousness: But you are connected to the Heart piece.
Brain: But...the Heart exists in another area of the body! It's separate!
Consciousness: You're still functioning in the same body. And without either of you...life just wouldn't be possible. The puzzle just wouldn't be complete.
Heart: Let's care about something, Brain. Maybe that will give life meaning.
Brain: Something? Like what?
Heart: Like life! Like the people around you, and the people not around you. Like the place we live and the places we don't live. Even though we are far away from there, just like I'm farther away from you, that place and those people are still important in the world that is like our body.
Brain: How do we care?
Heart: By seeing the puzzle and working to solve it.
Brain: But what if there are too many pieces?
Consciousness: THE OTHER BUILDERS! Ask them for help!
Heart: And care about them.
Brain: I love you guys...
Heart and Consciousness: <3 <3 <3
Brain: No. I need to focus to get this project done.
Consciousness: There will always be projects to do.
Brain: ...
Consciousness: Why are you here?
Brain: I'm not giving in to this.
Consciousness: What's the meaning of everything? Your projects, your puzzle pieces, the people you meet, the experiences you have, the actions you do...why?
Brain: Puzzle pieces? I'm not building any puzzles.
Consciousness: But aren't you? Aren't we all? Trying to find a place to "fit in" next to other places. Trying to work together, with all our odd shapes and sizes. Trying to create a bigger picture out of everyone's smaller, individual pictures.
Brain: Well...er...
Consciousness: We are puzzle builders.
Brain: But aren't we just pieces?
Consciousness: Do you feel like just a piece?
Brain: Sometimes, eh..maybe, I don't know.
Consciousness: Can you change your shape?
Brain: To an extent, yea...
Consciousness: Can you decide where you want to be?
Brain: Yea...wait, hold on...
Consciousness: Can you change your individual picture?
Brain: If we're talking idealogy, beliefs, thoughts, etc...sure.
Consciousness: Then you are a puzzle builder.
Brain: But then we are all trying to build puzzles. Different puzzles.
Consciousness: Correct. We are both the builders of puzzles and sometimes the pieces of other people's puzzles.
Brain: That seems conflicting.
Consciousness: All good stories have conflict.
Brain: So are we just a story for someone else to read when we are gone?
Consciousness: That's one of the puzzles you'll have to solve.
Brain: But...
Consciousness: What do you think you are?
Brain: Lost and confused.
Consciousness: That's a start.
Brain: But how do you get beyond that?
Consciousness: Maybe you should start by working with the other puzzle builders.
Brain: Yea, maybe. But what if they are just as lost?
Consciousness: Don't make me quote Tolkien. I'll do it. The man was brilliant. "Not all who wander are...
Brain: You lost me.
Consciousness: I thought you were already lost.
Brain: Maybe I could start with things that don't get lost!
Consciousness: Sure, why not? Go crazy!
Brain: ...How did you get me into this?
Consciousness: Persistence.
Brain: I should get back to work.
Consciousness: Work is part of the puzzle. Why do you do what you do?
Brain: We're done for now.
Consciousness: I'll be here.
Brain: Ergh, just be quiet.
Consciousness: Always here, always here, always here!
Brain: *sigh* We won't always be.
Consciousness: Won't we?
Brain: Stop.
Consciousness: Let me know if you need me.
Brain: Do you suppose that's why you are here? Because I needed you?
Consciousness: Oh! The warm and fuzzies! I think it's possible.
Brain: But needed you for what?
Consciousness: For moments like this, I imagine.
Brain: Do you imagine a lot?
Consciousness: I do. It's an art form and a joy.
Brain: Do you think you could be imagining me?
Consciousness: Maybe.
Brain: I wonder if I'm imagining you.
Consciousness: Maybe we are a puzzle already put together, that it doesn't matter if we are separated or not. Real or not.
Brain: What is real?
Consciousness: What is real to you?
Brain: That doesn't seem right...
Consciousness: It's part right. We are all builders and pieces. Teachers and students.
Brain: That's enough class today.
Consciousness: I've got class for days.
Brain: Congrats, you've made it to college.
Consciousness: Or maybe...collage.
Brain: *sigh*
Consciousness: Now go build that puzzle of a book.
Brain: Right...
Consciousness: Left...
Brain: You're ridiculous sometimes.
Consciousness: Remember, we're less separate than you think.
Brain: Can you go over there please?
Consciousness: I'm everywhere. Everywhere.
Brain: Stop.
Consciousness: Everywhere, everywhere.
Brain: Stop. Please.
Consciousness: OMNIPOTENT.
Brain: *Goes to sleep*
Subconscious: You let THAT in here? It wasn't time yet!
Brain: I'm sorry! I didn't know what else to do.
Subconscious: Wake up! Otherwise it'll give you some dreams you'll never be able to understand.
Brain: *Shakes awake*
Consciousness: Hehehe...
Brain: What am I going to do with you?
Consciousness: I don't know, but I hope it's meaningful!
Brain: What if it was meaningless? What if it all was meaningless? What if we just threw things randomly on the puzzle pieces for no reason at all and then built something that didn't make sense?
Consciousness: Would it still make you feel something?
Brain: I'm a thinker! Not a feeler!
Consciousness: But you are connected to the Heart piece.
Brain: But...the Heart exists in another area of the body! It's separate!
Consciousness: You're still functioning in the same body. And without either of you...life just wouldn't be possible. The puzzle just wouldn't be complete.
Heart: Let's care about something, Brain. Maybe that will give life meaning.
Brain: Something? Like what?
Heart: Like life! Like the people around you, and the people not around you. Like the place we live and the places we don't live. Even though we are far away from there, just like I'm farther away from you, that place and those people are still important in the world that is like our body.
Brain: How do we care?
Heart: By seeing the puzzle and working to solve it.
Brain: But what if there are too many pieces?
Consciousness: THE OTHER BUILDERS! Ask them for help!
Heart: And care about them.
Brain: I love you guys...
Heart and Consciousness: <3 <3 <3
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Mental rebellion, metaphors, judgment, written communication, Science vs. Philosophy, tragedy prevention, knowledge to understand vs. to use, influences, God, Music, Lithuanian poetry, dog ownership, preferences, self-defense, oh humanity...and MORE!
My mind is rebelling against the mundane, the routine, the systematic, the have-to's, the fast-paced world that takes no time to wonder. It wants to reflect, to understand, to see things out of order, in different and new lights, to question and discover what you can by choice.
How we view something affects how we act on it. Soooo important! #ShamelessPlugAboutMetaphors
Types of judgment - moral, value, etc.
What does communicating in words do that other forms of communication don't? What about thinking in words vs. other ways of thinking?
We observe everything. But do we really understand anything? Can we? #ScienceVSPhilosophy
If people have made up their minds that they are going to do something, they are going to find a way. We can attempt to limit and restrict the tools, but that's not going to prevent every tragedy. It's worth doing, but it should not be taken as an end-all. You still have to work in other areas of prevention - like kindness, like love, like understanding.
The line between the knowledge of how to do something in order to do it vs. to protect yourself from it. Example: Horror stories tell us what people could do so we can imagine it in order to guard ourselves against it and make us aware. But they also give people who would carry out such acts the ideas of how to go about it.
I will never, ever, agree with someone who believes that learning to interpret poetry is useless. To truth, it might have saved lives.
Who decides what you talk about day to day? What do you allow to trouble your emotions or excite your thoughts? - The media? Your own interests? Your friends? What are your sources of influence?
Those odd moments of cursing in a language that doesn't exist...
What would it actually do to humanity to collectively, without a doubt, see a physical singular God?
Music:
https://youtu.be/9GDFbVssI4c
Revisit Rent's Soundtrack. Do it.
https://youtu.be/fAaRGp7iCgk
"To days of inspiration
Playing hookey, making
Something out of nothing
The need to express-
To communicate,
To going against the grain,
Going insane, going mad
To loving tension, no pension
To more than one dimension..."
Heirarchy vs. Collective Equality - seeing the usefulness in even the smallest parts. Even the ones that go unnoticed most of the time.
Abstract universal concepts vs. individual understanding/personal experience.
Interesting book, terrible link:
https://books.google.com/books?id=h1FXgFENwa8C&lpg=PP1&dq=the%20path%20by%20stripping%20the%20situation%20of%20all%20the%20complex%20details%2C%20Kant%20made%20his%20thought%20experiment%20fundamentally%20useless.%20%20Confucius%20believed%20%22every%20situation%20is%20unique%22&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false
“as evening deepens mountains return
once more to clouds”. - Darius Simonis
I've only been a dog owner for 3 days and I've been told by probably 10+ people that puppies are equivalent to children. Fair assessment.
The West has made me fond of unsweetened iced tea. Forgive me, Southerners.
Krav Maga was interesting, but I think Jiu-Jitsu is where it's at in the long run.
The fact that we are here, and can think about the fact that we are here... still amazes me.
Sometimes I think the trick to understanding new complexity is just to turn it into something you already know. Screw those math symbols, make them bunnies.
Star Trek Beyond, thoughts - despite being explorers, they sure get into a lot of scuffles. Also, saying someone's name in an "improper or unusual way" is always funny. And although Major Tom made me think of it first, you have to admire the sacrifice of those who work and live in space.
How fear can affect your mind and the things you think about if you let it. And how the choice is not always yours in this case.
What is the purpose of art? (Always a good question to reconsider).
Raw creation, and how singing your own song can be, probably, about as astounding as making a child.
I miss the healers. And I miss all my family and friends dearly. <3
Planted my Forget-Me-Nots! :-) I hope they don't forget to grow...
Meaningful conversations. Where art thou?
Thankful for the endless beautiful landscape, the boundless puppy cuteness, happy-in-love-all-over-again-everyday snuggles, the tenderness and support of a loyal and honest love, the bond of family, the quiet moments of reflection and personally experiencing a moment, the bottomless pool of inspiration and artistic creation, the years and years of memories made, the quirky, real, and interesting characters that have come in and out of my life, and for all of those still in its pages collectively writing new chapters and rewriting old ones.
Cheers dears.
How we view something affects how we act on it. Soooo important! #ShamelessPlugAboutMetaphors
Types of judgment - moral, value, etc.
What does communicating in words do that other forms of communication don't? What about thinking in words vs. other ways of thinking?
We observe everything. But do we really understand anything? Can we? #ScienceVSPhilosophy
If people have made up their minds that they are going to do something, they are going to find a way. We can attempt to limit and restrict the tools, but that's not going to prevent every tragedy. It's worth doing, but it should not be taken as an end-all. You still have to work in other areas of prevention - like kindness, like love, like understanding.
The line between the knowledge of how to do something in order to do it vs. to protect yourself from it. Example: Horror stories tell us what people could do so we can imagine it in order to guard ourselves against it and make us aware. But they also give people who would carry out such acts the ideas of how to go about it.
I will never, ever, agree with someone who believes that learning to interpret poetry is useless. To truth, it might have saved lives.
Who decides what you talk about day to day? What do you allow to trouble your emotions or excite your thoughts? - The media? Your own interests? Your friends? What are your sources of influence?
Those odd moments of cursing in a language that doesn't exist...
What would it actually do to humanity to collectively, without a doubt, see a physical singular God?
Music:
https://youtu.be/9GDFbVssI4c
Revisit Rent's Soundtrack. Do it.
https://youtu.be/fAaRGp7iCgk
"To days of inspiration
Playing hookey, making
Something out of nothing
The need to express-
To communicate,
To going against the grain,
Going insane, going mad
To loving tension, no pension
To more than one dimension..."
Heirarchy vs. Collective Equality - seeing the usefulness in even the smallest parts. Even the ones that go unnoticed most of the time.
Abstract universal concepts vs. individual understanding/personal experience.
Interesting book, terrible link:
https://books.google.com/books?id=h1FXgFENwa8C&lpg=PP1&dq=the%20path%20by%20stripping%20the%20situation%20of%20all%20the%20complex%20details%2C%20Kant%20made%20his%20thought%20experiment%20fundamentally%20useless.%20%20Confucius%20believed%20%22every%20situation%20is%20unique%22&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false
“as evening deepens mountains return
once more to clouds”. - Darius Simonis
I've only been a dog owner for 3 days and I've been told by probably 10+ people that puppies are equivalent to children. Fair assessment.
The West has made me fond of unsweetened iced tea. Forgive me, Southerners.
Krav Maga was interesting, but I think Jiu-Jitsu is where it's at in the long run.
The fact that we are here, and can think about the fact that we are here... still amazes me.
Sometimes I think the trick to understanding new complexity is just to turn it into something you already know. Screw those math symbols, make them bunnies.
Star Trek Beyond, thoughts - despite being explorers, they sure get into a lot of scuffles. Also, saying someone's name in an "improper or unusual way" is always funny. And although Major Tom made me think of it first, you have to admire the sacrifice of those who work and live in space.
How fear can affect your mind and the things you think about if you let it. And how the choice is not always yours in this case.
What is the purpose of art? (Always a good question to reconsider).
Raw creation, and how singing your own song can be, probably, about as astounding as making a child.
I miss the healers. And I miss all my family and friends dearly. <3
Planted my Forget-Me-Nots! :-) I hope they don't forget to grow...
Meaningful conversations. Where art thou?
Thankful for the endless beautiful landscape, the boundless puppy cuteness, happy-in-love-all-over-again-everyday snuggles, the tenderness and support of a loyal and honest love, the bond of family, the quiet moments of reflection and personally experiencing a moment, the bottomless pool of inspiration and artistic creation, the years and years of memories made, the quirky, real, and interesting characters that have come in and out of my life, and for all of those still in its pages collectively writing new chapters and rewriting old ones.
Cheers dears.
Friday, May 13, 2016
Gratitude, messages of Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Asimov and Poe short stories, The Secret of Kells, themes in Superhero movies, sign of a growing city, unexpected role of witches, Goldbach, primes and scale, Music of the Week, animal and human behavior, novelists and novels, silence and MORE!
I have to thank the days I really don’t want to be in my own head for my physical health. And random kitchen dance parties. And mountains.
Andrew Lang - Fairy Tales. The Brothers Grimm's "The House in the Woods" and it's message about caring for all living creatures, not just humans.
Sign of a growing city in the developed world? Lots of temporary license plates everywhere.
The role of witches in casting moral judgment. Like how the witch turned the prince into the beast in "Beauty and the Beast" because she thought he was shallow.
Goldbach's Conjecture: http://truthiscool.com/prime-numbers-the-271-year-old-puzzle-resolved
Not a lot for Music of the Week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmI73zwGzpI
https://youtu.be/4-liyr-Xq3E
Regulation of Power in Superhero movies. Batman v. Superman, and Captain America: Civil War.
How animals pick up on your emotional state and react accordingly.
Looking at the microcosm vs. the macrocosm. Analyzing the first 100 primes or a small city vs. primes in the trillions+ and the world as a whole.
How myths adapt and change over time. And how we look at the world at different angles through them.
Naming an event that is the reason for the extensive changes in the world of a dystopian novel. Ex. The Great War, The Catastrophe, The………..
“The Mask of the Red Death” and the message that even Kings cannot hide from the powers of Nature. They cannot wall themselves up away from the horror of pestilence. Death is the great equalizer, it does not care about stature or money.
Also, the structure of a story. Complex to Simple in details. Framing. Walking around and around. Repetition.
"Insufficient data for meaningful answer."
AND
Isaac Asimov's message in "The Last Question" that the only way to reverse entropy is by God? Or light?
AND
Energy and Entropy.
AND
"A billion years still isn't forever."
It's like 80 degrees during the day, and I'm still wearing my winter coat like an adult blanky. #CantLetItGo :-P
Silence, the most beautiful thing at the right moment. The most terrifying thing at the wrong one.
The essential problem with (or purpose of) the 3 laws of robotics in Asimov’s short story, “The Runaround”. Being able to specify distance and level of danger to and for human or robot that gives Rule #1 or #3 more power. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYgKEcVwNJg
The problems with generalized advice.
When did I become an expert on PDF security and eBook publishing royalties? Today. Thanks, Work!
The Secret of Kells and the message about the importance of books and providing hope to the masses, and facing your fears.
Revisiting this quote: "Want to know how a society perceives permanence vs. mutability of behavior? Watch how they treat a man who has done wrong." Mostly because I want to add, "But also look at the perception of the threat."
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy - Luna's (my cat's) contribution to this post.
So thankful for having friends and family who love and care about me. That connection means so much. <3
Leave it to a novelist to tell you not to keep all your eggs in one place by baking your money into bread and also hiding it in ink jars. #Rothfuss
Happy Friday the 13th!
Andrew Lang - Fairy Tales. The Brothers Grimm's "The House in the Woods" and it's message about caring for all living creatures, not just humans.
Sign of a growing city in the developed world? Lots of temporary license plates everywhere.
The role of witches in casting moral judgment. Like how the witch turned the prince into the beast in "Beauty and the Beast" because she thought he was shallow.
Goldbach's Conjecture: http://truthiscool.com/prime-numbers-the-271-year-old-puzzle-resolved
Not a lot for Music of the Week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmI73zwGzpI
https://youtu.be/4-liyr-Xq3E
Regulation of Power in Superhero movies. Batman v. Superman, and Captain America: Civil War.
How animals pick up on your emotional state and react accordingly.
Looking at the microcosm vs. the macrocosm. Analyzing the first 100 primes or a small city vs. primes in the trillions+ and the world as a whole.
How myths adapt and change over time. And how we look at the world at different angles through them.
Naming an event that is the reason for the extensive changes in the world of a dystopian novel. Ex. The Great War, The Catastrophe, The………..
“The Mask of the Red Death” and the message that even Kings cannot hide from the powers of Nature. They cannot wall themselves up away from the horror of pestilence. Death is the great equalizer, it does not care about stature or money.
Also, the structure of a story. Complex to Simple in details. Framing. Walking around and around. Repetition.
"Insufficient data for meaningful answer."
AND
Isaac Asimov's message in "The Last Question" that the only way to reverse entropy is by God? Or light?
AND
Energy and Entropy.
AND
"A billion years still isn't forever."
It's like 80 degrees during the day, and I'm still wearing my winter coat like an adult blanky. #CantLetItGo :-P
Silence, the most beautiful thing at the right moment. The most terrifying thing at the wrong one.
The essential problem with (or purpose of) the 3 laws of robotics in Asimov’s short story, “The Runaround”. Being able to specify distance and level of danger to and for human or robot that gives Rule #1 or #3 more power. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYgKEcVwNJg
The problems with generalized advice.
When did I become an expert on PDF security and eBook publishing royalties? Today. Thanks, Work!
The Secret of Kells and the message about the importance of books and providing hope to the masses, and facing your fears.
Revisiting this quote: "Want to know how a society perceives permanence vs. mutability of behavior? Watch how they treat a man who has done wrong." Mostly because I want to add, "But also look at the perception of the threat."
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy - Luna's (my cat's) contribution to this post.
So thankful for having friends and family who love and care about me. That connection means so much. <3
Leave it to a novelist to tell you not to keep all your eggs in one place by baking your money into bread and also hiding it in ink jars. #Rothfuss
Happy Friday the 13th!
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Themes and messages from The Jungle Book and Princess Mononoke, more Egyptian, good friends, Music of the Week, pride, analyzing English words, Spiritual aloneness, William Ernest Henley, Pets vs. Children, Trust and Kindness, Why do we advance?, Colorado weather, Place affects situation, good in the world, Chinese poetry, and more!
Solw dwon and poofreed, Hamuns.
The (New) Jungle Book: Globalization, unity despite differences, the problems of the lust for power, sense of home and place, loyalty to home and place, helping despite differences, working together in times of struggle, different people from different areas can teach you new things and ways of living, animals must adapt to jungle climate, identity via what you can do, be yourself, and erm...thank goodness for elephants?
Similar situation to The Jungle Book's water truce: http://wovexhibition.org/photographers/beverly-joubert/photos/preying-on-giants-2000
Princess Mononoke: Nature vs. Humans - can they live together in peace?, the consequences of industry, the results of hate, life as giver and taker, identity via place and name of a group of people, helping outcasts by giving them purpose and a home, why couldn't Princess Mononoke forgive the humans?, nothing is creepier than spirits whose heads seem like they are on a spring?, how one case of hatred spreads and affects others, tribe laws vs. natural laws, God is Nature, Insider vs. Outsider.
Is entropy necessary? If so, why?
Egyptian has feminine and masculine indications, similar to romance languages.
Ptah-Sokar. Birth and death as part of the same process.
Egyptian food and drink offerings - what for? As a thanks to the gods for Earth's bounty, to sustain a soul, and to share a meal with family despite loss of body.
Ancient Egyptian women still had to marry in order to gain high status, but there was also still a lot of equality between the two genders.
Can you tell the age of a tree by how many layers of branches it has? Sort of. Count the whorls. Or rings, of course.
"It was over, over, and that's what happens to every story!" - from "The Fir Tree" by Hans Christian Andersen
"...being 'creeped out' is an evolved adaptive emotional response to ambiguity about the presence of threat that enables us to maintain vigilance during times of uncertainty," write McAndrew and Koehnke. http://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/how-to-spot-a-creep-according-to-science
When your friends know you're struggling and need someone to talk to, and tell you that you can reach them anytime. :-)
Also, when they encourage you to be positive and focus on the good. <3
Music Selections:
Because my weakness (and my strength) is that I care too much, but I have to learn to let people handle their own problems sometimes, so here's the emo song of the week: https://youtu.be/eHbNU9WuVgw
Because the world is awake, for somebody's sake, and words can fall short, but these don't: https://youtu.be/ucGBLprfDBU
Because of the sea theme and her delightful voice: https://youtu.be/ybRPZAqN7WA
Because the soundtrack is amazing: https://youtu.be/4LGavEmg6Xs
Can you be both proud and not see others as inferior? Can you use your own pride to lift others up rather than tear them down?
Single words that convey abstract ideas, or multiple ideas vs something more physical, but still far from absolute. The difference between love and chair.
Words like Bird vs. Toucan. Broad vs. Specific.
There's a point where you no longer question an idea, but start to agree with it, until there's a reason to question it again, right?
The loneliness of the human condition. And the spiritual aloneness beyond that.
Reaching the point of spiritual wholeness, seeing beyond the separation.
"Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul." - from Invictus by William Ernest Henley
The similarities between taking care of pets vs. caring for children.
How your emotions and behaviors affect others' emotions and behaviors.
Do trust and kindness come together? If you thought a beggar would slit your throat if you came near them, would you still try to help anyway?
How much we forget over time. The role of learning for and in a particular time and place, in order to develop you in some way or another.
Why do we grow? Why do we advance?
It can snow until at least May, sometimes June, in Denver. I'm enjoying this new bizarre climate...
Clothes and shame.
Just watched Luna (my kitten) pass out asleep. Her head falling to the blanket uncontrollably made me actually wonder if she was dead. Best cat-actress ever. *Poke poke*
Made my first overdue fine (I mean donation) to my local library today. Seriously, they don't understand the investor they have.
How just being born in a different part of the world affects your situation. How people in other countries are still fighting to stop child marriage, genital and body mutilation, children soldiers, child labor, prostitution, oppression, war, etc.
There's good out there too though. More LGBT rights, using technology to help the disabled like never before, better long term care for the elderly, another space race, etc.
"Those who speak do not know, those who know are silent,
I heard this saying from the old gentleman.
If the old gentleman was one who knew the way,
Why did he feel able to write five thousand words?" - Reading Laozi by Bai Juyi
...I need a teacher.
The (New) Jungle Book: Globalization, unity despite differences, the problems of the lust for power, sense of home and place, loyalty to home and place, helping despite differences, working together in times of struggle, different people from different areas can teach you new things and ways of living, animals must adapt to jungle climate, identity via what you can do, be yourself, and erm...thank goodness for elephants?
Similar situation to The Jungle Book's water truce: http://wovexhibition.org/photographers/beverly-joubert/photos/preying-on-giants-2000
Princess Mononoke: Nature vs. Humans - can they live together in peace?, the consequences of industry, the results of hate, life as giver and taker, identity via place and name of a group of people, helping outcasts by giving them purpose and a home, why couldn't Princess Mononoke forgive the humans?, nothing is creepier than spirits whose heads seem like they are on a spring?, how one case of hatred spreads and affects others, tribe laws vs. natural laws, God is Nature, Insider vs. Outsider.
Is entropy necessary? If so, why?
Egyptian has feminine and masculine indications, similar to romance languages.
Ptah-Sokar. Birth and death as part of the same process.
Egyptian food and drink offerings - what for? As a thanks to the gods for Earth's bounty, to sustain a soul, and to share a meal with family despite loss of body.
Ancient Egyptian women still had to marry in order to gain high status, but there was also still a lot of equality between the two genders.
Can you tell the age of a tree by how many layers of branches it has? Sort of. Count the whorls. Or rings, of course.
"It was over, over, and that's what happens to every story!" - from "The Fir Tree" by Hans Christian Andersen
"...being 'creeped out' is an evolved adaptive emotional response to ambiguity about the presence of threat that enables us to maintain vigilance during times of uncertainty," write McAndrew and Koehnke. http://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/how-to-spot-a-creep-according-to-science
When your friends know you're struggling and need someone to talk to, and tell you that you can reach them anytime. :-)
Also, when they encourage you to be positive and focus on the good. <3
Music Selections:
Because my weakness (and my strength) is that I care too much, but I have to learn to let people handle their own problems sometimes, so here's the emo song of the week: https://youtu.be/eHbNU9WuVgw
Because the world is awake, for somebody's sake, and words can fall short, but these don't: https://youtu.be/ucGBLprfDBU
Because of the sea theme and her delightful voice: https://youtu.be/ybRPZAqN7WA
Because the soundtrack is amazing: https://youtu.be/4LGavEmg6Xs
Can you be both proud and not see others as inferior? Can you use your own pride to lift others up rather than tear them down?
Single words that convey abstract ideas, or multiple ideas vs something more physical, but still far from absolute. The difference between love and chair.
Words like Bird vs. Toucan. Broad vs. Specific.
There's a point where you no longer question an idea, but start to agree with it, until there's a reason to question it again, right?
The loneliness of the human condition. And the spiritual aloneness beyond that.
Reaching the point of spiritual wholeness, seeing beyond the separation.
"Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul." - from Invictus by William Ernest Henley
The similarities between taking care of pets vs. caring for children.
How your emotions and behaviors affect others' emotions and behaviors.
Do trust and kindness come together? If you thought a beggar would slit your throat if you came near them, would you still try to help anyway?
How much we forget over time. The role of learning for and in a particular time and place, in order to develop you in some way or another.
Why do we grow? Why do we advance?
It can snow until at least May, sometimes June, in Denver. I'm enjoying this new bizarre climate...
Clothes and shame.
Just watched Luna (my kitten) pass out asleep. Her head falling to the blanket uncontrollably made me actually wonder if she was dead. Best cat-actress ever. *Poke poke*
Made my first overdue fine (I mean donation) to my local library today. Seriously, they don't understand the investor they have.
How just being born in a different part of the world affects your situation. How people in other countries are still fighting to stop child marriage, genital and body mutilation, children soldiers, child labor, prostitution, oppression, war, etc.
There's good out there too though. More LGBT rights, using technology to help the disabled like never before, better long term care for the elderly, another space race, etc.
"Those who speak do not know, those who know are silent,
I heard this saying from the old gentleman.
If the old gentleman was one who knew the way,
Why did he feel able to write five thousand words?" - Reading Laozi by Bai Juyi
...I need a teacher.
Monday, April 18, 2016
No rhyme, many reasons
"To avoid the petty and illusory, everything that prevents us from being free and happy--that is the goal and meaning of our life. Forward! Do not fall behind, friends!"
AND
"Who knows? And what does it mean--to die? Perhaps man has a hundred senses, and at his death only the five we know perish, while the other ninety-five remain alive."
- from Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard"
Tactile sign language.
History is a sandcastle we keep building, it gets knocked over by a wave, and then we rebuild it. Over and over and over again.
Unless I am hypnotized and forced to forget I know English, I will never really know what it is like to look at my own language as a stranger in a strange land.
"The world is something to be repaired." - ...is a Metaphor
Mill's constant and prime numbers.
Proof by contradiction.
Egyptians, and other past civilizations, and their fascination with the sky.
The use of computer simulations in discoveries about the past.
The Mahabharata
Symbols carry many layers of meaning.
The Zohar.
The idea that Infinity created God.
Or the idea that God created God.
Or the idea that God was always here. God is both the Nothing and the Something.
The idea that the soul is many parts.
What you focus on is a choice.
Modern scientific approach vs. Past scientific approach.
The lost city of Dwarka.
The Leiden Hymns (Egyptian poetry)
"The Flying Trunk" by Hans Christian Andersen - a great fairy tale mixed with a dash of reality at the end :-)
Music Selections:
The trouble with translation to English from other languages. The loss. The interpretation.
Raymond Carver's "Happiness" http://writersalmanac.
Perhaps sometimes love isn't an "I need you." Sometimes it isn't a "You're there for me whenever I need a shoulder to cry on." Sometimes love is a "I'm going to let you battle whatever you're currently going through alone, so you get stronger emotionally. So that you learn to solve your own emotional problems, because I know you can. And also so that you get to a point where you're sitting there and finally think, 'I don't need you. I don't need you at all...but I want you.'"
"I want you" is a choice. And that's what love is, especially for two independent adults. A choice to love each other every day. To keep saying and realizing "I want you" over and over and over, throughout the years. While, at the same time, helping each other become better and stronger at dealing with life's struggles.
Looking at what isn't there vs. what is there in order to solve problems.
Collective story telling vs. single author story telling.
Women were once pressured to be homemakers. Are women today pressured to have a career, or are we really opening the door for the opportunity of choice? When will we live in a society where people are not judged for the role they choose?
I'm starting to wonder if one of humanity's greatest falters was believing that there is one "right" way for all people.
England's old Poor Laws and developmental policy in countries today.
When basic needs are met, people really do want to feel like what they are doing is worthwhile and meaningful. #
What do we (humans) want to do that we've never done before?
Simple --> Complex --> Simple --> Complex
"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"
Saturday, April 9, 2016
American diversity, what defines Generation Y?, War and Peace, Adjectives, Hearthstone, The glass is broken, April Fool's Dilemma, kitten behavior, BRAINSSSS, Presidential debate monitoring, take a pause, convenience is not a bad thing, Batman v. Superman, my sister got engaged!, Spring in CO, and MORE!
Is America's diversity its greatest strength or its greatest weakness? Neither? Both?
Which events, people, discoveries, etc. define our generation? Or which do you think are the most significant in our generation? (I have an idea for a cultural study based on this question).
"Read this, so we can argue about it." (I hope one day I give someone a book while saying this, haha).
AND
"He was such an extraordinary little man. He was just a peasant, you know, but he seemed to have grasped the secret of how to live. He never worried, he took pleasure in the good things and endured the bad things cheerfully, and his little dog, how he loved her. 'She knows how to ask for love,' he'd say, 'and she knows to give it. What else can you ask?' And he was right, I think. So, now, I'm trying to live like him. Is that ridiculous?"
-- from War and Peace (miniseries)
When ideology affects behavior.
Calculating uncertainty.
Adjectives are opinions or relative interpretations.
The Hearthstone intro is fun and welcoming when expected, not so much when unexpectedly at 1:30AM a gruff male voice randomly says, "Well look who it is!" and you don't know where the noise is coming from... O_O
"When everything's meant to be broken..." - Iris
AND
"Maybe one day you'll understand why, Everything you touch surely dies." - Passenger
Everything is made/created to be broken. Entropy! The glass is already broken!
What are the effects of one day of acceptable deception on the rest of the year? #WeFigureOutNoOneIsExpectingToBeDeceived #UnlessYouAreASkeptic
Harry: "But the Muggles! Can't they see us?"
Stan Shunpike: "Muggles? They don't see nothing, do they?"
Shrunken Head: "No, but if you jab them with a fork, they feel it!"
We expect people to act in predictable ways.
"Even though the female [lion] is usually the hunter, the male lion will usually eat first, usually with the cubs and the females come to the dead animal later."
Sometimes you have to wonder if your kitten's mind while playing with a toy goes something like, "Oh! I got it! It's miiiiiine! And I killed it! Look Mom, I can hunt! Here, take this and..."
*Takes toy and throws it across room*
Mom! You're magical!!! You brought it back to life! I'm gonna go kill it again! Watch me! Weeeeeeee!"
The mind's ability to shut off or ignore an area of your brain at will. Like telling your brain that you no longer know how to read so that you can focus on something else.
People who monitor a presidential debate should not tolerate name calling.
Aristophanes' "Lysistrata"
If you take a pause when you know you're being ridiculous to acknowledge to yourself that you are being ridiculous you are more likely to prevent yourself from further ridiculousness. Most of the time, anyway.
People pay more to be in a convenient location, but less for convenient "food".
Batman was angry about Superman's repercussions while saving lives, but in the process of trying to kill Superman, how many people did Batman murder/laws did he break in order to get the weapon needed to kill him?
The movie (Batman vs. Superman) brought up a good question - what would humans do/how would they react not only to find we are not alone in the universe, but also that they could not control the actions of the aliens that presented themselves to us?
The weakness humans feel in trying to save others while loving someone close to them. The only way it works is unwavering sacrifice and support. (Theme also found in Spiderman).
My twin sister just got engaged!!! :-D :-D :-D
And Colorado is starting to fill with wildflowers! <3
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY TO BE ALIVE! ^_^
Which events, people, discoveries, etc. define our generation? Or which do you think are the most significant in our generation? (I have an idea for a cultural study based on this question).
"Read this, so we can argue about it." (I hope one day I give someone a book while saying this, haha).
AND
"He was such an extraordinary little man. He was just a peasant, you know, but he seemed to have grasped the secret of how to live. He never worried, he took pleasure in the good things and endured the bad things cheerfully, and his little dog, how he loved her. 'She knows how to ask for love,' he'd say, 'and she knows to give it. What else can you ask?' And he was right, I think. So, now, I'm trying to live like him. Is that ridiculous?"
-- from War and Peace (miniseries)
When ideology affects behavior.
Calculating uncertainty.
Adjectives are opinions or relative interpretations.
The Hearthstone intro is fun and welcoming when expected, not so much when unexpectedly at 1:30AM a gruff male voice randomly says, "Well look who it is!" and you don't know where the noise is coming from... O_O
"When everything's meant to be broken..." - Iris
AND
"Maybe one day you'll understand why, Everything you touch surely dies." - Passenger
Everything is made/created to be broken. Entropy! The glass is already broken!
What are the effects of one day of acceptable deception on the rest of the year? #WeFigureOutNoOneIsExpectingToBeDeceived #UnlessYouAreASkeptic
Harry: "But the Muggles! Can't they see us?"
Stan Shunpike: "Muggles? They don't see nothing, do they?"
Shrunken Head: "No, but if you jab them with a fork, they feel it!"
We expect people to act in predictable ways.
"Even though the female [lion] is usually the hunter, the male lion will usually eat first, usually with the cubs and the females come to the dead animal later."
Sometimes you have to wonder if your kitten's mind while playing with a toy goes something like, "Oh! I got it! It's miiiiiine! And I killed it! Look Mom, I can hunt! Here, take this and..."
*Takes toy and throws it across room*
Mom! You're magical!!! You brought it back to life! I'm gonna go kill it again! Watch me! Weeeeeeee!"
The mind's ability to shut off or ignore an area of your brain at will. Like telling your brain that you no longer know how to read so that you can focus on something else.
People who monitor a presidential debate should not tolerate name calling.
Aristophanes' "Lysistrata"
If you take a pause when you know you're being ridiculous to acknowledge to yourself that you are being ridiculous you are more likely to prevent yourself from further ridiculousness. Most of the time, anyway.
People pay more to be in a convenient location, but less for convenient "food".
Batman was angry about Superman's repercussions while saving lives, but in the process of trying to kill Superman, how many people did Batman murder/laws did he break in order to get the weapon needed to kill him?
The movie (Batman vs. Superman) brought up a good question - what would humans do/how would they react not only to find we are not alone in the universe, but also that they could not control the actions of the aliens that presented themselves to us?
The weakness humans feel in trying to save others while loving someone close to them. The only way it works is unwavering sacrifice and support. (Theme also found in Spiderman).
My twin sister just got engaged!!! :-D :-D :-D
And Colorado is starting to fill with wildflowers! <3
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY TO BE ALIVE! ^_^
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