25 Dec Joe Bruno
"Anyone afraid of dying is a fool. It's obvious everyone in life eventually dies. Only a fool would chose to come to life if they were afraid of dying....
24 Dec Kanako IIyama
"God saw I was worried and God laughed. Then I laughed too." Laughing is the best remedy for stress or pain. When we identify with God we can laugh at almost any state of mind....
23 Dec Pasta Nostra
Last night I had another fabulous dinner at Joe Bruno's Pasta Nostra restaurant in Norwalk, CT. Upon entering the restaurant, Joe greeted me: "Hey Victor, how do you feel?' To which I replied: "Alive and healthy, can't complain." To which Joe remarked: "You must be a masochist." And then we both roared a laugh. What Joe is saying is that there is a lot of difficult, frustrating or painful shit in life one needs to deal with beyond issues of just being alive and healthy. If after all the shit one is still happy to be alive and healthy, then one must be a masochist and enjoy difficult, frustrating or painful shit. Maybe so or maybe whatever comes one's way is wonderful in some way....
22 Dec The Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2021
NOTABLE & QUOTABLE: RUSSIA "An unidentified 'senior administration official' in a Dec. 17 U.S. State Department telephone briefing for reporters: You asked what the Russians are up to. I will let the Russians speak for themselves with regard to what they're up to. We believe, the President believes, our allies believe that if there are concerns--and we have concerns on our side, they clearly have concerns on their side--they are best discussed diplomatically...
19 Dec Big Bang
For most men, life begins and ends the same way; with the Big Bang, an orgasm. The first Big Bang results in embryonic fertilization and the second ends in immediately falling asleep....
17 Dec Slow Round 11 Watch
This one-hand quartz watch is an entertaining timepiece. The watch's one hand is gold-colored and emanates from a gold center disk, presumably the sun. The one hand is like a ray of sunlight whose movement reflects the passage of time. A full-circle move of the one hand represents the 24 hour day. Hence, the perimeter is crowded, allowing only markers that indicate time in quarter-hour segments. The day begins and ends at the lowest vertical point on the perimeter, the darkest hours. Other than the one hand and the markers, the watch face is a dark blue cover over the watch's internal movements which is like dark matter; unseen but presumed to affect all that is seen. With one-hand indicating time, it is like a sundial. Like the movement of the sun's golden rays is the movement of the watch's gold-colored hand. However, sundials are the most primitive of time-telling machines and this watch, propelled by a quartz movement, is most modern. With a quartz movement, the watch accurately measures time with a monthly accuracy of 15 seconds, considerably more accurate than a mechanical watch. However, as it has no markers indicating minutes, reading the time indicated is a bit of guesswork with 5 minutes leeway. Ironically, the most accurate watch is also the least accurate watch. As reading the time indicated is a bit of guesswork, this watch is unlike mechanical watches which we read without thought. Reading time on this watch requires our attention, awakening us a bit, and each reading is like never before which is the nature of time. Moreover, as we cannot precisely read the time, we know we can never be completely certain where we are in time. Maybe we can't be certain of other things as well. If so, best to go slow and not make choices impetuously. As well, we are unlikely in the same time-place as most other people whose watches are more in sync. The preceding is what I see in this watch, making the watch funny. Funny in that the watch allows very different views which are at odds. In looking at things I always find something about them funny. If not, I know I don’t know what I’m looking at....
16 Dec Identity Politics
Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, etc. were once adjectives. They identified someone's superficial self-evident physical appearance, skin color and/or dress. These adjectives didn't imply anything about an individual's nature or attitude. What defined a person was a function of our interactions with them. Today, these adjectives have become nouns. As nouns, they imply various socioeconomic and personality stereotypes that form our perception of the people they identify. The nouns are generalizations and, as all generalizations, are empty of anyone real. However, we perceive others in terms of these generalizations, group identities, not as they are. Individuals also often identify with group identities and behave accordingly, not as independent individuals with their own minds. Moreover, they view themselves as different from other groups. This leads individuals to view the world as "us and them" which often leads to conflicts. Our eyes see differences between individuals as adjectives. Our mind transforms these adjectives into nouns. ...
09 Dec William Shakespeare
"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." Unless they are clearly threatening to us, it's difficult to take seriously someone who takes themselves seriously. When someone can't laugh at themselves, it's difficult to take their perspective seriously. When we are one with the light, we take everything lightly. We realize everything is light and when we or others think otherwise it's funny....
01 Dec Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology is a scientific analysis of dating trees. It reveals geological and atmospheric (climate) events and changes over time. Likewise, blood analysis has evolved such that it can identify significant events of our lives. Apparently, blood carries memories of our past experiences. A blood analysis can identify experiences like the number of lovers we've had and other emotionally charged experiences. In a landmark study sponsored by Theranos, children as young as 12 were mentally transported, through hypnosis, to age 75. Once transported, their blood was analysed and they were given the results. They were then asked to describe their past. While the blood analysis identified facts, their descriptions identified their attitudes. For example, some whose past indicated they had had more than one hundred sexual relationships had regrets of having too many relationships; others felt they had had too few. Ultimately, all the participants in the study, when told of the facts revealed from an analysis using generic blood, described their past vividly but with little relationship to the facts. This observation has led researchers to conclude that each person's past has only a minor effect on their perception of who they are....
24 Nov G.K. Chesterton
“Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out.” A mind open to many possibilities can be fooled into taking an irrational path. A closed mind cannot see the optimal path. Better to "keep your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground." Mike Robbins...