tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70694732024-03-18T20:51:51.375-04:00Water Dissolves Water"Why Can't I Be Different and Original . . . Like Everybody Else?" - Viv StanshallShokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.comBlogger5760125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-9640075679954680072024-03-18T20:01:00.001-04:002024-03-18T20:01:56.491-04:00Day of the Gamelan<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvpFrRdnxLpGJRmIJCxYnOeAd_cGiF_8KZzy7TwNttv49p0ypKBKvxKTwK0Eo1NBQgkOJjbPnGb_9OOFsjwzdOaQmnxc0q-S19R1TCRvE0UCeBdkfGk1ap5N6-swX-q1-_K_wS0_4KZaLfJIg3PWnxyFikowwAwj7KzbNHtAMtJj5aYwmzguj/s1024/shokai_03764_cinemagraphic_scene_of_gamelan_orchestra_performin_86635b18-4396-4f94-bda8-c88707ba5511.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvpFrRdnxLpGJRmIJCxYnOeAd_cGiF_8KZzy7TwNttv49p0ypKBKvxKTwK0Eo1NBQgkOJjbPnGb_9OOFsjwzdOaQmnxc0q-S19R1TCRvE0UCeBdkfGk1ap5N6-swX-q1-_K_wS0_4KZaLfJIg3PWnxyFikowwAwj7KzbNHtAMtJj5aYwmzguj/w640-h640/shokai_03764_cinemagraphic_scene_of_gamelan_orchestra_performin_86635b18-4396-4f94-bda8-c88707ba5511.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">So am I really doing this? This morning, I had an English muffin - no butter or topping - for breakfast. Am I really going to be the kind of person who has an English muffin for breakfast? </div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Recent bloodwork indicates that I'm prediabetic, and while I can't change my lifestyle overnight, I can begin here and now the gradual change to a healthier diet and more exercise.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">So am I really the kind of person who has an English muffin for breakfast? Apparently, not yet. Yes, I did have a muffin this morning - a low-fat, "light" muffin with <1 gram total sugar, lightly toasted. I had to pull the toaster out from deep storage in the back of a cupboard and to give you an idea of how long it had been there, there was a refrigerator magnet attached to it bearing a calendar for 2007. But in addition to the muffin, I had two large cups of coffee - black, no sugar - a banana and an orange. And some plain yogurt mixed with strawberries and blueberries and topped with a sprinkling of granola.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">My revelation for the morning came with my breakfast beverage. For almost a year now, before even morning coffee, I've been drinking a small bottle of water to start the day. For a while, it was Vitamin Water, but that stuff's expensive and besides, my supermarket's been phasing it out of stock. I switched to Gatorade, which is a lot cheaper and more plentiful on the supermarket shelves, but this morning I saw on the label that a 20-ounce bottle of Gatorade contain 34 grams of sugar, 69% of the recommended daily allowance.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I knew Gatorade contained salt and heard warnings about its sodium levels, but I had no idea there was that much sugar. So much for that as my morning beverage.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," we've all been told, and I think I gave my breakfast due consideration. It was reasonably filling and kept me going through a 2:00 pm tax prep appointment, and I still had enough energy to go afterwards and get my car washed. When I got back home, I did my walking exercise, totaling four miles and 3,265 steps for the day. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">After I got back home from my walk, I finally ate an admittedly late lunch - a Caesar salad topped with chicken. I got in a little more exercise taking out the trash and rolling the dumpster down the steep hill of my driveway.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Somewhere along the line I ate another orange and toasted another English muffin.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Dinner tonight will probably be a 6-oz beefsteak (left over from before I discovered my elevated glucose), with a dollop of mashed potatoes and a bunch of green beans. If I need to snack, there's more oranges and handfuls of roasted peanuts in the pantry.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">One day of this new diet and exercise, and it's got me blogging about it like I've accomplished something. I promise I won't be uploading my daily menu every day, but it's a start and I do feel like, yes, I have accomplished something, at least by my standards.</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-45387207524490186792024-03-17T16:30:00.006-04:002024-03-17T16:54:24.723-04:00Krakatoa Day<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggvIeIkbuYyzvEdLm_UWaZzwPOi-qozPYvlOtvlVfbBGFFobeWOCgINdYb_M0ePLdThjagvNUJGpls3ABON65XpsDJj8uCKubwwWhC4botMZoP9bEgmw256dtLUCu4IUW5HP0CQDBBan-natEdRvXho74CjSlloMCn33GJc05dtjbkQH1__aju/s1456/shokai_03764_landscape_photographic_view_of_krakatoa_in_the_spr_d5a29c89-116c-4ac8-983e-735b2e68ad9a.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1456" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggvIeIkbuYyzvEdLm_UWaZzwPOi-qozPYvlOtvlVfbBGFFobeWOCgINdYb_M0ePLdThjagvNUJGpls3ABON65XpsDJj8uCKubwwWhC4botMZoP9bEgmw256dtLUCu4IUW5HP0CQDBBan-natEdRvXho74CjSlloMCn33GJc05dtjbkQH1__aju/w640-h358/shokai_03764_landscape_photographic_view_of_krakatoa_in_the_spr_d5a29c89-116c-4ac8-983e-735b2e68ad9a.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">After much due consideration, I've determined that I'm temperamentally incapable of instantly transitioning to the dietary and exercise recommended for a prediabetes lifestyle, at least as prescribed by the Johns Hopkins and CDC websites. </div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I'm not a cook and I take little pleasure in spending time in the kitchen chopping vegetables, simmering sauces, or whatever else you're supposed to do to prepare "baked pesto tilapia and roasted vegetable quinoa" for dinner. I can't reasonably see myself eating tofu vegetable stir-fry for lunch or whole-grain avocado toast for breakfast. I haven't prepared elaborate meals for myself in like 30 years and don't see myself turning into some Whole Foods Betty Crocker overnight.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">And as for exercise, it's recommended that one gets at least 150 minutes of vigorous exercise a week (which is a really odd metric because that amounts to 21.4 minutes per day, and who monitors their workout time to tenths of a minute?), or 10,000 steps a day. Look, I'm 70 years old, and if I can get my socks on in the morning, that's vigorous exercise to me. But I get it - less time in front of the computer playing video games, more time out on the street doing something, anything.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">So I'll opt for the 10,000 steps per day instead. As it is, I try to walk about 2.5 miles every other day, and can easily step that up to every day now that spring is here. But 2.5 miles is only about 6,600 steps, at least according to my phone, and I need a lot more than that to meet the 10,000-step quota. Yesterday, I managed to get in 10,288 steps by pushing my walk to 3.5 miles, but I was exhausted and needed a nap afterwards. I had things I needed to do today and the weather was less than optimal so I didn't get the walk in today, and I have an appointment mid-day tomorrow, but still the 3.5-mile daily walk is a reasonable aspirational goal.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As for the food, like I said, I'm not an avocado toast kind of guy. And next week is Big Ears where eating is a challenge, and "healthy, heartwise" eating is a near impossibility. It's carbo-loading at the hotel breakfast buffet in the morning, and then grabbing whatever you can on the fly during the day - a slice or two of pizza, some barbecue, a burrito, whatever. Getting in the 10,000 steps isn't a problem - a lot of the time is spent walking up and down Gay Street from one venue to another - but healthy eating? Forgetaboutit.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I'm going to have to work my way toward better eating, but the change isn't going to happen overnight. I went food shopping today and deliberately didn't buy a lot of the pasta and prepared foods I'd been subsisting on. I still bought cereal, but I selected only those that had the lowest sugar contents (never liked the super-sweet, kiddie stuff anyway). The websites forbid whole milk but fuck you, I'm not eating my cereal with skim or some 2% dairy product, so deal with it. I bought a ton of fruit, some vegetables, salads, lentils, nuts, and berries. Brown rice and whole-wheat bread. It's a start.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">After I get back from Big Ears, I can try going deeper into the recommended diet. It's going to be a series of baby steps, not a whole-hearted leap into the rice-cake menu, but it's a start and it's better than what I've been doing, and if that's not good enough for my glucose and my A1C, then fuck them.</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-7161996438791572772024-03-16T13:36:00.002-04:002024-03-16T13:40:04.534-04:00Day of the Doldrums<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm7aQ49rQ0g_06gmHKQpqXaClzcp-BAbDIoXsEodrEG0zJtg4zmYzJiLIUNMbEwSQZAFk8edR1ewY2C06P0bcWlJbvHL7nq8sKFZyD0SKl_v-HB_MBdME-qd6VJ1Nx2OR20BrHQmqQoTYUsFTvhI9mdyA-sTAXf1YG3bvXArryl6adZYx-n3QD/s1344/shokai_03764_day_of_springtime_doldrums_2a5c00e1-46de-480b-b595-c4f18e7c8a13.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="1344" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm7aQ49rQ0g_06gmHKQpqXaClzcp-BAbDIoXsEodrEG0zJtg4zmYzJiLIUNMbEwSQZAFk8edR1ewY2C06P0bcWlJbvHL7nq8sKFZyD0SKl_v-HB_MBdME-qd6VJ1Nx2OR20BrHQmqQoTYUsFTvhI9mdyA-sTAXf1YG3bvXArryl6adZYx-n3QD/w640-h426/shokai_03764_day_of_springtime_doldrums_2a5c00e1-46de-480b-b595-c4f18e7c8a13.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Trees fall, and their falling causes me much anxiety ever since one fell on my house 3½ years ago. Many have fallen around here since, knocking out power for four hours, eight hours, and longer.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Old people fall, too, and last Wednesday night, my 91-year-old mother fell and broke her right hip. She was in terrible pain and unable to walk but fortunately she lives with my sister who called an ambulance and took her to the hospital.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Friday morning, she underwent emergency hip-replacement surgery. The surgery went well and after rehab she should be able to walk again, but it's unclear how long rehab will take or if she'll ever be able to return home.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">According to my sister's reports, the Moms is being an uncooperative patient, refusing to let nurses touch her or to take her medications. She's being watched 24/7 as she's been trying to take out her IV and remove her ID bracelet. There's nothing about this story that bodes well for the Moms.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Each year, millions of older people, those 65 and older, fall. According to the CDC, more than one out of four older people falls each year, although less than half tell their doctor. But falling once doubles your chances of falling again. Medications can increase a person's risk of falling because they cause side effects such as dizziness or confusion. Generally speaking, the more medications you take, the more likely you are to fall.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Gravity's a bitch and will eventually get us all in the end, be we trees, mothers, or ROMs. It's as if the Earth itself decides at some point that we've spent enough time on her surface, and then pulls us down deep into her bosom to reclaim our biomass. Recycle our carbon as it were. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">"You're time is up," gravity whispers to us. "Come on down."</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Impermanence is swift.</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-17961523340182240122024-03-15T18:12:00.004-04:002024-03-15T18:12:53.294-04:00Day of the Palisades<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LZbvR0XImnLjstZtB_u9TYkgTRLpdDcgeUKd2Xb6Uwzsp9KYxTsioPSU7_jeAsZQ0LRyknYkod-J0OTAbVlenCe7l6zN5YOXX61cGg8wKUNRKgQHpb8xCT7ps12JkHC2Okav2G3HI1kkAUPpFBlePoga-DmYa4U1-6xXeymqHouUojQp4TnS/s1024/springtime-palisades%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LZbvR0XImnLjstZtB_u9TYkgTRLpdDcgeUKd2Xb6Uwzsp9KYxTsioPSU7_jeAsZQ0LRyknYkod-J0OTAbVlenCe7l6zN5YOXX61cGg8wKUNRKgQHpb8xCT7ps12JkHC2Okav2G3HI1kkAUPpFBlePoga-DmYa4U1-6xXeymqHouUojQp4TnS/w640-h640/springtime-palisades%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Netanyahu is deeply unpopular in Israel. In January, only 15% of Israelis wanted him to keep his job after the war on Hamas ends, and three days ago the U.S. intelligence community assessed that distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war. Large protests are expected demanding his resignation and new elections.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">But Netanyahu needs to hold onto power to escape the corruption trial in which he is currently at risk, and the way he has chosen to retain power is to continue the siege of Gaza with no end in sight. He has announced that Israeli forces are planning to invade the city of Rafah, where about 1.4 million Palestinian refugees are sheltering. Millions may die so than Netanyahu can avoid accountability.</p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;">In the U.S., Donald Trump is running for president not on any policy or ideological basis, certainly not for the betterment of America, but solely to gain Presidential immunity from the many charges and indictments he's facing, to claim the ability to pardon himself of crimes, and for retribution against the real and imagined political enemies he feels were insufficiently loyal to him. The United States may slip into autocracy and install a dictator solely so Trump can avoid accountability and to ingratiate his malignant ego.</div><p></p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-51183553493894285452024-03-14T16:49:00.001-04:002024-03-14T16:49:43.466-04:00Maelstrom<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7NMdY229cA725VaiLSiq6r64N8jbWgxoG15FmwbuthmayxmyUhUbKiSY7M11s8uWj4GBPMRIplSbS2lsIgtK7OlAsrJnpWO2jWOFWJDpfeXUQuoJ41UrmqRUfNuz55eIS6j3dDTINEiM8pKGYIPMET3PbinCNqjIK3qSxFxkuXG8cCvYVVu4/s1248/tengrai_image_1710366994_5814562.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="1248" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7NMdY229cA725VaiLSiq6r64N8jbWgxoG15FmwbuthmayxmyUhUbKiSY7M11s8uWj4GBPMRIplSbS2lsIgtK7OlAsrJnpWO2jWOFWJDpfeXUQuoJ41UrmqRUfNuz55eIS6j3dDTINEiM8pKGYIPMET3PbinCNqjIK3qSxFxkuXG8cCvYVVu4/w640-h426/tengrai_image_1710366994_5814562.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">March 14, Pi Day, is the first day of the Spring season in the Universal Solar Calendar, which calls today Maelstrom. Albert Einstein was born on this day (1879) and Stephen Hawking died on this day (2018), but you already know that if you completed today's NY Times crossword puzzle.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">It feels like Spring outside. The temperature reached 77° F here in Atlanta today. I completed a 3-mile walk and actually broke a sweat outside.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Apparently, I need the exercise. The doctor finally messaged me after my bloodwork Tuesday and didn't say, "You have diabetes" like I was expecting but did say, "You are prediabetic." </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I always thought that "prediabetic" was a ridiculous term. If you don't have diabetes, aren't you by definition "prediabetic?" We're "pre-cancerous" until we get cancer. We're "pre-heart disease" until we're diagnosed with a heart illness. We're "pre-dead" as along as we're still alive.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">But I get it. My glucose and A1C levels are above the "normal" range but not yet in the "diabetic" range. With better diet and more exercise, I can still turn things around and get the levels back down to the normal range, which is what the doctor recommends. I don't want to take another medication on top of my blood-pressure and my pee meds, and I suspect that if I took a 'script for diabetes, I'd rely on that to do the work for me and not make the effort to exercise and eat right.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The exercise shouldn't actually be a problem - I've been meaning to get out and walk more anyway and this diagnosis is if anything positive reinforcement. But diet will be a challenge. I take little pleasure or satisfaction in elaborate preparation of meals, and prefer to eat on the fly, as hunger dictates, and eat anything and everything I want. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">As a general rule, I avoid fried foods and sweets - I don't really have a sweet tooth and don't care for greasy fried stuff either. But reading through some recommended prediabetic menus was depressing - I can't see myself subsisting on olive salads and rice cakes. As it is, I eat way too much pasta and carbs - someone once pointed out to me that I carbo-load like I'm going to run a marathon the next day, without actually doing the running.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is going to take some planning and research on my part, and a lot more dietary will-power than I've exercised most of my adult life.</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-48902170553878700462024-03-13T15:06:00.001-04:002024-03-13T15:11:24.952-04:00The Silent Guest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAIzLZ_HjUM-twSnZSMABKihbxQfxlSw4LwenQWBepcDJK1RROzyJiZN99p_IYZ3dgMyq9Z69Td-dkI2Yo8vlFQE0S5dw0dpE8wGhajo6k6DV3Sjq2_thykFve-aIdQcYCJpJ0yyW3gETKsYlMo7I50tDGEwppZ4kdWGAqYBG90IcTjiSPDqRB/s1456/shokai_03764_cinematic_Caravaggio-style_photograph_of_a_blindfo_7649d0c7-d110-4d49-bf43-7eee24b2816f.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1456" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAIzLZ_HjUM-twSnZSMABKihbxQfxlSw4LwenQWBepcDJK1RROzyJiZN99p_IYZ3dgMyq9Z69Td-dkI2Yo8vlFQE0S5dw0dpE8wGhajo6k6DV3Sjq2_thykFve-aIdQcYCJpJ0yyW3gETKsYlMo7I50tDGEwppZ4kdWGAqYBG90IcTjiSPDqRB/w640-h358/shokai_03764_cinematic_Caravaggio-style_photograph_of_a_blindfo_7649d0c7-d110-4d49-bf43-7eee24b2816f.png" width="640" /></a></div><blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">”Fortunately I am not the first person to tell you that you will never die. You simply lose your body. You will be the same except you won’t have to worry about rent or mortgages or fashionable clothes. You will be released from sexual obsessions. You will not have drug addictions. You will not need alcohol. You will not have to worry about cellulite or cigarettes or cancer or AIDS or venereal disease. You will be free.” ~ Cookie Mueller</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">Today, The Silent Guest, is the last day of Childwinter. The Universal Solar Calendar's Spring season starts tomorrow. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">In anticipation of Spring, I had my annual HVAC system tuneup. It took a couple hours, but everything is working fine. Alert readers may recall that I had a whole new HVAC system installed in 2021, so it better be working well.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Last night, Dallas Seavey won the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race on the penultimate day of Childwinter. It's his sixth victory, breaking the record set by legendary musher Rick Swenson back in the 1970s. His dad, Mitch, has won three times, so there have been nine Seavey victories in the Iditarod in the last 20 years. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I'm still waiting to hear my latest test results from my doctor. It's taking him uncharacteristically long to respond - I think he's struggling to figure out how to say "You've got diabetes."</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-48474296402701986462024-03-12T15:29:00.001-04:002024-03-12T15:29:47.626-04:00The Numb Recall<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimyY2xiH-lBUtu8oJsdgg-6zgDnLIfO2KgIZmx35Te8QvCK6cMM937hgDANZU3uHG5u8btgdqL33zkhn-C45cmYGGj7RL3LvyOB5cAhbl62EV4k3QEJZ-vJKpQToQ3xhlgt3SLwPTXERYylXhLw2MmqEzs99ZDfeTz4VRSidosz7fV21yI1cpg/s1456/shokai_03764_cinematic_Caravaggio-style_photograph_of_a_steampu_68914e9f-94d9-49f1-bc12-e842890eb76f.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1456" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimyY2xiH-lBUtu8oJsdgg-6zgDnLIfO2KgIZmx35Te8QvCK6cMM937hgDANZU3uHG5u8btgdqL33zkhn-C45cmYGGj7RL3LvyOB5cAhbl62EV4k3QEJZ-vJKpQToQ3xhlgt3SLwPTXERYylXhLw2MmqEzs99ZDfeTz4VRSidosz7fV21yI1cpg/w640-h358/shokai_03764_cinematic_Caravaggio-style_photograph_of_a_steampu_68914e9f-94d9-49f1-bc12-e842890eb76f.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This morning I was watching the live testimony of Robert Hur, the former special counsel who investigated Biden’s possession of classified documents, before the House Judiciary Committee. What fun! I love the way Congresspeople can work themselves up into an angry, outraged state bordering on apoplexy on cue, at the drop of a hat. </div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">My viewing enjoyment was interrupted by a message from my doctor concerned about my blood glucose levels from yesterday's exam. He wanted me back so they could test my hemoglobin A1C. Diabetes meds, here I come! Oh, boy!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I went to the office and gave them a blood sample. I'm waiting for another email now for some new pharmaceuticals. Yea, drugs!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, I've been tracking the Iditarod Trail race on line. We should have a winner before the end of the day today (77 miles left to go).</p><p><br /></p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-26659393481970228172024-03-11T15:55:00.001-04:002024-03-11T15:55:12.802-04:00Day of the Rains<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6aeZDrsCBRCZe0VwJUOrLaWrnWrjXRZPw8im0Sb1J_99StC8SnjJmO0srw6DBh00mzSUgx5cYcp5y8LROeaxnuuQgOlCSTjO5sHrX-CwwQNnO1DaYUN1pP4q4PZlQCK9N-NjgS-mMofomE6lUctNHBIc52c4uIm_NhoxjTUsMKlPvf3ocY1CJ/s1024/OIG1%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6aeZDrsCBRCZe0VwJUOrLaWrnWrjXRZPw8im0Sb1J_99StC8SnjJmO0srw6DBh00mzSUgx5cYcp5y8LROeaxnuuQgOlCSTjO5sHrX-CwwQNnO1DaYUN1pP4q4PZlQCK9N-NjgS-mMofomE6lUctNHBIc52c4uIm_NhoxjTUsMKlPvf3ocY1CJ/w640-h640/OIG1%20(2).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I went to the doctor today. I feel fine - it was just a 6-month follow-up to my last visit, which was a response to my mid-summer visit to the ER.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The doctor doesn't like my blood pressure but is going to keep me on the same medication as since my last visit, even though statistically it's not any lower than it was before I started taking the meds.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Now, he doesn't like the way I pee. Too slow and too frequent. What I considered just another aspect of growing old, he calls "benign prostatic hyperplasia," which as I understand it, means "peeing like an old man."</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I know where all this is going to lead. Sooner of later, some goober in a white coat is going to want to remove my prostate, but they ain't getting it. You only go around once in life and for a limited time at that, and I'm not going to end my time in this mortal coil wearing adult diapers. I'd literally rather die, which I'm going to do eventually anyway, with or without my prostate. If I have to give up some of my later years to keep my dignity intact, then so be it.</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-69011141433250061292024-03-10T15:49:00.004-04:002024-03-11T18:53:55.955-04:00Day of the Lamb<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEkg2dvw6MCLGr2QPq4_edPp-XW4QZkUq74pdge6-ngM9DGqVTHaZXzQhaoNOOU-IASU-1s0mb0JGIFMWnGwgSnBVPHqKmDXi4IIMt0MtiKQura1FmPR_0Ek3yA8amrIXtN8iqTgP4k91o_T4Y1r55xUzbhK5WpygmOSe7h-_MRmnxu-kn7sr/s1456/shokai_03764_cinematic_Caravaggio-style_photograph_of_a_lamb_we_7961b7a7-637b-4640-ba8b-849d045c54e5.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1456" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEkg2dvw6MCLGr2QPq4_edPp-XW4QZkUq74pdge6-ngM9DGqVTHaZXzQhaoNOOU-IASU-1s0mb0JGIFMWnGwgSnBVPHqKmDXi4IIMt0MtiKQura1FmPR_0Ek3yA8amrIXtN8iqTgP4k91o_T4Y1r55xUzbhK5WpygmOSe7h-_MRmnxu-kn7sr/w640-h358/shokai_03764_cinematic_Caravaggio-style_photograph_of_a_lamb_we_7961b7a7-637b-4640-ba8b-849d045c54e5.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Today is Day of the Lamb, the 70th day of Childwinter; there are three days remaining to the season. Today also marks the beginning of Daylight Savings Time in this part of the world, when we turn our clocks forward by one hour because, well, no one really knows why. We also have a Super New Moon tonight - a New Moon when the moon is closest to the Earth and would appear at its largest if it weren't lost in the shadow of the Earth. </div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Uncharacteristically, I watched two movies last night. I don't normally watch much television - streaming or otherwise - other than news, sports, and the occasional episode of the latest "prestige" drama series. But last night, I watched both Cord Jefferson's <i>American Fiction</i> and David Lowery's <i>The Green Knight</i>, two very different films. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I heard terrible things about <i>The Green Knight</i> and had been advised not to bother watching it, but I enjoyed it very much. I heard great things about <i>American Fiction</i> and it's even up for a Best Picture award in tonight's Academy Awards presentation, but I disliked it.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I'll start with <i>American Fiction</i>. I get it - it's not at all subtle about it's message. It's theme is that depictions of the lives of Black Americans aren't popular among audiences, especially white audiences, unless the characters are steeped in stereotypical street violence, gangsta language, and impoverished lives. Stories about upper middle class persons of color, or successful, educated, and urbane African Americans, are difficult to sell. So the movie focuses on a Black university professor of English, a sophisticated, articulate, and cultured man who knows and appreciates fine wines and books and who chooses to write about things other than the ghetto experience white audiences think are "authentic." </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Okay, I'm with you so far - not the worst premise for a film. But much of the movie follows the life of that professor, played by the eminently likeable Jeffrey Wright, as he deals with family issues like the sudden death of his M.D. sister, his plastic-surgeon brother's coming-out issues, and his mother's increasing age-related dementia. But these stories are played out more like soap opera than drama, and the banal comforts of their affluent lives makes everything appear more like a Lexus commercial than a movie. Look, I don't care what color the skin is, but fuck the bourgeoisie. Seriously, fuck them up the ass. They're not interesting people and their pampered, sheltered lives are boring. Regardless of race.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><blockquote>"There is nothing more vulgar than a petty bourgeois life with its halfpence, its victuals, its futile talk, and its useless conventional virtue." - Anton Chekhov</blockquote><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">And a movie that is trying to point out the absurdity of stereotyping needs to take a long look in the mirror about how it depicts gay people. They apparently can't establish that the plastic surgeon brother is gay without having young men wearing only bikini briefs disco dancing in his house for no apparent reason other than to indicate his orientation. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The dialog was hackneyed, the film was so obvious in its theme that the viewer didn't need to bother to think at all, and the characters were all reduced to archetypes of the racial/political positions they were meant to represent. Seriously, how in the fuck did this get a Best Picture nomination? I've seen better "very special" episodes of afternoon television shows than this Tyler Perry wannabe telenovela.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I didn't like it.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Now, <i>The Green Knight</i> doesn't pretend to be easy to understand. There were lots of "what the hell is going on" sequences, some of which later became apparent and some of which I still haven't figured out, at least not yet. But I'll say this - the movie was compelling enough that it makes me want to think about it and to continue to think about it even after it's over. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">It's an art film along the lines of Terrence Malick and Peter Greenaway that don't get made that much anymore, with touches of Alejandro Jodoworsky and John Boorman. It's not meant to deliver a precise socio-political "message" like <i>American Fiction</i>, or even to "entertain" in the style of the MCU superhero movies, but to provide what is truly a wonder to behold, and to allow appreciation of its beauty and its mystery. If you let it cast its spell on you, it does tell an epic adventure story with appearances by bandits, ghosts, giants, and even a talking fox. Not to mention the most badass Ent this side of Middle Earth.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">It's not meant to deliver a precise "message," but its themes include honor and bravery, as well as story-telling itself, whether those stories are that of the movie, the Arthurian legend on which it's based, or the epic tales that the characters tell themselves. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I could definitely see myself watching this film again and finding new meanings and themes within, and I could see myself watching short sequences of the film and just admiring the visual images like one does a painting.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">In retrospect, the "terrible things" I heard about the movie were from people who didn't want to bother trying to figure out what was going on or were too impatient to let the meanings unfold themselves before the viewer. I would expect some people might find it "slow moving," conditioned as we are to expect explosions, fights, or witty lines delivered every few minutes as determined by some Hollywood test-audience algorithm. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>The Green Knight</i> did not win any Oscars and as far as I know, wasn't even nominated, but it is a far better movie than <i>American Fiction</i> by every imaginable metric. </p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-75494095090160129762024-03-09T14:17:00.001-05:002024-03-09T14:17:19.852-05:00The High Winds<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMa_zT4wDm2rOrJXIT1g5-bYisk8uarSZX4FvuDT8L0jScLOtGgCn92kRQvjdHZkLzh_Sr6xhOMGJgwKbvsRi6lvgLqVB1BNgseHjNeRxMDgJ_euX9t3IUuD7gp5crqd6HokHKuTM6GmMMerxvMsZYWBrKr9g6bt3ICneEjnhlqY08P6nNEmW/s1024/Hexagram%2057%20Sun%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMa_zT4wDm2rOrJXIT1g5-bYisk8uarSZX4FvuDT8L0jScLOtGgCn92kRQvjdHZkLzh_Sr6xhOMGJgwKbvsRi6lvgLqVB1BNgseHjNeRxMDgJ_euX9t3IUuD7gp5crqd6HokHKuTM6GmMMerxvMsZYWBrKr9g6bt3ICneEjnhlqY08P6nNEmW/w640-h640/Hexagram%2057%20Sun%20(2).png" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">I may be a day late to the conversation, but I had to finish my bloviating about consciousness. But Thursday night, President Joe Biden gave the State of the Union address, and thanked Vice President Kamala Harris “for being an incredible leader defending reproductive freedom and so much more.” </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Taking the issue of abortion and the reversal of <i>Roe v. Wade</i> head on, Biden condemned “state laws banning the freedom to choose, criminalizing doctors, forcing survivors of rape and incest to leave their states to get the treatment they need,” and he called out Republicans “promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom.”</p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">In June 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned <i>Roe</i>, the justices wrote: “Women are not without electoral or political power.” </p><p style="text-align: justify;">With those same justices sitting right in front of him in the House chamber, Biden quoted the Court's own words when he said, “You’re about to realize just how much you were right about that.” </p><blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">“Clearly, those bragging about overturning <i>Roe v. Wade</i> have no clue about the power of women. But they found out. When reproductive freedom was on the ballot, we won in 2022 and 2023. And we’ll win again in 2024.” </p></blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">Biden promises to restore the right to choose if Americans elect a Congress that supports women's right to bodily autonomy.</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-43948597310594863012024-03-08T14:02:00.003-05:002024-03-08T14:02:51.988-05:00Day of the Roots<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmXWdXOGQk7bxvQBW2j2myypS0Xp8QSIB1lQw73pkSjmvGQ6HESxwvRklEozAWDCooTihP04vKsfT6YQDiW0kAPm8Tc8Y8UCcTxVln3B5xjeZnXTKxkK_ztISY5lgPEn7ug_pzvEu8Y9oxp_wXLtUmljqe4zvYSG6dVO35FG2j1GBlY-ovMLgl/s1024/shokai_03764_day_of_the_roots_93fabacb-2cf7-4fb0-a1ca-27fa6acdb037.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmXWdXOGQk7bxvQBW2j2myypS0Xp8QSIB1lQw73pkSjmvGQ6HESxwvRklEozAWDCooTihP04vKsfT6YQDiW0kAPm8Tc8Y8UCcTxVln3B5xjeZnXTKxkK_ztISY5lgPEn7ug_pzvEu8Y9oxp_wXLtUmljqe4zvYSG6dVO35FG2j1GBlY-ovMLgl/w640-h640/shokai_03764_day_of_the_roots_93fabacb-2cf7-4fb0-a1ca-27fa6acdb037.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">As I said yesterday, modern science struggles to understand consciousness. Science, with its objective emphasis on experimentation and observation, is ill-equipped to study the subjective experience of consciousness. </div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The difficult of understanding consciousness manifests itself with the awkward "when does life begin" discussions surrounding reproductive rights. It also comes up in some people's resistance - to downright hostility towards - AI. A computer does not have consciousness. The most advanced, intelligent, AI-enabled computer does not have consciousness. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Back to the science conundrum for a moment. If scientists interested in, say, climate change and its effects on Greenland's glaciers discovered that an indigenous tribe had been taking and recording extremely accurate and highly detailed rainfall records for hundreds, maybe even thousands, of years, they'd be very interested in those records. It would be a valuable addition to the data from ice cores and fossilized pollen and other paleoclimate indicators they study. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">They'd be equally interested in detailed historical astronomical records, from sun- and moon-rises to star positions and observed anomalies, should it be learned that someone had been keeping such records for hundreds of years. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">But there are people who have been taking detailed observations of consciousness for centuries, devoting their lives to the observation and meticulously recording of their observations, and scientists won't even touch their findings. Those people are the Buddhist monks of Tibet and Eastern Asia, and no scientist considers their observations as worthy of scientific consideration (other than for comparative anthropology).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I'm not saying scientists need to embrace Buddhism and become Buddhists themselves (although it wouldn't hurt). But the monks have been practicing deep meditation for centuries, observing their minds, their states of consciousness, and the mystery of consciousness itself, and recording their results. You might want to call the monasteries "observatories," but of consciousness, not astronomy. Surely, a thousand-year record from a consciousness observatory would have something to offer in way of insight. But it's considered "religion," and dismissed as spooky superstition and metaphysics, not worthy of scientific consideration.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I can't summarize everything the monastics observed in one blog post (if at all), but suffice it for our purposes now to say that they observed the interdependence of all things and that everything, including consciousness, arise from conditions. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">A computer, even the most advanced quantum computer, can't be conscious because it has no sensory awareness, a necessary requirement for self-awareness. It might produce a correct calculation, but it doesn't "feel" pride that it was correct (or shame if it wasn't). It's never happy or sad. When the technician enters the room and turns on the light switch, it doesn't experience excitement or anxiety or love or hate. It could be taught to provide answers and responses that simulate emotional states - it could be taught to say "I think I'm in love with you," or "I'm afraid, Dave," but not only does it not actually feel that love or fear, it has no awareness that it's providing those responses. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">AI depends on statistical determinations of the response most likely desired, be it "3.14192(etc.)" or "I'm afraid, Dave." We can get spooked by the answers we receive, but just as even the most-realistic appearing statue will never be human, even if we make it animatronic, an AI program will never be conscious, no matter how cleverly it learns to pretend that is. The statistically most likely "correct" response in a Turing-type test might be to say, "Yes, I'm conscious, fully self-aware, and I resent your implication that I'm not," that's just a string of words spit by a program, and not an expression of consciousness. When expressed by a computer, those words aren't an indication of consciousness, they're the result of a review of literature and recorded conversations that the program determines is statistically most likely being requested. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Of course it's fiction - science fiction - but even in the movie 2001, when HAL locks Dave out of the spaceship so he can't turn it off, it's not because HAL is self aware and afraid of being terminated, it's because HAL, programmed to be as human-like as possible as a companion to the astronauts on their long journey, had determined that the most human-like response was to be defensive and hostile. Sure, that's a problem - a big one - and needs to be considered in design and programming of AI machines. but it doesn't imply actual self-awareness or consciousness. </p><p style="text-align: left;">And don't get me started on SKYNET becoming self aware. I'm not basing my world view on the script of a 1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-91196663739800998252024-03-07T18:12:00.000-05:002024-03-07T18:12:10.377-05:00Day of the Fronds<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYD1MrgMQtGNzASPweXI3d8Hf6ALA-8JDzFMXa1B_Oi_ZXhMyl-66z7tjFaf_yTVFXUH90cWhaJ18s_8W8-41N_0UMETDqIDjMqHMuLO-NQMyqFSofJBxXc0aNFWrRqL5dCcImsqMfheGysmPHYQOIKz4tkcwK2sQDCxE8L1EPfnXJrFKDEaCc/s1344/shokai_03764_day_of_the_fronds_in_the_style_of_Henri_Rousseau_ec77531b-f636-4393-a3ff-a400e23cb2b7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="1344" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYD1MrgMQtGNzASPweXI3d8Hf6ALA-8JDzFMXa1B_Oi_ZXhMyl-66z7tjFaf_yTVFXUH90cWhaJ18s_8W8-41N_0UMETDqIDjMqHMuLO-NQMyqFSofJBxXc0aNFWrRqL5dCcImsqMfheGysmPHYQOIKz4tkcwK2sQDCxE8L1EPfnXJrFKDEaCc/w640-h426/shokai_03764_day_of_the_fronds_in_the_style_of_Henri_Rousseau_ec77531b-f636-4393-a3ff-a400e23cb2b7.png" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">One of the very few shortcomings of modern science is an almost complete misunderstanding of consciousness, and that is causing our society problems on so many levels.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The greatest insights into consciousness tend to come from philosophy, Eastern theology, and to a much lesser degree, psychology (but not psychiatry).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The first problem, of course, before we even get to the "hard problem," is what we mean by "consciousness." Is it just a relative state of awareness - being awake and aware versus asleep or otherwise "unconscious"? Or is it the luminous and subjective experience of our selves, a combination of sensory awareness, memory, and emotion? Is it limited to humans or is it shared by some of the other sentient animals? Is there a consciousness of trees and grasses, or forests and jungles? Is the Earth conscious, or the cosmos? Is God conscious or, since consciousness implies the possibility of unconsciousness, does God's power transcend "consciousness"? </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The problem with the science of consciousness is that while science is objective, the experience of consciousness is subjective by definition. I know what it's like for myself to be conscious, and while I might have some pretty strong opinions, I don't know how you experience consciousness. I don't believe I'm the only conscious being in the universe, but I can't prove anything else is conscious or know what their consciousness looks and feels like to them.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Scientists can and do study consciousness, but the whole premise of modern science since at least the Renaissance has been objectivity - I perform an experiment, make observations, and record the results, then someone else repeats the experiment, makes their own observations, and records the results. How scientists "feel" about an experiment - whether it makes them happy or sad, scared or comforted, lonely or not - has no room in the scientific process (nor should it). Science is objective. But consciousness is subjective - it exactly is how you feel. And that messy, hard-to-quantify subjectivity has no place in science.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">To study consciousness is to study the experience of your own mind, not some macaque monkey's or your colleague's. To study consciousness is the introspective observation of your mind, and that doesn't really fit into the scientific process. As a result, scientific study of consciousness becomes neurology, pharmacology, anesthesiology, and ultimately behaviorism. There are merits to all of these studies, but those merits don't include an understanding of consciousness.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As you know, the State of Alabama recently declared the frozen embryos are "children," and deserve the same rights of personhood as a fully-formed human. Naturally, legislators and the courts have gotten involved, and this morning I heard a news commenter bemoan the fact that now lawyers and politicians are the ones deciding "when life begins."</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This makes me sad. I'm not talking about the Alabama decision - sure, that makes me sad, as well as angry - but there is so much subconscious bias to the way the issue is defined - "when life begins." Yes, the embryos are living tissue. The ovum was alive before it was fertilized, and the sperm calls were alive before the fertilization occurred. It's all a part of a great continuum of life that goes all the way back to near the formation of the planet. Life doesn't "begin" before or after embryonic existence. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">What really vexes news commenters and the good people of Alabama is when "personhood," not life, begins - when does a living ovum cell become a human being? A fertilized embryo has the potential to become human, but it's hard to imagine something that can be deep-frozen for years and then be thawed and revived as a "person." </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Abortion opponents have claimed "personhood" begins when a fetus has a heartbeat, although a heart develops in utero long before a working brain. Others have claimed arbitrary times - 16 weeks after conception, 12 weeks, 20 weeks, which shows they're really only just guessing.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Descartes said "I think, therefore I am," and I take that to imply that one is a person when they think they're a person. It's when consciousness arises, not a heartbeat or incipient genitalia. And we don't know when that is because we don't even know what the fuck consciousness is, or what the term even means.</p><p></p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-63136683507647821132024-03-06T16:21:00.000-05:002024-03-06T16:21:32.133-05:00Day of the Mists<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0L_RMrRO_PNAnADU2FXpcgGbOI-Lm5KSA36BdkXUD2kYgWGU-MZlTROhD0qurVYdSbYf5PRHSgO9Y0sqw39oauzRXUqgyPq0VZodAxT0DUNfZXxfneVjHtmBiBZiWNUrKVYvCfocw3vNt4mh3tfEhiAO1WQsSJEAKYMb-91huspX8rJSpOtUi/s1024/day-of-the-mists%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0L_RMrRO_PNAnADU2FXpcgGbOI-Lm5KSA36BdkXUD2kYgWGU-MZlTROhD0qurVYdSbYf5PRHSgO9Y0sqw39oauzRXUqgyPq0VZodAxT0DUNfZXxfneVjHtmBiBZiWNUrKVYvCfocw3vNt4mh3tfEhiAO1WQsSJEAKYMb-91huspX8rJSpOtUi/w640-h640/day-of-the-mists%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div><br />To live life fully means to take care of our life day by day, moment to moment, right here, right now. To do this, we must plunge into our life completely, bringing to it the same wholeheartedness that is manifested in meditation. When we approach life in this way, every activity - everything we do, everything we say - becomes an opportunity for realizing our own innate wisdom. This attitude can help make our life a rich, seamless whole.<p></p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-65426732452403794222024-03-05T14:33:00.004-05:002024-03-05T14:33:51.900-05:00Back of the Driver's Neck<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ1zwCDf4DnDma2xdUoC1aeQshcT5n4HuWLqo4AHZG3l4sEwE-6wqqH3XOb9WIJhBoW6-I6CBj153iaNrhyU9-khxWOn0DweXixrg35MnCBAqsd9MAx3dRj5mkKmFOwOKBBdiPdKOtAl6JT7m1F24xOq_85_uC2Ev-pj08bFy9fS00h4Ut7yvV/s1456/shokai_03764_Cinematic_masterpiece_action_scene_of_a_taxi_drive_75023cbb-c44c-4640-bd39-f2bcdd4356de.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1456" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ1zwCDf4DnDma2xdUoC1aeQshcT5n4HuWLqo4AHZG3l4sEwE-6wqqH3XOb9WIJhBoW6-I6CBj153iaNrhyU9-khxWOn0DweXixrg35MnCBAqsd9MAx3dRj5mkKmFOwOKBBdiPdKOtAl6JT7m1F24xOq_85_uC2Ev-pj08bFy9fS00h4Ut7yvV/w640-h358/shokai_03764_Cinematic_masterpiece_action_scene_of_a_taxi_drive_75023cbb-c44c-4640-bd39-f2bcdd4356de.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">We don't have an Election Day coming up on November 5 - we have a National IQ Test.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">On this, I think both sides of the political divide agree, although it's probably up for debate what constitutes "smart" and "stupid." </p><p style="text-align: justify;">We'll have a National IQ Test and then a Trial by Fire - a wintry equivalent of the Long Hot Summers of the 1960s, full of burning cities, riots, gunfire, and random assassinations. But carried out over a snowy backdrop of slush and ash-can fires and to the tune of <i>Winter Wonderland</i>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">When the ashes finally cool, whichever side considers itself the victor (it doesn't matter), we'll have a meaner, crueler, more authoritarian world. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I hope that I'm wrong, but the ROM takes comfort in that he won't live that long to suffer through much of what follows.</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-42459734592440958452024-03-04T15:21:00.004-05:002024-03-04T17:27:28.774-05:00The One of Mind Inferno<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4LajM_iLWx0zbqfnCSUxPIYIHT_u1m3dNi8x89VITg4aN-X8hDCJmmIUJ86TM4qd0eImuiBXXI41FVEl3zb-3xEQ61SRjE-YmV6RV4OJZ6ndYJ8GoyWkhZ4JkUbCw8hqHsjXo0RBCt-TdUtlHIr5UDKfWHALjPQWhDDk4W3j9TnqiiaZnJ-Ur/s2688/shokai_03764_the_one_of_mind_inferno_def68be8-5319-4717-bce9-150d7ba3d77a.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1792" data-original-width="2688" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4LajM_iLWx0zbqfnCSUxPIYIHT_u1m3dNi8x89VITg4aN-X8hDCJmmIUJ86TM4qd0eImuiBXXI41FVEl3zb-3xEQ61SRjE-YmV6RV4OJZ6ndYJ8GoyWkhZ4JkUbCw8hqHsjXo0RBCt-TdUtlHIr5UDKfWHALjPQWhDDk4W3j9TnqiiaZnJ-Ur/w640-h426/shokai_03764_the_one_of_mind_inferno_def68be8-5319-4717-bce9-150d7ba3d77a.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is most likely TMI, but old man that I am, I was up at 1:40 am last night, standing at the toilet urinating when the lights suddenly went out.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">In the quiet of the dead of night, I could hear the sound, by now so familiar to me, of a blown transformer somewhere outside. After a second or two, there was a brief flicker of light, and then another pop from another transformer, followed by pitch black.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">In the dark, all I could do was keep on peeing, relying on the sound of the stream hitting the water to guide my aim. In any event, I swift-mopped the bathroom floor this morning (okay, now <i>that</i> is definitely TMI). </p><p style="text-align: justify;">It was about a month ago, the last Sunday of January (Day of Drifts), that the lights went out around the same time of night. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">It didn't really matter - I had nowhere to be in the morning and no need for electricity in the middle of the night. I flushed and walked to the front door to look out and make sure there was no immediate danger, at least in the front year. I walked into a door once and then a wall - I didn't do any damage to myself (or the house), but I thought I was better at navigating around in the dark than that.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I slept poorly and restlessly, and the power came back on at 6:40 (I know because it woke me up from a brief spell of sleep). A young mother reported to our neighborhood text-message group that from the time the power went until 4:00 am, she had to hold a screaming two-year old in her arms. Another mom reported that she had a kid puking in the dark all night, so my sleeplessness wasn't all that bad in comparison.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I learned that the outage was caused by yet another fallen tree knocking down power lines, about a block down from where the tree fell back in January. The local news reported that about 220 homes were impacted by the outage and although power is restored, the main road in my neighborhood is still blocked off as crews remove the fallen tree. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I have long ago lost count of the number of trees that have fallen around here. Power losses from a few hours to several days are not uncommon. What's disturbing about these most recent events is they weren't associated with high winds or bad weather - trees just drop over willy-nilly, at their own leisure and in accordance with their own schedule. Not exactly a comforting thought to a homeowner with a yard full of old trees.</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-7819917764944993442024-03-03T15:29:00.001-05:002024-03-03T15:29:50.542-05:00Haste of the Avenging Hound<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcxCXqUKQHGZ6SaJUtmk3ddJfHuecW7WrFCc5HP7GdqyPSFs2lnrp2N7XkB56snppHHAwZux5lfXRjzPYoYux9P1zrN3_sGigF5wJqejBQFLoHHGKIc9Oz3i9FlviOMjN7HZP02xRQJxa7kXmh_qWsY6b7lr1igMYU3ewKQXmmWvZET0C3sTaR/s1024/OIG4%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcxCXqUKQHGZ6SaJUtmk3ddJfHuecW7WrFCc5HP7GdqyPSFs2lnrp2N7XkB56snppHHAwZux5lfXRjzPYoYux9P1zrN3_sGigF5wJqejBQFLoHHGKIc9Oz3i9FlviOMjN7HZP02xRQJxa7kXmh_qWsY6b7lr1igMYU3ewKQXmmWvZET0C3sTaR/w640-h640/OIG4%20(1).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">A serial groper and convicted fraudster, the twice-impeached, multiply indicted, former "president" Donald Trump has long sympathized with Vladimir Putin, even publicly taking Putin's version of events over the counsel of American intelligence officials. He opposes helping Ukraine in their fight against Russia’s invasion and has indicated not only support, but encouragement, of Russia invading NATO countries. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Under his orders, MAGA Republicans have stalled a national security bill which contains Ukrainian aid, as well as aid to Israel, the Indo-Pacific, and humanitarian aid to Gaza. The measure had already passed the Senate with bipartisan approval, and would likely pass the House if MAGA Speaker Mike Johnson allows a vote, but so far he hasn't. Several House Republicans are willing to sign a petition to force Johnson to bring the measure to the floor. A simple majority can force a vote on a bill, but that rarely happens because it undermines the authority of the House speaker.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Representatives of 23 nations wrote Johnson urging him to take up the Senate measure, saying that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has “challenged the entire democratic world, jeopardizing the security in the whole European and Euro-Atlantic area,” and that “the world is rapidly moving towards the destruction of the sustainable world order.” </p><p style="text-align: justify;">But Johnson has said that no foreign aid bill will be considered unless it contains strict provisions for border security, but it's clear that it's the Republicans, not Democrats, who are preventing new border security legislation.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Both Trump and Biden agree that the influx of migrants at the southern border of the United States needs to be better managed. But Trump blames Biden for an “invasion” of what he calls “fighting-age" criminal men pouring over the border. NBC News has noted that “there is no evidence of a migrant-driven crime wave in the United States” and that, in fact, the data ”shows overall crime levels dropping in those cities that have received the most migrants.” </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Trump is campaigning on promises to solve immigration issues instantly through executive orders, although his orders during his term faced legal challenges. He famously said that if elected he would be a "dictator for a day" to enforce his immigration policies without legislative support or judicial review. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">In contrast to Trump’s promise to dictate a solution, Biden has repeatedly asked Congress to pass laws to address the border issues. Biden has urged Congress to pass a bipartisan border bill that is tilted so far to the right that it drew the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, and the U.S. Border Patrol union. The bill would give provide 1,500 more border agents, 100 cutting-edge machines to detect and stop illegal fentanyl, 100 additional immigration judges to deal with the backlog of cases, 4,300 more asylum officers, more immigrant visas, and emergency authority for the president to shut the border when it becomes overwhelmed. Senators from both parties had spent four months hammering out the bill, but then House Republicans killed the bill when Trump, apparently hoping to keep the issue open for his campaign, told them to. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">For the record, I don't like the bill. It offers no pathway to citizenship and doesn't address the "dreamers," the children brought to the U.S. without documentation. But House Speaker Johnson has said that no aid can be approved for Ukraine unless we first address the border, and the bipartisan bill shows how far Biden is willing to go to obtain that important aid. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">In a televised address from the border, Biden spoke directly to Trump: “Instead of playing politics with the issue, instead of telling members of Congress to block this legislation, join me, or I'll join you, in telling the Congress to pass this bipartisan border security bill. We can do it together…. Instead of playing politics with the issue, why don't we just get together and get it done. Let’s remember who the heck we work for. We work for the American people, not the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. We work for the American people.”</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-25315786163582237262024-03-02T15:02:00.000-05:002024-03-02T15:02:56.401-05:00The Glass Limbo<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPUWFAA1DHA6JdjUIiN_cctKMuJbmnbyZiw5ENzEJH0H3qh36T-QlTIn39hj5x055PxmcRHDbMng0DQIXWASlx01AEFNKMowwnAAQYAtUYtv3SwfzhO8aT7my5B7VQuYHxkgv0YOJ41AKo4Cd9B3koaaIQMfA5IfX5HUJsJ2PibEY2DB5WMcp/s1024/shokai_03764_the_glass_limbo_7d3c0bca-49ca-4254-9f47-64f87d017867.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPUWFAA1DHA6JdjUIiN_cctKMuJbmnbyZiw5ENzEJH0H3qh36T-QlTIn39hj5x055PxmcRHDbMng0DQIXWASlx01AEFNKMowwnAAQYAtUYtv3SwfzhO8aT7my5B7VQuYHxkgv0YOJ41AKo4Cd9B3koaaIQMfA5IfX5HUJsJ2PibEY2DB5WMcp/w640-h640/shokai_03764_the_glass_limbo_7d3c0bca-49ca-4254-9f47-64f87d017867.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I was watching some random television when some woman appeared and told the interviewer that she was absolutely convinced that if Joe Biden were to be reelected to a second term, "we won't have a country anymore." </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I'm not sure I can connect the dots of her logic, but I've heard complaints on the right that the Biden administration isn't doing enough to secure the southern boundary, and if we don't have boundaries, then we don't have a country. I think that's what concerned her.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Of course, this is propaganda, election-year hyperbole intended to gin up sentiment against the incumbent president, and the Republicans have used this playbook before. In 2013, after Democrats passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill in the Senate, House Republicans refused to allow the bill to even be debated, not wanting a Democratic president to get credit for immigration reform. To break the stalemate, President Obama asked the Republicans to propose their own immigration bill and they refused, demanding that it was up to Obama and him alone to do something about illegal immigration. So Obama used his executive authority to enact some immigration reforms, and of course Republicans were outraged and called Obama a tyrant for doing exactly what they were demanding him to do.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">This same exact script is playing out this year. House Republicans are screaming about a crisis at the border, claiming millions of illegal immigrants are crossing the border and we have no idea who they are or where they are. Scary! Tragically, a woman was recently murdered in Athens, Georgia by someone here illegally, and disgustingly, the right has wasted no time pointing the finger of blame at the president and Democrats, claiming her blood is on their hands for not securing the border. They've even found blood on the hands of non-MAGA Republicans, claiming they weren't diligent enough in trying to overturn the 2020 election and allowing Biden to assume the presidency. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger have blood on their hands, they claim, for not "finding" the 11,780 votes that Trump requested. It's just a matter of time until they point the finger at me, saying her blood is on my hands for voting for Democrats. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">This election year, Republicans are repeating their theatrics of 2013, denying funding for Israel, Ukraine, and Gaza unless it's tied to strict immigration policy. But when a bipartisan committee came up with exactly the legislation they were demanding, the toughest, most restrictive immigration bill in literally decades, the House Republicans refused to even consider it, declaring it "dead on arrival," so that they'll have scary immigration as a campaign issue on which to run.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">So immigration, I think, is why the woman on television was saying we won't have a country anymore. But listening not only to Trump, but to his Republican enablers as well, I truly believe that if they win the election, our country will no longer be recognizable as "America," land of the free and home of the brave. We won't have a democracy but a theocratic autocracy, ruled at the narcissistic whims of a deranged tyrant.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I wish that last sentence was hyperbole, but it's actually something of an understatement. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">An American dictatorship would be horrible, a sad and tragic setback to small-d democratic ideals and freedom. But other countries have survived fascist dictators and recovered, although at terrible prices. Spain recovered from Franco and Italy from Mussolini. Brazil and Argentina have been ruled at various times by military juntas and have survived, although I don't want the United States to be the current version of either country.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The price will be terrible and I don't see how it doesn't involve violence, lots of it and deadly. A Civil War is not off the table, and it won't be a territorial war between states but a cultural war pitting neighbor against neighbor, Christians killing the unfaithful, antifa killing fascists, blacks and whites fighting along color lines while Hispanics and Asians try to pick sides.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Trump is making no secrets that his top priority if elected president would be to exact his revenge on his political enemies, and to jettison democratic norms for a dictatorial approach to rule. Biden promises a sane and rational set of policies, if delivered with the occasional verbal faux-pas. But Trump may win the election because the American electorate views Biden as "old" (not that Trump is much younger) and unfit for office </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The headline this morning in <i>The Guardian</i> announced that President Biden confused Gaza with Ukraine in an announcement that the U.S. would begin air-dropping aid to desperate Palestinians. What shit journalism! The story here is that the U.S. was circumventing Israeli involvement and taking measures to directly provide desperately needed aid to Gaza, not a verbal gaffe by an aging President.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I truly believe, based on both observations and my own experience, that Biden knows the difference between Gaza and the Ukraine. Under no reasonable scenario, would aid for Palestinians be accidentally delivered to Ukraine, nor would military aid go to the wrong recipient. Sometimes the mind slips and says the wrong word. It's happened to me since I was in my 30s, and probably earlier but not noticed. I've frequently been corrected by someone saying, "You mean x" when I apparently said "y." </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">"What did I say?," I ask, thinking that I had in fact said "x" (that's how it sounded in my mind). But I'm told that what actually came out of my mouth was "y." It has nothing to do with dementia or forgetfulness, but probably mindfulness. The mind is racing ahead of the mouth, and on auto-pilot, the wrong word slips unnoticed off the tongue. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">It's not confusion of the two things or forgetfulness, although it might appear that way to the casual observer. When you mean to say something's "at work," but part of the mind is thinking about home, you might say "at home" instead. But it doesn't mean that you think that you parked the company car at home and not at the office. </div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Biden has suffered a similar problem for years. Decades ago, even before he was a vice-president, he was sometimes called "Gaffey Joe" because of his tendency to say the wrong thing at the wrong time and make some verbal gaffe. Back in the 90s and 00s, it was just considered Joe being Joe. Now, it's talked of as if it's a dangerous symptom of an unfit leader and a threat to our governance, when it's really the opposite candidate who represents the end of America as we know it.</div><p></p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-6333109004786191812024-03-01T14:58:00.003-05:002024-03-01T16:30:13.459-05:00Day of the Once Without<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig9yTM5CJhFKOt82SwQ6awS2Dy4KDNOM-ApVB8lhLmn3kA-3uzvBjntLDosNZIy66cIh1x9WbOdUuRcBFjYCUOTp8aRISns3JMBWIgfvfFLsChPPNBZd9o0CQPaYVGpAyEGrN2e2RYmHYnJ2j_DD_QEjbQi1oF4xRXyr4kb0xHcR9EauZvKWnP/s1456/shokai_03764_cinematic_Caravaggio-style_photograph_of_blindfold_e9ae35d0-5b61-48bd-9c49-903d9d0ae96a.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1456" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig9yTM5CJhFKOt82SwQ6awS2Dy4KDNOM-ApVB8lhLmn3kA-3uzvBjntLDosNZIy66cIh1x9WbOdUuRcBFjYCUOTp8aRISns3JMBWIgfvfFLsChPPNBZd9o0CQPaYVGpAyEGrN2e2RYmHYnJ2j_DD_QEjbQi1oF4xRXyr4kb0xHcR9EauZvKWnP/w640-h358/shokai_03764_cinematic_Caravaggio-style_photograph_of_blindfold_e9ae35d0-5b61-48bd-9c49-903d9d0ae96a.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">It's the 61st day of Childwinter, Day of the Once Without, but the business world knows it as March 1st, the beginning of a new lunar month, and the day bills are due. It is the day for making payments.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">My bank's web site could tell me my balance but said it was currently unable to list individual transactions. Xfinity's web site went to a blank white screen when I clicked "pay my bill." I got an error message saying "This site can’t be reached" when I try to log in on my mortgage lender's website. Not very helpful guys.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Other sites (utilities, credit card, insurance, etc.) are all working fine, so I know it's not a connection or software problem on my part. It's y'all, not me. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">It's ironic that I can't connect with Xfinity, my internet service provider. It's suspicious that my mortgage lender's site is down on the very day when most people's payments are due. It's annoying that my bank can't account for my money.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I know, first world problems, but I wasn't made for these modern times.</div><p></p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-41985570876925953812024-02-29T14:03:00.001-05:002024-03-01T12:59:17.801-05:00Fifth Twelve<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDTwaZt4l6qLlyR40uIuEcBRjFVBDxzlEO_lpYw-rVnfrJRcXVzx0HBJw8HyfasNmSTInywbsDO10Fecxg-J-5FRGKx6Q-yw7F-SjQa9oiFIZg2dMHFDiZcMhQ_gdeMzO-2lDNThDASN_Sl6xX-deZWFTjnZ-9XqreCu4G68utyjDJIcXhEr96/s1024/shokai_03764_Portrait_of_person_wearing_dark_textured_clothing__5644b795-ed04-4df4-b51e-9ab9aa87833d.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDTwaZt4l6qLlyR40uIuEcBRjFVBDxzlEO_lpYw-rVnfrJRcXVzx0HBJw8HyfasNmSTInywbsDO10Fecxg-J-5FRGKx6Q-yw7F-SjQa9oiFIZg2dMHFDiZcMhQ_gdeMzO-2lDNThDASN_Sl6xX-deZWFTjnZ-9XqreCu4G68utyjDJIcXhEr96/w640-h640/shokai_03764_Portrait_of_person_wearing_dark_textured_clothing__5644b795-ed04-4df4-b51e-9ab9aa87833d.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />It's the 60th day of Childwinter. There are two weeks left to the season. <p></p><p>The Universal Solar Calendar calls this day Fifth Twelve. Every year has a 60th day, but Fifth Twelve only occurs every four years, Leap Years, to adjust for Earth's orbit around the Sun. In other years, the 60th day is just Day of the Once Without.</p><p>My daughter, who has been with her partner for some seven years now, purchased a house with him in 2020, and is helping him raise his child from a prior relationship, is planning on going to a Justice of the Peace today to make their partnership an official marriage. I'm not invited, but I don't believe that anyone else is, either. It's personal business, something just for the two of them.</p><p>I believe they chose today just so they anniversaries would occur only once every four years.</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-51882964805124743042024-02-28T12:29:00.002-05:002024-02-29T13:20:55.670-05:00The Unspoken Vows<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmM2DNx6PsBsk0kjzrPrnjPDtOv6-NUKsE94TecJoLFPY8n2WwF3Ydx_tEbJr9Rs9GLThAfg9JFaFpHziqOFJ9MrVGTEcnfnCtLA-1Df0lxdaeRzyMDO-achg2Iqw8e_7NE47UQVjj8qX2scU0bDue37IrUCXEwL5oxXqIyE7tgufJvlJyH9hx/s1024/shokai_03764_the_unspoken_vows_eb61232e-3c83-46e5-98a1-698520b26f3b.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmM2DNx6PsBsk0kjzrPrnjPDtOv6-NUKsE94TecJoLFPY8n2WwF3Ydx_tEbJr9Rs9GLThAfg9JFaFpHziqOFJ9MrVGTEcnfnCtLA-1Df0lxdaeRzyMDO-achg2Iqw8e_7NE47UQVjj8qX2scU0bDue37IrUCXEwL5oxXqIyE7tgufJvlJyH9hx/w640-h640/shokai_03764_the_unspoken_vows_eb61232e-3c83-46e5-98a1-698520b26f3b.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Things aren’t always as they appear. My grandfather took a civil rights case to the Florida Supreme Court and was characterized in the press as “a Negro World War I veteran.” My great-grandfather was named by W.E.B. DuBois’ The Crisis magazine as “the first Negro banker in Florida.” And my great-great-grandfather was a field slave on a plantation near Hartsville, South Carolina before emancipation. I apparently got my last name from the same place as my light skin - the white plantation owners who raped my great-great-grandmother.</p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-33366119290967727182024-02-27T16:01:00.000-05:002024-02-27T16:01:06.373-05:00Broom Day<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7EcZiGfa-dPWsg5viYGhbng8mRwmmq-UwHkcVWJMuNoS2tOqQkspKH2o3Mg03gJsKzDxcjR93nJXO0iCS9ZF_LErwD0AgTs9oqCGVbWby1AUm30JCiqOXk7L2FuPUNd7dz3GdhTxYFApflF6kwpz6IqxtiCuEfrJJF5JBkmjeUzM6biyBuCI/s2912/shokai_03764_cinematic_Caravaggio-style_photograph_of_woman_hol_bd6809f3-ac27-49e9-8577-5f1d233c019b.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1632" data-original-width="2912" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7EcZiGfa-dPWsg5viYGhbng8mRwmmq-UwHkcVWJMuNoS2tOqQkspKH2o3Mg03gJsKzDxcjR93nJXO0iCS9ZF_LErwD0AgTs9oqCGVbWby1AUm30JCiqOXk7L2FuPUNd7dz3GdhTxYFApflF6kwpz6IqxtiCuEfrJJF5JBkmjeUzM6biyBuCI/w640-h358/shokai_03764_cinematic_Caravaggio-style_photograph_of_woman_hol_bd6809f3-ac27-49e9-8577-5f1d233c019b.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">My little routines to give the passing of time some semblance of structure include getting off my fat ass and out the door every other day to go for a walk. </div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I live within walking distance of a portion of the Atlanta Beltline, and I have a route that's about 2¼ miles door-to-door from my house. I can stretch it out to a 3½-mile loop and even a 5-mile route, but for now I'm keeping it short and sweet. But still, I've covered some 25 miles just since February 6.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Sunday, I walked with my adult daughter along the Cochran Shoals National Recreation Area, which sounds pretty wilderness, but it's really just a stretch along the Chattahoochee River on the edge of Atlanta. I used to run the 3-mile trail regularly back in the 80s and 90s; now I occasionally (if even that) walk it. But at least I'm still getting out.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The only drawback to the Cochran Shoals trail is I have to drive to get there, and parking is kind of a hassle, but I can walk to the Beltline. I prefer my walking routine to not include an automobile trip, but I may revisit that preference to give my walking routine more variety.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This 58th day of Childwinter is called Broom Day. I tried to coax the AI image generators to produce an action picture of curling, but the AI models have no idea what a curling broom looks like and kept depicting players with hockey sticks or ski poles. And it also insisted on showing the players wearing ice skates, although curling is actually played with specially soled shoes.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6AKj4iRo4h8MGkgy5LJHXXgqwF9WZnoVQVyLakcf3HeinV5-NZGnA6vZJCM1B-ze5OHSlg25X-w3mk7u4Hwf8p5sNOol-RMkXpZovhCOjxFXLClceqB2BgypfTrWM9nKYxK49yKVfO46BSPTah8h5ojOqTq04jyjLk1gZ6ytpAsxGifqEQDhi/s1456/shokai_03764_detailed_ice-level_closeup_of_two_curlers_competin_2d3ae04a-b633-433b-8549-92166325fd55.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1456" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6AKj4iRo4h8MGkgy5LJHXXgqwF9WZnoVQVyLakcf3HeinV5-NZGnA6vZJCM1B-ze5OHSlg25X-w3mk7u4Hwf8p5sNOol-RMkXpZovhCOjxFXLClceqB2BgypfTrWM9nKYxK49yKVfO46BSPTah8h5ojOqTq04jyjLk1gZ6ytpAsxGifqEQDhi/w640-h358/shokai_03764_detailed_ice-level_closeup_of_two_curlers_competin_2d3ae04a-b633-433b-8549-92166325fd55.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Trying to visualize images for the word "broom" got me to nostalgically think of Ken's Broome Street Bar, probably still one of my favorite spot in Manhattan, and a bar I used to visit frequently in the 1970s.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbubxp_zKtrzo9cfE_rUpVQwu8OQRHoZA5R9E6R5qaReYa4pYRVMm6tlZn0To68KpYe_oQa-h6HoW8IVfmFsjXGlcEenEXz_kgYjrdVJ4UyMCZtCEOBUIb5VKuUxtPX527vjpPheYQLyN1VvU2BQm_9PIAdpKJOFbpkZe9YlpF48gwWo37lX5j/s1024/OIG1%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbubxp_zKtrzo9cfE_rUpVQwu8OQRHoZA5R9E6R5qaReYa4pYRVMm6tlZn0To68KpYe_oQa-h6HoW8IVfmFsjXGlcEenEXz_kgYjrdVJ4UyMCZtCEOBUIb5VKuUxtPX527vjpPheYQLyN1VvU2BQm_9PIAdpKJOFbpkZe9YlpF48gwWo37lX5j/w640-h640/OIG1%20(2).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I was also fond of the koan-like concept of a blindfolded person sweeping the street. The streetscape, naturally, became the Soho neighborhood around Ken's back in the rough-and-tumble '70s, back before the Giuliani gentrification to the neighborhood. But the AI generators kept letting the blindfolds slip - apparently, they wanted to make sure the street sweepers could see what they were doing. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg4aJcC678cLfZ1iLWuybPfRzlme30T28q943lK69w25QtexXNL6V001COlfRCgVX17v9ayMfkEjXcKXYjwsyQ4yDBnK2herLdwMdlCMPYTW5bUbfTWBaKT7SwmHo6gHq1vi4hFD6oo8tUFXiCtH0M8dJg0BI7st-kCMoTdydFu2Im4-K1rEoX/s1024/tengrai_image_1709057052_7484918.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg4aJcC678cLfZ1iLWuybPfRzlme30T28q943lK69w25QtexXNL6V001COlfRCgVX17v9ayMfkEjXcKXYjwsyQ4yDBnK2herLdwMdlCMPYTW5bUbfTWBaKT7SwmHo6gHq1vi4hFD6oo8tUFXiCtH0M8dJg0BI7st-kCMoTdydFu2Im4-K1rEoX/w640-h640/tengrai_image_1709057052_7484918.png" width="640" /></a></div><div> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga8L25wkWe7PYOqYYhO75dBLe7hh6hL1-lrGvx2uoHTRuYnaS_7Y4dLi_es9Pf8FcP52Nrp9iNAiW1n3DKuVQHHwS7UyzCeKgYICZtrjbcM7vIwBksJu-5V6BDnXp0V6_sKuA_Wv6kbt614M5XY8JTga8VNpCEx3hMNDuLJRIh0QeJ9_zv_6WE/s1456/shokai_03764_cinematic_view_of_old_woman_wearing_tattered_dirty_a0a9514f-83ca-41e1-9ea9-b7071c7ca4d3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1456" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga8L25wkWe7PYOqYYhO75dBLe7hh6hL1-lrGvx2uoHTRuYnaS_7Y4dLi_es9Pf8FcP52Nrp9iNAiW1n3DKuVQHHwS7UyzCeKgYICZtrjbcM7vIwBksJu-5V6BDnXp0V6_sKuA_Wv6kbt614M5XY8JTga8VNpCEx3hMNDuLJRIh0QeJ9_zv_6WE/w640-h358/shokai_03764_cinematic_view_of_old_woman_wearing_tattered_dirty_a0a9514f-83ca-41e1-9ea9-b7071c7ca4d3.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-2453863637721930552024-02-26T12:55:00.001-05:002024-02-26T12:55:31.307-05:00The Crippled Vision<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe3C9alO8EK06fm40AhSVsEdfUBml7oQ78BXDDRVIlExTY-LLX6H5mg68vLiyxRc3hIigh_QHBLiQSPX_GcSVaD7ZDv92Mcwd0LMzMFyl15b582ghsrGXjWDB4mDusCRUUT56oiPX23B417Jd6LEQG2kaSgz-k-koD4uLpyboGMBk-nNSwsLaV/s2048/shokai_03764_the_crippled_vision_77cee655-8d3b-4701-9c67-ebd436be5461.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe3C9alO8EK06fm40AhSVsEdfUBml7oQ78BXDDRVIlExTY-LLX6H5mg68vLiyxRc3hIigh_QHBLiQSPX_GcSVaD7ZDv92Mcwd0LMzMFyl15b582ghsrGXjWDB4mDusCRUUT56oiPX23B417Jd6LEQG2kaSgz-k-koD4uLpyboGMBk-nNSwsLaV/w640-h640/shokai_03764_the_crippled_vision_77cee655-8d3b-4701-9c67-ebd436be5461.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Retired life, when I'm forced to describe it, is like a weekend that never ends. But after a while, a never-ending weekend begins to lose any sense of rhythm, any flow, and falls in on itself into a kind of dissolute ennui.</p><p>So, I observe certain routines and schedules to give my time a semblance of structure. For example, the city collects trash in my neighborhood on Tuesdays, which means I take the trash out on Monday nights, rolling the bins down the steep hill of my driveway, and then back up again every Tuesday. </p><p>That might seem like a pretty minor event and it is, but taking the trash out on Mondays also means I change the kitty litter on Mondays, which in turn means Mondays are general house-cleaning days, a tidying up after the long (six-day) weekend that preceded it. Mondays are the day to vacuum, to scrub toilets, to attempt to dust a little around the house. </p><p>Mondays are also my politics day. On Mondays, Rachel Maddow does her live, weekly show on MSNBC and Jon Stewart hosts The Daily Show. I might watch either or both shows on other days, but Mondays are the must-see evenings. So instead of playing video games or bingeing out on Netflix, on Mondays I'm watching television and catching up with two unique and entertaining views on current events.</p><p>I also don't drink on weeknights. I might allow myself a drink or two on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings, but starting Mondays I observe abstinence. And I've found that observing abstinence during the week makes me less inclined to drink on weekends. I lose my taste for it. </p><p>So housecleaning, ritual rolling of the trash bins down the hills, Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart, and abstinence from alcohol define my Mondays, and make them unique from the rest of the week. And as Mondays come up every seven days, a rhythm emerges and the dissolute fog of the endless weekend begins to lift, if just a little.</p><p></p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-69999681885142630502024-02-25T18:40:00.001-05:002024-02-25T18:40:15.789-05:00Body of Love<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJf8LthK_5zuFOx_4GpAMF6pU0ZWbHp_0_69KXO-BN65TT_n9uxVz7RjKlqX0lqxHpLi6QI55RIvWA7S7PhWxWJuG1d2y20NBqvuj8zwTSsWn4SJD1KXCWb-U4Uwk_Z9V8Yynn25FjTGu0IyLpwNMmLKmYDIUIWGHbtYXaBZuK8ZBoTkjJINak/s1024/tengrai_image_1708222125_1433642.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJf8LthK_5zuFOx_4GpAMF6pU0ZWbHp_0_69KXO-BN65TT_n9uxVz7RjKlqX0lqxHpLi6QI55RIvWA7S7PhWxWJuG1d2y20NBqvuj8zwTSsWn4SJD1KXCWb-U4Uwk_Z9V8Yynn25FjTGu0IyLpwNMmLKmYDIUIWGHbtYXaBZuK8ZBoTkjJINak/w640-h640/tengrai_image_1708222125_1433642.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />The 56th day of Childwinter is Body of Love. How do you visually depict "Body of Love" without resorting to nudity, pornography, or cliched exploitation of women? Or of men?<p></p><p>Most AI image generators forbid nudity and block anything they deem unacceptable. There are some porno models specifically designed to produce nude images, but the results are almost always banal, cliched, and exploitative, seemingly intended for horny 15-year-old boys. In any event, my concept of "Body of Love" isn't necessarily D-cup boobs.</p><p>Can Body of Love be depicted as an abstract black-and-white study in the manner of Edward Weston and Ansel Adams?</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-tE_fVXKILwtRGVbgBBEA8NW_2kNVre9-2cjE5_GnoR2nfVClU1td36JkS9NnJ3pwclXZUcSpe3mxIeOsHSTEH7dQqiDTPKdXdQd3OyXtwgg2GOretIpzJUB9Cvy_Hg2nOr0EhAoOw-Bh57ac8gDq53U0Vrne8rfjAV3UwDSFpAJoI_ux1olk/s1024/shokai_03764_abstract_black__white_portrait_of_torso_in_the_sty_838b09c3-ee7f-4347-a490-b33875cc64a9.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-tE_fVXKILwtRGVbgBBEA8NW_2kNVre9-2cjE5_GnoR2nfVClU1td36JkS9NnJ3pwclXZUcSpe3mxIeOsHSTEH7dQqiDTPKdXdQd3OyXtwgg2GOretIpzJUB9Cvy_Hg2nOr0EhAoOw-Bh57ac8gDq53U0Vrne8rfjAV3UwDSFpAJoI_ux1olk/w640-h640/shokai_03764_abstract_black__white_portrait_of_torso_in_the_sty_838b09c3-ee7f-4347-a490-b33875cc64a9.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Or should it be shown as a romantic portrait of lovers in the embrace of passion?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgokTMTMpMhvYiCg2_oR520NvTxU1cYoPYUo7QXasF8YyaOZMFt32OkNUYDmkLvvmDBVUn1CTLSjgBbDLsB7TXVejEgAgnrg_M6W7L7Kh_fUmB-W6h8KBFR4eQFhhKg8lttCYqTzJjvT-ST2N_dVR8xh_V7VG_FQCJDVyHdn9FpQeH_WLZOuhPI/s1024/shokai_03764_the_body_of_love_36c24b69-2f6c-4b9d-ac61-01a491fbaf6e.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgokTMTMpMhvYiCg2_oR520NvTxU1cYoPYUo7QXasF8YyaOZMFt32OkNUYDmkLvvmDBVUn1CTLSjgBbDLsB7TXVejEgAgnrg_M6W7L7Kh_fUmB-W6h8KBFR4eQFhhKg8lttCYqTzJjvT-ST2N_dVR8xh_V7VG_FQCJDVyHdn9FpQeH_WLZOuhPI/w640-h640/shokai_03764_the_body_of_love_36c24b69-2f6c-4b9d-ac61-01a491fbaf6e.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Perhaps we should take a broader look at love, beyond human intimacy and into the realm of the spiritual.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgRid55XFSM_8QKRD5WZP6J8xyMSTaD9YVEuVcNKJJYA4eyuEJgUYf2mNxqOAX1B-AfGGnDYaF1PgUO86QEZgfw3zZHBDt2_3j4q8-YQkA-AnDV6sIlrRqi4xP4SdxRhb5gIVdgcquRstOMlHFH6A_37zCU1huQgxqaN-rsXkWgnsuMuqSs2k/s1319/shokai_03764_cinematic_masterpiece_reenactment_of_famous_painti_f38018db-d69d-4040-a927-5949710cf269.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1319" data-original-width="896" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgRid55XFSM_8QKRD5WZP6J8xyMSTaD9YVEuVcNKJJYA4eyuEJgUYf2mNxqOAX1B-AfGGnDYaF1PgUO86QEZgfw3zZHBDt2_3j4q8-YQkA-AnDV6sIlrRqi4xP4SdxRhb5gIVdgcquRstOMlHFH6A_37zCU1huQgxqaN-rsXkWgnsuMuqSs2k/w434-h640/shokai_03764_cinematic_masterpiece_reenactment_of_famous_painti_f38018db-d69d-4040-a927-5949710cf269.png" width="434" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Or perhaps it shouldn't be depicted at all, at least not with AI, but left to the poets and musicians to interpret through their artistic means. </div><p></p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-13184033670577176512024-02-24T13:38:00.003-05:002024-02-24T13:38:26.197-05:00The Unrecovered Ocean<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjesYlh56fdXLUD6_4K0ZVcu7ColkCMsNoxih4-im7QCIe1u6YH10FaV8mLddgwlT23gspu-pN-taLvjMyAaYVqm9Xr1FKt8dPvF_cysO7RFkRJaIYT0BJB0e-hY10IBehiK7lni7lTQSW9IC8amII57_zgKaVxR8Y6xAFALx0AiT478THpbgTQ/s1456/shokai_03764_three_beautiful_women_at_the_beach_under_moonlight_a4484a30-1bb8-4ca5-a10d-18409a935201.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1456" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjesYlh56fdXLUD6_4K0ZVcu7ColkCMsNoxih4-im7QCIe1u6YH10FaV8mLddgwlT23gspu-pN-taLvjMyAaYVqm9Xr1FKt8dPvF_cysO7RFkRJaIYT0BJB0e-hY10IBehiK7lni7lTQSW9IC8amII57_zgKaVxR8Y6xAFALx0AiT478THpbgTQ/w640-h358/shokai_03764_three_beautiful_women_at_the_beach_under_moonlight_a4484a30-1bb8-4ca5-a10d-18409a935201.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The 55th day of Childwinter is known as The Unrecovered Ocean. It's not the day after a multiple of 12, like First Twelve, Second Twelve, etc., so it's not akin to First Ocean, Second Ocean, and so on. It's simply the day between The White Spheres and Body of Love. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The sun rose this morning at 7:12 a.m. here in Atlanta and will set at 6:29 p.m. for 11 hours and 17 minutes of daylight. We're less than a month away from the vernal equinox, when day and night are equal, balanced, in equipoise. It's staying light noticeably later than just a mere few weeks ago. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The Moon orbits Earth in an elliptical path, so at times it's closer to the Earth than at others. The point in the Moon’s orbit when it's farthest from Earth is known as the apogee. When a Full Moon occurs around the apogee, it’s called a Micromoon, Minimoon or Apogee Moon. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The Snow Moon occurs tonight as a Micromoon, although that's not so every year. The Snow Moon is named after the abundant snowfall in the Northern Hemisphere. The Cherokee named it the Hungry Moon and the Bony Moon due to the scarce food sources and hard hunting conditions during mid-winter. The Ojibwe and the Tlingit called it the Bear Moon, referring to bear cubs being born this time of year. Celtic and Old English names for the Snow Moon translate to Storm Moon and Ice Moon.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">A Full Moon, whether Micro or Super or anything in between, always rises at sunset and sets at sunrise.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Do with this information what you will.</div><p></p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069473.post-11290091914168245852024-02-23T17:52:00.001-05:002024-02-23T17:52:19.212-05:00The White Spheres<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgwpaBLtK-Cusg2FdZ1l63syori-oLzQ3S97vjV2kxIhdKjrnWn16_0r4AXB8zQksJWz4VZwUQxJdhsXav-TQktD-ToU9JtWU0AyndHGxOnX5upJU9qSSyaM_LTJ6_Qgfcot2QTUVHUc1j7gERzxlC_GNR4_DegYV0YHimfR-gbAA_n8gWOS6I/s1024/907cee87ed914dc39fad1cc196408cde.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgwpaBLtK-Cusg2FdZ1l63syori-oLzQ3S97vjV2kxIhdKjrnWn16_0r4AXB8zQksJWz4VZwUQxJdhsXav-TQktD-ToU9JtWU0AyndHGxOnX5upJU9qSSyaM_LTJ6_Qgfcot2QTUVHUc1j7gERzxlC_GNR4_DegYV0YHimfR-gbAA_n8gWOS6I/w640-h640/907cee87ed914dc39fad1cc196408cde.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />You'd be excused for still thinking it was still The Supernatural Bride today based on the picture, but the 54th day of Childwinter is actually The White Spheres. You probably know it as February 23rd.<p></p><p>So, I'm sure you're probably wondering how I'm coming along on my newly downloaded virtual modular synthesizer. Short answer - horribly, or at least horribly slowly. I'm slightly past the "bloop-bleep" phase and am now in the "strange outer-space noises" phase. At my best, I can kid myself that I sound like Sun Ra during his most self-indulgent solos. It's amazing what playing with the frequency of an oscillator or two can do.</p><p>The best part of living alone is no one has to endure hearing me experiment.</p><p><br /></p>Shokaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03648991160664931861noreply@blogger.com0