We can blame the Egyptians from 3,000 years ago for the original birthday celebrations. They revered their leaders so much , coronations became the birth of their new king or queen as gods for the masses to idolize on bended knees.
Celebrating birthdays in the Western World did not catch on with regular folk until the Industrial Revolution era. I am not sure and I don't want to take the time to know the reason why. That was the information I found after an exhaustive five minutes digging deep in the Wide World Web. I will say though, it was so very cool to find the Selfie on the left; and the moment was so important they carved it in stone. I cannot imagine standing still that long. But I think they really captured the moment, don't you?
So why a post about birthdays? Well, it's Harry Houdini's birthday. If he had lived long enough to be breathing today, he would be 152 years old. But he's not alive and hasn't been for 100 years. So why do we celebrate his birth and not his death? I am not sure why. That is just the way it is. Some traditions you don't fuck with, you just go with the flow.
Sometimes I have trouble understanding the logic of the things humans do. Many of our time honored traditions make no sense to me; Birthdays are certainly one of them. Birthdays are just one of the many ways we show fealty to the passage of Time. This puzzles me, especially when Time slows down after I get really, really baked.
I have never held birthdays in high regard. Matter of fact, I forget them regularly, especially my own. Thankfully, I have Facebook to remind me now of the birthdays I should remember. That helps, but I still blow it.
We live, then we die. It's the shit we pulled between the two that matters, not the dates.
Later ..................................
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Finding a birthday song I liked was not as tough as I expected. Please enjoy Blue Harlem's fine blues tune, "Blues Birthday". Some excellent piano riffs and a great female voice. Classic blues, the way it should be.
It was music and a daily suggestion greeting me on my computer the other day that broke the Facebook silence I have been enjoying most of this month. A Bobby McFerrin pop hit from way back in someone's day and now lost in the current lexicon of music that sold out to the Man; well, it popped up somehow from somewhere, maybe on the TV, the radio or just came to mind.
Hmm.......
If truth be told or not, I am feeling a stream of consciousness day coming into view. Go with the flow, no matter where it came from or where it is set to go. Just latch on with a firm grip and enjoy the fucking ride; Or not; or maybe, do whatever blows my dress up. For you see, I have nothing better to do than ignore that bothersome and nagging list of honey do, honey don't duties that exist on some honey's list I never read, met nor wanted to.
It all depends on the type of day I want, a productive one or an introspective deep dive into the swamp of mindless goo that swirls in and out with the tide in my mind....... Whew!
Not making sense is harder than it looks. The hard earned lessons of the many grammar nazis in my past, make it difficult for me to write wild like I used to. I have to think about it, not just feel it; all because I now anguish over composition dos and don'ts more than seems sane.; or fun for that matter. .......
Fun. ..... What is fun? A cover all word that covers participating in anything we enjoy doing; whether it be toil ending productivily or just ending with grins. Fun is what we make of it, do to it, do with it. If it brings Joy, do it as much as possible, even if that Joy in the end, makes us sad.
Sadness can rock too. Sadness can purge the stockpile of petty concerns that haunt us everyday. Or it can make them worse. It seems we need both, sadness and joy. Well, it does appear we can't have one without a regular dose of the other. The trick I guess is to look for one and accept the other. They both helped make us what we have become. ..........
What we have become? A matter of perception I imagine. I have only my own view of what I have become, by mindless reflection of what I have done, not done, thought about getting done, thought about not getting done, and what I vowed I would never get done and to date still have yet to get done. What the "collective we" have become is what we always become; a loose consortium of good actors, bad actors; actors who help others and actors who exploit others. Something tells me no matter what system of disorganization we conjour up, those realities will always hold true. They are embedded in our cultural DNA, cast in stone by eras and ages of treating each other like shit.
Which makes me wonder, just how the Hell did we make it this far? The future seems sketchy at best given how comfortabe humanity seems living on all these precipices and lines we should never cross. And because we can't help ourselves, we always settle where the flow leaves us. Somehow we come out of the self inflicted madness smelling like roses. .............
After protracted and tortuous times being our own worst enemies, I expect we will again come out into the daylight and there will be no roses to smell. Odds seem to get shorter, the longer they are in play.
It might be a good idea to start paying attention to what we are doing to ourselves.
< ~ >
I wrote this post in one big breath; no paragraphing, no spell checking ( mine is broken anyway), no thought given to any theme of any kind. Yeah, it was a big rambling chunk of words, that once I took that breath and re-read my jibberish, I couldn't stand it. I could feel the long dead grammar nazis from my past hanging over my shoulder, breathing hot and sweaty condemnations in both ears about the Hell I would endure in Grammier Hell, as I would be tasked to diagram every sentence in the US Constitution. ...... Over n over. ( It was the History nuts who threw in the clause about the Constitution. )
I decided I had to clean it up some; tossed in some paragraphs; tossed in some minimal spell checking, and shifted around some commas and periods; came up with the catchy title, "A Seinfeld Post" and voila! I was finally done.
Keep it 'tween the ditches ....................................
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Hang in............. I have abruptly been blocked from the stream that flowed so furiously only minutes ago. ............ Finally, I picked a tune, came up with a title collage that took almost as much time as the damn post. .......
"Child in Time" - Deep Purple - First released 1970 - AI enhanced music video - Recently released or close to it.
Another "Big Think" digital article on Facebook caught my eye yesterday morning. I am slowly becoming a fan, an addict, and gasp; even a follower of the "Big Think" world.
I blame all the bad news out there bombarding me from every direction 24/7 for my new found interest in shit I haven't considered in such quantities since back in military school. Rather than take the bait of a media determined to make me feel bad, feel fear, or feel angry, I am looking for internet pleasures elsewhere that don't prefix with the warning, "X-rated".
Yesterday's "Big Think" article was about really intelligent people suffering a higher incidence of mental and emotional problems in a world overrun by average intellects. It points up the rocky road many of the genius level minds have navigating and dealing with the madness of mediocrity that rules our planet.
With high intelligence comes great risk. Though the article does not say it, I conveniently inferred, assumed, jumped to the conclusion that:
"It is Safer to be Dumb as a Rock than Smarter than One"
What I like about "Big Think" articles are their "everyman" treatments of ideas and concepts much more complicated than many of us can understand. The articles hit the high notes of topics a schlub like me might be able to get my mind around. And though I may not understand all of them completely, they do offer me a shot at looking inside of someone else's box for a moment or two. The articles often humble me and point out that for all I think I know, there is so much out there to know, I will run out of time to learn even a small infinitesimal amount of it.
Instead of making me feel small and insignificant, all the knowledge that I cannot know makes me all warm and fuzzy. No matter what I think, where I go, or what door I might open, there will always be something new for me to find, experience, or deal with as long as I am looking for it. The New does not always slap us in the face. We often have to seek it out.
So being one of the "average intelligent", I appreciate what "Big Think" is doing. They are on a quest to renew interest in subjects many of us hated in school. They are trying to bring ideas and notions back into our lives many of us have not considered since childhood. For me, "Big Think" is bringing some wonder back into my life. Check them out. Good stuff.
Keep it 'tween the ditches ...............................
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Music today is provided by IZ, a Hawaiian artist who died before his time. It's a medley of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" and "Wonderful World" . No matter how often I hear this tune, the hairs on my neck rush to stand at attention.
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** The image at the top, "The Scream" is a rare black and white print found at the British Museum. The article is three years old but interesting nonetheless.
It was probably a mistake, but I again read an article from "Big Think". Didn't I tell myself many times that I am retired, hoping to sit back, smoke dope and let others worry about the things that matter and for that matter, also worry about the things that don't matter. Sadly, it is one thing to tell others I am retired from the pain of dealing with reality, it is entirely another thing to successfully follow through.
If anything, all of the things I have no control over have set up center stage now. Before, I was too damn busy with my reality of owning a business to consider just how disconnected from what is important myself and the swarming hordes of our planet seem to be. Regardless, I don't own a business anymore which leaves me nothing but the random musings that wander around in what I charitably call my mind.
"Big Think" offers up layman explanations for ideas that have geek speak beginnings. Complicated notions boiled down so hopefully a doofus like me can make hide or tails of it. This article starts with a question from science guy, Robert Lanza;
" Is the physical universe independent from us, or is it created by our minds?"
Without reading the article, I first tried to consider just the possibility of the premise. It only took maybe 30 seconds and I decided reading the article might help me past the initial idea. I got 500 words into the article before my head started to ache.
Quite awhile ago, I had read, heard or watched a show regarding the incompatibility of general relativity and the subsequent competitor on the block, Quantum theory. Einstein wasn't having any of it as an explanation of Reality. So the smart folk came up with String Theory to try to connect the other two in a logical way.
That has not worked out yet.
And now it seems another attempt is being made to explain it all. "Biocentric Design" seems at first a total delusion like Lanza ate too much LSD and was sure he had changed Realities, Universes, something was different. The more I thought about his idea, the more room I gave in my trove of impossibilities that cannot be tossed without more scrutiny.
e can and have made up whatever we wanted as long as the intelligentsia at the time is in agreement with past interpretations. Which seems to open the door that if enough of us agree, we can/will/have changed what comprised the past, the future, and the present. I immediately extrapolated that Reality is always in a kind of flux depending on what Quantum Foam it finds itself in. Quantum Foam is defined as:
"Quantum foam (also known as spacetime foam or spacetime bubble) is a theoretical quantum fluctuation of spacetime on very small scales due to quantum mechanics"
Somewhat in agreement, kinda, maybe; Steven Hawkings said of the past and future:
"The past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities."
Of course I am guessing it doesn't boil down to something so simple. But it sure seems like it. Since many of our great thinkers are now at least entertaining the notion we are to blame for this cluster fuck of a Reality we find ourselves in, I wonder if they are onto something "Real" or is it just another theory like String Theory which has not been wholly accepted since its creation 40 years ago.
Never mind the claimed subatomic underpinnings of Reality, what about the citizens of the planet and how they deal with Reality they /we/us have created for ourselves? Based on this new notion of Reality being born out of a group think cooperative made of generations of thinkers, it would appear to a large degree, humanity agrees on the physical reality within which we humans interact. Where our mutual perception of the nuts and bolts of Reality stop is how the various groups perceive and use that reality. I would call those our cultural, religious, and possibly linguistic differences. Reality in Vietnam is not the same reality in Calgary, Canada and so on and so on around a world that itself spins in a Reality made up of all of us, by all of us, for all of us.
My original reason for writing this was to tie Religion in somehow. But I think that is a discussion for another day when I might even care. Instead, I find myself calming down and accepting one more impossible possibility in my Life. For if what and where we all exist is the result of an umpteen thousand years of generational group effort, then my hat is off to us. We sure created a beautiful planet upon which to exist. We just seem to be having problems agreeing how we should live here together.
Keep it 'tween the ditches ...................................................
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I picked the group Lost Frequencies and their tune, "Reality". Poppy, but the images are nice.
I am so sick of hearing the bullshit about how the private sector does things better and cheaper than the government when in most cases where there are universal needs, that assertion is absolutely false. Stop believing in the private sector to solve every problem. They can't because they depend on a profit motive to exist. Some services are better left to well designed and run government management that has the profit motive removed from the equation.
Healthcare, Prisons, Power grids, and distribution of electricity are three industries that should have at least more government oversight than they currently do. Instead, the greed of the private sector is allowed free rein to bend us over and have their way with us. And they do have their way with us.
When Maine's power grid was a semi-public held entity that depended on the PUC (Public Utilities Commission), to set electric rates, the rates tended to remain static and were nowhere as volatile as they are now that the private sector controls the price of electricity. We have allowed greedy out of state companies to dictate what we pay for electricity. By going private we have handed over an important right to the private sector. Private power is more expensive than public power.
"Residential customers of public power utilities pay 11% less
than customers of investor-owned utilities – for the average U.S. household,
that’s $176.79 saved each year or about $15 per month." (publicpower.org)
Recently Maine went through a voting process to stop a private venture from finishing cutting a swath through our state to provide Massachusetts cheap Canadian hydro power. If it had continued, upon completion,$250 million would be paid to the state and Maine consumers could expect a pennies on the dollar decrease in their monthly bill. The honchos of the private electricity owners lauded this as proof of how much better they were at handling our electrical needs.
Yet, in the meantime, the greedy assholes who have us by our electrical short hairs asked and were given the right to raise rates in 2022. The rate hike would amount to an 83% increase according to some experts.
The first salvo in re-gaining public control of our energy needs began when Maine voters shot down the corridor. More importantly, this issue put the spotlight on the Spanish based company, Iberdrola, who owns our power grid now. There are allegations of of all kinds of misdeeds and illegal Bull Shit that has been ongoing since Avangrid (Spanish owned) originally obtained CMP in 2008. The later shuffling around and merging of corporate interests into our current owner, Iberdrola, changed nothing. It actually got worse according to some of the accusers.
A well run and well monitored government agency is more likely to work for the benefit of all and be quicker to respond to public pressure than anything run by the private sector. We have more of a chance having our voices heard with the government than we do in some boardroom in Spain. Investor own public services are a terrible idea.
Later ....................................................
So I joined another Facebook group. This group sent me a request that I join because I liked one of their posts that crossed on my page. The group is called "Public School Advocates". Their stated goal in as few words as possible is;
" ....... to organize to advocate for strong public schools that serve all students well."
That they are a satellite organization of "The Progressive Magazine" did not bother me at all. I have been accused of being a progressive in my past and will be more than happy to be accused in my future. I am not sure if I am a progressive though. I let others decide that for themselves. Just don’t call me a Winger.
I chose to join this group because I am sincerely interested in education in the US, having gone to 12 different public schools before I graduated from high school. My experience was a crap shoot when it came to quality and what was focused on in a particular state. And though I never attended school in the town I live in now, Acton, Maine, my daughter did and her education was as good, if not better than most public schools at the time. Acton school, along with many others in the nation at the time, were recognized for their quality of public education. She is a tenured college professor today. I hold Acton School responsible.
So, any group that is for a strong public school posture at the state, federal and local levels is okay with me. Education, like Healthcare, is better served with government involvement than not. A country is only as healthy, mentally and economically as its population. If the people are under educated, less healthy and poorer than competing nations, then who loses? We all do.
I am tired of losing and being ashamed of how far the USA has fallen. The rest of us should hang our heads also. There is no excuse other than we have caved to the petty selfishness of small minds with deep pockets in the private sector. Relying on them to carry the ball is not working out. But we have known that for a long, long time. Government is not the evil, the money grubbers are.
Keep it 'tween the ditches ......................................
Now that I am sitting in the nose bleed seats, Life has become both bemusing and amusing all at the same time. Life Truths I once considered facts of living are now often suspect or downright wrong in the cultural mindset unfolding here in the twenty-first century. So many of the norms I grew up with, lived my life with, and often fought against are no longer considered relevant.
Some of the norms from my youth were nasty evil things that did not work to separate us, they did separate us, legally and for some, morally. We all existed in the same country but not in a comfy ya'll come back, we'll grill some brats and tip some beers kind of way. I learned that early as I was always a stranger and never one of the up and coming group of good ole boys. My family moved around too much.
The invisible wall between me and whatever bo-dunk town I lived in at the time was often tough on my childhood feelings. Overall though, I think having the outside looking in perspective gave me a leg up in my adult life. As an adult I have been more malleable and less entrenched in old ways. I have been able to embrace changes in the country easier than many of my Boomer peers.
But I have to face facts. The world is spinning faster now. It is getting harder and less important for me to try and keep up. The larger issues, I am still working on. But the ones I have ranked as issues from the periphery are no longer of any interest to me other than for entertainment purposes.
For instance, End Times. If the planet is about to go belly up in some way,i.e., Zombie Apocalypse, World Wide Plague, Nuclear Street Fight, or whatever scourge that might bring us to the gateway of a new Dark Ages, well, I just cannot be bothered worrying about it. I have had a good run and would hope to check out with a smile on my face.
And then there is the clusterfuck of symbols, letters, and pronouns that have become part and parcel of the LBGTQ, etc. movement. I have been a supporter since before gays were called gays. My father made sure I understood they were just people. Sexual preference was a stupid tool to judge the worth of another human. His experience working for a homosexual in college taught him that.
I continue to support anyone to declare whatever they want or need to with regards as how they identify. I just cannot keep up with the newer rules and don't intend to. Identify however or as whoever you want. You can also use whatever pronouns you want. All I care about is your name. I will identify you as that.
"Oh, that goof ball? That's Fred." ...... " Uh what? How does Fred identify? Shit, I don't know. ..... You need to ask Fred that."
And that is how I am going to stop worrying about pronouns and identifiers.
Keep it 'tween the ditches ..............................................
