Open Thread - Friday, April 28, 2017 - Galactic Edition
“Your question is the most difficult in the world. It is not a question I can answer simply with yes or no. I am not an Atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. May I not reply with a parable? The human mind, no matter how highly trained, cannot grasp the universe. We are in the position of a little child, entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations. I am fascinated by Spinoza's Pantheism. I admire even more his contributions to modern thought. Spinoza is the greatest of modern philosophers, because he is the first philosopher who deals with the soul and the body as one, not as two separate things.”
~ Albert Einstein ~
It feels like the body, soul and cosmos biorhythms are all on the rise. That's what I am funkin' talking about.
The shift in the force is palpable. The music lovers, New Orleans afficionados, DFHs and good time people have started the Jazzfest ritual.
Hold on, I'm coming! Monday night at my sister's in SC, Tuesday in Biloxi, MS and NOLA Wednesday afternoon.
I have been letting my freak flag fly. It has been a long time between haircuts. I need to figure out what to do with my hair. Especially if it is windy out.
It rained continuously from Saturday night until Tuesday afternoon, so I was off the streets and sidewalks. I fell off the wagon and did more Internet perusal than has been my recent norm. Geez, that was a buzz kill.
Often, the most elegant solution is the simple.
It will be really nice to be among a diverse gathering of people. I look forward to basking in their aura.
And share the good times.
That's what happens when the free spirits caucus, 99 times out of 100.
What could be better than a wake and bake in a New Orleans courtyard? Staying across the street from a French bakery, that's what! The coffee and pastries are devine.
See you there. I'll be the one wearing the big smile.
Have a great funkin' weekend! The thread is OPEN.
Comments
“Exponential growth [Web 2.0 big business] devours and corrupts”
https://m.signalvnoise.com/exponential-growth-devours-and-corrupts-c5562...
Also: psychedelic Christianity.
http://myiapc.com/
Good Morning
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Almost 5 pm here, I’ll be heading over to a friend’s place soon
She’s set Fridays aside so as to spend at least one evening a week with her ol’ funny-kine Hawaiian Paké “auntie” (when I happen to be in town; just returned to Dresden from Amsterdam yesterday).
CodePink lady visits a meeting of the congressional Israel Victory Caucus:
http://www.codepink.org/israel_victory_caucus_arrest
Good morning, Tim~~
I am so excited for you!
I hope you have the time of your life.
Safe travels, my friend.
Have a beautiful Friday, folks!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Me too!
I have been friends with this group of people for most of my adult life. I look forward to a rambunctious good time.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
6 hours now. But who is counting? Cast cut-off, maybe done
with my foot healing. Then I can go outside in matching shoes for the first time since early February. And take my first shower since mid-March. A delivery (to my door! First this year!) of tomato plants, pepper plants and parsley. Goes with the other >20 I have received, ordered mid-winter before this temporary disability.
An interesting local battle is beginning. Two solar farms proposed in my Township. Strange NIMBY begins. One proposed array is adjacent to a cemetery, complaints about sight lines. I have no bodies buried there, but I will bet the dead don't care. A tree barrier will take care of views. The other site is about 4 miles from me, farmland that I think Cornell owns. So no property tax, it's been fallow forever. So it will go on tax rolls. A stream runs adjacent, save the wetlands begins. Excuses are creative, anyway. Then there is who benefits. Proposal has the power being sold on the grid (to our electric company, now owned by a Corporation in Spain), some suggest we hoard it all for Township residents. Somehow, I will get solar electricity.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Yeah!
It is good to hear you are nearing the end of convalescence.
I lost my pine forest buffer a few years ago. I can tell you, without a doubt, loud pipes don't save lives, they just piss people off.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Cast is Off! Big Scuff mark on shin (yes, I was totally aware,
and the nurse tutted that I should have called 3 weeks ago). Strange shape to my leg. Low boot, Ace bandage. Three.more.weeks. At least I can shower. It's paining me a bit now.
Beignet for me, Tim!
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
good memories
of great times at jazz fests gone by...zydeco, gospel, jambalaya, country, funk, blues, po-boys, Dixieland, chicory and beignets...many birthdays spent floating in the Cajun culture...enjoy a Dixie for me!
question everything
Blackened Voodoo ...
for me.
I always start the Fest the same way, a Cochon de Lait Po-Boy, sweet potato pie and Mandarin orange ice tea.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
You're contemplating the universe as a child might
contemplate a library and I'm just trying to figure out how it got to be Friday so fast. A friend--former friend? Is any friend really "former?" Was he ever really a friend, anyway? Awwww, screw it. It's hard enough posting on Friday with my "How come it's not Thursday?" brain without getting all Dr. Phil meets Zen.
So....some guy told me that, when contemplating the universe, he felt like a dog watching someone read: The dog knows that something important is going on, but, for the life of him, he doesn't know what.
I avoid all that simply by not contemplating the nature of the universe. Which is actually difficult to avoid after having an avocado for breakfast. Helluva big seed. Ok, so much for stream of consciousness.
I can feel your anticipation. Wednesday, huh?
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOLBUtbF8qM]
That means we won't see you again until after you've arrived. So, when you hit NOLA, laissez les bons temps rouler, mon amie.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM9yYL6BD-4]
The meeting of the minds ...
is about to occur. I am sure we will get around to solving the worlds problems and the riddles of the universe. Too bad nobody will remember.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
That's why God made phones that make "talkies."
My admiration for Mexico increases
Maybe because I'm surrounded by Mexicans, and "they" are the most peaceful group in my neighborhood, also poorest, also hardest working as far as I can tell. California population is majority Latino since 2015, I want to defend them too, but not via D-Bullshitters, they are now the exploiters who profit from the misery. Eff them, we need us a ban on fuero too. What are the odds this will ever happen?
Right on, brothers and sisters, lead the way! Baja California says goodbye to the fuero
I hope it gets signed, that would be awesome. Imagine CA Assembly, oh forget it I can't stop laughing. Never mind. Banning fuero sounds a little like Prop 59 though. It is what people want.
Solidarity
Gratitude
Good Morning eyo
I find it very difficult to be kind to a conservative. The very definition is mercurial, but many of the current practitioners are particularly vile.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Thanks for the response
thanks for confirming my suspicions about what the first comment might be, if any.
Have a nice day, nice ride, nice party.
Peace
Pigmeat Markham
There are good Republicans in California, I'm related to one. He is carrying on my paternal grandpa's tradition. Not the guy in this vid, this is just to set the mood.
Here Comes The Judge - Pigmeat Markham (1968)
This is my cousin Rennie, he makes news, sometimes on the front page:
Sonoma County judge Rene Chouteau learning from adversity
Outing myself, come out come out where ever you are. Again. Maybe it was here, or the other place I mentioned pounding out fresh abalone to cook on the beach when I was a kid. Rennie was the teenager out there picking off the rocks. Ssh don't say anything because I'm not sure we were properly licensed at the time, it's too long ago. Probably didn't matter with Reagan governor, and all that shit. I got stories about that vacation house, Sans Souci you wouldn't believe. Woo!
Happy Friday. Be kind to a conservative why not? Maybe it won't hurt, maybe it will heal. Not heel, heal. lol
Peace & Love
Heh
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Happy Friday, happy travels and happy music, Tim.
No matter how long and hard one studies jello, it will not be an erector set. Nonetheless, a ping-pong ball tossed into a mountain stream will proceed downstream until caught in an eddy. There is really nothing to understand except when in tool builder mode.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Physics is hard
Proof that we are just guessing, and the entire concept of space, matter and time is funkin' flawed.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
All those things are constructs, like reality itself. We make
models and methphors and then incessantly refine them.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Have a great time Tim.
Wish I could be there. Holed up inside. Afraid to go out, strange bright light out there. Vague memory tells me it is good for flowers. Will take umbrella and investigate.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
The incandescent sky ball
I rode downtown, Wednesday, to meet my daughter for dinner. I almost always wear a leather jacket and left home with a leather jacket on. By the time I got downtown, I was sweating and suffering. I ran out, yesterday, to get anti-skyball lotion. Nobody, even a farmer, is ready for all day in the sun.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Hey Tim, good to "see" you!
My connection to NOLA is remote and yet long and steady. I've read about "the city that should not exist" for years. Then my granddaughter comes along and gets posted there as part of her post-grad. She is studying plastics engineering, medical prosthetics (the good plastics) and is employed very near NOLA. She loves the city and has sent me a pound of the famous coffee/chicory. It's pretty strong stuff. Presently I'm drinking a low acid local blend: Panama Gloria. When I heard she would be posted there, of course I went on and on about this wonderful and yet tragic city. She's enjoying it for me as well as for herself. I won't be going there because it's pretty far away and I hate flying. Have a great time, Tim!
To thine own self be true.
I recommend
... she go to Jazzfest Sat., May 6. Stevie Wonder is playing and it is a truly cosmic experience that leaves a lasting warmness.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Hola Senor soul fine Tim! :-)
Loved the Einstein quote. I was a major acidhead in an earlier life. I get headaches trying to visualize theoretical physics that I never suffered dropping the LScrazy. You ride safe and have a great funkin' time in NOLA. Can't wait until you recuperate and give us the full outasite report.
Rec'd!!
P.S.: Hopefully the hoodoo gods will send us some rain. We need it, climate change and all.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.