07/22 OT: The Falcon and the Dufus
Peregrine flying
In honor of our feathered friend above, falco peregrinus, 3 of which just fledged from their nest atop Cal's campanile last month I bring a timely poem by Yeats:
The Second Coming
(W.B. Yeats)
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Il Dufus has made his first move, but will fare no better than his lantern jawed inspiration. It is a bit late for the storm troopers when the Empire is dying. Truth be told, it won't be overmuch missed either. The oligarchs are busy asset stripping the staggering ruins and the leadership is unstable on its feet and in its mind and soul. They used to say that the universe was turtles all the way down, but it appears that our unit is turning turtle. Very few species of turtles can right themselves from that inverted position. Strangely, their ancient shape is not unlike a newly discovered shape named the Gömböc, the first convex three dimensional shape with but two equilibrium points, only one of which is stable. That is easily enough to trump both our so-called leader and our economy, both of which are not only pointless but inherently unstable
Should the Empire fail to somehow both right and redirect itself, Shelley's long ago vision will no doubt hold true for the exceptional and indispensible imperious cuckoo strutting about the globe in stolen eagle's plumage.
Ozymandias
P.B. Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
It's an open thread, so have at it. The floor is yours
.
Comments
Darkness has descended upon mankind I think
Edit: wow that gomboc shape is cool. Kinda like Acme Klein Bottles - where yesterday's future is here today!
Cliff Stoll one of the best people to ever happen to San Francisco, great website too. Cheers.
Edit 2: big snip. First post oopsy. Don't worry, be happy.
Happy Preparedness Day 1916
peace and love
Good morning eyo. Thanks for the clips. Yes, Devolution
is very real, possibly generating an increased need for slack in one's life. Hilariously, You Tube contributed some glorious irony to your comment by throwing an advertisement band across the bottom of the Thomas Dolby clip offering MBA's in Sustainability, an instant top contender for oxymoron of the year and maybe decade.
That's a glorious model Klein Bottle. I once saw a video on the production plant and process. I've wanted some sort of model of one since I first read about them as a kid. I've thought many times of how to make one from odds and ends glued or pieced together, but it wouldn't be at all the same thing with all those joints. Glad you found the Gomboc interesting.
I keep thinking about your comment a while ago that you had to buy the basics for dirt because oak leaves don't make good soil and realized that damn little up in your area does. Conifer needles won't do it, grape leaves are far too tannic, etc. It's a puzzle.
be well and have a good one.
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 --
Some happy news out of California
Caltrans has been ordered to pay $2 million for destroying homeless camps. $1.3 goes to homeless and $700k to a homeless group. And yes they did violate their 4th amendment. Hot damn. I thought that was the most despicable thing to do to people who had already lost so much.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Caltrans-ordered-to-reimburse-hom...
Tittler has banned Q and has kicked of 10's of thousands who followed it. The Q phenomena are mostly Trump supporters who believe that there was an attempted coup against him and that Russia Gate was made up to do it. They also believed that there was a huge pedophile ring happening not only it the great US of A, but the whole world. Epstein/Maxwell anyone? No matter if you thought it was Biden's malarkey type stuff people still had the right to believe and write what they did. Of course many on the left are cheering this action. So much for rights in some's world.
I am taking Charlie in for her surgery this morning. Please plead to whomever that everything turns out well for her. This kind little soul is everything to me.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Good morning Snoopy, and good on the court for making
Caltrans pay at lest a little for all that it stole and destroyed. Can't recall if the Q types ever drifted over into threatening or anything that should get them banned, if moronic spam were enough, or mere unfounded conspiracy theories, then most Democrats and Feebs wouldn't be allowed to post.
All the best to/for Charlie.
be well and have a good one.
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 --
Good luck w/Charlie sd
hoping everything turns out well!
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Good morning, enhydra lutris.
We have some philosophy this morning, from the NYT.
Should We Cancel Aristotle?
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Good morning Az. Went through that a bit quickly and
superficially. Two immediate "quibbles" - Aristotle was in no way an empiricist, though his ideas and opinions were no doubt influenced by the world and milieu in which he found himself. Second, the whole "cancel culture" rhetoric, and pushback to the construct has a serious taint of strawperson and sophistry. "Not supporting" and "not promoting" is not the same as not reading or even not assigning to be read. Though one might refuse to purchase the works of a contemporary author in an effort to withhold financial support, that doesn't, obviously apply to the classics. No person alive could possibly support every philosopher's ideas and reasoning, and that is not the purpose for reading them, but the contrary.
Arrgh, don't want to go off down this road yet today, slept in and barely started, but thanks for bringing that to my attention.
be well and have a good one.
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 --
We seem to have a theme this morning.
First off, no, Aristotle was no empiricist. He has the reputation as the founder of that tradition only because of his critique of Plato who is reputed to be the founder of the Rationalist tradition. This dichotomy, Rationalist vs. Empiricist, is of historical interest only. In relation to the today's theme, however, we note that Aristotle was white. Of course, like Jesus, he was probably more swarthy than white, but you get the idea. Certainly the study of Aristotle is white. The very idea of "reading the classics" is white as is the list of works included under that classification. As for cancel culture, many of us have watched its development first hand. Anyone who spent/wasted time at the DailyKos will remember it. At that time, some years back, it was more of a call-out culture. I remember walking on eggshells, hoping that nothing I said could be considered racist and the gangs of posters who did this calling out were quite ingenious at sniffing out what they imagined to be undercover racism. It was a full-time job for some of the folks over there. Do you remember ?
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Heh, I remember those days at DK quite well and was very
careful as to what I said and how I said it. Of course, I had been in a few IP discussions, which was good training for that, as well as the whole battle over the legitimacy of criticizing religion, per se, or any specific one, which again made for good training.
OTOH, I don't recall anybody specific inventing the term cancel culture, but do seem to recall the rough formulation of that concept and the attacks on it coming from the anti-BDS, crew and then being modified by the "intellectual" defender of "southern History".
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 --
No, they didn't call it cancel culture,
but it was the same dynamic. This was before Twitter took off but you could see it forming even then. They weren't trying to get people fired for thoughtcrime. They were trying to get them BOJO'd, silenced. It was cancel culture in its infancy.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
For sure. The easiest way to win an argument was to get the
other party banned, and many worked hard at it and often succeeded, and a lot of it was over the top whacko. And, of course, coming to the defense of the accused ws proof that you too were guilty, I don't disagree with that at all. I was just saying that the formal identification of a named thing called cancel culture seemed to come at the hands of RW propagandists and apologists and the anti-BDS crew trying to silence critics. So now if yoou criticize Jackson, Custer, Serra and folks like that it is suddenly being challenged as part of "cancel culture" and per se bad on that basis, even though the cirticisms have been there for decades and are simply accrate history without the hagiography.
be well and have a good one
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 --
yes, I remember, and don't forgive, and proudly bojo'd myself.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Late morning
Been busy today on another round of errands ending with a visit with a music buddy. We stayed outside well apart beside the creek and rejoiced our weather so far and lamented the sad state of the world we are leaving to our youth. What a good ride during a good time we've had. Both our families are hiding in the hollers as much as possible. He said he appreciated his solitude but sure was glad for a visit. I enjoyed the outing too.
Perhaps the turtle will turn? Ozymandias is the perfect answer.
Now it is back to chores. Hope you all have a good one!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning Lookout. Sounds like a great day. I've yet to
start my chores, or really even start my day, beyond sorting out another quirk of my new browser/OS set up which I can ponder during some of my chores.
be well and have a good one.
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 --
Smithsonian Institute says rationality and hard work are “white”
https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2020/07/20/smithsonian_institut...
Good morning lot. I read the graphic and have some
disagreements with it here and there, and failed to see any real problem. Your specific language - they say these things are "white" - has a bit of an implication that they say that these things are exclusively white, which I did not get from the poster. To me it simply says "here are the trappings of this culture that has evolved here from the experience of the politically and socially dominant culture - the white colonists and their descendants - as derived from their backgrounds and history (bullet points under History). So I turned to the article and found this passage:
I've highlighted two words that make me wonder just what the author or published is basing this on, since it clearly is not on the poster alone, and what axe they are trying to grind.
This culture purports to value those things, but that in no way means that no other cultures have similarly arrived at those things as cultural trappings. It also doesn't mean that those things are really valued from an operational perspective, only from a rhetorical one. The emphasis on Scientific Method, for instance, is honored in absentia in nearly all aspects of everyday life. The "Protestant Work Ethic" which I've heard some of those who suffered a Catholic upbringing refer to as "The Catholic Work Ethic", is, of course, purely mythological, largely derived from the garbage fiction of Horatio Alger that was a formative influence on a few generations of children and which even the slightest analytical review will demonstrate to be clearly bullshit.
Some of the culture may be "sinister", probably not all, but I know of no reason to presume that it should be or to search for individual sinister elements. Similar, there is no reason to suspect that any of it is proprietary to whites or Europeans in any way except the history. Some of those things are simply a fact, the whole nuclear family with 2.3 kids (an old statistic that probably should be updated), but much of it is thinly disguised control propaganda aimed at maintaining the oligarchic class system that came over from the old world partly evolved and partly designed.
be well and have a good one.
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 --
Yes, many of the items I’ve read covering this story
do have a certain white-identitarian, alt-right-ish spin to them.
Having said that, coming from Hawaii and an “Asian / Pacific Islander” (wow, such a catch-all statistical category) background myself, I don’t think anything good is served by swinging society and culture around so as to rear future generations of Caucasian kids in the U.S. and Europe to be, in effect, self-hating haoles / whites.
It would be too bad if everything once more became tied to race, religion, and background, with anything anyone says or does being weighed and judged not on its merits but on the identity-group credentials of the doer or sayer.
That time when So-and-so felt the Lash of Racism because she was the only haole at her Hawaiian friend’s party:
https://www.thecut.com/2020/07/book-excerpt-big-friendship-by-aminatou-s...
Anyway, so much for Homo sapiens intra-species competition and power struggles … Back to trying to manage the interspecies divide separating me from Felis sylvestris catus as I house-sit and cat-sit for my German ohana who are on holiday / on vacation …
Very Apropos
But for me, it’s best not to think too deeply about the future that awaits us. A few days ago I ran into a customer I haven’t seen in weeks. A chef by profession, she had the enviable job as a private chef to various sports figures. COVID-19 destroyed all that. Now, after living in the same place for 25 years she has to move out because the building is being sold. In a few short months this 65 year old woman has truly fallen off the summit of the mountain. There but for grace of god go any of us...
Which brings me to the subject of coping. Some do it better than others. I thought I was one of those people because for all practical purposes I was functioning, (i.e., going to work, taking care of what needed to be taken care of, etc.). So, I thought I was coping. Physically my body said otherwise. For the last few months I’ve had a series of idiopathic illnesses that my doctor suspects are in fact anxiety related. Since I’m not actually conscious of any undue anxiety, I initially argued with my doctor over her “diagnosis” telling her I know myself better than she does. Recently I’m finding myself waking up at night and my body is clenched. I get dry mouth, headaches and various aches and pains when I’m home alone. But when I go to work and surround myself with people and the interactions that follow, the symptoms magically disappear. My doctor now recommends anti-anxiety meds and therapy. This time, I’ve decided not to argue with her and follow her advice because what I’m doing now isn’t working anymore.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Good morning Anja. Very sorry to hear it. Anxiety and
stress take a horrible toll on individuals and on society as a whole. Whether intentional or not, it almost seems as if much of our culture works to create, foment and increase both anxiety and stress. I doubt that I'm at all competent to give any advice or that I even really know how much or how well I personally cope or avoid it. Anti-anxiety meds sounds scary, but I'm sure that you find them scary too and will have that under control.
get and be well and have a good one.
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 --
Thanks EL
Yeah, it sucks. But as my doctor said, I’m not alone in this. She’s seeing a lot of patients suffering from the same kind of anxiety made worse by the isolation. Need to find creative ways to bridge the gap that exists right now between comforting solitude and the feeling of aloneness. I’m pretty tenacious when it comes to figuring stuff out, so I’m sure I’ll find my way through this. Half of the battle is already won simply by recognizing what’s happening.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Thanks for talking about this Anja
Your story resonates with me because I went through and am going through something similar. It started a few years back, when I began having panic attacks. The first time, I actually called my husband to come home from work, and called a friend who lived nearby to come and sit with me until my husband got home. I felt like I had or was having a stroke. Numbness on my entire left side from head to toe, racing heart, a desire to *run* somewhere away from home, rationalizing that I had 3 dogs there and didn't want to have emergency responders in the house. I sat outside on the front patio just in case I had to call 911 if things got worse. I was sure I was dying.
My friend arrived and said he thought it was a panic attack. He knew because he has them too. At first I did not believe this was possible. It was. As I calmed down, having someone there to talk to, the symptoms started to abate. I felt fine again within 30 minutes. Well, fine except for the shock and embarrassment at what had just happened.
The next time it happened, I was driving to work. So I went to an urgent care center instead. Two hours later, they said I had high blood pressure and had had an anxiety attack, and then sent me on my way. Told me to see a primary care physician for follow-up.
Did I mention I generally fear/dislike doctors and do not tend to trust them? I had not seen a doctor in many years. But... I called a few and finally found one that could see me as a new patient in less than six months, so I made an appointment.
Her prescription was blood pressure medication and an antidepressant like prozac or similar, because they are also used to treat anxiety disorders.
To say I was reluctant to follow her advice would be a vast understatement. I was just like, uh, no. No way. What are my other options? She was annoyed to say the least. I felt she was just a drug-pusher and I wasn't having it. She grudgingly told me I could try lifestyle modifications: eat better, exercise more vigorously and more regularly, lose some (more) weight, engage in some form of behavioral therapy and/or mental or spiritual exercises to help manage the anxiety.
I decided to go with that! No pills, thank you. I parted ways with that doctor soon thereafter and have not seen one since.
I've been doing pretty well since then. Not perfect, not great all the time, but no full on panic attacks, very few anxiety attacks, and if I do start to get one, I have a planned response to stop it or get it under control, that does not involve alerting anyone or losing my shit entirely. I've taken off 35 pounds, and I eat much less junk and significantly less food overall. I have a 'bad leg' that never healed right from a break many years ago, so I find good exercise challenging but I do something physical every day. I *feel* a lot better. (My BP is still too high. I test it occasionally but mostly ignore it, because it stresses me out.
So I thought I was doing good enough and had a handle on things. Even adapting to the pandemic, I had a few dark nights and days in the beginning but felt like I had worked through it and was rolling with the changes... and ultimately, I accept that we do not control things like this, countless humans and civilizations before us have had to deal with tragedy on a grand scale, we are not special as we think, it's luck of the draw and there is no reason to completely go to ground in the meantime. Life goes on. YOLO. Que sera, sera... etc.
Then, a few weeks ago, I got a rash on my hand. It was red and sore and kept getting bigger. I had a friend who is a retired MD take a look at it. His diagnosis was immediate: Shingles!
He said although the back of the hand is an unusual site for it to appear, that rash is "textbook" shingles. He told me the stages it would go through and how long it would take to heal (several weeks up to several months). It followed his predictions to the letter. Six weeks later, the "wound" is closed, but I still have a red area that looks like a burn. It doesn't hurt anymore, thankfully. I now know that I was extremely lucky it was only one small spot on the back of my hand. It hurt like hell for at least 3 weeks. I cannot even imagine how people who get large outbreaks on their back or face manage to cope. It is horrible!
So why the hell did I get shingles? "Stress" is the most likely trigger, I'm told. Like you, my body is saying that something is wrong, things are NOT under control at all, and it is affecting me more than I realized. A wake up call for sure.
But ... I have to say I am still not ready to start taking the prescription meds that doctors want to prescribe. I have been working on increasing my conscious awareness of the stresses I feel and doing the work I know how to do, but usually don't, to take better care of myself. I am hoping that will be enough.
I hope you are able to find a balance that works well for you. I hope the same for me and for everyone else. These are not fun times. But also, part of my coping toolbox is to find ways and time laugh, listen to music, dance, and find joy and fun in my life. I also am trying to focus more on those things recently and it seems to be helping.
hola el
et al
Really cloudy here in the mornings. Breaks around 1 or 2p. Wishing for sun for my garden.
More climate news. Again, no idea how effective these will be but shows people are working at figuring out solutions.
We caught bacteria from the most pristine air on earth to help solve a climate modeling mystery
https://theconversation.com/we-caught-bacteria-from-the-most-pristine-ai...
An effective climate change solution may lie in rocks beneath our feet
https://theconversation.com/an-effective-climate-change-solution-may-lie...
Thanks for the ot. Take good care and have a good one.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Good evening magi. The C4 article is very interesting and
promising. Assuming positive test results, the trick is going to be to make ground basalt readily available to everybody, from commercial farmers to home gardeners. Combined with biochar from CO2 trapping pyrolysis (a whole set of issues there, unfortunately) could really increase soil productivity and carbon sequestration, being a double win.
be well and have a good one.
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 --