Enlightenment can be slow in coming . . .
Thursday, August 6, 2026. It's Thor's day . . . Another hot Summer day in Okieland, much like yesterday. Forecasts indicate heat index of 107º by late afternoon in TulseyTown. Sun and clouds, moderate Southerlies, real temperatures in the low 100's, with 90's this evening until near midnight.
If you understand by thinking and know by pondering, you're a thousand miles away. There are no words for “The Way.” That said (with words) the Zen masters use words to illustrate it. – Wu -chein
81 years ago today in 1945 the United States of American dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hirishoma during World War II. It was the first use of atomic weapons in war. A second atomic attack came three days later, on August 9th, on the city of Nagasaki.
Today is also the birthdate of Pulitzer Prize historian Richard Hofstadter, born in 1916 Buffalo, New York.
The English poet often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was born on this day in 1809, Somersby, Lincolnshire, England.
Yesterday Wendell Berry turned 92. The novelist/poet was born near Port Royal, in 1934 Henry County, Kentucky.
It was also yesterday in 1957 that Dick Clark’s American Bandstand opened its first national broadcast, introducing rock 'an' roll to millions of American teenagers.
We're doing nothing about three worsening crises that threaten the very survival of America and the world. – Robert Reich, The Cost of Trump.
No matter where you are from or what your beliefs are, a new weltanschauung is emerging world wide that is based in relationship, reciprocity, and sufficiency. – Lynn Twist, “What It Means To Be Human,” The Soul of Money. This “new” world-view is, I think, less new and more a welcome re-assertion of community/democratic values – jab “jus'sayin.” See also: Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft.
Enlightened atheists. – Mirabai Starr, 7.21.26
The wonderful vast . . .
Tuesday, August 4, 2026. It's Tiw's day . . . 100 degree heat is back in the forecasts for Green Country and TulseyTown today. Another humid Okieland Summer day with sun, some clouds, with a mid-afternoon index of 104º.
The Great Way is always present, though its presence is hard to see. Sound and form, words and speech are themselves part of the Great Way. The realm of reality is as vast as Cosmic Space. It is the knowing mind of sentient beings that is small. – Pao-chih
Today is the 65th birthday of author Barack Obama, our 44th President. He was born in 1961 Honolulu, Hawaii.
It's also the birthdate of jazz musician Louis Armstrong, born in 1901 in “The Battlefield,” near Storyville, New Orleans.
Poet and essayist Percy Bysshe Shelley was also born on this day, in 1792 Field Place, Sussex, England.
And, Poet Laureate and educator Robert Hayden was born in 1913 Detroit, Michigan.
The $1.776b Slush Fund Isn't As Dead As Senators Cornyn And Tillis Seem To Be Willing To Believe. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse.
The stink should cling to any candidate he's supporting. – Robert Reich, The Stink of Musk. 8.3.26
The heat of forgiveness. . .
Monday, August 3, 2026. The heat returns to Green Country this Moon’s day. Moderate Southerlies bring bright sunshine, humid mid 90's and indices in the upper 90's for TulseyTown's afternoon.
The Week Ahead. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse.
Today is the birthdate of poet Hayden Carruth, born in 1921 Waterbury, Connecticut.
British crime novelist P.D. James, born Phyllis Dorothy James, was born on this day in 1920 Oxford, England.
Today is the 85th birthday of Martha Stewart, born in 1941, Jersey City, New Jersey.
It's the date of the premier of Clint Eastwood's revisionist western Unforgiven. It later won four Academy Awards, including best director for Eastwood, and best picture. He also starred in the drama,
Emergency Haying
Coming home with the last load I ride standing
on the wagon tongue, behind the tractor
in hot exhaust, lank with sweat,
…
my arms strung
awkwardly along the hayrack,
cruciform.
…
my body hangs from twisted shoulders, suspended
on two points of pain in the rising
monoxide, recall that greater suffering.
...
My eyes
sting with sweat and loveliness. And who
is the Christ now, who
if not I?
…
– Hayden Carruth, read the complete poem,“ Emergency Haying” from Toward the Distant Islands: New & Selected Poems, Copper Canyon Press. 2006.