They spoke. Of silence.
Tuesday, February 24, 2026. It's Tiw's day . . . Moderate to strong, gusty Southerlies bring Spring warmth to TusleyTown this afternoon. Sunny skies, cloud mix, and mid 70's.
Jane Hirshfield is 73 today. The poet, essayist, and translator was born in 1953 New York City.
Gillian Flynn is 55 today. The author , screenwriter and multiple laureate nominee (“Gone Girl” and “Sharp Objects”) was born in1971, Kansas City, Missouri.
The cofounder of Apple, Inc., Steve Jobs was born on this day in 1955 San Francisco, California.
GenZ brains are showing cognitive difficulties brought by technologies in the classroom. Oops...
Joyce Vance and Miles Taylor talk about a counter programming strategy for the Trump State of the Dis-Union tonight. Their concept does involve actually watching critically while Trump lies his ass off about everything.
Taylor's group has put together a major “State of the Swamp” sold-out event at the National Press Club. You can join in virtually for free.
On The Fifth Day
On the fifth day / the scientists who studied the rivers / were forbidden to speak / or to study the rivers. / The scientists who studied the air / were told not to speak of the air, / and the ones who worked for the farmers / were silenced, and the ones who worked for the bees. /
Someone, from deep in the Badlands, / began posting facts. / The facts were told not to speak / and were taken away. /
The facts, surprised to be taken, were silent. / Now it was only the rivers / that spoke of the rivers, / and only the wind that spoke of its bees, / while the unpausing factual buds of the fruit trees / continued to move toward their fruit. /
The silence spoke loudly of silence, / and the rivers kept speaking / of rivers, of boulders and air. / Bound to gravity, earless and tongueless, / the untested rivers kept speaking./
Bus drivers, shelf stockers, code writers, machinists, accountants, lab techs, cellists / kept speaking. /
They spoke, the fifth day, /
of silence.
– Jane Hirshfield, “On the Fifth Day,” from Ledger, Alfred A. Knopf. 2021.
Navigating an uncertain Way . . .
Monday, February 23, 2026. It's the Moon's day . . .another chilly day is in the TulseyTown forecasts before a warming trend settles in tomorrow. It was 16º this morning on my walk to the Mailbox. Much milder mornings ahead. Easy Northerlies with near 50º under sunny skies this afternoon.
The artist’s dilemma and the meditator’s share repeatedly a willingness to confront an unknown and to risk a response they cannot predict or control.
True work is practical work relating to the present moment, to the earth directly. You could be working in the garden, in the house, washing dishes, or doing whatever demands your attention. If you do not feel that every step, every situation reflects your state of mind, and therefore has spiritual significance, then the pattern of your life can become chaotic and you may begin to wonder where all your problems come from. – Chögyam Trungpa, The Myth of Freedom, Shambhala. 2025.
The first printing of the Gutenberg Bible began today in 1455 Mainz, Germany.
Today in 1927 Werner Heisenberg outlined his “uncertainty principle” in a letter to a colleague. The principle became a fundamental component of what is now called quantum mechanics.
Trump and hi$ cronie$ want a disastrous mine operation in Minnesota. Descendents of Theodore Roosevelt have called them on it. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American, 2.23.26
The Week Ahead – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse
Boycott tomorrow's State of the Dis-Union? – Robert Reich, “It’s the least we can do.”
Trump will be lying to a country that doesn’t believe him. Because a majority of the country has lost faith in this administration and isn’t open to hearing about an alternative reality that’s at odds with what they are seeing and experiencing. – Mat Kerbel, Wolves and Sheep, 2.23.26
Your country is loving you back—just not in the way you are used to hearing. It’s not speaking in anthems or flags or ostentatious displays of patriotism. It will never come from the people who say the only way to love America is to hate Americans. Love is found in every act of courage—large and small—taken to preserve the country we once knew. You will find it in homes and schools and churches and art. It is there; it has not been squashed. – Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker in his “State of the State Address” – Heather Cox Richardson in Letters From An American.
The composer of “The Messiah,” and “Water Music,” George Frideric Handel was born today in 1685, Halle, Brandenburg Germany.
Original devices navigating The Way . . .
Figs and soul-mates . . .
Sunday, February 22, 2026. It's Sol's day . . . another reminder that it is still Winter. Northerlies are forecasted to hold wind-chills in the 30's in spite of sunny skies this afternoon. A roller-coaster week ahead.
Wabi-sabi is the cracked bowl. Kintsugi is process of repairing the bowl with gold. We live in a wabi-sabi world. Our mission is Kintsugi. – Jeff Krasno, “Scarred for Life,” 2.21.26
George Washington was born on this date in 1732 Westmoreland County, Virginia.
The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer was born on this day in 1788, Danzig, Prussia, now Gdańsk, Poland.
It's also the birthdate of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Poet and dramatist, she was born in 1892 Rockland, Maine.
Notes from a half-full-cup guy. – Richard Rohor, Sunday Thought.
There is a reason we search for soul-mates and not self-mates. – Maria Popova, The Marginalian, 2.22.26
First Fig
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light!
– Edna St. Vincent Millay, “First Fig” This poem is in the public domain.