Waltzing on the altar
Here in Okieland we seem to have entered the annual August/September heat/cool roller-coaster. 112º indices today, cooling a bit with a return of the heat-hammer by upcoming mid-week.
In Freya's mailbox . . .
Robbie Robertson, the chief composer and lead guitarist for The Band died in Los Angeles yesterday at the age of 80 after a long illness. A history of The Band is underlined by the Martin Scorcese documentary “The Last Waltz” in 1978. Jog your memory or expose yourself to the last recorded moment from the film.
Speaking of films: “Barbie” has joined the one-billion-dollar film club.
I don't care if you and 100% of your church membership believe that Jesus wants to build a nuclear reactor in your back yard promising that it will be safe 51 days out of 100, starting today and each day thereafter, your neighbors will not let you do it. And, it might be worth recalling that Jesus never did anything in secret.
The “majority rules” does not rule in science. In science, we need 999.9 validity and reliability for our ontological assertions, and even then there is a recognized one chance in a thousand that what you think is going on is just flat wrong. When conservatives posture that “you can look anywhere you want, as long as you don't look in that corner,” every reasonable mind will immediately look into that corner and post their findings.
Speaking of safety and secrecy: If we want the future of AI to protect civil rights, advance democratic ideals, and improve people’s lives, we must fundamentally change the incentive structure.
And, Jack Smith's latest filing notes that the Speedy Trial Act exists as much to vindicate the public’s rights as it does to protect the defendant’s. – Joyce Vance
Fragmenting the Universe . . .
It's Thor's day and here in Okieland the heat-hammer has been retired for the time being.
Today in 1519 Ferdinand Magellan set off to sail around the world
On this date in 1793 The Louvre opened in Paris.
And, speaking of museums, The Smithsonian Institution was founded in Washington, D.C., by the U.S. Congress with funds bequeathed by English scientist James Smithson.
“Watson! You idiot!” Said Sherlock. There's always another way, inside The Way. Check out Tara Brach's insight into happiness. The piece – Part 1 of 2 (post later on) is just short of a worthy hour, so, find the time, and take a cuppa with you.
There are two way to live one's life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. – attributed to Albert Einstein.
They used to say we're living on borrowed time...
who loaned it to us? ...say it is an unknown benefactor
who gave us birds and Mozart, the mystery of trees and water.
Days are for waking up . . .
It’s Odin’s day, and here in TulseyTown the weather has gifted us with mild mornings for the trip to the mailbox . . .
Today and last Sunday marked the infamous atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan in 1945. 120,000 people were instantly killed in the two bombings and tens of thousands, with thousands more continuing today, suffered deaths from the radiation.
I want to become acutely aware of all I have taken for granted. – Sylvia Plath
We can take The Way of the Watercourse for granted, but that will not stop its flow.
Today is the 124th anniversary of P.L. (Pamela Lyndon) Travers' birth.The creator of Mary Poppins was born Helen Lyndon Goff, in 1899 Mayborough, Queensland, Australia.
It is the birth date of Izaak Walton in 1593, born in Stafford, England. While a career as a biographer, Walton is best known as the author of a book about fishing. The Compleat Angler (1653) has been in print for more than 350 years.
Also born on this date: English poet Philip Larkin, born in 1922 Coventry, England.
Jerry Garcia, the leader of the Grateful Dead, died of a heart attack on this date at age 53.
And, Henry David Thoreau's masterwork Walden was published today in 1854.
from “Days”
What are days for?
. . . Ah, solving that question
Brings the priest and the doctor
In their long coats
Running over the fields.
– Philip Larkin, from “Whitsun Weddings”. Collected Poems. Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2001.
So, “woke” is somehow “bad.” Hmm...what's the alternative? “Asleep?” Go see “Barbie.”