DonQHoti - Thoughts, Quips and Assorted Stuff

The first thing to learn in intercourse with others is non-interference with their own peculiar ways of being happy, provided those ways do not assume to interfere by violence with ours. No one has insight into all the ideals. No one should presume to judge them off-hand. The pretension to dogmatize about them in each other is the root of most human injustices and cruelties, and the trait in human character most likely to make the angels weep. -- William James

 

 

  https://www.thefarside.com/2023/05/16/0

  The evolution of the world can be compared to a display of fireworks that has just ended; some few red wisps, ashes and smoke. Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the slow fadings of the suns, and we try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of worlds. -- Georges Lemaitre Quoted by Thomas Hertog in " On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking's Final Theory"

 We are just getting at the rudiments of other ways of thinking. I do not feel that any of us know enough about possible kinds of being and thought, to make it worthwhile taking any of our metaphysical systems very much more seriously than those at which a thinking barnacle might arrive. My suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can  suppose. Our only hope of understanding the universe is to look at it from as many different points of view as possible.

 With apologies to XKCD -- Yes, it is true. That is me and my sister. The device in question was a hand-crank telephone.

 

 

  Beck was the best dog friend I ever had but the night he came after me was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I knew Beck from the day he was born. Ken and I had adjoining property in Arkansas where we were living off the grid. Whenever Ken and his family traveled I took care of their animals. Ken   wanted to get an Airedale puppy so he made a deal to care for a pregnant female and raise the pups for a couple months. He would get his pick of the litter and the owner would take back Lady, along with the rest of the pups. Or something like that. As I recall, Lady was on the high end of height and weight for a female Airedale and Beck’s father was as well. That made Beck a pretty good size too. I don’t know how much he weighed but I was a bit over 6 feet then and if we were standing together I could touch the top of his head and behind his ears without bending. I think that the parents may have both been registered; if they were, I don’t know if Beck was. The name B...

  Because it broods under its hood like a perched falcon, Because it jumps like a skittish horse and sometimes throws me, Because it is pokey when cold, Because plastic is a sad strong material that is charming to rodents, Because it is flighty, Because my mind flies into it through my fingers, Because it leaps forward and backward, is an endless sniffer and searcher, Because its keys click like hail on a bolder, And it winks when it goes out, And puts word-heaps into hoards for me, dozens of pockets of gold under boulders in streambeds, identical seedpods strong on vine, or it stores bins of bolts; And I lose them and find them again, Because whole worlds of writing can be boldly laid out and then highlighted and vanish in a flash at “delete,” so it teaches of impermanence and pain; And because my computer and me are both brief in the world, both foolish, and we have earthly fates, Because I have let it move in with me right in the tent, And it goes with me out every morning; We f...

  other animals prey and kill only humans kill and pray Jim Culleny 9/4/22

 Like alcohol, herd-poison is an active, extraverted drug. The crowd-intoxicated individual escapes from responsibility, intelligence and morality into a kind of frantic, animal mindlessness. -- Aldous Huxley, Time Magazine, 1958

 Sex differences are statistically bimodal with overlapping distributions. -- Frans de Waal

[NOTE: This is a poem; open entry to see proper format.] so many spinning sects exist with peculiar angles facts of life: all human things exist alongside phantom gods and angels a billion mystical takes on Is  exist like fractured fractals as guesswork insistently persists heads spin off their axles Jim Culleny 5/6/16

Normally people (myself included) who recognize the spiritual life as the basis of life deny the reality, the necessity, the importance of studying the physical life, which evidently cannot lead to any conclusive results. In just the same way, those who only recognize the physical life completely deny the spiritual life and all deductions based on it — deny, as they say, metaphysics. But it is now absolutely clear to me that both are wrong, and both forms of knowledge — the materialistic and the metaphysical — have their own great importance, if only one doesn’t wish to make inappropriate deductions from the one or the other. From materialistic knowledge based on the observation of external phenomena one can deduce scientific data, i.e. generalizations about phenomena, but one should not deduce any guiding principles for people’s lives, as the materialists — Darwinists for example — have often tried to do. From metaphysical knowledge based on inner consciousness one can and should dedu...

One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation, compassion. Simone de Beauvoir (January 9, 1908–April 14, 1986)

  Some Zen Buddhists hold that the entirety of human suffering  can be boiled down to this effort to resist paying full attention to  the way things are going, because we wish they were going  differently ("This shouldn't be happening!"), or because we wish  we felt more in control of the process. There is a very down-to- earth kind of liberation in grasping that there are certain truths  about being a limited human from which you'll never be  liberated. You don't get to dictate the course of events. And the  paradoxical reward for accepting reality's constraints is that they  no longer feel so constraining. Four Thousand Weeks Oliver Burkeman

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. 2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. 3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Bonus Law: For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert.   - [source unknown]

In the end, both the optimist and the pessimist have it wrong, because each is looking at only part of the evidence. When we open our eyes to the fullness of reality, what we find is a chiaroscuro canvas of both darkness and light. The totality of evidence elicits in us something like ‘melancholic joy’: a grateful and uninhibited joy for the goodness of being, but one tinged by sadness at the pervasiveness of evil and melancholy because it all comes to an end. Seeing the evil in the world helps us to live well while we can, because death is coming for us all, and entropy is gnawing at the fringes of our existence. And seeing the goodness helps us to live gratefully, softening the sting of reality. This is the closing paragraph of: https://psyche.co/ideas/the-melancholic-joy-of-living-in-our-brutal-beautiful-world

 You can be in paradise only when you do not know what it is like to be in paradise. As soon as you know, paradise is gone. No effort of thought can take you back, for thought — the conscious awareness of yourself as a mortal being — is the Fall. In the Garden of Eden, the primordial human pair are clothed in ignorance of themselves. When they come to self-awareness, they find they are naked. Thinking of yourself is the gift of the serpent that cannot be returned. — John Gray — Feline Philosophy

 

The food in my bowl Is old, and more to the point Contains no tuna. ---- So you want to play. Will I claw at dancing string? Your ankle's closer. ---- There's no dignity In being sick - which is why I don't tell you where. ---- Seeking solitude I am locked in the closet. For once I need you. ---- Tiny can, dumped in Plastic bowl. Presentation, One star; service: none. ---- Am I in your way? You seem to have it backwards: This pillow's taken. ---- Your mouth is moving; Up and down, emitting noise. I've lost interest. ---- The dog wags his tail, Seeking approval. See mine? Different message. ---- My brain: walnut-sized. Yours: largest among primates. Yet, who leaves for work? ---- Most problems can be Ignored. The more difficult Ones can be slept through. ---- My affection is conditional. Don't stand up, It's your lap I love. ---- Cats can't steal the breath Of children. But if my tail's Pulled again, I'll learn. ---- I don't mind being Teased,...

  The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. Marcus Aurelius

A guy is driving around and he sees a sign in front of a house: Talking dog for sale: "He rings the bell, and the owner tells him the dog is in the backyard. The guy goes into the backyard and sees a Labrador Retriever sitting there. "You talk?" he asks. "Yep," the Lab replies. "So, what's your story?" The Lab looks up and says, "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young, and I wanted to help the government; so I told the CIA about my gift, and in no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders. Since no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping, I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running. "But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I wanted to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security work, mostly wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I unc...

 

 

  Loving-Kindness: May I accept all my emotions with an open my heart, knowing I am not limited by them. May I be filled with love and kindness equally towards myself and others. Compassion: May I, and all beings, be free from suffering. May I realize the truth of impermanence for myself and all beings. Sympathetic Joy: May I feel your joy as my own and my joy extend to all beings. May I find peace and well-being so that I may be of service to others. Equanimity: May I accept all things as they are with an open heart and mind free of judgment. May I be able to let go of expectations and accept things as they unfold.

 The body is the place, the only place, where we live — it is where we experience time, it is where we heal from emotional trauma, it is the seat of consciousness, without which there is nothing. And yet we spend our lives turning away from this elemental fact — with distraction, with addiction, with the trance of busyness — until suddenly something beyond our control — a diagnosis, a heartbreak, a pandemic — staggers us awake. We remember the body, this sole and solitary arena of being. The instant we remember to reverence it we also remember to mourn it, for we remember that this living miracle is a temporary miracle — a borrowed constellation of atoms bound to return to the stardust that made it. - Maria Popova -

Cleaning out my mother's computer after she fell off the perch, I found a document containing the following: “Teasing” is just aggression      with a mask - There is much more to life than how long you live.    Anybody  who  claims  to  have  objective  knowledge about  anything  is  trying  to control and dominate the rest of us.  Usually parents who are lucky in the kind of children they have,  have children who are lucky in the kind of parents they have. She really is smart – not Jeopardy smart but Wheel of Fortune smart.         Get back to me soon, you know         how touchy we old people are.

QUESTIONNAIRE by Wendell Berry How much poison are you willing     to eat for the success of the free     market and global trade? Please     name your preferred poisons.     For the sake of goodness, how much     evil are you willing to do?     Fill in the following blanks     with the names of your favorite     evils and acts of hatred.     What sacrifices are you prepared     to make for culture and civilization?     Please list the monuments, shrines,     and works of art you would     most willingly destroy.     In the name of patriotism and     the flag, how much of our beloved     land are you willing to desecrate?     List in the following spaces     the mountains, rivers, towns, farms     you...

Religion, is a tool for education. Once you understand what it is teaching, There is no more need for it. Kinda like training wheels on a bicycle. Don Q Hoti

He concludes by summarizing the basic facts of human life -- a catalogue of uncertainties, crowned by the sole certainty of death -- and points to philosophy, or the love of wisdom and mindful living, as the only real anchor for our existential precariousness. -- Marcus Aurelius -- (I think)

The world you see is just a movie in your mind. Rocks dont see it. Bless and sit down. Forgive and forget. Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you’re already in heaven now. That’s the story. That’s the message. Nobody understands it, nobody listens, they’re all running around like chickens with heads cut off. I will try to teach it but it will be in vain, s’why I’ll end up in a shack praying and being cool and singing by my woodstove making pancakes. Jack Kerouac (March 12, 1922–October 21, 1969)

I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul, The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me, The first I graft and increase upon myself, the latter I translate into a new tongue. July 28, 2019 My sister figured out where it came from: Walt Whitman See https://www.bartleby.com/400/poem/1489.html

“Hate, in the long run, is about as nourishing as cyanide.”

[Click READ MORE to see full photo.] This picture is taken in infrared, not visible, light. What you are seeing is heat. It was taken from a satellite. The swirly stuff at the top is the Aurora. There is a black area, just right of center, about a quarter of the way up. That is Lake Michigan. The bright smear along the left side is Chicago and Milwaukee. At the bottom edge below and slightly left of Chicago is St. Louis. Left of St. Louis is Kansas City. Above and slightly left of KC is Omaha. Right of Omaha, and slightly up, is Des Moines. Above Des Moines are the Twin Cities. The big blob along the left edge, about a third of the way up, is western North Dakota. What's that hot out there? Well, that's where they are fracking for oil. When they frack they also get a whole bunch of natural gas. And they have so much excess to need, that they just burn about a third of it. That means carbon dioxide, and all the other stuff that comes from burning hydrocar...

My poor, poor mother: she had three boys within five years. This is what she learned: 1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house,   4 inches deep. 2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller   blades, they can ignite. 3. A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded   restaurant. 4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong   enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman   cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread   paint on all Four walls of a 20x20 ft. room. 5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When   using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times   before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way. 6. The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit   by a ceiling ...

July 15, 1998 Dear Dave, I don't remember for sure how much contact we had after your wedding, but I seem to recall an occasional letter for a couple years.  So I will start from February 1972 and outline what I have done since then in pretty broad strokes; each line could probably produce it's own story. I graduated from pilot training in June 1972 and was plowed back as a T-38 IP at Williams.  I went to Randolf for IP training in October and was back at Williams a month later permanently grounded medically.  I floated for a couple months and then connected with the Human Resources Laboratory there at Williams where I got into computer programming for flight simulator R&D.  We did some work that had impact on civil aviation as well as the AF. In January 1976 I went to Ramstein to a computer squadron that was in direct support of Allied Air Forces Central Europe.  I was totally unused for nearly eight months until a new commander came in and shook...

BAR CODE: Them's the rules for fightin down at the local tavern BUG: The reason you give for callin in sick BYTE: What them black flies do CACHE: Needed when you run outta food stamps CHIP: Munchies for TV CRASH: What you do when you go to Junior's party DIGITAL: Art of countin on your fingers DISKETTE: Female disco dancer DOT MATRIX: Old man Matrix's wife DOWNLOAD: Gettin the farwood offen the truck ENTER: " Northerner talk for ""Come on in, y'all!""" FAX: What you lie about to the IRS FLOPPY DISK: Whatcha get from carryin too much farwood HACKER: Uncle Leroy after 32 years of smokin HARD COPY: Pictures you look at when selectin a tattoo HARD DRIVE: Gettin home in wintertime INTERNET: Where cafeteria workers put their hair KEYBOARD: Where the keys to the John Deere are kept LAP TOP: Where the cat sits LOG OFF: Don't add no more wood LOG ON: Makin the stove hotter MAC: Bubba...

When I was small, there was no way anyone could have dreamed of such a thing let alone do it.  Of course they were all pretty much cut from the same bolt.  Individuality was pretty rare.  I don't mean that you could't tell 'em apart.  They all looked different, but once they started talking you knew.  If there had ever been a creative thought in one of those round heads it had been stomped to death the instant it saw the light of day. That was why I got out of there as soon as I could.  My head was shaped the same but man oh man what was in it sure didn't fit the neighborhood.  I don't mean that my thoughts are dangerous or anything, I just see things different.  Like it puzzles me that people tell me that I should obey the law but you can buy those radar detectors which are designed, built and sold expressly for the purpose of helping you to break the law by exceeding the speed limit.   Go figure.  If I ever asked anyone about t...

Four precepts of high self-esteem. 1.  People who have high self-esteem operate out of a sense of reality rather than fantasy.  They accept their places within this reality and are keenly aware not only of their external situations but also of their internal feelings and knowledge. 2.  People who operate with high self-esteem know how to alter their reality favorably through goals and purposes for their lives.  They are able to set goals that are realistic and establish plans and strategies whereby the goals can be achieved. 3.  People with high regard for themselves are able to set themselves apart from others.  They are willing to stand up for themselves.  They establish boundaries so that others do not infringe on their time, resources, energy, and physical being without express consent.  This does not mean that they are cold and standoffish.  They see themselves as integrally connected to but still separate from others. 4.  P...

Applying computer technology is the process of finding the right wrench to pound in the correct screw.

ACRONYM = Alphabetical Collection Representing Often Needed Yard-long Monikers

Hookt on fonicks werkt four me [You might have to be of a certain age to remember this.]

These are the motorcycles I owned back in the day . . . Yamaha 175 Husqvarna 250 Honda 750

When God made the world, He chose to put animals in it, and decided to give each whatever it wanted. All the animals formed a long line before His throne, and the cat quietly went to the end of the line. To the elephant and the bear, He gave strength; to the rabbit and the deer, swiftness; to the owl, the ability to see at night; to the birds and the butterflies, great beauty; to the fox, cunning; to the monkey, intelligence; to the dog, loyalty; to the lion, courage; to the otter, playfulness. All these were things the animals begged of God. At last He came to the end of the line, and there sat the little cat, waiting patiently. “What will you have?” God asked the cat. The cat shrugged modestly, “Oh, whatever scraps you have left over. I don’t mind.” “But I’m God. I have everything left over.” “Then I’ll have a little of everything, please.” And God gave a great shout of laughter at the cleverness of this small animal, and gave the cat everything she asked for,...

On the first day of Christmas, my kitten ruined for me....... A batch of my special handprint cookies. I had turned my back to grab the cookie sheet sitting on the stove. In that microsecond, Sara climbed onto the table, poked her paw into the delightfully kneady mixture and, suddenly off-balance, fell into the cookie dough. Net loss? Six cups of flour, four cups of sugar, three sticks of butter.... Of course, it would have been cheaper to remove the feline ingredient, pick out the hairs, and just rename the recipe Paw Print Cookies. On the second day of Christmas, my kitten accompanied me.... On a trip to the vet clinic. Who knew that skinny curling ribbon has feline taste appeal? I didn't. Damages: $28 for the office visit, $36 for anesthesia so the veterinarian could take $55 X-rays in case Sara had taste-tested any other Christmas decorations, and a heck of a lot of embarrassment when the vet removed the 3' curly tail in slightly less than two seconds by...

Instruction List for Northerners Who Move to the South Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later how to use it. If you forget a Southerner’s name, refer to him (or her) as “Bubba.” You have a 75 percent chance of being right. Just because you can drive on snow and ice doesn’t mean we can. Stay home the two days of the year it snows. If you do run your car into a ditch, don’t panic. Four men in the cab of a four-wheel drive with a 12-pack of beer and a tow chain will be along shortly. Don’t try to help them. Just stay out of their way - this is what they live for. Don’t be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store. If something can’t be fried in bacon grease, it ain’t worth cooking, let alone eating. Remember: “Y’all” is singular. “All y’all” is plural. “All y’all’s” is plural possessive. There is nothing sillier than a Northerner imitating a southern accent, unless it is a Southerner imitat...

You might be a Redneck Jedi If . . . *You ever heard the phrase, "May the force be with y'all." *Your Jedi robe is a camouflage color. *You have ever used your light saber to open a bottle of Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill. *At least one wing of your X-Wings is primer colored. *You have bantha horns on the front of your land speeder. *You can easily describe the taste of an Ewok. *You have ever had an X-wing up on blocks in your yard. *You ever lost a hand during a light saber fight because you had to spit. *The worst part of spending time on Dagobah is the dadgum skeeters. *Wookies are offended by your BO *You have ever used The Force to get yourself another beer so you didn't have to wait for a commercial. *You have ever used The Force in conjunction with fishing/bowling. *Your father has ever said to you, "Shoot, son come on over to the dark side...it'll be a hoot." *You have ever had your R-2 unit use its self...

Support bacteria -- they're the only culture some people have. A day without sunshine is like, night. When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool. He who laughs last, thinks slowest. The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. I intend to live forever -- so far, so good. Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of. The only substitute for good manners is fast reflexes. When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane, going the wrong way. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it. For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism. He who hesitates is probably right. No one is listening until you make a mistake. Success always occurs in private and failure in full view. The colder the X-ray table, the more of your body is required on it. Th...