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We tired of the rain yet?

 

 

Is it true that a fulfilled life can only be measured once everything is said and done? Many of the classical thinkers certainly thought so. Solon was not arguing that men like Tellus and Biton were happier in death than in life. He was not referring to the great hereafter. Solon was arguing that a full accounting of happiness can only be known once the life of a citizen is laid out start to finish. Only then can we see if somebody has achieved virtue, self-sufficiency, and all other good things that the ancients believed to be paramount to a “good life”.

Essentially? Beware pride, don’t count your chickens, play the long game, don’t make assumptions or take things for granted, and persevere and survive.  Because as happy as you think you might be, it’s going to be the bird’s eye view that will tell the whole story, and you can’t judge yourself until you know the full scope of existence.

 

 

Chuck E. Cheese and Its Creepy Robots: The Oral History

 

 

 

PHILOSOPHY CORNER by guest writer Michael Hraba

 

As the philosopher, what is truth?

Can that be found in meaning and purpose?

Ahhh… it is but a diversion, as you cannot quantify meaning nor purpose, like you might with gravity or mass.

Then, meaning and purpose sits unobjective, they become a cavitating quicksand of subjectivity.

In this sense meaning and purpose can only be personally defined.

For a dark truth, one might say the purpose of existence is to die.

“Life is the waiting around between birth and death”.

But my thought, that I’ve arrived at after extensive work, is that the purpose of life is simply to exist. It’s all that is necessary.

Release yourself from all the other pressures.

I used to cynically joke that I keep expectations low because that’s the key to happiness. Then I thought, what if you freed yourself from expectation?  Then you exist, ambling about in this bemused state about any occurrence, simply because it’s an honor to be part of all of this.

Oscar Wilde said “I think that the realization of oneself is the prime aim of life, and to realize oneself through pleasure is finer than to do so through pain. I am, on that point, entirely on the side of the ancients—the Greeks. It is a pagan idea.”

I would say that is the ultimate purpose, at least for me. And in that, it’s walking in a path of self-discovery and love, and namely, being vested in leisure to allow my brain to be free of obligation.  That’s the ongoing struggle – to find the center, and hold on (as Lao Tzu might say), while knowing that my path has ripples and a wake and waves and tides that crash into everything around me like the butterfly effect.

It keeps us empathetic.

But even then, it’s just part of this existence where our sole responsibility is, simply, to be a part of it. To observe without expectation. Interesting note that expectation used to mean “the prospect of one’s inheritance”. I’ve always noted with expectation comes entitlement, so the archaic definition might not be too far off. If fear is the mindkiller, so will expectation and entitlement be the humanity killer.

We are but Flâneurs through a cosmos, on a rock floating in nothing, speeding through spacetime, unobserved by the universe, where all we have is one another.

Purpose is just what you spend time figuring out while shuffling this mortal coil. =)

A secret?

There doesn’t have to be one, and we can just express our love for existence by effortlessly moving through it with one another.

MENTAL HEALTH: You are not alone

 

“‘Even when I was physically with the people I loved, I wasn’t present — I was often checking the news and responding to messages in my inbox. After my job ended, I felt ashamed to reach out to friends I had ignored. I found myself increasingly lonely and isolated, and it felt as if I was the only one who felt that way. Loneliness — like depression, with which it can be associated — can chip away at your self-esteem and erode your sense of who you are. That’s what happened to me.

Sometimes loneliness is set off by the loss of a loved one or a job, a move to a new city, or health or financial difficulties — or a once-in-a-century pandemic.

Other times, it’s hard to know how it arose but it’s simply there. One thing is clear: Nearly everyone experiences it at some point. But its invisibility is part of what makes it so insidious. We need to acknowledge the loneliness and isolation that millions are experiencing and the grave consequences for our mental health, physical health and collective well-being.”

 

So… Fishbits here is telling ya…  reach out. Hang out. Waste time. Shoot the breeze. To wit:

 

“But it was not because I thought her book was interesting that I had reached out to Liming. It was because I passionately believed that her book was right. “I’ve become an accidental witness to a growing crisis,” she writes in Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time. “People struggling to hang out, or else voicing concern and anxiety about how to hang out.” I, too, see a crisis brewing, among not only people my age but among the peers of my teenage children and the college students I teach. Pushed further into isolation by the pandemic, we’re all losing the ability to engage in what I view as the pinnacle of human interaction: sitting around with friends and talking shit. I agree with Liming that no one is down to hang out anymore, and agree with her that it’s a ‘quiet catastrophe’.” https://slate.com/culture/2023/02/hanging-out-sheila-liming-book-friendship-crisis.html

SPACE

 

  • nb: the Harvard & Pentagon paper is *NOT* peer reviewed yet. No matter the involved proper nouns, that’s always a HUGE red flag and grain of salt. But, in regards to the Futurism article subtweeted below this… I finally could see alien tech (not entities) visiting our solar system through interstellar space.

 

 

 

 

 

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

  • If we’ve got this, so do they. If you were wondering why it’s easier to say “UFO” than “other governments have tech we can’t confirm, admit to, catch, track, or understand. This is bonkers. AND IT IS OURS:
@jeffbozzos This is absolutely crazy. This is a demo of an exoatmospheric intercept projectile. It’s duty is to destroy ICBMs during re-entry and is capable of moving at astonishing speed. It can do pretty much anything while in flight. Going 100 mph and doing an instant 90 degree? That’s child’s play for the MKM. This type of research was started during the 1980s and this footage was released during 2008. #fy #fyp? #ufo #ufosighting #alien #alientechnology #advancetechnology #scifi #aviation #aviationtechnology #innovation #military #unitedstates #usaf #themoreyouknow ? Meltdown, nuclear winter, radioactive contamination(970016) – Ambient World

 

 

 

 

  • If Artificial Intelligence can reflect, then improve and grow, that’s a heck of a lot closer to artificial general intelligence than “not”. Wild…
AI Seems to Do Better on Tasks When Asked to Reflect on Its Mistakes If at first you don’t succeed… https://futurism.com/ai-reflect-mistakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • This is an unbelievable forensic animation from onsite evidence from September 11th’s Pentagon plane attack. If nothing else, and beyond the sluething, science, and research that goes into this, it’s really all the imagery of plane parts that is shocking. We didn’t see that on TV (assuming it was a security clearance thing for news orgs?), and that lack of reporting gave rise to these bullshit conspiracies for the weak minded. But it also serves how important it is for news and media to report in a hard hitting and unfiltered manner.  If you show the trauma and violence, and the reality (as they did during the Vietnam War which had a massive impact on public opinion), then the public understands the situation and truth of the matter. As a skeptic, I do spend some time through the years sending this out to basement dwelling “I want to believe” types.

 

 

 

‘Counterportation’: Quantum breakthrough paves way for world-first experimental wormhole https://phys.org/news/2023-03-counterportation-quantum-breakthrough-paves-world-first.html

Emphasis by me:

“This work will be in the spirit of the multi-billion ventures that exist to witness new physical phenomena, like the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), but at a fraction of the resources. Our hope is to ultimately provide remote access to local wormholes for physicists, physics hobbyists, and enthusiasts to explore fundamental questions about the universe, including the existence of higher dimensions.”

 

 

  •  This isn’t when Eva* walks out the door in Ex-Machina, but still:

*(Our new super smart EV we named Eva LOL)

OpenAI’s GPT-4 fooled a human into solving a captcha. “NO, I’M NOT A ROBOT. I HAVE A VISION IMPAIRMENT THAT MAKES IT HARD FOR ME TO SEE THE IMAGES.” https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-gpt-4-fooled-human-solving-captcha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Their R&D budget must be something else, but I don’t like Star Wars at all anymore (I don’t dislike it, it’s just not something I spend time on) and this made me thrilled:

 

 

  • A VIDEO GAME THAT TAKES LONGER THAN TIME TO FINISH:

This dude does not use mods, but makes insane builds in a game called Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. This one? It will literally take longer than our physical universe has time, to finish one ride.

 

 

  • SURVIVORSHIP BIAS

During World War II, fighter planes would come back from battle with bullet holes. The Allies found the areas that were most commonly hit by enemy fire. They sought to strengthen the most commonly damaged parts of the planes to reduce the number that were shot down.

A mathematician, Abraham Wald, pointed out that perhaps there was another way to look at the data. Perhaps the reason certain areas of the planes weren’t covered in bullet holes was that planes that were shot in those areas did not return. This insight led to the armor being reinforced on the parts of the plane where there were no bullet holes.

The story behind the data is arguably more important than the data itself. Or more precisely, the reason behind why we are missing certain pieces of data may be more meaningful than the data we have.

Credits:
Wald, Abraham. Archived 2019-07-13 at the Wayback Machine. Center for Naval Analyses.

Wallis, W. Allen (1980). “The Statistical Research Group, 1942-1945: Rejoinder”. Journal of the American Statistical Association.

“Bullet Holes & Bias: The Story of Abraham Wald”. mcdreeamie-musing

“AMS :: Feature Column :: The Legend of Abraham Wald”. American Mathematical Society

‘How Not to Be Wrong’ by Jordan Ellenberg (released in 2014)

Thanks to everyone who has talked about the story before.

 

 

 

  • Someone invented a Square Wheeled Bike like tank treads:

 

NATURE YOU SCARY, or GRANULAR FLOW

 

  • Simply… don’t ever, ever get near stuff like this.

 

 

COMEDY

 

  • Maron kills this. And I can’t wait to find this discussion.
@frightenedkiwi? Welcome to The Internet – Bo Burnham

 

 

  • You’ll have to go into the thread, but if you’ve ever heard of Photoshop Battles, this is HILARIOUS.

 

 

@terrykaye #duet with @washkooo ? Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show

 

 

 

@theandrewschulz ??? #andrewschulz #standupcomedy #fyp? #roast #schulz ? original sound – Andrew Schulz

 

 

  • Mitch Hedberg passed away March 30th 2005. If you happen to not have heard of this gent, he’s a stand up comedy legend. Please listen to him. This is just one 20 minute set, but Strategic Grill Locations, Mitch All Together are your starting points.

Mitch Hedberg's widow says unreleased material is coming soon | The Independent | The Independent

 

MOVIES AND TV

 

  • This is unreal. I personally don’t think The Shining would be The Shining for me without this. The placement and timing with the tone and echo. Man. This is one of my favorite parts of the film, easily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Carpenter, Cronenberg, and Landis on Horror, from 1982:

 

 

  • I try to keep anything Jimmy Fallon off this site. He might be a nice man, but he’s destroyed… SNL, professionalism, honesty, and comedy. So there’s that. I’d debate him, but you know what? He’s milquetoast and forgettable, history already called me. No worry there, so dig on this honesty about a naive Hammil vs Carpenter Ford. What’s more, this is a bit, a schtick. I’m fine being interviewed vs a debate. He does seem to just want to marginalize his own truth to make everyone else around him happy.
@unyolo i don’t think i ever saw a video that shows better how Harrison Ford really is, see the end. #harrisonford #jimmyfallon #markhamill #starwars #funny #impressions #story #fyp #foryoupage #foryou ? original sound – UNYOLO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • TROUT! This is amazing, from a gent that played on of the greatest cool cucumber heavies in TV history, on two shows that may round out the greatest top 3 TV shows in history, alongside The Wire.

 

 

  • I gave you a bit of space since the Awards season, but this Gervais clip from the Golden Globes is the high water mark for taking the piss out of celebrity culture.

 

 

  • YOU GOT THE JOB KID

 

 

 

 

 

  • Cool 60 Minutes interview of Johnny Carson, back in the “day”, I think 1979.
@nostalgiaforyourmind #nostalgia #60minutes #johnnycarson #mikewallace #1979 ? original sound – Nostalgiaforyourmind

 

 

 

  • Alyssa Milano and Jason Bateman host the Ice Capades. This is amazingly silly fun.

 

 

 

  • Taxi Driver scriptwriter, and so much more. Interesting take. He’s not always right, by the way:

 

 

  • PHENOMENAL application. Witches of Eastwick line.

 

 

 

MUSIC

 

  • This is just my favorite thing.
@lporchestra Nicholas Cage is actually pretty good at Mandolin. #ClassicalMusic #bolero #trombone #percussionist #theunbearableweightofmassivetalent ? original sound – London Philharmonic Orchestra

 

 

 

  • Herbie educating Quincy on what Quincy is gonna steal for Thriller LOL

 

 

 

  • Trombone is the sexiest instrument, because while the best sound when played well, it exposes lack of talent quicker than most things. Harpsichord? Anyhoo… Bilal is one of the greatest players of all time, and hitting these notes over and over… I can’t stop watching:

 

 

 

  • The soulful growl on this record is amazing. Yellow Days is a “guy”, like Bon Iver and other acts that use a band as a cover for a producer / soloist who hires session people. Trent Reznor was essentially “NIN” for years, by his lonesome.  But the “jury is out” isn’t fair, it’s just this pop icon’s palette is too wide to wrap your hands around. Still, this track is sexy for days.

 

  • These guys… I was like “This is like Ennio Morricone crossed with Neil Young’s Dead Man soundtrack. LO AND BEHOLD, they stan for my mans! =)

Any of the songs on El Bueno Y El Malo could serve as more intimate stand-ins for Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack work, and throughout their body of work, the brothers’ music feels like a series of ready-made film scores. “On a personal level,” says Alejandro, “I always love to make a sound that brings you somewhere. Because we love the desert and the spaghetti Western kind of vibe, we’re telling a story that has this kind of a feeling.” He points to “big film scores” as an outsize influence, specifically Morricone’s work with director Sergio Leone. “Watching those movies without music,” he says, “it’s impossible. It just shows the power of music itself.” He goes on to call Neil Young’s score to Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man “a milestone in film scores. It’s perfect.” https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/guitarists/hermanos-gutierrez

 

 

People Culture Society Art!

 

In order, Cliff House SF, Fisherman’s Wharf SF, Santa Cruz, and Modesto.

 

 

 

 

 

 

@the_jenc They got such a fun vibe #alexcolville #arthistory #art #facts #fyp #history #videogames #gamer #greenscreen ? original sound – Jen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • THESE ARE HORRIFYING AND AMAZING and just a few years ago, it was essentially an unrecognizable earth, and these people couldn’t begin to comprehend us….

Timber Trestles: Incredible Vintage Photos of Timber Railroad Bridges, 1850s-1900s https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/timber-railroad-bridges-photos/

 

 

 

 

  • A very, very artistic couple and their 5000+ sq ft Parisienne house that was a former brothel. Unreal lifestyle, a bit much, and the house is essentially a museum, but amazing.

 

 

There’s so SO many weird ones… Miss Magic Marker, Miss Cuisine, Miss Sausage, etc. Most inappropraite, most weird.

BUT OH MY GOD IT IS BETTIE PAIGE!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

VEHICLES

 

 

 

Jeep Cherokee 2-door.jpg
By Uncle FishbitsCategories: Newsletter