NEWSLETTER #0064 – Non nobis solum

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Our newsletter title is a bit of collectivist goodness.

Pitch in! Help out! We’re all in this together:

Non Nobis Solum

The motto is derived from a sentence in Cicero’s most influential philosophical work, his treatise On Duties (Latin: De Officiis). In full, Cicero writes, “non nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vindicat, partem amici” (“Not for us alone are we born; our country, our friends, have a share in us”; De Officiis, 1:22). The sentence, as Cicero himself says, is a literal translation of a sentiment from Plato’s Epistle to Archytas.[1] In the context of the passage, the sentence means that “humans have been created for the sake of others of their kind, indeed, to benefit each other as much as possible”.[2] Cicero associates this concept with the Stoic ideal of cosmopolitanism, according to which all men have a natural kinship with all other men and need to “contribute to the general good by an interchange of acts of kindness (officia), by giving and receiving.”[3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_nobis_solum

 

 

Also, I was feelin’ down as all get out after the pandemic. Worked hard to grow and change and here we are…

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”

Norman Cousins is was an American political journalist, author, professor, and world peace advocate. He taught ethics and medical literature. His research interest was the connection between attitude and health… and in fact, in response to an illness, he created something called “laugh therapy” where he just took lots of Vitamin C and laughed at Candid Camera. I know there’s a form of Yoga that relates to laughing, and so many great have said they credit their long lives to laughing and laughter, and friends… that’s Norman Lear, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Conan O’Brien and more. Who knows?

But I do know, if we’re alive and dying inside, we need to make changes. It doesn’t come easily, and we need to work at it.  I used to be scared of death, and I used to be horrified by life, riddled with anxiousness and panic.

Now? I just want it to be a nice day! =)

But, mental health is more important than ever before, because stuff is getting more and more complex. Tech and media hijacked attention spans, and let me tell you… if you can start to train yourself into longform focus (reading, a puzzle, not having/taking your phone with you sometimes), it heals the mind and body.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, what’s going on out there in the world with AI? Is it post-truth and not knowing what’s real, forever?

I don’t believe any video I see anymore, online.

Is this real? Is this AI? I think it’s real, but I don’t know.

We’re in a new era.

 

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Lastly, this guy was to pure for this world. What a treasure.

 

 

 

  • This is cute. (I Think You Should Leave joke)

 

Onward!

SPACE

What’s one mathematical fact about the universe that absolutely stuns you every time you think about it? https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/1aqah1i/whats_one_mathematical_fact_about_the_universe/

  • If we sent out a space craft to the nearest star, chances are by the time they get there, a second or third spacecraft will arrive before them. Let’s say in 50 or 100 years after the first space craft, we invent a slightly faster spacecraft. It’s only 5 or 10 % faster then the first, but it’ll reach the destination before the first craft every time.
  • There may be 6 billion earth-like planets in our own Milky Way galaxy. And perhaps 50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 in the known universe.
  • Voyager 1 space probe is 14.8 billion miles from earth and it was launched in 1977 (46 years ago) and is traveling at 38,000 mph (at 17.3 km/s, it will take over 17,700 more years to have traveled one light year). It has traveled just 22 light hours in 46 years.
  • The Milky Way rotates at a speed of 168 miles per second. So, the actual place in space where you were an hour ago is now roughly 600,000 miles away.
  • The sun generates energy at a rate so prodigious that it gets lighter by 4.3 million metric tons per second. But after shining for 10 billion years it will have lost only about 0.1% of its original mass.
  • If the sun were the size of a ping pong ball, the closest star to the sun (Proxima Centauri) would be the size of a pea, 680 miles away, which shows the vastness of space. Even in the crowded center of galaxies, where stars are relatively tightly packed (the MW contains an estimated 300 billion stars), the average distance between stars in the center is about 100 billion miles. Proxima Centauri is 4.2 LY from the sun
  • If the sun were the size of a marble, the earth would be the size of a small grain of sand and would sit about 8 ft away from it. Where would the next nearest marble be in this analogy? Proxima Centauri, our closest stellar neighbor, would be 400 miles away.
  • The Hubble Deep Field image was taken over ten consecutive days and contains 3000 galaxies. Hubbles field of view was 2.6 arcminutes which is equivalent to a tennis ball at a distance of 100 meters or one 24-millionth of the whole sky.
  • The number of ways to order a deck of playing cards is equivalent to four times the estimated number of atoms in the Milky Way. There’s a good chance that no deck of cards in all of human history has ever been in that exact order before
  • There are more atoms in a teaspoon of water than there are teaspoons of water in all the oceans on Earth.
  • Chances are, you’re in bed right now with your phone and you do not realize you’re moving at 1.3 million miles per hour. Our galaxy has moved through space 2.6 million miles in the past hour. These numbers are theoretical, but close to accurate. You know what 700miles per hour feels like because you’ve been in a plane. That’s 7 hundred. Imagine millions miles per hour.
  • time around a black hole passes slower than anywhere else in space! On the edge of a black hole, one minute for you would be 700 years to everyone else. Inside of that black hole, one hour to you would be a billion years to everyone else. If you spent three hours in that black hole and somehow got out, the sun would be a white dwarf and there would be no life on Earth, if it still existed. Gravity stretches time!
  • You can fit all of the planets in the solar system in the gap between us and the moon.
  • My description of time is that it exists when there is movement. If there is no movement there is no time. Time measures something moving from A to B.
  • Time itself is neither linear nor circular. It does not flow or move but allows others to do so. So the cycles we observe have nothing to do with time, except that time will enable them to exist.

 

 

 

  • The future is space junk raining down on us, and liability is actually pretty interesting:
 
Trash from the International Space Station may have hit a house in Florida NASA collected the item to confirm whether it came from the International Space Station. https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/04/trash-from-the-international-space-station-may-have-hit-a-house-in-florida/

 

Artist's conception of a lunar railroad under construction. The rail sections could be formed from sintered regolith under flowing hydrogen to create "smart rails". The hydrogen reduction extracts the oxygen and leaves native iron blebs behind. The native iron makes the material magnetic, so that it can be easily handled by an electromagnetic robotic end effector. (Artwork by Paul DiMare; Figure from Schrunk et al., 2007).
  • As a kid, we thought about this a lot, with that Music Man version of a train a la Lego Moon Base Monorail.

 

  • What if this whole crisis is simply that the universe is a weird amoeba and it expands at different rates, and math is a human construct and it’s not a mystery? That’s probably simplistic… and it is a mystery!

James Webb telescope confirms there is something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe: Depending on where we look, the universe is expanding at different rates. Now, scientists using the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes have confirmed that the observation is not down to a measurement error. https://www.livescience.com/space/cosmology/james-webb-telescope-confirms-there-is-something-seriously-wrong-with-our-understanding-of-the-universe

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Space X made it…

 

SCI-TECH & AI VIDEO IS INSANE AND SO IS THE EARTH

 

  • Lava-Lit Lenticular Cloud Crowns Volcano in Spectacular Photo: These bizarre-looking clouds form in stable atmospheric eddies

Villarrica is one of Chile’s most active volcanoes! https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lava-lit-lenticular-cloud-crowns-volcano-in-spectacular-photo/

 

 

 

 

  • Lightsaber build… but it’s a real plasma torch. And I’m skipping the build just to show it to you. It’s pretty cool.

 

 

 

The Banach–Tarski paradox is a theorem in set-theoretic geometry, which states the following: Given a solid ball in three-dimensional space, there exists a decomposition of the ball into a finite number of disjoint subsets, which can then be put back together in a different way to yield two identical copies of the original ball. Indeed, the reassembly process involves only moving the pieces around and rotating them without changing their shape. However, the pieces themselves are not “solids” in the usual sense, but infinite scatterings of points. The reconstruction can work with as few as five pieces.[1]

 

 

 

 

 

COMEDY

This is my favorite Norm joke, if I had to pick one. MAYBE top 3…. he’s brilliant.

 

 

 

If you know you know, but if you like absurdist sketch comedy, it’s as good as Monty Python or Kids in the Hall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Hereditary, but it’s Barbie.

 

 

  • Eugene Levy, John Candy, Rick Moranis are “The Recess Monkeys!”

 

 

  • This is sublime. Slang you’re gonna need for the 1990’s, and I’d venture to say 2024.

 

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  • Gary Gulman is hilarious, his whole special “Born on Third Base” is quite funny, but he’s got some wordplay and one liners in there at times that absolutely obliterate. We sensed a little Mitch Hedberg, Sebastien Maniscalco, Nate Bargatze, and a bit of Steven Wright’s humor and mannerisms. But Gary is ABSOLUTELY his own brilliant dude. One of the better specials in awhile. (HBO / MAX tho)

https://play.max.com/movie/3c80efb5-7891-463e-87b9-9e8ca7d8e6c7

 

 

 

 

 

  • FULL SPECIAL… very funny Australian woman, Jenny Tian!

 

 

  • 7 minutes of Sabrina Wu, who is incredibly funny!

 

 

  • Conan helps Sona buy a car. “Because I grew up on a stupid farm eating moron seeds”.

 

 

  • This Newhart cameo during Krusty’s funeral is so funny. Newhart is alright. He’s in his 90s and kickin’ with Mel Brooks. Nothing is forever, so I like to celebrate people before I have to.

 

 

  • Horror Comedy, but I’m obsessed with Little Guize.
@latentplaces have you seen my keys? These Little Guys have been spotted sneaking through homes in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Using the cover of night, Little Guys are known to break into residences with the sole intent of rearranging the belongings of the occupants. Upon completion of their midnight mission Little Guys retreat into walls, floorboards and ventilation systems to rest and wait for residents to wake. It is thought that Little Guys gain sustenance from the confusion of humans. As occupants become increasingly baffled by the misplacement of their property, Little Guys become energized and prepare to target another household. Once fully rested they promptly relocate and the mischievous cycle is continued. Little Guys are notoriously difficult to spot and even harder to capture on Q.U.A.I.N.T. Seen here stopped in their tracks, Little Guys will almost always freeze if they sense detection. This behavior is thought to be a poorly developed defense mechanism. #horror #analoghorror #weirdcore #dreamcore #creepy #latentplaces #fyp #reels #shorts #bartlesville #oklahoma ? original sound – Latent Places

MOVIES & TV

  • Moving the chess pieces around on the board of your early career, this is so savvy, sophisticated, smart, and mature. AND WE ARE GETTING HER IN BARBARELLA!! That will be wild.

 

 

 

  • LOL this movie critic, I believe, was one of the reasons they got to a PG-13 rating. Gremlins and Temple of Doom were out the very same summer, scarring little children like the old days would do. But here she is interviewing people about taking kids to Alien, and the Dad “well, it’s good for him to see, because science says these things could happen” is GOLD.

 

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Found the Temple of Doom and Gremlins!

 

 

  • Charles Nelson Reilly was amazing, and I loved watching the Match Game and his coy act. He had a one man show that was brilliant. Here we go! The Life of Reilly!

 

  • The mob, smut, Tobe Hooper, and Chainsaw Massacre:

How Deep Throat Gave Us the Texas Chain Saw Massacre https://weminoredinfilm.com/2015/11/26/how-deep-throat-gave-us-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre

 

MUSIC

Movies? Music? I don’t care:

‘This Is Spinal Tap’ Sequel Underway With Original Cast; Cameos Lined Up From Elton John, Paul McCartney, Questlove, Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood https://deadline.com/2024/03/spinal-tap-sequel-filming-elton-john-paul-mccartney-questlove-garth-brooks-trisha-yearwood-join-1235854578/

This List Goes to 11!: Eleven Trends Predicted by 'This is Spinal Tap'

 

 

  • Two of my all time favorites together for a peaceful and mellow interlude.

Hania Rani – Whispering House ft. Ólafur Arnalds (Official Video)

 

 

  • After the Big Lebowski story of T-Bone Burnett getting the rights to Townes Van Zandt’s cover of the Rolling Stones’ Dead Flowers, here’s further validation that my opinion of the Eagles is NOT WRONG. I love validation about this one. I get it, it’s easy to listen to.

Tom Waits on the most boring band in America: “I don’t like The Eagles. They’re about as exciting as watching paint dry. Their albums are good for keeping the dust off your turntable, and that’s about all,” he said of the band. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/tom-waits-on-the-most-boring-band-in-america/

 

 

 

  • An icon: Michelle Phillips, of the Mamas and the Papas, eats a banana while performing on the Ed Sullivan show, to protest having to lip synch.

 

 

 

  • Tommy Lee Jones was in Billy Joel’s Piano Man. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

 

 

 

  • Blue Lab Beats, a fantastic duo if you like Grant Green style rare groove guitar jazz, or bands like Soulive. But adding the beats is dope!

 

 

People, Culture, & Society

 

  • From 2014, this is an AMAZING story about a lost work of art that became a prop… in Stuart Little!

Stuart Little leads art historian to long-lost Hungarian masterpiece: Researcher spots Sleeping Lady with Black Vase by Robert Bereny being used as a prop in Hollywood children’s movie https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/27/stuart-little-art-historian-long-lost-hungarian-masterpiece

 

 

 

  • Hunter S. Thompson’s obituary of Richard Nixon is relevant, and amazing:

He Was a Crook: A scathing obituary of Richard Nixon, originally published in Rolling Stone on June 16, 1994 By Hunter S. Thompson https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/

 

 

  • You know I like lighthouses. I was on a bike ride in the Canary Islands (Beauregard Simulacrum – on my peloton), as saw this interesting spiral staircase lighthouse exposed to the elements.

The Buenavista Lighthouse (Spanish: Faro de Buenavista), also known as the Punta de Buenavista lighthouse is an active lighthouse in the municipality of Buenavista del Norte on the northern coast of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. This modern lighthouse, which has been described as being shaped like a corkscrew, is situated on a headland midway between the settlements of Buenavista del Norte and Los Silos. It is one of the seven main lighthouses which mark the coastline of Tenerife, and lies between two other lighthouses; Punta de Teno to the southwest, and Puerto de la Cruz to the northeast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenavista_Lighthouse

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipPqLjfMeMKtXIIhYwYHCMl9QlbpP89lLXXC9447=s1360-w1360-h1020

 

 

They were playing D&D in the 3rd Century!

 

 

 

  • What a great ad for SF and the Bay! Peter Coyote’s voice is so great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vehicles

 

ME WANT. It’s spendy. It’s so cool.

ENDO! This is AMAZINGLY COOL MAKES ME FEEL ALIVE lol

 

 

 

  • Best livery ever.

About Uncle Fishbits

I'm.. just this guy, you know?