Mar 27

God Gaps and Meme Traps

I saw this meme on a rare visit to Facebook. (Reminding me once again why I’m avoiding Facebook for the most part.)

Let’s examine it…

To be an atheist, I would have to believe... nothing produced everything, non-life produced life, randomness produced precision, chaos produced order. I simply do not have that much faith.

Atheism Defined

The first miss occurs on the opening line, ‘to be an atheist, I would have to believe…’ But atheism is not a unified belief system. Atheism is the lack of belief in god(s). It does not mean a person has a specific belief about the beginning of the universe or any of the machinations within the universe. The definition of an atheist is simply, ‘a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of god or gods.’

But, we can infer that this meme advocates that a god is required for all of the sub-points (‘nothing produced everything‘; ‘non-life produced life‘; ‘randomness produced precision; chaos produced order‘) to be possible. So, let’s dive deeper into those implications…

There is no God higher than truth”. 

~ Mahatma Gandhi 

Something from Nothing

The first point then, ‘…nothing produced everything‘ is an argument that something must have been the first mover. But the theist further implies that the ‘something’ is a ‘somebody’ or a creator – an entity with intelligence and purpose.

In response to the question being begged, the simplest answer is to again point out that atheism is not a scientific theory. Therefore the atheist response, ‘I don’t know how the universe started’ is a perfectly reasonable response to the implied question.

If one does not know what lies behind a door, a person can say, ‘a flying spaghetti monster lies behind the door!’ or they can say, ‘I don’t know what lies behind the door’.

“He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.”

~ Thomas Jefferson

However beyond the strict definitions of atheism we are curious creatures, and if we want to hypothesize on the origin of the universe, it is noteworthy that Cosmologists are still exploring what existed before* the Big Bang or what caused it. Even if there is currently no definitive answer, there are various hypotheses. As a tip of the spear it can be noted that quantum mechanics suggests that particles can pop into and out of existence in a vacuum of ‘nothingness’, indicating that “nothing” is not a stable state. Or consider various multiverse theories: the possibility that our universe is one of many universes and that ‘nothing’ is not even an option. The same is true of cyclic universe models: the idea that the universe goes through cycles of expansion and contraction and has always existed. But even if none of these (small samplings of) hypotheses are true, and even if the big bang gets disproved, that still does mean that one should conclude the answer, ‘well, then: it must be a supernatural entity!’

* Note: the idea of ‘before‘ the universe existed is itself a very deep topic (to put it mildly) with our common perspective perhaps based on a false human construct. Science is exploring the ideas of time: if time is even a linear construct and time as a factor of time-space. That as we try to contemplate a time before the big bang may be like asking for directions to a place north of the North Pole.

These are many alien, foreign perspectives and concepts held in what we call, ‘time’ that are not immediately intuitive to our brains which are evolved to the finite and macro-scales of our lives. – Just as we struggle to understand the immensity of the universe, and the infinitesimally small realities of the universe that are shown to exist but are not revealed natively to our senses, so we may be prepared for a complex model of time and non-time. Science has shown us many non-intuitive realities about, ‘time’ as demonstrated in Special and General Relativity including Spacetime (space and time as a single, unified entity called spacetime); Time Dilation (as an object moves closer to the speed of light, time slows down for that object relative to a stationary observer); Gravitational Time Dilation (gravity can also affect the passage of time, with time slowing down in stronger gravitational fields) and more. None of these concepts are held in the dismissive, incredulous face of the meme.

All of this is to say that an atheist perspective can fairly range from, ‘I don’t know’ to, ‘we don’t know but we have ideas that we are exploring and testing’.

“ …the history of science . . . teaches that the most we can hope for is successive improvement in our understanding, learning from our mistakes, an asymptotic approach to the Universe, but with the proviso that absolute certainty will always elude us. ”

~  Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

It is the theist who is making the claim. The theist says, ‘I do know! And the answer is God A!’ (Or depending on the religion, Gods XWZ.)

When one asks the next logical question, where did your god (or gods) come from then? The thiest answer is invariably some flavor of, ‘God has always been’. – It answers nothing about the origin of the universe. As Carl Sagan said, “If we say that God has always existed, why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always existed?“

Life from Non-Life

In my experience, the average theist conflates the origins of life – abiogenesis with evolution (and specifically: natural selection [and more often forgotten sexual selection] which describes the diversification of life forms after they emerge.)

But I take this meme’s bullet point to be referencing abiogenesis through the fallacy of incredulity. The theist hasn’t hazard to imagine (and/or most likely has not read or comprehended) what mechanism(s) could result in life stemming from non-life. And although science has not yet demonstrated the full process of abiogenesis in the lab experimentally, there are still vast quantities of evidence pointing us in the direction of a full answer that does not requiring summoning the supernatural and its god(s). And although end-to-end life generation in a test tube has not yet been shown as a single process, many aspects of it has been demonstrated backing a variety of models including: Oparin-Haldane hypothesis (which suggests that life arose gradually from inorganic molecules, with “building blocks” like amino acids forming first and then combining to make complex polymers); Metabolism-First Hypothesis (metabolism, or the chemical processes that sustain life, may have emerged before self-replication, with early metabolic pathways providing the precursors for later self-replicating molecules); Pre-RNA World Hypotheses (theories exploring pre-RNA molecules with alternative genetic materials that could have been precursors to RNA, with simpler chemical structures); and far more (that is well beyond the scope of this humble blog post).

There is no discipline in science that I’m aware in which all answers to all questions are known and complete. And where modern abiogenesis exploration still has questions it also has many answers and an abundance of evidence. And one might appreciate science for not yet having the whole continuity of organic-matter to life demonstrated, modern science has been working on the problem for less than one hundred years. (Whereas, nature had some one billion years on earth for the conditions to arise.)  

And let’s not forget the evidence free, contradictory suggestions made by various religions including:

Babylonian (Enūma Eliš): Humans are created from the blood of Kingu, Tiamat’s consort.

Christian: (Genesis 2) Yahweh creates Adam, the first man, from dust and Eve is created from Adam’s rib.

Egyptian: The god Khnum, depicted as the ‘Great Potter’ who shapes humans from clay on a potter’s wheel.

Navajo (Diné): The “emergence from below” creation motif is found in the traditions of several Native American tribes, particularly those in the Southwestern United States. The Navajo creation story also involves a series of emergences from lower worlds.

Norse (Völuspá): The first beings, the giant Ymir and the cow Audhumla, emerge, and the gods Odin, Vili, and Vé create the world from Ymir’s body.

Shinto: Centering around the divine couple Izanagi and Izanami who gave birth to various deities (Kami). the human lineage is said to descend from these Kami. Humans in turn are descended from the divine couple, and the other Kami.

Yoruba (Isese): In Yoruba tradition the god Obatala is credited with forming humans from clay. There are stories that relate that Obatala at times was inebriated while forming humans, which is used to explain those humans that have deformities.

And there are many, many more.

Randomness and Chaos to Order

I’m not sure what the differentiation is between the last two bullet points of the meme are, ‘…randomness produced precision; …chaos produced order’. I believe that those are synonymous ideas and that the meme is trying to pad out its weak argument like a high-schooler who procrastinated writing their 300 word essay until they were on the bus to school.

Furthermore, there are no examples given so I’m not sure if this pertains to all cosmological matters after the big-bang or is more narrow in focus. Again: I’m spending a decent amount of time writing a rather robust response to a rather thoughtless meme. I’m not writing a dissertation on the life, the universe and everything so I’ll have to illuminate a few examples in broad strokes on how, indeed, complexity and precision can arise from randomness and chaos.

Science and human inquiry has shown time and again many, many mechanisms in which order arises from chaos.

The Formation of Galaxies and Star Systems: The early universe, after the Big Bang, wasn’t perfectly uniform. It contained tiny fluctuations in density. These fluctuations, initially random, acted as “seeds” for the formation of larger structures. Gravity, a fundamental force, amplified these initial density fluctuations. Denser regions attracted more matter, leading to the collapse of gas clouds.This collapse wasn’t chaotic. It was governed by gravity, resulting in the formation of galaxies, star systems, and planets. The seemingly random initial fluctuations led to the highly ordered structures we observe today. When the initial gas cloud collapses, the cloud begins to spin. Due to the conservation of angular momentum, the spin increases, and the cloud flattens into a disk. This disk is the precursor to a spiral galaxy, a highly ordered structure.

The Formation of Planetary Systems: After a star forms, it’s often surrounded by a protoplanetary disk of gas and dust. Within this disk, dust grains collide and stick together through electrostatic forces and gravity. These small clumps grow into larger planetesimals, which eventually form planets. The process of accretion, while involving many random collisions, leads to the ordered arrangement of planets orbiting a star. In some planetary systems, planets exhibit orbital resonance, where their orbital periods are related by simple ratios. This indicates a high degree of order arising from the chaotic initial conditions.

Rayleigh-Bénard Convection: When a fluid is heated from below, it can form organized convection cells. This pattern arises from the chaotic motion of fluid molecules.

Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction: This chemical reaction exhibits oscillating color changes, demonstrating self-organization in a chemical system.

Fractal Patterns: Many natural phenomena, such as trees, circulatory systems, coastlines and snowflakes, exhibit fractal patterns. These patterns, while appearing complex, arise from simple, iterative processes.

Evolution: Random mutations happen, but natural selection is a non random process that filters those mutations. It is a process where advantageous variations are more likely to be passed on, leading to increased complexity and order over time.

Time and again we see complex systems, like the universe, can exhibit emergent properties, where order arises from the interactions of many chaotic components.

Faith

Atheism is to religion as non-stamp collecting is to a hobby. It’s the lack of a thing, not a different version of it.

When we step away from blind-faith, we can use science and reason to interrogate the universe. Science is based on evidence and testable hypotheses, not faith. The meme conflates scientific inquiry with religious belief. Science is based on falsifiability: a hypothesis can be proven wrong and that is its strength, not its weakness.

Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?

~ Carl Sagan

A Specific God

Theists love to insert their particular god into the gaps of knowledge. And so, as gaps are closed, their gods get smaller.

Having made an attempt at a fair argument addressing the specific points outlined in the meme, I’ll now elaborate a bit on the original scope based on a few inferences.

The person who shared this meme is a self-identified Christian and I suspect that the creator and perpetrators of this meme would most often also describe themselves as some flavor of Christian. And so even if we ignored all of the arguments made against the fallacies in this meme and allowed for an intelligent creator, the Christian (or Muslim, or Jew, or Zoroastrian or > insert adherent here <) would still be stuck with the burden of not only proving that it was a god that filled in all of the answers, but that of the thousands of gods that have ever been attested, that it is their particular god that completes the puzzle.

“There’s no such word, though there should be, as “adeism” or as being an “adeist”, but if there was one I would say that’s what I was. I don’t believe that we are here as the result of a design or that by following the appropriate rituals we can overcome death. If there was such a force, if there was an entity that was responsible for the beginning of the cosmos, and that also happened to be busily engineering the very laborious production of life on our little planet, it still wouldn’t prove that this entity cared about us; answered prayers; cared what church we went to, or whether we went to one at all; cared who we had sex with or in what position or by what means; cared what we ate or on what day; cared whether we lived or died. There’s no reason at all why this entity isn’t completely indifferent to us. You cannot get from deism to theism – except by a series of extraordinarily generous (to yourself) assumptions. The deist has all his work still ahead of him to show that it leads to revelation; to redemption; to salvation; or to suspensions of the natural order.“

~ Christopher Hitchens vs. William Lane Craig

“The majority of men… are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and… are not accessible to reason, but only to authority.” ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

Mar 24

February 2025 – Quote of the Month

“The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do.”

~ John Holt

Feb 24

A Crack in Everything

The world feels cold and bitter. Spring is 23 days away.

I took this photo Aug. 6, 2011. We’re all looking for some life behind the splinters, rot and rusted nails.

Clovers hidden in a hole of an old wood tie.

… The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don’t dwell on what has passed away
Or what is yet to be

… Ah, the wars they will be fought again
The holy dove, she will be caught again
Bought and sold, and bought again
The dove is never free

… Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

… We asked for signs
The signs were sent
The birth betrayed
The marriage spent
Yeah, and the widowhood
Of every government
Signs for all to see

… I can’t run no more
With that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places
Say their prayers out loud
But they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up
A thundercloud
They’re going to hear from me

… Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

… You can add up the parts
But you won’t have the sum
You can strike up the march
There is no drum
Every heart, every heart
To love will come
But like a refugee

… Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

… Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

… That’s how the light gets in
That’s how the light gets in

~ Leonard Cohen; Anthem

Feb 20

January 2025 – Quote of the Month

“Chronic anxiety is a state more undesirable than any other, and we will try almost any maneuver to eliminate it. Modern man is living in anxious anticipation of destruction. Such anxiety can be easily eliminated by self-destruction. As a German saying puts it: ‘Better an end with terror than a terror without end.”

~ Robert E. Neale, “The Art of Dying”

Jan 20

The Drunken Driver Has The Right of Way

Donald Trump eyes, close-up.

The loudest have the final say,
The wanton win, the rash hold sway,
The realist’s rules of order say
The drunken driver has the right of way.

The Kubla Khan can butt in line;
The biggest brute can take what’s mine;
When heavyweights break wind, that’s fine;
No matter what a judge might say,
The drunken driver has the right of way.

The guiltiest feel free of guilt;
Who care not, bloom; who worry, wilt;
Plans better laid are rarely built
For forethought seldom wins the day;
The drunken driver has the right of way.

The most attentive and unfailing
Carefulness is unavailing
Wheresoever fools are flailing;
Wisdom there is held at bay;
The drunken driver has the right of way.

De jure is de facto’s slave;
The most foolhardy beat the brave;
Brass routs restraint; low lies high’s grave;
When conscience leads you, it’s astray;
The drunken driver has the right of way.

It’s only the naivest who’ll
Deny this, that the reckless rule;
When facing an oncoming fool
The practiced and sagacious say
Watch out — one side — look sharp — gang way.

However much you plan and pray,
Alas, alack, tant pis, oy vey,
Now — heretofore — til Judgment Day,
The drunken driver has the right of way.

~ Ethan Coen

Jan 15

December 2024 – Quote of the Month

“Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.”

~ Hector Berlioz

Dec 25

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

The song, ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas‘ always sounded a little plaintive to me.

Judy Garland, sang it first for a scene in, “Meet Me in St Louis” (1944) in which her character comforts her younger sister, Margaret.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yuletide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away

Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were near to us
Will be dear to us once more

Someday soon we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

The song “began with the melody,” says songwriter Hugh Martin. “I found a little madrigal-like tune that I liked but couldn’t make work, so I played with it for two or three days and then threw it in the wastebasket.” But his collaborator, Ralph Blane heard the music and figured it was mad to throw it out, so the fished it out of the trashcan.

Judy Garland didn’t like the original lyrics; apparently, saying they were too depressing and if she were to sing them, “Margaret will cry, and they’ll think I’m a monster”.

Hollywood executives requested a rewrite. “They said, ‘No, no – it’s a sad scene, but we want sort of an upbeat song, which will make it even sadder if she’s smiling through her tears,” Martin said.

But Martin, (who has since claimed the whole soundtrack was his work alone with no contribution from Blane), wasn’t keen for a rewrite. He had to be firmly nudged by a friend, actor Tom Drake, to write a new verse.

Furthermore, there’s also a later version sung by Frank Sinatra, who asked the songwriter Martin to sprinkle a little festive joy on the rather downbeat penultimate line for his Christmas album, ‘A Jolly Christmas‘.

Through the years
We all will be together
If the fates allow
So hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

And that’s how ‘Hang a shining star upon the highest bough’ came to replace Garland’s melancholic line, “Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow”.

But neither of those versions are the original lyrics. Here now, are the initial, truly melancholy words before the Judy Garland requested rewrite. I don’t subscribe to the last stanza (“But at least we will all be together if the Lord Allows”) but otherwise I feel these lyrics are closer to the truth.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
It may be your last.
Next year we may all be living in the past.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
Pop that champagne cork.
Next year we may all be living in New York.
No good times like the olden days.
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who were dear to us.
Will be near to us no more.
But at least we all will be together.
If the Lord allows.
From now on, we’ll have to muddle through somehow.
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

As of December 21st, we’re past the Winter Solstice. So that means: the days grow longer again.
– More light: that is something at least.

Dec 18

November 2024 – Quote of the Month

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”

~ Carl Sagan;
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Nov 18

October 2024 – Quote of the Month

“Some days you think you can’t go on because the only thing waiting for you is more despair. Some days you don’t want to go on because it’s easier to give up than to get hurt again.”

~ Marieke Nijkamp; This Is Where It Ends

Nov 06

It’s Like Incredible

Ever wonder how the fascist took control of Germany in the 1930s? Ever wonder which side you’d have been on if you’d lived in that country? Now, if you live in America: you know both.

– It isn’t simply a matter of stupidity. It is more a matter of disinformation and fear.

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.”

~Donald Trump

Nov 04

Trump vs Democracy

Sitting here on the eve of the 2024 election, we don’t know who will be the next president. Trump may win or Harris may win.

I could provide a slew of links to all that is heinous about Trump but I’d run out of energy well before I ran out of sources. And at this point in time: I don’t think it matters. The bell is being rung as I write this.

The only thing we can be completely confident about is that Trump will claim victory no matter what. He is despicable and will pour gasoline on the embers of America if he perceives it as remotely useful for his own narcissistic concerns.

“The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.”

~ Aesop

Oct 30

Reflections of Halloween Past

This is the least Halloweeny year I’ve had in recent memories: having attended only one party that featured pumpkin carving but having not visited a single ‘haunted’ house and having only watched very few horror movies.

Still, my affection for Halloween runs deep and so I’m posting this a day early in celebration of the holiday. This photo of a ghoul, surrounded by mylar and fluorescent skulls was taken when we had a CarnEvil party in 2018.

Happy Halloween my dear ghosts and goblins!

Ghoul reflected in mylar from CarnEvil party, 2024

Oct 29

September 2024 – Quote of the Month

“What words are these have falle’n from me?
Can calm despair and wild unrest
Be tenants of a single breast,
Or sorrow such a changeling be?”

~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson; In Memoriam A. H. H.

Sep 29

Oppressed for Oppressors

Car with 'Women for Trump 2020' sticker.
Close-up of a car with 'Women for Trump 2020' sticker.

“And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”

~ Donald Trump

Sep 19

August 2024 – Quote of the Month

“Of all men’s miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing.”

~ Herodotus, The Histories

Aug 31

A Serenade of Darkness

Today’s trolling of my photos surfaced this image of Bear Cave in Derry Township Pennsylvania taken on July 2, 2016.

Bear Cave is a, ‘wild cave’ which is to say: it is wholly natural with no human development such as paved walk ways, railings or lighting.

The photo was taken near the entrance of the cave and all the lighting is from the sun. The green on the walls is light reflected from the summer foliage right outside.

There is a uniquely earthy-cave smell near the opening. What else that is not captured: is the beautiful trilling of the stream that runs into the entrance and down into the earth. When one ventures deeper into the cave, past the reach of the sun and then you turn off your headlamp, you are plunged into an absolute darkness with only the sound of the water gurgling and echoing off the invisible chamber walls. It sounds like voices swirling in an incantation. It sounds of eternity.

Bear Cave, July 2 2016. Derry Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.

Aug 26

July 2024 – Quote of the Month

“The colors live a remarkable life of their own after they have been applied to the canvas.” 

~Edvard Munch

Jul 27

Winnr

Combing through photos and I came across this, from a July 3rd, 2010 fair game. The strangest things amuse me.

Rubber Ducks in a Pool of Water. Carnival. One duck is tipped over and reads, 'Winnr' (misspelled.)
Winnr

Jul 17

June 2024 – Quote of the Month

“I do not see as well without her. I do not hear as well without her. I do not feel as well without her. I would be better off without a hand or a leg than without my sister.” 

~Erin Morgenstern

Jun 29

Missed Time

People tell each other, ‘You did a so much.’ But we know all the things that we didn’t do that we could have. That we should have.

Jun 27

May 2024 – Quote of the Month

“Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.”

~Edmund Burke

May 31

Nyota wa Kilimanjaro

The last couple of years, life has had some sad hardships which I will not recount here. Travel has not been a priority. In fact: I’ve struggled to find the usual enthusiasm for something that is normally such a passion. I’m confident I’ll find heart for it again. But for now, I have my photos to keep those synapses alive and engaged.

Today’s two photos are sisters: the same location, the same night but one looking south and the other north.

These pics were taken on January 2, 2022 in Buffalo Camp on Kilimanjaro at about 4,020 meters / 13,188 feet above sea level. (The Northern Circuit Route.) I remember it was a cold night and slightly painful to have my fingers uncovered while I futzed with the camera controls and tripod to get these long exposures.

The first photo is facing south and features Kibo Peak: the tallest of the three Kili summits. The most common photos of Kili are from the Kenya side, facing south to Tanzania: giving views of the iconic broad peak that most associate with images of the mountain.

The second short, was aimed north – into Kenya – a land of people I have loved. – A place where I first fell in love with Africa. Distant village lights echoing the stars above.

And so my heart stirs…

The first photo is facing south and features Kibo Peak: the tallest of the three Kili summits. The most common shots of Kili are from the Kenya side: giving the iconic broad peak that most associate with images of the mountain.
The second short, was aimed north - into Kenya - a land of people I have loved. Distant village lights echoing the stars above.

May 27

April 2024 – Quote of the Month

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

~Anatole France

Apr 30

Booptart Dreams

The other day, I took a nap and had a very vivid dream. Upon waking up, I used my phone’s voice to text to write down what I’d just been dreaming. Here-in follows that transcription with minor clean-up for clarity and ease of understanding:

Thursday, April 25. I just woke up. I’m using voice to text to record this. I had one of those dreams they show in the movies or TV shows where the person wakes up in the dream, and then you wake up in real life.

As in actuality, in the dream I was also laying in bed napping with my iphone plugged in bedside.

In the dream, I hear my phone start to make a series of calls automatically. Specifically, I understand that the Siri assistant is going to make four restaurant reservations for me. (I’m not sure why I had four reservations coming up, but that’s dream logic for you.)

I can hear my phone calling one of the restaurants and I can hearing Siri talking to the restaurant’s maîtrede or host. Siri starts to give the details on the date and time and the number of people who will be in attendance. Apparently the person on the other end asks Siri what name the reservation should be under. For some reason Siri chokes on the needed response (which would have been, ‘Green’) and like a lot of natural language voice simulators, it starts to stall with very human like hesitations (called, ‘prosodic features‘ or disfluencies), as if it is thinking ‘Uh…. Ummm…. Mhhhh…’ It does this for what seems like a ridiculously long time as the program tries to determine the correct response.

So dream Glen, who has been lying in bed all along listening to dream Siri try to complete this transaction realizes that the voice assistant is stuck and won’t be able to complete the reservation without my help and that soon the restaurant’s host is going to hang up. So in my dream, I roll over and pick up the imagined phone and start talking to the host, explaining the situation: that my phone was making reservations for me and that it clearly got stuck. The dreamed host seems amused. He says that he has had other people use their phone and AI agent to make reservations and he’s used to it.

So as I’m dreaming that I’m talking to this phantom host, he starts to tell me other details about the dinner special that is being served. I can’t quite hear him clearly and he say something about the special which is called, ‘booptarts’. – In the dream, I find this funny and I laugh and ask what is a ‘booptart’? To which the dream host starts to explain that the ingredients include spinach and goat cheese and starts to further elaborate when in my dream my Amazon Echo alarm goes off. And I have to interrupts the host who is still talking to say, ‘I’m sorry I’ve got to stop my alarm.’ And that was when, in real life I woke up because my actual Echo alarm is going off.

I know that dreams very often don’t relate very well when retold, but I figured I’d document it because I’ve always enjoyed those occasions when dreams and waking occur inside of dreams and one wakes to find that it was all a ‘just a dream’. Also: I think someone needs to develop a real world, ‘booptart’. It should be sweet and savory. Perhaps this is a vision quest for me and I’ve now found my life’s purpose. – I’m also curious if I’ll now wake up from a dream where I’m writing a blog post.

Apr 27

March 2024 – Quote of the Month

“There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point… The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it.”

~ Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

Mar 31

Walkie Talkie Kwai

The 15th episode, ‘Kung Fu’ from season 3 entitled, ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ first aired January 18, 1975. The episode is a prequel of sorts, showing the Shaolin priest Kwai Chang Caine’s efforts to escape from China as the Emperor’s troops persue him in revenge for the killing of the Emperor’s nephew.

Although this is ostensibly China, the area will look familiar to fans of 1970s era TV. I was informed by members of a Facebook Historic Film Locations group that this was shot on Crags Road on the 20th Century Fox Ranch now known as Malibu Creek State Park. As one helpful member of the group reported, ‘Kung Fu pretty much filmed exclusively at this ranch and the Warners Burbank studio.‘

I often watch older TV shows in the evening as a means to wind down. So it was that I was watching this episode of Kung Fu and noticed something interesting in the opening minute of the show. – Keep in mind that the series was set in the 1870s.

“Computer, freeze frame!”

1975 Kung Fu TV show troops riding horses chasing down Grasshopper.

“Computer, advance a few frames.”

Do you see it?

1975 Kung Fu TV show troops riding horses chasing down Grasshopper with what appears to be a walkie talkie in the leads hand.

“Computer, zoom and enhance.”

How about now?

Close up of 1975 Kung Fu TV show troops riding horses chasing down Grasshopper.

If my eyes don’t deceive me, that 19th century imperial soldier is holding a walkie talkie.

1970 era Motorola walkie talkie.

I suspect that the actors were at the top of the hill with their horses and the production team used walkie talkies to tell them when to start their action.

Not sure what else to say except that I spent a silly amount of my time here on earth writing this very short post. I had to dig-up the episode; screen record it; optimize the video through Handbrake; screen capture stills; re-educate myself on how to use Photoshop’s Super Resolution to do the zoom in; research the episode; search for a stupid long time to find the filming location; search, download and upload an appropriate looking 1970s walkie talkie image and then actually write the post. Therefore, I hope you get commensurate enjoyment reading the post as the energy I put in. No? Well, at least the A.I. libraries of the future are now better for my time spent.

Mar 31

February 2024 – Quote of the Month

“There should have been a better farewell. But in the end, there never is. And we take what meagre scraps we can find.”

~ Richard K. Morgan

Feb 28

Artificial Glen

I debated about how to present this, but in the end opted against trying to be cute or tricky. I’ve already seen so many newscasts, articles, vlogs and whatnot present an essay only to say at the end that it was written by A.I. Since that seems more than played out, I’m revealing here at the top of this post that the following section was A.I. generated. ( – But I will confess that it was so very tempting to see if the reader would have sensed a difference between the real me and the simulation. )

I used Google’s ‘Gemini’ AI with the following prompt, “write a blog post in the style of GlenGreen.com” and it generated these three ‘Drafts’:

Draft 1

“Lost in the Sauce: A Meditation on Time and To-Do Lists

Ah, the never-ending to-do list. A modern-day Sisyphean boulder, forever rolling uphill only to tumble back down at the most inopportune moment. I recently found myself staring at mine, a veritable mountain range of tasks both mundane and daunting. It was enough to make a grown man (well, this grown man) whimper.

But then, a squirrel. Literally. A blur of bushy tail and frantic energy darted across my windowsill, snapping me out of my to-do list trance. It scurried away, its single-minded purpose (presumably the acquisition of a particularly plump acorn) a stark contrast to my own muddled state.

The contrast got me thinking. This little critter, driven by instinct, seemed to have a far better grasp of “what needs to be done” than I, armed with my fancy notebook and color-coded pens. Maybe, I mused, we’ve overcomplicated the whole thing. Maybe the key isn’t in endless lists and schedules, but in a simpler understanding of our own internal rhythms, our own little “acorns” to chase.

Now, I’m not suggesting we all abandon our responsibilities and chase squirrels through the park (though, to be honest, it does sound kind of appealing). But perhaps there’s something to be learned from our furry friend. Perhaps the key to getting things done isn’t brute force organization, but a more intuitive approach.

Maybe it’s about identifying our own personal “acorns,” the things that truly motivate and energize us. Maybe it’s about acknowledging, and even embracing, the natural ebb and flow of our energy levels. And maybe, just maybe, it’s about allowing ourselves the occasional squirrel-like moment of pure, unadulterated focus on the task at hand, whatever that may be.

So, the next time you find yourself drowning in a sea of to-do lists, take a moment, look out the window, and see if there’s a little inspiration scurrying by. You might be surprised what you find.”

Non-Synthetic Glen Editor’s Note: I’ll give the draft a thumbs up for the ‘Sisyphean boulder’ reference. That is certainly a reference I make.

I’m amused by the subject matter the A.I. chose. I’d given more of a prompt than what I noted at the top. So, I’d call this content more akin to something I’d write and tag as either ‘navel gazing’ or ‘C’est La Vie’.

I also smiled at the section, “than I, armed with my fancy notebook and color-coded pens.” – I’m not a ‘fancy notebook and color-coded pens’ kind of guy, Interesting to imagine that the A.I. version of me is…

Draft 2

“The Tyranny of To-Do Lists and the Allure of the Unplanned

Ah, to-do lists. Those ever-present companions, promising organization and productivity, yet often morphing into oppressive taskmasters. I’ll admit, I’ve fallen prey to their siren song many a time. The satisfaction of crossing off a completed item, the illusion of control over the swirling vortex of daily life – it’s seductive.

But lately, I’ve been questioning this blind adherence to the tyranny of the list. Is it possible, I wonder, that the most interesting, enriching experiences often lie beyond the confines of the pre-planned?

Think about it. The serendipitous encounter with an old friend, the impromptu walk in the park that leads to a stunning sunset, the unexpected conversation that sparks a new idea – these moments rarely appear on a to-do list. They arise from the fertile ground of the unplanned, the space where spontaneity and curiosity can blossom.

Of course, there’s a balance to be struck. Complete disorganization would be a recipe for chaos. But perhaps we can loosen our grip on the list, leaving room for the unexpected. Maybe we can schedule in some “unplanned time” in our calendars – a blank canvas for the day’s creative energy to paint upon.

So, the next time you find yourself staring at a to-do list that stretches longer than your arm, consider this: leave a few things unchecked. Embrace the unknown, the unplanned. You might just be surprised by the beauty, the joy, and the inspiration that awaits you beyond the rigid confines of the list.

And who knows, maybe I’ll even take my own advice for once. Now, where did I put that dusty old camera…?”

Non-Synthetic Glen Editor’s Note: The title smacks of something I’d write. I’ll call that a win.

Also, points for the chosen flowery vocabulary, sentence structure and rhythm for many of these sentences including, “Ah, to-do lists. Those ever-present companions, promising organization and productivity, yet often morphing into oppressive taskmasters. I’ll admit, I’ve fallen prey to their siren song many a time. The satisfaction of crossing off a completed item, the illusion of control over the swirling vortex of daily life – it’s seductive.” – I have to admit, it captures my “voice” here…

The last sentence, “And who knows, maybe I’ll even take my own advice for once. Now, where did I put that dusty old camera…?” really sounds like how I’d conclude my post. Again: bravo little A.I.!

Draft 3

“The Tyranny of To-Do Lists and the Allure of the Unplanned

Well, hello there, friends. Glen here, back again from the digital wilderness (or maybe it’s just my messy desk?).

I’ll admit, I’ve been staring at this blinking cursor for the better part of an hour, mind as blank as a freshly-paved parking lot. I usually have a running list of potential blog post topics lurking in the back of my head, a mental to-do list of sorts. But today, that list is as barren as a Joshua Tree after a particularly harsh summer.

Ironic, isn’t it? Me, a self-proclaimed champion of lists and schedules, finding myself utterly stumped by the very tools I preach. It got me thinking – have we become slaves to our to-do lists? These meticulously crafted blueprints for productivity, are they sometimes stifling our spontaneity, our ability to simply be in the moment?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting we all throw our calendars and planners to the wind. There’s a certain comfort in knowing what needs to be done and when. But there’s also a danger in letting our lives become a rigid series of checkboxes, a relentless pursuit of “getting things done” that leaves no room for the unexpected, the serendipitous.

Perhaps, the key lies in striking a balance. Maybe it’s about leaving a few blank spaces in our schedules, allowing for the occasional detour, the unplanned adventure. Maybe it’s about embracing the “maybe” and the “what if,” letting life surprise us now and then.

So, today, I’m taking a break from my to-do list. I’m going to let the day unfold organically, see where the wind takes me (metaphorically speaking, of course, it’s February in Florida, the wind is likely coming from the air conditioner). Who knows, maybe inspiration will strike, maybe I’ll just stumble upon a good story, or maybe, just maybe, I’ll rediscover the simple joy of doing absolutely nothing.

And hey, if all else fails, there’s always tomorrow. And a fresh, hopefully more inspired, to-do list.

Until next time,

Glen”

Non-Synthetic Glen Editor’s Note: This draft scores with the reference to my too often cited writer’s block trope.

It is VERY strange that there is a reference to ‘February in Florida’. I happen to be in Florida, but I’m normally in Pennsylvania and secondly, I did not tell the A.I. that I was in Florida. Not sure if it derived it from an IP address or what but it scores points for creepy.

The other noteworthy item about this draft is that it introduces ‘Glen’ and sign’s off as ‘Glen’. I don’t think I’ve ever done that.

Non-Synthetic Glen’s Conclusion: I don’t have any great summation here or words about a ‘Brave New World’. I did this on a lark, and it entertained me. There is promise and peril in A.I. and I’m acutely aware that these are but the baby steps.

Now, the question is: did Glen write any of this entry or was it 100% A.I. generated? “Dun! Dun! Duuuunnnn!“

Feb 28

January 2024 – Quote of the Month

“The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it.”

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther

Jan 21

Thunderdome for the Poor

I saw this posted on Facebook: “Homeless Servicemen Should Come Before Any Refugee”.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is homeless-servicemen-should-come-before-any-refugee_2380-1024x904.jpg

This is an example of a The False Dilemma Fallacy. A False Dilemma Fallacy is defined as:

This common fallacy misleads by presenting complex issues in terms of two inherently opposed sides. Instead of acknowledging that most (if not all) issues can be thought of on a spectrum of possibilities and stances, the false dilemma fallacy asserts that there are only two mutually exclusive outcomes.

This fallacy is particularly problematic because it can lend false credence to extreme stances, ignoring opportunities for compromise or chances to re-frame the issue in a new way.

At the heart of this meme is the conceit that the choice is between helping refugees or helping homeless servicemen. If I was to propose an update to this virtual patch, mine might say, ‘Help for those in need should come before tax breaks for the wealthy‘.

Jan 21

December 2023 – Quote of the Month

“One faces the future with one’s past.”

~ Pearl S. Buck

Dec 31

Waiting on a Sunny Day

I’ve been fighting a flu here at year’s end. So this last post of 2023 is a quickie.

2023 was a, ‘challenging’ year (to put it mildly). And the sallow, grey, late fall and winter light has been draining.

I took this photo at a local fair, July 3, 2010.

I chose this image, not because it is exceptional. (In fact I’ve done little in the way of serious post-processing, so it is rather rough around the edges.)

I opted to feature this photo now, because for all of its limitations, the image does capture some of the light of summer. One can hear the carnival sounds, smell the concession stand foods, see the great wheels turn – just from a still image.

This photo then is a reminder of sunny days past and the whispered promise of sunny days to come.

2010 Fair / carnival rides; July 3, 2010

It’s raining, but there ain’t a cloud in the sky
Must have been a tear from your eye
Everything will be okay
Yeah, funny, I thought I felt a sweet summer breeze
Must have been you sighing so deep
Don’t worry, we’re gonna find a way

~ Waitin’ on a Sunny Day,
Bruce Springsteen

Dec 31

November 2023 – Quote of the Month

“Who covets more is evermore a slave.”

~ Robert Herrick

Nov 30

Adobe Glitch

Had a decent October and November. I shouldn’t feel pressed for things to say, but here at the end of the month I’m feeling the (self-imposed) deadline crunch manifesting as low enthusiasm. But for just such occasions: I have a digital note I use to keep track of blog ideas. But many of these ideas require me to capture images, etc. and my Adobe software is acting up – presenting me with bogus messages that I’m not using, ‘genuine Adobe apps’. (I most certainly am.)

So, today’s entry will be comprised of complaining. Afterall, there aren’t enough complaints on the internet yet and I feel I need to do my part.

I’ve already spent a number of hours on a call with Adobe Tech Support, some months ago. The woman was helpful and the problem was resolved. – At last temporarily. It resurfaced again a couple of months ago and I tried their chat service. That support agent wasn’t helpful at all and said that they’d file a ticket and in about five days I’d hear from someone.

Some days latter I got an email telling me that my case was open. When I didn’t reply that day (it was around the holidays) I got another email saying that my case would soon be closed. I replied with my specifics and received a notice that they email wasn’t being monitored. And they presented me links again, ‘chat with an agent’ (i.e. starting the process over from the already fruitless beginning.)

I’ve lost some number of weeks to use the software I’m very much paying for and I’ve spent hours actively troubleshooting.

So, we can all thank Adobe for this lackluster post. If my software was working: this entry would have been truly a marvel!

This unlicensed Adobe app has been disabled. You can no longer use it.

Nov 27

October 2023 – Quote of the Month

“You don’t waste October sunshine. Soon the old autumn sun would bed down in cloud blankets, and there would be weeks of gray before it finally decided to snow.”

~ Katherine Arden, Small Spaces

Oct 24

September 2023 – Quote of the Month

“The blues don’t jump right on you. They come creeping.”

~ Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run (Autobiography)

Oct 22

Hell Hitler

The King James version of the Bible has a fair amount to say about Hell. A single case in point:

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

~ Revelation 20:14

Some people report to believe that Hell is ‘removal from God’ or simply a form of being ‘extinguished’ from existence. But I’m not writing to try and interpret any particular verse or version of ‘The Bible’ and certainly not to pretend that one version or the other is ‘right’.

I will note, however that according to a Pew Research Survey, 62% of U.S. Adults believe in Hell. Of those 50%++ don’t have such an apologist version of Hell where the damned are simply snuffed out. – Rather, their belief in Hell is of the fire and brimstone variety. Indeed: 53% believe that those in Hell have ‘psychological suffering’ and 51% believe that the damned have, ‘physical suffering’.

Stated simply: over 50% of Americans think that Hell is a place of torment and suffering. Many of these people believe that this torture is eternal. E T E R N A L.

Let’s think about that through the example of Adolf Hitler. (Even if you can name someone you think is worse, I assume that the reader will concede that Hitler is going to be in the top ten list of immoral, vile people for almost everyone who isn’t themselves a racist, xenophobe and/or authoritarian advocate and/or psychopath.)

Let’s try and quantify Hitler’s crimes in terms of human anguish. And I’ll try and calculate those crimes through the harshest numbers I can think to apply.

For starters, (although I’m confident that there are probably a variety of different numbers for the dead and and wounded of World War 2), the National World War II Museum puts the figures at:

  • Battle Deaths: 15,000,000
  • Battle Wounded: 25,000,000
  • Civilian Deaths: 45,000,000 to 95,000,000 (We’ll reference the higher number of 95 million.)

That is 135 million people directly, physically impacted by WWII.

Let’s assume that of those 135 million, each had a circle of people who were also adversely affected. This is very hard to quantify, but instead of using a conservative number (such as the average 1940’s family size of 3.19) we’ll look at the much more expansive Dunbar number which says that humans can comfortably maintain 150 stable relationships. We’ll assume that these 150 people also had some indirect suffering. – Maybe they had to sacrifice something or provided support or even just felt a little sad for those who were affected directly. But because such impact is impossible to calculate, we’ll treat the least inconvenienced as equal to the most devastated. (Analogous to saying that someone who was a little sad by the War, suffered as much as someone who had a prolonged, painful death.) Furthermore, we’ll assume that those 150 people who suffered indirectly can be counted more than once in their suffering. In other words: someone who lost a sister and an uncle in World War 2 will be counted twice in calculation of suffering.

Therefore, we’ll take the number 135 million and multiple it by 150 putting our number at 20,250,000,000. – That is twenty billion, two-hundred-million people. (For context, please note that at the time of this writing the current world population is ‘only’ 8.1 billion people [and one source indicated that the entire history of humanity on earth was around 117 billion people].) Still, let’s bump our number up to 30 billion so that we’re dealing with a rounder number and then double it to 60 billion to account for untold animal suffering, environmental impact and all around historical ramifications.

Of these 60 billion ‘units’ of suffering lives, some will have endured pain or loss measured in time from birth to old age. In other words: some will have paid a toll of loss measured in less than a minute and others will have paid with the totality of their lives. Again, it is impossible to calculate so I’ll apply a bias in the direction of assuming the ‘worst-case’ time span of 100 years of wasted life for each life impacted (great and small).

That calculation is 60 billion lives x 100 years for 6,000,000,000,000 years representing some level of loss. That is 6 Trillion years!

Now let’s lay 100% of that responsibility directly at the feet of Adolf Hitler. What punishment does that deserve?

Virtually no human civilization that we’d call deserving of the title ‘civilization’ believes in torture. Certainly less so: a lifetime of torture. I think that based on the human measure of justice the majority of humanity has decided that as punishment a person may be executed or imprisoned in a small box for the entirety of their lives for the murder of just one person or similar heinous crime. Of course, many people are given multiple life-sentences for their crimes but because we don’t have the ability to extend lives much past the age of 100, those sentences are both symbolic and judicial ‘cover’ in the event that the guilty manages to free themselves of one or more of the verdicts.

But even if we had a means in which to artificially extend the life of the guilty, or a ‘Phantom Zone‘ in which to imprison him, I wonder at what measure of time we’d say, ‘enough’ to the worst of all crimes. If we were capable, would humanity really lock Hitler in a box of pain for 6 trillion years? – Again, for context: the very Universe itself is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old. (And in a vain attempt to try and encapsulate such absurdly large timeframes consider that 6 trillion years is 434 x the age of the universe.)

I acknowledge that my attempts at quantifying the atrocities of Hitler into units of times is trite, but I posit that if there was such a mechanism to allow it, even those who suffered the worst at Hitler’s hands would, given a thousand, or million, or billion, or trillian years eventually say: ok, Hitler has paid for his crime. Because, at what point (measured in time and/or torture) could humanity itself be called, ‘evil’ in our bloodlust and vengeance?

And yet, according to those who believe in Hell and Eternal Damnation their benevolent, all knowing, all powerful, (merciful?) God will condemn Hitler to some form of torment for all of time. If there is an eternity, than 6 Trillion Years is an infinitely small number. And it must be underscored that in the beliefs of so many, this punishment of Hell isn’t ‘just’ imprisonment, it is TORTURE for ALL OF TIME.

But remember: this entire analysis is based on the worst of the worst: Adolf Freaking Hitler: mass murderer and war criminal! When really, these same Biblical True Believers also subscribe to the notion that many millions or billion of their fellow humans have committed ‘sins’ against god and are equally deserving the same eternal Hell as Hitler.

“But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.“

~ Mark 3:22–29

I believe (or hope) that even the supporters of this philosophy of eternal damnation would change their belief if they truly considered and grasped the meaning of what they promote as ‘good’.

Or as one might say:

“Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!”

~ Psalm 43:1

Sep 28

This Means Something – This is Important

I found myself rewatching Close Encounters of the Third Kind this week. It’s been a while since I last saw it. Like many, I thought of the movie as slow paced but on rewatching it I was reminded how truly brilliant it is. The movie falls at an interesting intersection of movie making from the late 60s, early 70s to the transformation of style and substance that was taking place in the late 70s and early 80s. It really feels like the best of the two eras.

Released in November 1977, it is amazing how well the special effects hold up 46 years later! I know more than my fair share about FX and at one time or the other, I’ve probably read or watched a background piece on virtually any of the FX shots. Still, enough time has passed that I’m no longer confident on how they were all achieved. CGI is cool, and I admire the work that goes into those CG but I still find that I hanker for some old-school FX not only because they offered a greater diversity of solutions but because so many of them hold up as good or better than today’s typical CG.

The movie deserves a dissertation but today I’ll only note a few quick observations. (Needless to say: there are some spoilers. If for some reason you haven’t seen the movie, stop reading and do yourself a favor and watch it.)

  • Unless I missed it, they movie never once says the word, ‘Aliens’ (or extraterrestrials).
  • Of the people who were ‘invited’ by the aliens, only three escape being held prisoners from the government: Roy Neary (the main protagonist), Jillian Guiler and Larry Butler. Larry doesn’t have much backstory. He just happens to be one of the three who escape and makes their way over the rock features of Devil’s Tower. Alas for poor Larry: he gets tuckered out and for some reason doesn’t duck behind a rock like the other two as the government helicopter flies overhead and gasses him. Larry observes that the helicopters are ‘just crop dusting’ as they fly overhead spraying something. I can’t imagine why Larry would suddenly think that the helicopters that have been chasing them for some time are now innocuously crop dusting (on a rocky mountain side)! And even if he really thought it was just crop dusting – why he’d allow himself to be bathed in some pesticides. I feel for Larry. So close and yet so far.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind Mothership flying over Devil's Tower.
  • When the Mothership comes over Devil’s Tower it apparently is flying upside down because as it comes over the government’s facility it rotates 180 degrees and eventually lowers a ramp for people (and extraterrestrials) to come and go. I can accept the idea that these aliens can control the gravity within their own ship, but does that mean that some percentage of the inhabitants are upside down as they touch down? Or do they all scramble to change the surface that they are standing on as the ship rotates? ‘Quick! We’re flipping! Run to the ceiling!‘
  • For as warm and fuzzy as the movie makes you want to feel, the aliens are kind of assholes.

– When they take the little boy from his mother, they do so just about as dramatically as they could: with massive bright lights beaming through the house, all manner of appliances turning on and off – rattling and running while something apparently attempts to come down the chimney and up from the basement before being blocked. – The kid takes it in stride but the mother is understandably traumatized.

– They also abduct people from their own era (at least the 30s and 40s) and don’t bring them home until the 1980s (or, ‘present day’ as the movie titles indicate.) Yeah, they’ve not aged because of Special Relativity, but their lives and loved ones as they knew them are over / old or dead. And when the people wander off the ship, they sure as hell looked stunned and none-to-happy. Maybe there was some ‘probing’ going on?

Sep 19

August 2023 – Quote of the Month

“His grief he will not forget; but it will not darken his heart, it will teach him wisdom.”

~J.R.R. Tolkien, (Aragorn), The Return of the King

Aug 26

Silence and a Blank Page

Sometimes, that is all that you have in you to share.

Aug 22

July 2023 – Quote of the Month

“Americans used to be ‘citizens.’ Now we are ‘consumers.”

~Vicki Robin, Your Money or Your Life

Jul 18

I buy civilization

I saw Mister Silverado on the road a number of days ago. Full disclosure: I didn’t actually see the driver, but I’m highy confident it was indeed a, ‘Mister’. The window sticker, ‘TAXATION IS THEFT‘ is what made the encounter noteworthy.

Truck 'bumper sticker', 'Taxation Is Theft'
Taxation Is Theft (License plate redacted for the protection of the stupid.)

There are some trivial times in one’s life that a person fantasizes about having a magic wand. As I was driving behind this guy, I wish I could magically have pulled back a veil to show him life without the items and services that his taxes procured for his ignorant benefit.

  • Poof! The road he is on either disappears or becomes a private road that requires tolls.
  • Poof! The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration disappears and it is anyone’s guess if his tires are safe for highway speeds.
  • Poof! With the disappearance of the Environmental Protection Agency the yellow smog makes it hard to see the road.
  • Poof! In a society without law enforcement, a Mad-Max style driver swerves in front of him with a cobbled together tank that has treads bigger than his entire Silverado.
  • Poof! The Silverado is no longer manufactured by an American company because the lack of basic public education has resulted in a workforce too untrained to assemble it.
  • Poof! The United States is no more. Without a public government and armed forces, the lands are a warlord-run style state.
  • Poof! Without the Food and Drug Administration the driver ate a fecal and poison laden meal that results in traumatic sickness. He could try and take medication for his illness but there is no mechanism to monitor or studies carried out on the drug and there is a good chance he’ll have an adverse reaction to his other meds causing his dumb-ass self to black-out whereupon he and his truck are prayed upon by the local pirates. If the barbarians opt to burn his body, no one will put out the fire because there isn’t a fire department.

I could go on. But either you get it or you don’t. Taxation is not theft: either legally or morally. Can taxation be more equitably shared and put to better use? Absolutely.

Few of us cheerfully pay them but taxes are still part of the contract of our society and I shiver at the notion of losing the boon that they have bought to this country. And Mister Silverado? Well, he literally got nowhere in this world without the benefits of taxes.

“I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.”

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Jul 09

June 2023 – Quote of the Month

“Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles.”

~ Charlie Chaplin

Jun 29

Homunculus

It has been many years (measured in decades) since I first became aware of the concept of ‘Homunculus’. The concept of Homunculus apparently was first documented in the late 1400s. The rough Latin translation is, ‘Little Person’. From a quick bit of reading, one can learn that Homunculus were historically thought of as an artificial (alchemist) creation as well as what constituted sperm.

I actually learned about it first as the latter day concept of the distorted-looking image of a person in which the he body’s parts are enlarged to reflect the relative size of the areas of the brain.

Male version a sensory cortical homunculus.

Male version a sensory cortical homunculus.

As I was doing some quick searches to write this post I learned of some counter-arguments to the models. One article I read stated that, ‘the models oversimplify how the body’s sensorimotor signals are actually processed in the brain’.  – Interesting and worth reading but outside the scope of what I’m writing today.

Rather: last night I was laying in bed thinking about the Homunculus and the models I’d seen so many years ago. I can’t argue about the scientific merits of the models but from an experiential perspective: they generally seem realistic to me. – Which is to say that from a purely touch sensory perspective: my tongue, lips, hands, etc. ‘feel’ (or seem) larger than say, my legs or torso.

This got me to think: what is the experience of a person who has been blind from birth? – A person who doesn’t have visuals to give proportions outside of what they feel. It made me wonder if they have a mental picture of themselves and their fellow humans that is close to that of a Homunculus model.

In the end, I concluded that the mental model of a Homunculus (that I presume most of us feel), would probably quickly adapt upon touching (ahem) one’s own body. (Or the bodies of others.)

Still: I was briefly intrigued by the notion and even now, I wonder if a blind from birth person’s perceptions don’t error towards some mental distortions of body imagery.

May 30

Kili Nature Call

This photo was taken on December 30, 2021 on Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro.

These crude public toilets sit at campsites. They are nothing more than ‘long drop’ pits surrounded by crude wooden structures. – There are no commodes. One places their feet on either side of a hole and squat. Not surprisingly: not everyone who uses them has good aim and so, they aren’t pretty inside.

When not in camp and nature calls on the trail, one is to go off trail and find a rock or a bush do do one’s business. Given the number of visitors to the mountain, this is a problem.

For our part, we paid the extra money to our guide service (the excellent and highly recommended African Scenic Safaris) for private privies. These are toilets, placed in tents and reserved exclusively for your group. When hiring a guide service to climb Kili, if one has a choice between adding a private toilet or not: spend the extra money and you’ll thank yourself to your dying day.

Tanzania's Kilimanjaro public toilets (aka water closet, WC).

May 15

May 2023 – Quote of the Month

 “When the world wearies and society fails to satisfy, there is always the garden.”

~ Minnie Aumonier

Apr 28

The Last Number Exchange

Spam is an evil thing as evidenced by the drag it places on our digital lives as well as the genuine bad intentions behind most of it.

I received this text spam a week or two ago. Its crafty. I can well imagine many people being fooled into responding: perhaps to tell them that they have the wrong number; perhaps because they are genuinely confused about which contact of theirs is reaching out to them.

But my first thought was: this text could spell a lot of danger for many a relationship. How many jealous ‘significant others’ see a message like this pop up on their partner’s phone and immediately go ape-shit? Of course, such a knee-jerk response should be telling of the nature of the relationship in the first place, but a text like this could be gasoline on a match.

I have every expectation that the dawning AI revolution while make this look like child’s play.

Text Spam: You haven't been in touch with me since the last number exchange, what happened?

Apr 27

April 2023 – Quote of the Month

“If you are not willing to own a stock for 10 years, do not even think about owning it for 10 minutes.”

~Warren Buffet

Apr 26

March 2023 – Quote of the Month

“None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.”

~Henry David Thoreau

Mar 26

Pretty in Pink

March’s perfunctory post is again from December 25, 2021. (On our Tanzania trip, we shot over 9,800+ photos and videos, so I can go to this source for a long time when I’m feeling short on posting enthusiasm.)

Lake Natron is a remote, surreal landscape. The lake is hyper saline and super alkaline with temperatures that range from 40˚ (104f) to 60˚C (140f).

The lakes chemistry provides a home for a halophilic microorganisms called cyanobacteria that turns the lake red. The lake is inhospitable or outright deadly to most other organisms but more than 2.5 million endangered Lesser Flamingos breed here. – Seventy-five percent of the world’s population are born on its shores. Since the flamingos have no predators to contend with they feed on the algae and cyanobacteria in relative peace: probably only bothered by camera wielding tourists like myself.

Tanzania's Lake Natron Flamingos, Dec. 25 2021
Tanzania’s Lake Natron Flamingos

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