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You don't need to read this. This is not the blog you are looking for. |
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Every now and then I have a "short" idea and put it here. I am an old man, and not just on the outside. Even my inner self has become bald, hunched, and wrinkled. So if you have even a smidgen of vitality flowing in your veins, you might find what I say to be insufferably archaic, old-fashioned, perhaps even antediluvian. I don't really expect anyone to read this blog. Except me, of course. But if you do happen to read it and like to argue, then please comment, because I will argue about almost anything. Entry with the most comments is "Invalid Entry" 
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| You probably already know this, but one of the main causes of digestive problems is the foods you eat. Have you tried fasting for 24 hours? Have you researched the problem on the internet? I hope not, but do you actually know what you are doing wrong food wise but continue to do it anyway? That last one reminds me of my brother-in-law. He was taking one-a-day heartburn medication so he could eat pizza. I said, "But why don't you just not eat the pizza?" His answer was, "I like pizza." In my own life that would be a completely unacceptable answer. Back when I was suffering from heartburn I researched it and discovered caffeine, chocolate, and pepper were the main causes, all things I loved to eat. But I completely eliminated all three from my diet and within a couple of weeks I was completely free of any heartburn problems. Later, I gradually reintroduced them in small amounts, alert for any signs of the return of heartburn. So far, so good. |
| I have never been much interested in learning anything about castration until I read where a recent study shows that castrated men live an average of 15 years longer than non-castrated men. Hmmm... that's interesting! Apparently it's for the same reason women live longer than men, the stressful effects of that old devil hormone testosterone. Neither women nor eunuchs have it. I read parts of the lengthy Wikipedia article on castration and was impressed with the widespread role it has played throughout history in many different cultures and religions. There wasn't much more to learn about the physical effects, although this tidbit is fascinating... If a man who is going to lose his hair because of male pattern baldness is castrated before that happens, then he will not lose his hair.  But if he is castrated after it happens, his hair will not grow back.  |
| America is a country that went from discriminating against homosexuals to celebrating gay marriages, a country that went from segregating African Americans to electing one as their president, a country that went from the bankruptcy of the Great Depression to the boom years after World War II. Things change. They always change. Sometimes they change back. Then they change again. Most humans prefer everything remain unchanged so they don't have to learn new ways of thinking, but... we are destined to grow older in a changing world we no longer completely understand. No need to regret it. Might as well enjoy it. |
| The problem with living over 500,000 hours is that it's impossible to remember all of them. So really it doesn't much matter what I did with them as long as there are at least a few dozen memorable ones in there somewhere. Unfortunately, all the really great hours seem to be clustered toward the front end and now I'm living on the back end with hours that don't really amount to much and me no longer possessing the energy, stamina, will, drive to make them amount to much. Fortunately, I forget them almost as soon as they are done. In effect, I just have one hour, the one I am in now, and to tell the truth, it's not all that bad. I've seen a lot worse! |
| For me, the ability to live a long life free of depression stems from a decision I made many years ago: Life is meaningless. I'm sure depressed people reading this are thinking: How in Mother Nature's name could believing that possibly help? Well, depressed people (and I do hate to lump you all together in a homogenous group, but what choice do I have?) although you might think you already believe that, you don't. What you believe is that YOUR life is meaningless and everybody else's life (except for your depressed buddies, of course) has meaning. What needs to be seen is that EVERYBODY's life is meaningless, even the people who are happy and not depressed. The next step is simple, but also difficult to convey. The reason it is difficult to convey is that human minds interpret everything according to their bias. So no matter what I say about how not to be depressed, if you are depressed then you are going to poo poo it. So I will just say this: There does exist a relatively simple way to avoid depression (unless you are firmly entrenched in a biochemical explanation, of course, in which case you are already doomed to a life of medical industry assisted living) Non-depressed people obviously know what that way is and you have to admit that some of them are pretty simple-minded so it can't be all that complicated, can it? It involves meaninglessness and taking responsibility and I will not say anymore but certainly there are others who have said a lot. You can find them and read them and choose ... don't forget that word: choose. |
| I once had a mother named Mom; She could cook things that made you Nom Nom! Taste anything she fries Or her sweet apple pies And you find yourself wanting to eat some. She was more than a mother who cooks; She encouraged her kids to read books And if they tried writing She found that exciting And gave them encouraging looks. |
| Slob is an interesting word. I saw where someone was looking for a particular "slob" themed interactive so I wondered how many of them there were and... there are a lot! I am not obese myself and I don't make a habit of referring to others that way, so "slob" is not a word I ever had occasion to use, but now that I repeat it over and over, it seems to be one of those words that sounds a lot like it means. SLOB It's hard to say it without imagining some grotesque, swollen thing that just crawled out of a hole. There have been two sci-fi movies called "The Blob". But Slob sounds worse! |
I just took Andy~hating university  's Star Wars Quiz "Invalid Item" ...I scored 25% ... About what chance answers would give, despite the fact that I've seen A New Hope at least 6 times. *Meh* But it did get me to thinking about the nature of details and their relationship to stories and creativity. How some minds are detail obsessed and other minds ignore the details and get to the main point. I was just reading a novel the other day by a writer who used an amazing amount of details. EVERYTHING had to be described. People didn't just "eat breakfast", they had "bacon and eggs, coffee, and toast with strawberry jam". Every time a new character appeared you got the rundown on haircut, eye color, what he was wearing... What an exhausting read! I couldn't finish it. |
| 1. Half of the citizens of America are below average in intelligence (and half are above average). 2. The below average people long ago resigned themselves to being bossed around by the above average and told what to think and how to feel. 3. Donald Trump speaks in a vocabulary of the 1000 basic English words. He never practices obfuscation (Can you imagine him even using the word?) 4. He never reads from a script. He always is in the moment speaking directly to people in an easy to understand way reinforced with basic emotional responses. 5. Half of the country has finally found a man who speaks for them... Donald Trump. They are hyper-enthusiastic about it and will vote in record numbers. Many of them would have voted Democratic but will not this year. 6. Hillary Clinton's only chance is that Trump has not yet pulled enough Latino and African American voters into his camp to win the general election. Can he pull them in? We don't know yet but he's a master salesman and negotiator. We'll see. Final note: Please don't think that Donald Trump is an ignorant, racist, buffoon because he speaks plainly and emotionally. The guy actually is a genius in many ways. Think about it... a man who never ran for political office before gets into the race in June of 2015 and by March of 2016 he is the leading candidate for the most powerful elective office in the world. Does that sound like a buffoon to you? Could you do it? |
| We live in chaotic times. Don't be afraid! Embrace the chaos! Interestingly enough, chaos theory predicts that as a system becomes more complex it becomes more likely to break into chaotic behavior patterns. If there is negative feedback then the system self-corrects. If there is positive feedback then the system destroys itself. I listened to one of Donald Trump's victory speeches and realized it was the first time in my life I have listened to a politician speak for an hour and be thoroughly entertained by it. The guy is an improvisational genius. Whether he will bring about the Apocalypse is yet to be decided.  We live in chaotic times but they are interesting times. I'm too old to spend my last few years being bored. Bring on the chaos! |
| Today is the first of a brand new year; Will it bring laughter or will it bring fear? Why make the calendar take all the blame? Isn't the "Decider" the guy with my name? It's a year like every other, last year's twin brother, Just an artifact created to keep track of time. I'll enjoy it to the max until it's time for another; I'll even celebrate it with this little rhyme. |
| I don't know why so many people consider Donald Trump to be dumb or stupid. As far as I can see, the man is a genius. He has succeeded at everything he has attempted. And in a big way. I think the problem intellectuals have with him is that he talks directly to people. He doesn't try to impress them with big words or prepared speeches. He just talks. He is completely in the moment. Intellectuals prefer to speak in a way that leaves the ordinary person wondering what the heck they are talking about. Trump is the opposite. He wants you to know exactly what he is talking about. That's not stupidity. People who hear him say things like, "He says what I'm thinking." If he does get elected, it will be interesting to see what happens, because he will be determined to be "the greatest president America ever had". |
| I hate to "prick" all the feminist balloons, but the correct spelling of schlong is schlange (still pronounced the same) and it is the German word for snake. The fact that a subculture uses it for slang is about as important as the fact that the nickname for Richard is Dick, also used for slang, or the fact that "Johnson" is used as slang. It definitely is NOT slang for sexual intercourse, so I think Trump has no reason at all to apologize to Hillary Clinton. And schlong is NOT "well-known" as some have claimed. I never heard of it before this week. Note that women feel quite free to call a man a douchebag. Is that not sexist? |
| His comments are not so outrageous if you don't twist them to suit your own agenda. What he has actually said was this... There should be a temporary ban on new Muslims coming into the United States until we determine why there are some Muslims who are willing to sacrifice their own lives to attack Americans. Unfortunately, there is often a confusion of culture with religion. For example, the Western World is often referred to as "Christian" even though we know it is actually composed of many different religions. It's just that the majority religion of the Western World is Christianity. But certainly there are many things about the Western World that are not very "Christian" unless you believe Christ supported warfare, nudity, the internet, fast cars, strong whiskey, electric guitars, and... I could go on, but you see what I mean. If a country that was opposed to alcohol and pornography proposed a ban on "Christians" entering their country, it would really be a cultural ban, not a religious ban. Likewise, a temporary ban on new Muslims entering the USA would be essentially a cultural ban, not a religious ban. |
| Most people do not spend much time thinking about their own death. They don't want to think about it. Their attitude is: "When it happens it happens." That's fine, of course. I am in no way criticizing those people. However, for those of us who have been Captains of Our Fate for our entire lives, we aren't inclined to get to the end of our life and suddenly adopt that attitude. For us death is a question of when, where, why, and how. I don't want you to think that I have spent endless hours agonizing over this, but I definitely have not left it to chance. When I was younger I didn't really have enough information since I had no experience of old age except watching others grow old and die. Now that I am old enough myself that it's more likely I will be dead than alive ten years from now, I have the information I need. Mentally, I feel like my mind is the same as it's always been, but having watched a parent become senile while she herself was unaware of that, I can't really rely on my own opinion, can I? Apparently, as our mind deteriorates, we just keep blissfully thinking that everything remains the same. Here is where daily writing comes in handy, since I can read what I wrote and compare it to what I wrote in the past. It's like a daily mental test with a record I can refer to. Thank you, Writing dot com! The physical quality of old age is simply that things get more and more difficult to do. It's why old people take a long time to get dressed. Socks are the hardest part for me! Being an independent person, I have for many years taken care of myself in every way, including cooking my meals and cutting my own hair (what there is of it). By the way, trimming toenails is another task like putting on socks that has become more difficult. Since the progression is downhill, the point will come where I cannot perform basic tasks. Someone else would have to trim my nails; someone else would have to bathe me and feed me. However, that would totally violate my independent philosophy, wouldn't it? I would spend the last few years of my life not really being myself. So... the time to die becomes obvious: when I can no longer take care of myself. If someone else has to perform those basic tasks for me, then I would instead prefer to Pass on to Glory!  |
| The main problem with trying to have a ban on guns is that it's almost impossible to have a total ban unless you live in a racially homogenous nation like Japan. For political reasons, any ban in a diverse society would end up being only a partial ban and therefore determined people could figure out a way to get guns. A better solution would be a heavy tax on ammunition and long jail sentences for people who fail to pay the tax. My brother-in-law is a deer hunter and he only fires a few rounds each year, if that many. So an ammunition tax of $10 a bullet would be no problem for him. But the shooters in San Bernadino had nearly 3000 rounds in their house. That would have cost them $30,000 in taxes alone plus the cost of the ammo itself. AND, there would be a tax record of them buying all that ammo. No, it wouldn't stop them, but it would put up a warning flag for law enforcement: Hey! Here is somebody buying a 1000 rounds of ammo. Let's keep an eye on them. And it would not violate the constitution which only says the people have the right to own guns. It doesn't say they have the right to purchase cheap, untaxed ammunition. |
| Should children be told the "truth" about everything? Should they be made aware from an early age of how evil people have sometimes been in the past? (And today, for that matter.) It's not that good parents want to lie to their children or keep them ignorant. Good parents understand that children are children, not adults. You don't teach a child calculus, you teach him how to count. You don't teach a child how to write a screenplay. You teach her how to say her ABC's. You don't teach a child "true" history. (Although when it comes to history it's very questionable what "true" even means.) You teach a child simple stories about what has happened. Simple stories with a simple moral. SIMPLE! Not complex adventures of greed, frustration, sadism, envy, sensuality, the will to power, etc, etc. Does a child really want to hear: There is no Santa Claus. There is no God. No matter what you do you are going to die. Life is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing. I was a child. I'm really glad I had God and Santa Claus and a history to read that was a nice story I could understand. When I became an adult there was plenty of time to expand my awareness and search for a more accurate view of the world, or at least a view that fit my nature better. It isn't about lying to children. It's about caring for children and protecting them and loving them. If the child wants to grow up to be an ungrateful brat who thinks she was "lied" to, well, you did your best to raise her. Now she's an adult. It's her job to raise herself now.  |
Artistic creation... how does one start and how does one finish? This mini essay is about art and music as well as writing. The two ways of beginning I call "seed" and "outline". The Seed beginning starts with some simple idea or basic element. The process is to grow the project from that seed, continually finding new ramifications and connections until an acceptable totality is achieved. In writing: Begin with a word, phrase, sentence, character, scene, mood, or situation and develop it. In art: Begin with a color, mood, doodle, or thought and develop it. In music: Begin with a phrase, timbre, chord, mood, or rhythm and develop it. The Outline beginning starts with an overview of the final piece, complete with a very brief summary of beginning, middle, and end. In writing: Begin with a synopsis, summary or outline and expand it in stages until the work is complete. In art: Begin with a small sketch of the final composition, then enlarge and add details. In music: Begin with defined requirements and compose to fit. For example, a movie score that must fit the scenes. That takes care of beginnings. What about the finish? Consider this graphic... MINIMAL <<<....................................................................>>> ORNAMENTAL All art falls somewhere on that spectrum. For example, the "happy face" emoticon with a circle surrounding two dots for eyes is an example of minimalism. Ornamentalism would be adding extra graphic elements to achieve an effect and not because they were necessary. Most art lies between the two extremes. In writing: Writers like Hemingway lean toward the minimal while writers like Faulkner lean toward the ornamental. In art: Many artists lean toward the minimal (because in one way, art is about finding the basic elements in an image) while artists like Gustav Klimt lean toward the ornamental. In music: Composers like John Cage (whose famous composition 4'33" is nothing but silence!) represent the minimal. Many composers lean toward the ornamental since music is more about adding sounds than subtracting sounds. OK, that was a few words about artistic creativity. Your comments, if any, will be read with interest. |
| From time to time I see a comment somewhere like: How can I get motivated? Modern mind theories have the answer. A predominant theme in current thinking about the human mind is that there is no "you", no "ghost in the machine" no being inside the being that controls everything. Modern concepts of the mind envision it as consisting of hundreds of "agencies" or "modules" each of which specializes in one particular mental task. Groups of them working together produce our thinking. In this view the mind is not a solitary psychological entity, but a sociological group. It's the job of the left brain to interpret what all the modules are doing and give a rational explanation for it. What this means is that you act BEFORE you think! Most of us, I am sure, have always assumed the opposite. If you think about making a difficult decision, one which is equally balanced between pro and con, what is the moment when the decision is actually made? It's when you act on it. After that, you are able to logically explain why you chose as you did. So to be brief, and really the subject requires your in-depth study since I can't cover everything in a blog article, but to be brief, what does all this have to do with motivation? It's simple. Motivation does not PRECEDE action. Motivation FOLLOWS action. Once you act, then you experience the motivation and can explain it to others. You write a story and then you say: Yes, that idea was bouncing around in my head and finally I just sat down and wrote the story. So the secret to having plenty of motivation is to act, to actually do something. Whatever it is you do, you will manufacture an explanation for it, a motivation. If you write a story, you will say you were motivated to write. If you do the laundry instead, you will just say you wanted to write a story but it was more important that you get this week's laundry washed, dried, and folded. In other words, you were motivated to do the laundry. If you want to be motivated to write, then WRITE! It's really that simple. Ask anybody who writes a lot (not once a week but every single day) and they will tell you: Motivation? I just sit down and start writing. |
This 
turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected. Check out my entries here
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