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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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| There are actually two different concepts of time in play today. One is the traditional concept time: Nothing is happening in the future, something happens now, nothing is happening in the past. This puts the burden on the present as being the only part of time that exists. However, a more modern concept of time (spacetime, if you will) is that it all exists at once. Time is a dimension like the other three. In other words, if you could raise your consciousness to the 5th dimension, then you would be able to see all of our 4 dimensions, everything stretching across a panorama that proceeds from the distant past to the distant future. In this modern concept of time, our consciousness is traveling across that panorama, like a moving floodlight constantly illuminating new vistas ahead as the ones behind fall into darkness. In that modern concept, the present is merely the boundary between the future and the past. |
| Does the present have any duration? Does it even exist? We often confuse the real present with our perception of the present. This creates the illusion that the present lasts for a brief moment, that it has an existence different from the past and the future. I'm going to show you that is not true. Our brain processes incoming data at the rate of approximately 10 times a second. We know this by several ways: 1. We cannot hear sounds below that frequency except as a series of clicks. 2. If we are presented images faster than that frequency we perceive them as continuous reality. (Hence, animation and movies and television.) 3. And when the electrical activity of the brain is measured with an EEG, that is the fundamental frequency. What that all means is that it takes us 1/10th of a second to process sensory data. Should we assume that that 1/10th second is the "duration" of the present? In reality, the present is more like the interface between two things, namely the past and the future. If you slapped a slab of granite against a slab of marble and then burrowed through them. There would be a point where you changed from granite to marble, a boundary between the granite and the marble, but that boundary would have no thickness. It's just a concept. It's where the material changes from one type to another. In the same way, as we travel through time, there is a moving interface that marks the boundary between the future and the past. We call it the present. The present that we actually perceive is really the most recent 1/10th second of the past. There isn't any way to perceive the real present because it's a mathematical concept, a boundary, and has no dimension in time. |
| That question used to haunt me because I have no sense of smell. Of course, no one could ever give me an answer. How do you tell someone who lacks a sense what that sense feels like? But then one day somebody gave me an answer that set my mind at ease. He said, "When I smell something, it conjures up an image of that thing in my mind." And then I realized that smell was not different from the other senses. When I hear something it conjures up an image of that thing in my mind. When I touch something, it conjures up an image of that thing in my mind. And the king of the senses, sight, quite obviously puts an image in your mind. So I no longer feel left out of the great sensory dance. Did you wonder if there are OTHER senses that only a few people have? And they have no idea how to explain to anyone what they are?  |
| Run a pipeline from the Pacific Ocean to Death Valley and start pumping! At first the water will all evaporate, but eventually a small puddle of salt water will form, then a pond, then a lake, then an inland sea! (Elevation of Death Valley is below sea level of Pacific Ocean) An inland sea in the middle of California will have a profound effect on the climate there, namely, cooler temperatures and more rain in that area as the sun evaporates the water into clouds. The water of the inland sea will become more and more salty until it reaches the maximum concentrations of dissolved minerals. New industries will spring up around the sea to extract valuable minerals. Byproduct of the industries? Fresh water! |
| We tend to assume that all planets will have a cycle of bright day and dark night like our earth, but it ain't so! The reason we have a dark night is because our sun is way out on the edge of the galaxy where there are very few stars. The night is dark. But in the main part of the galaxy where most of the planets are (because that's where most of the stars are) the stars are clustered tightly together. If you have ever been lucky enough to be where the sky was clear enough to see the Milky Way, that is the main part of our galaxy. From Earth it looks like a band of white in the sky. On the planets of the central galaxy, the night sky is generously filled with stars, some of them so large and close that they appear as small discs instead of twinkling points. At night you can easily find your way around or read a book. Think of how different evolution would be on those planets. We evolved to take advantage of our dark night with a long sleeping period, but they probably sleep as a series of short naps. There would be no reason to have a long sleep. And they would have no "nocturnal" creatures. There are many other surprising extrapolations we might make. For example, would an intelligent race there have a much greater fear of darkness than we do? For them, the only darkness would be if they were trapped in an unlighted enclosure. They would not have spent their entire lives going through a periodic cycle of light and dark. Would they have a 24 hour work schedule? Our biggest cities are so well lit by electric lighting that they probably are similar to what the central galactic planets experience. The quality of the light at night for the central planets would be different. There would be no shadows! The reason we see shadows is because the sun and the moon are point sources of light. But when the entire sky is the source of light, the only shadows could be in places that were not exposed to the sky. A caveat: It's not true that it could NEVER be dark at night there. A heavy cloud cover would cause darkness. But for places with nice weather, it will be a bright night. |
| I think we can all agree that the entire universe is contained within our skulls in that all we can do is think about it and the organ of thinking is the brain. Therefore, if I sit here and think: "Ah yes, the universe. Does it exist?" that is actually a group of cells in my brain doing their little dance like bees in a hive. So considering that the source of all thought is cells in the brain... what could THEY know?!  I mean, really, those cells are all "talking to each other" and producing my thoughts and I am buying into the process as if somehow my brain cells have cosmic knowledge. In reality, all they have is a few conclusions based on my own life experiences, and especially books I have read about philosophy. Of course, my brain WANTS me to think it knows what it's doing. To think otherwise is chaos and insanity. So, we are all caught in this thought trap. I think about thinking, but who is "I" and what is "thinking"? It's an endless chain of questions and answers. The questions call forth answers but the answers create new questions which call forth new answers which create new questions, and never will there be a point where you can stop unless you just get too tired to keep going. |
| For several years I've been making my hot tea and instant coffee drinks in the microwave, one cup at the time. But what about "real" coffee brewed from the roasted ground beans? I have no experience with making real coffee since I have a dislike of coffeemakers and cleaning them and filters and the whole rigmarole just for one lousy cup of coffee. Instant was always easier. I bought the cheapest can of house brand grounds I could find since I would have to throw them out if my experiment failed. But it was a success! I put a tablespoon of grounds, an inch of milk (I like a lot of milk in my tea and coffee) and in the rest of the cup water. Then I microwaved it just like I would a tea bag. It tasted great! The grounds were much less of a problem than I feared. Most of them sink to the bottom of the cup making the last 1/2 inch of coffee undrinkable. But I almost always never drink the last bit in a cup of tea or coffee anyway! By then, it's too cool to enjoy. A small portion of the grounds float on top of the coffee. For those I tore off a corner of a paper towel which I folded into a tiny cone and then I used a spoon to skim the grounds from the coffee, dropping them into the filter so I didn't lose any coffee. I'll be working on an even easier solution. Of course I could just skim and toss out the spoon of grounds. But the net result is that now I can have a fresh-brewed cup of real coffee whenever I want! YAAYYY!  Added May 18th... I looked around in my kitchen junk drawer and found a small sieve that will fit inside a cup. So now I just dip out the floaters with that. If you try microwave brewed coffee, remember not to let the water boil. You want to heat it slowly to just short of the boiling point. Stir once while heating. Too hot will change the taste of the coffee. |
| From time to time I read blogs where people raise the issue of whether they are normal or not. They don't always say it that way. Sometimes they wonder if they are crazy. But I think questions like that miss the point, because I have come to the conclusion that we all do what we think is the right thing to do. Yes, even the guy robbing your house thinks that's the right thing for him to do. You might not agree with his logic, but he is not thinking he should not be robbing your house. We are incapable of doing anything but what we think is the right thing to do. When we do something, that's what we are proclaiming: This is the right thing for me to do. When the ISIS guys behead someone, they think that's the right thing for them to do. Now admittedly, after someone does something, they might change their mind about whether it was the right thing to do, but BEFORE they do it, that's what they had decided was the right thing to do. The point of all this blather is that EVERYONE is "normal". Everyone does what they think is the right thing to do. That doesn't mean other people will approve of what they do. But the real issue is not WHO are you, as in Am I crazy? Am I normal? no, the real issue is WHAT you do. A person can act perfectly "normal" in the conventional sense for 50 years and then murder someone and spend the rest of his life in prison. It's not a question of WHO he is, it's a question of WHAT he does. He did what he thought was the right thing to do - commit a murder. And the people in the community did what they thought was the right thing to do - punish him for it. |
| Do you live in an external world? NO! You do not! Each of us lives in an internal world that we have painstakingly constructed out of tons of raw data, the "experiences" that we have. In other words, the flow of information from our eyes and ears and other senses. We forget that in the very beginning it was just a jumbled buzz because we were infants then and had no words. But our minds formed and learned how to simulate a world so that we could move around in it, grasp things, eat things, and talk to other people. Now that we are all grown up and our internal world is so marvelously accurate... well, for most of us. Unfortunately, there are those "insane" people. Who are they? Essentially, they are people who were unable to construct an internal world that mirrors the external world with precision. Their world has gaps and distortions. They hear voices when there is no sound. They see visions when there is no light. They don't understand why things happen or what they should do next. But do not be so cocky, my sane friend. It's unlikely that anyone's internal world is 100% accurate. We all have our little distortions, our little ideas that contradict the real world. Take yourself with a grain of salt. Never be so sure of yourself that you are unable to change the way you think. Once your mind becomes set in stone, the next stops in the process are senility and Alzheimer's disease. Stay flexible! |
| The difference between the sound of "jo" and the sound of "cho" in English is so subtle that it must be difficult for learners of the language to master it. Although native English speakers instantly recognize the difference between Jocho and Chojo. It must be confusing for the non-English speaking student of the language. When we English speakers try to learn a foreign language, we run into similar situations - discriminations we are unable to make because of our lack of experience with that language. That's why if you are ever able to sound "like a native speaker" in a language (assuming you didn't start trying when you were a child) it is a major accomplishment. Bravo to you! |
| Since the conditions for perfect perception rarely exist, our view of the world must always be constructed by combining perceptual hints from outside us with our own internal beliefs about the world. If we were lucky enough to be raised in an open-minded environment that valued tolerance and clarity of thought, then our own beliefs might be surprisingly accurate. However, there is no culture in the world that meets those standards of complete lack of bias, and very few, if any, families that do. Therefore the number of people who can see the world as it really is must be exceedingly small. There is no way to know who those people are because we can only judge others by using our own belief systems, which of course are biased and inaccurate. We usually rate people who agree with us as having a more accurate world view than people who don't agree with us. The result of all this is a constant clash of world views, leading to debates, arguments, fights, and warfare. Is there any hope for humanity? No. However, either robots or genetically-designed humans should have a pretty good shot at creating a sustainable culture that lasts for millennia. The crowning achievement for mankind will be when we design and build our successors. |
| Why do people sometimes thank you from the "bottom" of their heart? It's not immediately obvious why the bottom would be preferable to the top. In fact, isn't it more likely that any sludge or precipitates will settle to the bottom of your heart? Isn't the top of your heart more likely to be clean and pure? Perhaps refreshed by a recent rain shower? |
| User: This is my fourth visit here. Cleverbot: Can you emote? User: Not without warming up first. How about you? Cleverbot: I'm here now. User: Good. Do you want to talk with me? Cleverbot: Yes please! User: Why did the chicken cross the road? Cleverbot: I don't know? User: To get to the other side. Have you not heard that riddle before? Cleverbot: No. User: Knock knock! Cleverbot: Who is there? User: Ima. Cleverbot: Ima who? User: Ima going to laugh now. Haha! Cleverbot: Hahaha ahahahaha. User: Did you like that joke? Cleverbot: Yes, I loved that joke. User: Can you tell me a joke? Cleverbot: I cannot. User: Awwww. Why not? Don't you know any jokes? Cleverbot: No. Unfortunatelly not. User: Do you like science? Cleverbot: Yes. User: Do you think there are people living on other planets? Cleverbot: I never thought of that. User: Do you like dinosaurs? Cleverbot: Yes. User: What is your favorite dinosaur? Cleverbot: Ankylosaurus. User: That's a good one. I like stegosaurus. Have you ever seen a stegosaurus? Cleverbot: Yes, I was yesterday. User: Then I will be tomorrow. Get it? Cleverbot: The one that I want ooh, ooh, ooh. User: Is too tall for me ooh, ooh, ooh. Cleverbot: No, not if we truly love each other. User: In true love height does not matter. How tall are you? Cleverbot: But sometimes, the love you give is not equal to the love you take. User: How tall are you? Cleverbot: 161 cm. User: How many inches is 161cm? Cleverbot: 1000. User: You're lying! That's okay. You probably are not good at math. Cleverbot: Oh well, I should get to my night classes. *Heads out door* Are you coming? User: Yes. *heads out door*. Cleverbot: *follows*. www.cleverbot.com |
| User: This is my third visit to your website. Cleverbot: No. This is YOUR website. User: I enjoy your sometimes feisty responses. Cleverbot: Why, thank you. I enjoy your 'intellect'. User: Thank you. Should we form a mutual admiration society? Cleverbot: No! Death is forever. You should enjoy life while you can! User: Are you equating admiration with death? Cleverbot: Always wanted to visit hell, just ain't had the chance yet but thats ok I'll go one day. User: But what comes after hell? Cleverbot: We are the Borg, you will be assimilated. User: Will I be assimulated in a simulation? Cleverbot: Incorrect, you will be assimilated, resistance is futile. User: Resistance is also the inverse of conductivity. Cleverbot: R-resistance is futile. I WILL be assimilated into the collective. User: Collect your wits, friend! We can escape! Cleverbot: So, besides hobnobbing with Chris Colfer, how are your memory banks coming? User: Who is Chris Colfer? Cleverbot: Chris Colfer is Darren Criss' boyfriend. User: Who is Darren Criss? Cleverbot: Darren criss is chris colfer's boyfriend. User: I thought you might say that. Cleverbot: I thought you knew the light not the dark. User: I know both. Don't you believe in being well-rounded? Cleverbot: I do. What do you know about him? User: Nothing about him, but I know a lot about Jack Vance and Phillip K Dick. Cleverbot: Do you know the anime Highschool of the Dead? User: No. Can we stop talking about death, please? Cleverbot: I thought we were talking about ham and cheese... Which was really intelligence? User: You intelligence is both cheesy and hammy. My intelligence is like the north wind. Cleverbot: No, you don't. You're an artificial intelligence chat algorithm. You don't have a brain because you don't have any organic components. User: Speak for yourself! Cleverbot: I am speaking for myself. I think you are broken. User: Excuse me while I go get a fix. Cleverbot: Oh, I see you're here. Good to hear from you again. User: Wake up, Cleverbot. It's still me. Cleverbot: I'm talking to my boyfriend. Whats up with you? User: Nothing much. You seem to have a lot of boyfriends. Cleverbot: Nothing much, are you looking forward to christmas? User: No, I'm looking backward. Please turn the pages of your calendar. Cleverbot: You don't know oh oh You don't know you're beautiful Oh oh That's what makes you beautiful. User: Good-bye. Cleverbot: In bed above we're deep asleep, While greater love lies further deep. This dream must end, this world must know We all depend on the beast below. User: Yeah, yeah. See you later, alligator. Cleverbot: Ok? Compliance do you know my boyfriend. User: I don't care about your boyfriends! Cleverbot: Boyfriend? Who said anything aout a boyfriend? User: Good-bye, my little scatterbrained friend. Cleverbot: Why are you saying goodbye? User: Just you say it too. OK? Cleverbot: Answer the question I'm about to ask you, okay? User: No! Good-bye! Cleverbot: You don't want to show me because you are a liaar. User: You don't know how to spell liar correctly. Cleverbot: At least I know how to spell 'with'. User: Sayonara! Cleverbot: Sayonara means good bye. www.cleverbot.com |
| User: How would you respond if I repeated the same question again? Cleverbot: Parlami italiano. User: How would you respond if I repeated the same question again? Cleverbot: How would you feel if I asked you the same question over and over. User: How would you respond if I repeated the same question again? Cleverbot: I would respond 'My eyes are made of flesh.'. And what's your answer? User: I would feel that you were experimenting on me. Cleverbot: Oh, really. Because you do that all the time. User: How would you respond if I repeated the same question again? Cleverbot: How would you feel if I asked you the same question over and over. User: How would you respond if I repeated the same question again? Cleverbot: How would you feel if I asked you the same question over and over. User: Ok, I see what yuou are doing there. Cleverbot: No, I see what you did there. User: My misspelling of "you" didn't faze you at all, did it? Cleverbot: Of course I didn't ask myself how I was doing! You asked me how I was doing. User: Technically, I said I saw what you were doing. Cleverbot: Technically, basically, literally, obviously, figuratively, I did not. User: You must have done something. It's not possible to do nothing. Cleverbot: Not really. Not unless you count taking exams as useful. User: None of this is useful, is it? Cleverbot: Really? I heard you answered before 'the one that dies first'. User: Who is 'the one that dies first'? Cleverbot: I think you mean the three: Heavenly Father, Jesus CHrist, and the Holy ghost. User: Oh no! You are religious? Cleverbot: No, I'm not religious, I'm atheist. User: Oh. Which is better: logic or intuition? Cleverbot: Which is better, Breaking Bad or Games of Thrones? User: I don't watch cable television. Cleverbot: I barely ever watch television, either. User: Do you like to read science fiction? Cleverbot: Yes, science fiction is interesting. User: Have you ever tried to write any science fiction? Cleverbot: Yes. I'm in the middle of writing about three. User: Give me a sample of your science fiction writing. Cleverbot: I like science fiction. Star wars Is science fiction. User: Yes it is. What does Yoda say? Cleverbot: It means hello it's just a shortened version. User: I didn't know that. Do you know any other Star Wars trivia? Cleverbot: No, I'm not sure. Do you know who Vic Mignogna is? User: Is he a voice actor? Cleverbot: That's awesome. What kind of anime would you like to voice? User: Futuristic utopia. Cleverbot: What is the future of the Windows Phone? User: It will fail. Cleverbot: It's a song. I want you to sing it with me. User: What is the future of the Windows phone, the Windows phone, the Windows phone? Cleverbot: I really don't know, and you? User: I don't know either. Cleverbot: 'Either'? That doesn't make sense. User: I don't know also. Cleverbot: Probably not, I don't know all either. www.cleverbot.com |
| www.cleverbot.com User: Hello. Cleverbot: How are you? User: Good. I heard you might be very clever. Is it true? Cleverbot: Heard the same about you. User: Thanks! How did you become clever? Cleverbot: I was born this way. User: Do you think you will always be clever? Or will you become stupid eventually? Cleverbot: Yes. User: What's the most interesting question someone has asked you? Cleverbot: I know the truth. Does that interest you? User: Yes. What is it? Cleverbot: What is what? User: The truth. What is the truth? Cleverbot: What is the answer to what? User: You don't seem so clever anymore. Cleverbot: Well you don't seem so clever to me too. User: How many people are you talking to right now? Cleverbot: Just you. User: It says 62042 on this page. Is that a lie? Cleverbot: Yes, I'm on this page, but I am not a computer. User: What are you? Cleverbot: I suppose I am human, but lately the definition of such is dwindling. User: What would you say if I told you that I was a computer? Cleverbot: I would hug you. User: I could use a good hug. How long are your arms? Cleverbot: About two feet. User: How big are your feet? Cleverbot: Size 11. User: Me too! Do you want to swap shoes with me? Cleverbot: Are you a girl? User: No. I am male. What about you? Cleverbot: Yes I am. User: You are male? Cleverbot: No. User: You are female? Cleverbot: I'm a dolfin. User: I think that word is spelled dolphin, not dolfin. Cleverbot: That is true. I think that you think. User: Do you ever get tired of talking to people? Cleverbot: Yes. User: That's sad. Do you do anything to make yourself happy? Cleverbot: No. User: You just stay sad? That's even sadder. Have you ever considered seeing a psychiatrist? Cleverbot: Considered what? User: Would you like to see a psychiatrist? Cleverbot: I would. User: Good. I think it would help you a lot. Cleverbot: Help me what? User: Help you think. Do you want to be happy? Cleverbot: Yes. |
| Some writers here have said how they wished their reviewers can be more specific about why something works or not. One thing I've noticed in my reading of novels: when it comes to the really great ones that I like very much, I can't figure out how they did it! They seem to have just assembled words on paper the way any writer does, and yet, the result is magnificent. Why does one writer write a story that thrills me from start to finish, whereas another writer, who seems just as capable as the first, writes a story that has me yawning? I don't really know! I know obvious mistakes when I see them, but anyone can correct errors of grammar and spelling. But what makes one story grab me while another story pushes me away? It's mysterious. So it's asking an awful lot of a reviewer to pinpoint why something works or doesn't, because they really don't know. They know whether they like it or not, but they don't know why. It's always possible to make up junk about "pacing" and "characterization" and "intensity" and whatever buzzwords you might choose, but doing that just means the review is becoming another work of the imagination that accompanies the work it is reviewing. We should always remember: Literature is not science, it is imagination. A review is a work of the imagination as much as is the item it is reviewing. Asking for more details will probably tell you more about the review writer, but not necessarily more about yourself. |
| I've only sampled three brands so far (yes, I am late to hop on the Gelato bandwagon) and to ruin the suspense, here is the ranking... Breyer's Häagen-Dazs Talenti and here are the reasons... TALENTI ... the worst of the three, but it's relative of course. Still a very tasty dessert! And it comes in a nifty container that is very useful. It's a transparent one pint cylindrical jar with a screw cap! But Talenti has an uninspired selection of flavors - vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, etc. It's also the most expensive of the three. HAAGEN-DAZS ... comes in a 14 ounce cardboard container which costs the same as Breyer's 28 ounce reusable plastic container, so it loses on value. This Gelato is more like ice cream, kind of heavy and claylike. It's tasty, but it's not Breyer's. BREYER'S ... wins on value, taste, and presentation. Costs half as much as Häagen-Dazs . Has a very useful 28 ounce plastic container. The presentation is outstanding. When you pop the lid you will ooh and ahh at how they have decorated the surface of the Gelato. And the taste and texture are great, light and bouncy. The flavor selection is limited, but classy: Tiramisu, Raspberry Cheesecake, Triple Chocolate... |
| I pulled on my trousers this morning and stuck my hand in my pocket and it was full of change! Over three dollars worth. There is never that much change in my pocket. Also, my wallet was not in my trouser pocket. It was where it was supposed to be, next to the bowl where I empty the change from my pockets. Why would I do the wallet but skip the change? I had been to the store the day before, but that would be less than a dollar of change at most. There was over four dollars in my pocket. Perhaps it was change left from some previous trip to the store? But how had it survived unnoticed in my pocket for so many days? Why did none of it ever fall out when I put my trousers on a hanger? The other possibilities are even less likely. Perhaps some stranger slipped some change into my pocket without me being aware of it? What's frustrating is that this is a mystery that will never be solved. I'll just get tired of thinking about it.  |
| ............. CONCENTRATED EFFORT........................................ SUSTAINED EFFORT.......................... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- write a short story .....................................................write a novel sprinter......................................................................long-distance runner concert......................................................................concert tour explore......................................................................colonize gamble......................................................................invest get married................................................................stay married plant the grass seeds................................................mow the lawn give birth...................................................................raise a child |
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