more words more thoughts

In the future when AI controls the world will we still need to write down our thoughts?  

 

It moose be done

I'm not using AI to write a post. However, I might steal some words from lyrics that I find have meaning.

 

for example - "I don't know when that road turned into the road I'm on." (thanks Jackson Brown) 

 

Actually I'm thankful to be on a road and not stuck in a ditch spinning my wheels. I even have a traveling companion now so life is good. I thought I might write something about aging but I forgot what it was. Oh aging.

 

"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now" (thanks Bob Dylan) 

 

Isn't it odd, that when I was young I wanted to act older. Now that I'm older I try to act younger. My mind thinks young but my joints tell me otherwise.

 

"I don't need you to worry for me, 'cause I'm alright."

(thanks Billy Joel)

 

But I'm running behind. 

round numbers

You know the numbers with big round zeros on the end, such as 70, 80, or even 100. I've had 7 of the decade numbers go by. Overall, this makes me feel fortunate.

 

 

 

2000? It wasn't the end of world. Maybe just the start of it's downfall?

 

We all learn to count in base 10, or decimal. Many of you might know there are other useful numbering systems. Hexadecimal is base 16. Hex numbers are used in computer code because it is easier to write long strings of 1's and 0's. The 10 in hex is 16 in decimal. What if counted our years in hex?

 

Using the hexadecimal system, I don't think I would ever reach 70 hex (112 decimal). I hope to reach 50 hex which is 80 decimal. However our minds would adjust to the this system. Before long 50 hex would feel and be consider really old.

 

Are you still with me? 

Did you make it pass the nerdy math talk?

 

Recently, I found a Dire Straits song titled "Why Worry". The lyrical parts are shorter than the instrumental parts. 

My favorite phrase from the song:

 

Why worry?

There should be laughter after pain

There should be sunshine after rain

These things have always been the same

So why worry now?

 

  

Life is strange, dreams are stranger.

You don't need to live long before you realize life is strange. Good people die and bad people live.

 

As you cruise along a smooth highway an idiot flies around you and cuts you off. Too many clowns for just one circus.

 

However, our dreams are even stranger and often scary. I woke up today angry from a nightmare (is 'nightmare' the right word for a frustrating nonsensical dream?).

 

your destination appears far and difficult

Years ago I combined bits of my dreams with my imagination and created a nightmare. Here's the post of it: "free nightmare for the taking".

let's get philosophical

Getting physical, as Olivia Newton-John sang, will get you moving. Thinking, discussing philosophical ideas  might move your mind. Both can make you sleepy in the end.

 

I've heard it. I've seen it on a t-shirt. Life is a journey. 

 

Notice that "journey" has "our" inside it. Most of my journey was an "our" journey. My "our" group changed over the years. I believe their impact on me still remains even though we went different ways or their journey ended.

 

My universe (don't we all get a personal universe that we can share?) has given me a second chance to join another drifter off to see the world. This new sharing of the journey has been refreshing and exciting. At the moment (many greats moments lately) it seems we're after the same rainbow's end. (yeah I was listening to "Moon River")

Ok, I know I can talk too long. Going too deep in explaining my logic. Yeah, not everyone (anyone?) cares about my logic.

SHUT UP AND DANCE WITH ME.

=====

Some older notes left over from when I started this post:

Cicadas are (were) here. (oh I took so long to finish this post that most all of them have left - thank God)

 

cicada on a stick

 

 

What a life - live underground for 17 years, pop out get wings to fly, party, mate and then die.

From the song - “Suicide is Painless”

...

A brave man once requested me

to answer questions that are key

is it to be or not to be

and I replied 'oh why ask me?'

(go ask a cicada!)

 

My abbreviation CCC

Abbreviation can be abbreviated as abbr. Ok, so much language trivia. On to the post.

 

 

I'm searching for a sign

 

but I should get out more

 

On a my walk today, I talked to a squirrel

 

This says it all.

 

Oh yeah the abbr.

CCC stands for Curious Confused Clown.

It's been a strange month so far. 

Two lines from "Goin' Back":

 

"...

But thinking young and growing older is no sin  

And I can play the game of life to win

..."

A different morning

Morning has broken. Unlike the many mornings of this year.

When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

 
I admit that mind trick has worked for me a few times. Seems lately it doesn’t work quite as well. Maybe I’ve become allergic to whiskers on kittens. No not really, the reason is my caregiver duty has ended. My wife's spirit has left her body. Here’s her obituary if you would like to learn more about this wonderful lady.

 

Here's a couple of songs that I find calming.

 

 

 

  

 

Simple

As much as we wish, life is not simple for humans.  

Enjoying a view

I guess a creature needs the ability to contemplate their life to realize it is complicated. 

While at the stoplight, I listened to Willie sing this today. The lyrics touched my emotions.

Endings

Ending of the week, weekend. Ending of the year, year end. Unless you are in a business meeting, “year end” does not come up often in conversation. Instead, we say new year and focus on the hope for the new year. I like “new year” vs. “year end”, but the transition is the same moment in time.

Do we get conditioned by books and movies to expect happy endings? Those are other people’s stories not your own. I say, most people have hope and if you have hope then you might expect a happy ending to your own story.

Over the hill - what hill? There are many obstacles faced in life. It seems that obstacles that were minor annoyances in my past appear as insurmountable now. Dealing with frequent changes has become a bigger problem. Is my final stage (stage? phase? no stage needed to act) not meeting my expectations?

The world changed and I changed but not in sync with those world changes.

I’m stealing the following line from the Jim Croce song, “Age” for advice about hills and climbing.

I’ll be careful while
I’m climbin’ ‘cause it
hurts a lot to drop

I’ll dig up some hope for next year. I’m reminded of the saying, “if I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.”

Notes passed to future

Help me if you can,
I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate a comment I found
Help me, enjoy a post by a clown
Won't you please, please help me?

Too much to monitor and things are breaking

History shows that humans and other species can adapt. I need some adapting help.

Lately, I have not been following my blog’s theme (wait, this blog has a theme? Yes, look at the top banner.). Lighten up.

Retirement certainly has given me more time to reflect and overthink my life. This is often not a carefree exercise. Many events and interactions lately are swirling my thoughts and emotions around. I need to remember how to chill.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways
My blog inspiration seems to vanish in the haze
But every now and then I feel so insecure
I know that I just need a comment like I've never done before

nitty

My guardian angel is still hanging with me and we keep on keeping on. Honestly, I’m very doubtful about this guardian angel thing. But if I have one, no need to piss him or her off.

Eleven years ago the rapture was a viral internet thing.

 

 

Rapture marketing

 

Rapture by robot

 

This rapture idea seems very weird in today's world. I posted about the lack of anything extraterrestrial happening back in 2011. Here’s the poem I wrote about the rapture that didn’t happen. 

 

failed rapture poem by lisleman (May 2011):

Fear was their tool for capture
Of many minds regarding the rapture.
Unlike the time the story was first told
Our media connected world was quickly sold.
I consider myself an optimist
This end date doesn’t show on my list.
But on this day, I here confessed
About the rapture I became obsessed.
So another day I will grow
To watch time’s steady flow.
With much doubt ringing in my ear
Just leave me alone to finish my beer.

Maybe the problem is the devil is in the details. 

 

Often in life you need to get right down to the real nitty gritty. This clip is worth watching to hear Peter Lawford say “interpretation of the nitty gritty”.

 

 

 

Because there's something in the air

The something is the new variant of COVID-19 virus, omicron.

 

While in the car the other day I listened to "Something in the Air". I immediately thought of our ongoing pandemic.

 

We celebrated Christmas with our extended family the week before Christmas day. It appears that the virus crashed the party. Turns out that 3 of the more than a dozen at the party later tested positive for COVID. Everyone was fully vaccinated so the symptoms have been non-threatening.

 

On Christmas day I visited 7 drug stores in our area. Only one had a test kit for me. The next day our daughter alert me to a place near her, about 20 some miles from us that had plenty. I drove up there and got 3 test kits.

 

So I'm calling this our COVID Christmas. 

a common sign around here lately

"Something in the Air" was a number one hit for The Who's Pete Townshend's other band Thunderclap Newman in 1969. Townshend created the band to showcase songs written by former The Who chauffeur, also a drummer/singer/guitarist/songwriter, John "Speedy" Keen.

 

Enjoy the sixties dress style in this video of "Something in the Air". 

 

 Oh I procrastinated took time to think this post through. Now it's New Year's Eve so,

 

And we'll tak a right gude willie waught
For auld lang syne!

Oxymoron

While searching for oxymoron examples I came across this: “Words can not express my limited vocabulary.”

Wet Creek would not be very distinctive

After our orderly confusion of Thanksgiving I’m noticing more oxymorons. I do enjoy the contrast offered by combining opposites. Do you enjoy a good paradox? Life is full of them. 

 

This morning I found a Mary Schmich post in my Facebook feed that starting me pondering the many opposites in my life. Here’s a line from that post: 

"All of the best times in my life have grown directly out of the worst times. What feels like manure often turns out to be fertilizer."

(Mary Schmich's FB page)

 

 

I find some songs illustrate the oxymoron idea. I found this new old song called “Perfidia”. It was written by Alberto Dominguez and covered by many. I believe the melody is uplifting and a little joyful. 

 

Perfidia is Spanish for perfidy meaning betrayal. In my mind that subject should have slow sad music. Take a listen to the English and Spanish versions: 

 

 

 

Feedback can be amazing

Back in the sixties I was amazed by Jimi Hendrix’s innovative use of feedback to create his unique sound. This post isn’t about that type of feedback that I enjoyed then. It’s about human feedback I enjoyed recently.

Out of the blue a couple of days ago, I opened an email from an unknown sender. The email was titled, “One of your old hexbug videos”. My initial thought was what a strange scam email. No, the email was a surprising positive feedback message. It didn’t take much reading before my thought became this personal message is amazing.

 

I reread this sender's line a few times: “Something you did changed my life and I wanted to thank you for that.”

I suspect if you reflect long enough, you’ll recall a time that your actions/words probably had a positive effect on a person in your life. Of course, some (thank goodness for them) expand their positive influence beyond their close group. This email started me thinking I might be able to join that impressive group.

This “life changing” action was something I created back in 2011. It was a short video that I hope would be enjoyed by others and maybe bring a few readers to this blog. It was fun to make. Here’s the video.

 

 

 

He explained in his message:

"...I liked hexbugs and did the same thing you did by modifying them. I had several of your videos but the video "fun with hexbug nano and other home made bots" was my favorite as there was something about your video which made me happy..." 

"In 2011, I had an extremely stressful job and at times, was having serious stress/anxiety problems...."

"...Your video always calmed me down when I played it. Over time, I memorized your video and also the song so I could mentally play it whenever I got overly stressed or anxious. Your video or my memory playback of it has worked for the last ten years."

 

WOW

I had no idea

 

Showing appreciation and gratitude benefits both sides. Little things can make a big difference. I once told a granddaughter during our discussion about the world that everyone should try to leave the world a better place.

Draft - It's always something

Such as forgetting to remove "draft" from the post title. 

 

Well it's over now. I'm fine again. Anxiety seems to creep up on me as I age. Is it those life experiences that didn't go well that add to the feeling? I've never liked being late for anything but don't most people feel that way? Being able to give yourself a little spare time to meet that arrival time is sensible to me.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot am I talking about? Well the first time was back in 2013 (see this old post).

Prep for entry

back side moon

Drink rapidly rather than sipping. Not advice for drinking a fine aged bourbon. Good advice for drinking a large unwanted amount of PEG-3350. The 4 liter prescription gives me reason to hate the metric system.

Rapid drinking was one of many instructions provided to me for my colonoscopy. This was my second exploratory visit within my body. I heard the visit went well but I was completely asleep during their expedition so I'll trust their answer.

The first expedition included the day of liquid diet but I don't recall the list of foods to avoid 3-5 days prior to the drilling (procedure if you will). I understand nuts and popcorn could ruin their view. I was surprised being told not to eat healthy food like fruits and cereal high in fiber. Basically go on a junk food diet for a few days.

Another change this time was a COVID-19 test. I'm two shot (jab for the Brits?) vaccinated but I understand being cautious. The test had to be done a specific day. It went well. I was expecting a bit of discomfort up my nose but that didn't happen.

Until my next something, have a listen to "Bad Moon Rising". It's not "a bathroom on the right" but during the prep I was on the bathroom alright.

I see the bad moon a-rising
I see trouble on the way
I see earthquakes and lightnin'
I see bad times today

Boring stories of

Of my blog?
Of my life?
Hey, boring is very subjective so watch your labeling.

Same three colors all day every day.

Before you read further, deeper with growing anticipation, here’s my warning. This post is boring.

So going through my spotify playlist, Bruce’s song “Glory Days” hooked me for a few plays. I studied the lyrics. This post title comes from his lyrics.

Here’s another lyric selection:

"...And I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it But I probably will..."

Well I did and still do.

 

Last week I read the news of a guy in Michigan who unearthed 160 bowling balls in his backyard. That same day I read that in Dubai they opened up the world’s deepest swimming (diving?) pool. This is my attempt at reading balanced news.

I tossed a few words around and came up with these one liners.

Gum line - Don’t cross, I’m defending my gum line.
Praise the Lord and pass the admonition.

Here’s a boring discovery. Do you realize people create videos of reading boring stories and offer them on youtube? Should I start recording readings of my blog posts?

Einstein quote, “I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious.” I found the quote in “Einstein his Life and Universe” by Walter Isaacson.

Oh one more thought to consider. Your past glory is very subjective too. It's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Best to move along

I’m still thinking about recent events that felt like tripping and falling into a mental ditch. I’m not going to describe any of the details since mentally falling down is probably common. Maybe more common since the pandemic and the various misery it has inflected. Certainly my “mental ditch” was not as deep as the mental abyss conflicting some people. I stepped out of it and moved along.

Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me
Other times, I can barely see
Lately, it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

And I'm on my way
I don't know where I'm going
I'm on my way
I'm taking my time
But I don't know where

If I’m lucky (smart?) I’ll notice the next ditch on my journey in time to avoid it.

Crystal balls and other things

Crystal balls and other things I don’t have.

There are many types of balls to bounce, throw, and roll. Even better than your mother’s meatballs or my aunt’s rum balls are those magical crystal ones that provide predictions. I still don’t have one.

If you don’t keep your eye on the ball, you won’t know who dropped the ball.

Hold that thought while I work on a breakthrough post.

Well this and most everything in life is a work in progress. The following public art is being installed at the Morton Arboretum.

 

I found the following description while browsing to increase my knowledge of the universe.

The Center for the Advancement of Topological Semimetals, or CATS, has a mission that is focused on the discovery and understanding of topological materials, especially magnetic topological semimetals, which possess entirely unique bulk and surface electronic properties not known in other materials. The CATS mission is a complex materials challenge.

I think the founder that CATS group must be a cat lover.

 

While on subject of robots. Oh wait, sorry my thoughts bounced randomly to robots. You'll either enjoy this clip or be scared by the sight of sophisticated robots.

 

 

I haven’t ever poured my coffee on my cereal but it was a close call this morning.

While reading over the lyrics to Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads, I noticed a comment section about the song. The best comment was “Covid-19 brought me here”.

And you may ask yourself, "What is that beautiful house?"
And you may ask yourself, "Where does that highway go to?"
And you may ask yourself, "Am I right? Am I wrong?"
And you may say to yourself, "My God! What have I done?"

 

Well if you ask, What's this post about?" there's a comment section to use below.

Legend of Lisleman

Don't worry about me. I'm alright. If the past is any indication, my plan will go flittershitters quickly.

Bus ride gone flittershitters

Change, switch, flip this topic. New terms everyday. Who reads the website terms? 

What’s the plan for becoming a legend? Does a blog help?

This blog has taken me to --- hmm, well I don’t know, actually physically it hasn’t taken me anywhere but the dining room, upstairs spare bedroom. But it has connected me to many other blogs and blog writers.

NO RHYME OR REASON - I’ve never had much rhyme but I do believe I could reason ok. I was Just Testing The Shift Key On The Left. It’s been slow to Activate lately.

 

I escape to the space bar often

 

Old Man Walking - Yeah, I’m still able to walk around. Yesterday, I enjoyed playing in the snow with our grandkids. Great to have a backyard hill for sledding but watch out for the fence, oh and the tree, yeah the utility box too. Nobody got hurt. I was worn out at the end.  

 

 

slip sledding away

 

I've tried posting about Lady Godiva once. My breaking news post on Doris Day gathered some comments. (she was still alive then but my post got her age wrong) 

I take advice from the lyrics of my favorite songs. From Ray Wylie Hubbard’s song “Mother Blues”

And the days that I keep my gratitude
Higher than my expectations
Well, I have really good day

Does the following equation equate?
Changes = feeling older

Both of my eyes still see fine but I discovered a song called “Legend of the One Eyed Sailor”. A legend is not worth losing an eye over.

answer to last week's puzzle

 57968

 

Now your problem is to figure out what the puzzle you were trying to solve.

 

Isn't that how life works. So often before you get to finish one puzzle, another one is thrown at you. You trip up and start spinning only to forget what the problem was.

 

Few answers are simple numbers. Auto correct doesn't fix our wrong turns on the long and winding road that leads to --- Stop recalculating (sorry wrong turn)

 

Enjoy this picture while I backtrack my thoughts.

 

 

When you don't need to worry
There'll be days like this
When no one's in a hurry
There'll be days like this
When all the parts of the puzzle
Start to look like they fit
Then I must remember
There'll be days like this

Yeah that's song I need to remind me of those times when everything appeared to come together.

    

Vacuum energy

I typically lack energy to vacuum.

Hey it’s a new year, I should be recharged. Oh, but we are not simple rechargeable batteries. (Although I have learn some people are on Lithium)

Vacuum energy is an underlying background energy that exists in space throughout the entire Universe (reference link). Well that’s what physics tells the people that listen to physicists. I enjoy learning about the marvelous discoveries of physics. But if this vacuum energy is underlying, then might it be underlying my carpet? Why should there be a need to vacuum my bedroom?

The "Casimir Effect" demonstrates the effects of vacuum energy and it's named after Hendrik Casimir. Hendrik was a Dutch physicist but I don't know if he vacuumed his room much.

 

I would much rather read about vacuum energy than vacuum a room. I believe vacuum talk must include dust talk. Here’s a picture from space from June 2020. We might not be as dusty as Mars where I think every storm is a dust storm but take a look at the mess heading out to the Atlantic from North Africa.

Look at the mess Sahara is making

Oh I also read about cosmic dust. It’s a real thing and probably related to dust bunnies. Interplanetary dust causes the zodiacal light, so dust is not all that bad. Thousands of tons of cosmic dust are estimated to reach the Earth's surface every year. So we need to figure how to use the vacuum energy to clean it up.

Astronomers study dust. I can only imagine young graduate students explaining to their parents that they are studying dust. I suspect the parents would question why they didn’t start years ago in their own bedrooms.

(apparently if I were a Brit this post would not work since I don’t believe there is any Hoover energy in physics.)