A Momentary Life...

[Town Heretic]

My oldest aunt turns 94 today. Sharp as a tack and only recently gave up driving because she'd rather walk where she wants to go and be driven where she doesn't but has to. Eight children in that family spanning three decades. She was old enough to be the mother of her youngest sister. Great genes in that lot. Lost one to cancer who smoked like a chimney and still made 86. Heading to Florida today for the gathering of two lines. Should be a fine celebration.

 

[Town Heretic]

Worst idea for Hollywood business tie-in: Fetal Attraction for an obstetrics group.

 

[Town Heretic]

Came up with the worst video game idea ever this morning talking to Jack. It's called Zombie Mamma. You play the zombie (Jack had some nice art in mind, a wide brim, straw hat askew with a flower in the band) among the waves of new zombies. Through cut scenes its revealed you're searching for a baby. You can only say, "Bay-Bay!" and "Brains!". Your weapons are a designer purse, which is actually a deadly sharp instrument, your zombie nature, and your hunger, which you have to sate regularly while humans attempt to kill you and end your quest.

What makes it the worst game ever is the ending, where if you survive the quest takes place in one of the last police stations. You fight your way to your baby only to have a cut screen look away with crunching sounds...seems it wasn't your baby after all, only your misplaced lunch. :shocked:

 

[Saxon Hammer]

I forgave myself and can now forgive others with light ease

 

[Saxon Hammer]

Whenever I worry about the sort of world Jack will grow into I remember that my son and his fellows will be taking the reigns of that world one day and I have hope for it...Jack is the inheritor of hope. All our children should be.

But hoping for them isn't enough. It's our job to keep the world of adults from beating it out of him, from reducing his joy and his love of everyone he meets to disappointment and resignation. It's our job to model something better for him, to not be complicit in the cynicism of an age that values what we do and forgets what we are, to remind him daily that the damage we've done this world and one another is the sum of separating the two and to leave him undivided.

If we can do that for our children and our grandchildren then they can do what we failed to do in and with this world and they won't only have hope to hold onto.

I like this thought - can we get you and other parents working together for the glory of all our children?

 

[Saxon Hammer]

We shouldn't be reluctant to judge....as long as our motives are pure. It doesn't matter one whit what others may think, if you know in your heart you're judging rightly.

Titus 1:15
Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.​

I've thought of this a lot lately as I've seen so many people claiming my heart is cold...that I have no sympathy, etc. I know the state of my heart so I let those comments flow like water off a duck's back. What I will not do is let the fear of being called judgmental etc. keep me from judging rightly and speaking the truth. Sometimes it's too easy to think that time will take care of it....it's not worth the effort, but I don't think we're called to shirk our responsibility for expediency's sake. Press on toward the mark.....

Just a word of encouragement, brother.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone

 

[Saxon Hammer]

Life boils down mostly to playing tag with death.

Eventually you're going to be it. The rest is how fast you move.

Not fast but mindful - do not hurry into disaster ;-0

 

[Saxon Hammer]

Next year TOL will be 20 years old. It may then be time to find young and more energetic caretaker.

You need a heir sir! Rightfully and truly trained by you! Many thanks

 

[Town Heretic]

I'm not saying that I have serious doubts about whoever created the program at Netflix that matches patterns and likes to suggest new material I might find enjoyable, but when I read my "interest" in the light comedy Dutch was the basis for their recommendation for Oklahoma City, a documentary about the 1995 bombing and Timothy McVeigh, let's just say it began to make me wonder...a little. lain:

 

[Saxon Hammer]

I'm not saying that I have serious doubts about whoever created the program at Netflix that matches patterns and likes to suggest new material I might find enjoyable, but when I read my "interest" in the light comedy Dutch was the basis for their recommendation for Oklahoma City, a documentary about the 1995 bombing and Timothy McVeigh, let's just say it began to make me wonder...a little. lain:

I have this problem too It has not had enough time to 'get to know you' It is corrupted by it's Netflix masters constantly being whipped to fill your page with the latest 'best film'

 

[Lon]

I'm not saying that I have serious doubts about whoever created the program at Netflix that matches patterns and likes to suggest new material I might find enjoyable, but when I read my "interest" in the light comedy Dutch was the basis for their recommendation for Oklahoma City, a documentary about the 1995 bombing and Timothy McVeigh, let's just say it began to make me wonder...a little. lain:

I have this problem too It has not had enough time to 'get to know you' It is corrupted by it's Netflix masters constantly being whipped to fill your page with the latest 'best film'

Has to be.

My YouTube account knows me like a T and gets most of it right (occasional oddities, but like 1 in 50). Netflix just doesn't have the amount of content to actually hit all of our preferences. Imho, a nice idea they may grow into, but not yet. I laugh when about the only family programming they shoot my way is preschool. :chuckle:

So we also have a Hulu Account which does a bit better. It is hard to mess up classic tv suggestions. And I also use YouTube which does really well at knowing my preferences.

 

[Ask Mr. Religion]

Teaching Netflix

Teaching Netflix

You have to spend a few hours teaching Netflix and you will see them getting things better:

https://www.netflix.com/MoviesYouveSeen

AMR

 

[annabenedetti]

There was a subtle shift in my cosmos recently. I'm getting ready to leave in a couple days to go on a trip with my son who's an experienced traveler, and he's been checking with me regularly.

I'd get a text: "Mom, do you know where your passport is?" (Yes...)

And then another: "Do you have travel adapters?" (No...)

So then the next text was a link to adaptors on Amazon. :chuckle:

Then he made up a packing checklist for me , which took me back to when he was a little boy and was always the first one to pack for a camping trip, and I also remember when he packed his backpack when he was four years old and had decided to run away from home. He had his blanket, a book, and his favorite stuffed animal... so then we sat on his bed and worked everything out and thankfully, he decided to stay.

So in all this trip preparation, I had this brief moment where I felt I'd crossed a Rubicon of sorts, in that our roles had reversed in the ways they can do when the child is grown, independent, self-sufficient, and often has more and different life experience to share than the parent did at the same age. He was the one giving advice and I was the one listening, following instructions. And it was okay.

And then a couple days ago he had a minor injury to his arm and the cosmos flipped back again, because there I was cleaning out the wound and applying ointment and bandages just like I'd done so many times when he was a little boy. And that was okay too.

 

[Town Heretic]

Scientists have noted the merging of two massive black holes over 3 billion miles away, sending gravitational waves rippling across creation.

Speaking of holes, the Trump administration started digging another one today by announcing the U.S. will be withdrawing from the Paris accord.

Also withdrawing today, Elon Musk from Trump's advisory panel.

 

[Town Heretic]

A miscellaneous joy. I've discovered an online channel to play for both enjoyment and study. If you like classical music (and if you don't you just haven't exposed yourself to enough) it's at yourclassical.org and is a godsend. You can choose from a number of streams to fit your mood. I just finished listening to Dvorak's Song to the Moon, which was wonderful. I think Dvorak is more accessible than many of the masters. He has a commanding sense of and respect for melody.

Anyway, pick a theme/stream or try out the Favorites stream to get a broader sense of the music available. It's a great find.

 

[annabenedetti]

A Record-Setting Climb Up El Capitan, Without Ropes

On Saturday, the elite climber Alex Honnold became the first to climb the nearly 3,000 feet up El Capitan, Yosemite National Park’s iconic granite wall, without ropes, called free soloing.​

He made the climb in 3:59 - an incredible time, an incredible feat. I've stood in Yosemite Valley looking up at that behemoth. I find it hard to believe that any human could climb the face of it without ropes, let alone do it in less than four hours while looking like he just got back from a stroll to the corner market. Unbelievable.

Great set of climb photos here.

 

[Town Heretic]

Thinking about states...potential mottos...that sort of thing.


Arizona: where oven mitts are an automotive accessory.

Vermont: No, Mass. is that way.

Rhode Island: All the accent of Boston without the clutter of culture.

Indiana: the crossroads of America (or, a place you are passing through to actually go somewhere).

Minnesota: who needs the oceans when you've got 1000 lakes? (Everyone. Everyone needs the ocean).

South Dakota: where North Dakotans go in the winter. lain:

Michigan: we used to sell cars.

Georgia: (looks at shoes)

Alabama: beach out front, mullet in the back

Mississippi: giving Alabamians a reason to still feel superior since 1865.

New York: show us your tats!

Louisiana: rookies...

Florida: Americas graveyard with a view.

Pennsylvania: you like chocolate? Football? Chocolate footballs? You're welcome.

Maryland: we've got crabs.

New Jersey: we feel you, Maryland.

Georgia: aka Waffle House (oh yeah, drive through and see).

California: mountains, beaches, and a Denny's every quarter mile by law.

Idaho: yes, we've heard the joke. Tell Montana it's still not funny.

Missouri: show me (where we are on a map).

Kentucky: where the horses are fast and genealogy is rocket science.

West Virginia: where teeth are family heirlooms.

Nevada: where craps isn't just a game, it's a lifestyle.

Oregon: especially in Portland.

Wyoming: why not?

Montana: have you heard the one about Idaho?

Wisconsin: like Minnesota, but with cheese.

More to follow...maybe...it's that sort of day.

 

[Town Heretic]

So a recent set-back...no, realization had me thinking about something I learned observing a diminishing amount of time and concentration I give to sports. When I was a kid I didn't care for it unless I was playing it. By the time I got to high school I was a sports junkie, football, basketball, baseball, I followed it. By college I was elbow deep into the numbers and by my late twenties I was creating algorithms for predicting outcomes.

But something happened between then and now. I started winnowing. Jack's arrival really accelerated the process and had me realizing that it wasn't only sports. All sorts of things I'd spent time and attention on were barely hanging on by a thread. And they weren't shoved out of the way by an equal number of interests. My interest pool was shrinking, though my attention to what I focused on was deepening. So I didn't listen to half the music that I once did, but I spent a lot more time with the music that moved me. And I wasn't reading anything that seemed interesting, but looking and diving into works that wouldn't let go of me, and letting go of the rest. This year I just watched the NBA finals. I don't think I caught a single game before the Championship series all year. I don't have a team in the NFL that I'm committed to rooting for going into this year, my Colts being something else now, and I'm okay with that too.

I suspect that's part of the aging process. We realize on some fundamental level that the time we have is getting more precious as we age. I'm not willing to spend much of it on something that doesn't really exchange value. I think it's important. I suspect it's inevitable.

 

[ok doser]

A miscellaneous joy. I've discovered an online channel to play for both enjoyment and study. If you like classical music (and if you don't you just haven't exposed yourself to enough) it's at yourclassical.org and is a godsend. You can choose from a number of streams to fit your mood. I just finished listening to Dvorak's Song to the Moon, which was wonderful. I think Dvorak is more accessible than many of the masters. He has a commanding sense of and respect for melody.

Anyway, pick a theme/stream or try out the Favorites stream to get a broader sense of the music available. It's a great find.

Free downloads of copyrighted material?

 

[Nihilo]

Free downloads of copyrighted material?

"Reddit" hosts way more (in every way imaginable, conceivable, possible, etc.) illegal links than TOL would be able to even fit on the server, and "Reddit" seems to be staying afloat. So there's something a bit odd in the accusation that somehow TOL could possibly be liable for anything. But IANAL, it is only a layman's measured observation.

Also, Tor could be litigated into oblivion based on the illegal transactions enabled solely by their network of proxy relays. But they're still around.

'Could be wrong. :idunno: