Thursday thoughts: Cosmology

I did not choose this topic. I have about 80 or 90 of them to address for reasons I will spill at a later date. Maybe next week.

Cosmology

Well... according to Oxford:

noun

1. the science of the origin and development of the universe. Modern astronomy is dominated by the Big Bang theory, which brings together observational astronomy and particle physics.

Is the bang theory really a theory? Perhaps it is rather an observation. It seems that we are observing the expansion of the universe; that we are still banging; not quite done exploding. To surmise that the objects in the universe came from the place at the rear of their direction of travel... seems fairly obvious? Are we not still experiencing the big bang as we speak? 

Do I personally witness this motion; this travel? I'm not sure I do. I would have to rely on the testimony of the astrophysics community, along with their other conjectures.

Or do I? I know for sure that something is "true" if I consistently experience it, or if I very carefully, without error or omission, assemble logic built from guaranteed (personally experienced) truths and/or other items of assembled unerring logic, which we can collectively call dogma.

Testimony: noun

1. a formal written or spoken statement, especially one given in a court of law.

I'm defining testimony as anything I've heard which I have not personally verified through experience. In other words, the above definition but without formal/informal differentiation. Is there some other word for that which I should be using instead?

Dogma: noun

1. a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.

I'm defining dogma as any assembled truths which we can, going forward, rely upon without re-analyzing or re-proving, because we have completed all the work. In other words, our own clean database is the only authority, which is infinitely more reliable than the words of priests and politicians, who make the newspapers every day for their scandals, and whose unreliability is in fact inconvertible for their failure to agree with one another on what the clean facts are.

I'm suggesting that these Thursday articles represent a clean new database of information, unlike the internal databases which most of us carry around, full of the "dogma" which we inherited through church and parents and teachers and everyone else of influence, and of course the dreaded media, much of whom, are extremely suspect, and owned and operated by power-mongers with known agendas.

So the big bang must remain testimony, and shall not be filed as truth, but rather as useful testimony, because the sources which provide it are those possessing a very good reputation all around, and provide much other testimony or dogma which we can, and have, consistently verified in our living experience. Concepts such as gravity for instance.

So we have spilled that most dreaded word here, the one I try to never use if possible: truth. There are always ways of questioning truths, no matter how reliably; how integrally; how courageously formed, because one can always find ways to question reality.

And I propose to define truth as the unvarnished facts which exist in reality.

And reality is the bonified state of things, as applies to our living experience. Meaning this: one can question such things as time for instance. Physicists might say that time is an illusion; that spacetime is something different than what we perceive, but here is what's important to me:

The reason we need truth is to fix the problems which riddle our living experience, and hear this testimony from me: that their are solutions for everything, but don't believe that yet. We are many steps away from turning that into dogma! Now, in my living experience there is a proven consistent perception of time: a linear inertia from which there is no known escape. In order to solve problems relating to our living experience, the truths will be those "proven" to be consistent in our living experience. Thus time is exactly what we all know it as. Time is true for all intents and purposes (at least so far).

Understanding the physicist's view of spacetime is not going to help you get to work early enough to placate your boss.

In order for the most basic general cosmological testimony to be untrue, meaning the reliability of scientists' own reliable personal experience, rather than our own, there would have to be a very wide-scale conspiracy at work, one too large and too long-running to be logically plausible. So such basic cosmology as the accretion of stars and moons and planets, all the same thing really, different in size and composition, is not truth, not proven to me, but reliable enough to me as unproven testimony to be useful (ah useful. Such a useful word!) because of the earned reputation of science, because of the support of my own observations through my own senses in all applicable matters of physical science, and also because of the lack, at least so far, of importance. The origin of the cosmos is not necessarily, as yet, critical to our solving the great problems of society here on Earth, and making our lives better.

And that is what it's all about for me. Why I write, research, contemplate, discuss... in order to pursue better lives.

Now Eckart Tolle might ultimately disagree with that; the relevance of the cosmos, but we are not there yet. One step at a time!

Aw crap. Apology required:

Kamal Khera or staff: 

First thing of three: I have no idea if anyone actually reads emails such as these.

Secondly: I feel compelled, regardless, to issue an apology for my email from earlier this morning which was facilitated by OpenMedia.org and which bears my own comments at the closing which suggest (with all honest intention) that the addressee is a purveyor of lies and such an enemy of humanity as to deserve no consideration as being included within the species.

However I was only thinking of the prime minister as being the message's target and not yourself (Kamal) until I received the autobot response. I voted liberal in the election which introduced the current PM to this role and am ashamed of that. I have never in my life probed Canadian federal politics with such tenacity until that day and the days since then, and I have never been more abjectly horrified at the state of humanity on this abysmal continent (where I was born) and the wretchedly duplicitous nature of Canadian political agenda and its current occupying government. That said, I have no direct accusations toward Kamal Khera personally.

I am content to assume you might have no knowledge of the slithery nature of this place you find yourself, or more likely that you do know but are trapped in effect and hoping to make things better somehow, or, rather improbably I concede, that you are an agent out to destroy the trudeau/Liberal anti-humanity profit-funneling machine from within! And none of this is to suggest that any of you do not take opportunities to make some kind decisions and create some noble structures when your sugar daddies allow or when they're not looking.

So I now feel better for apologizing. Not that I am suddenly a saint. I realize my own complicity in all that I hate about your ruling kin.

And lastly, if you are reading: I have long had a great interest in, and much respect for, various Asian histories, cultures and philosophies, India paramount among them, and I endured perhaps the most lasting heartfelt and warmly tearful experiences of my life studying the Gita as taught in English by guru Sri Aurobindo (along with the novel Siddhartha by the way). Both documents spoke of things I'd long felt but never heard from a person's lips, or thought I could ever realistically bring into conversation, and I just wish to say that I am grateful for Asian presence in this land and by your inclusion in the political landscape - so long as I don't go on to learn terrible things about you! I hope your spirit; your soul perhaps, survives your experience here.

I also hope that you and your family have a peaceful and joyful holiday season with much quiet time for contemplation, and perhaps some good wine, and a gathering fortitude such that you might return to work with an unflinching integrity, however new or established!

Sincerely,

[New Day Rising]

[Scooterville, ON]

In which NewDay confronts his dark evil enemy and keeps his rage in check a little bit

Hurray! Democrazy in action!!

Dear Prime Minister and Members of Federal Cabinet:

Despite your government’s 2019 promises to fix Canada’s Internet and cell phone affordability problem, our prices are still some of the highest in the world. Consider this your wake-up call: Canada needs you to take real, immediate action to lower our Internet and cell phone bills relative to other countries, starting with reversing the CRTC’s Internet price hikes.

Improving telecom competition and choice is the clearest and most efficient way to bring down prices across the board, but it won’t happen without concrete action from the federal government. As the first of many steps in this direction, I’m calling on Cabinet to reverse the CRTC’s 2021 Internet wholesale rates decision. This ruling isn’t compatible with lowering Canada’s telecom bills; it directly led to Internet price hikes and made it even harder for smaller Internet providers to compete against Big Telecom. Reversing this decision would be a critical first step towards guaranteeing affordable connectivity.

It’s not enough to make our prices “better than before”; Canada needs you to bring down our rates to keep pace with the rest of the world, not just beat our own poor past performance. There is a lot of work ahead, but as Prime Minister and Cabinet, it’s your responsibility to follow through.

Hey why not keep a promise every blue moon or so just to fool some of us losers you own that you're actually worthy of being called human beings?

Very sincerely,

[New Day Rising]

Part of this is a canned message facilitated by OpenMedia.org and part of it is my own contribution. There are no prizes for correctly guessing what's what.

This is a fun game you too can play, right from your own home!

My first shot at animation sort of

Hey there. Well I need to post three more times in order not to have the second-worst calendar year in the entire - gasp - sixteen years I've been blogging, however occasionally of late. Meaning the second fewest posts. 

I probably should have had the most ever in 2021. I've been lounging in bed at home every day, just me and my useless legs. I've decided to start physiotherapy just as soon as my disability benefits start kicking in. In January?

My writing buddies are encouraging me to finally get writing again, and getting my shit together blog-wise might be just the starting point.

Meanwhile I mostly make videos now. This one is getting rave reviews at Poetry Club and at a church Christmas celebration where it was played to a live crowd just this evening. Yes a church! I wasn't there but I was told the audience howled. To be honest I don't entirely get its appeal. I was just screwing around! Meanwhile the stuff I do that I think is hilarious often goes unnoticed. Oh well. What do I know?

I actually wrote this years ago and posted it here but the so-called animation is brand new. I'm pretty sure I'm qualified to work at Disney now:

My sh*t has eyes!

The Smosh folks are a full time comedy operation who pump out heaps of videos across three YouTube channels; my fave being Smosh Pit. There's also a smosh.com which I have never visited. Their humour is pretty juvenile most of the time but I have room for it.

They don't copyright anything. They like fan fiction and fan compilations which they often interact with for more video material. So I gathered my fave smosh segments and it looked to be about 2 hours of material so I divided into six episodes, loosely theme-related, and polished and published Part One a week ago. It sat dead for five days and then quickly jumped over 400 views in a couple days. I'm not surprised.

It drew fifteen likes and one dislike. Ninety per cent of the traffic is through browsing, which bodes well for the future episodes as that's how they would be most likely discovered.

This first episode is super high on the potty humour so... be warned.

Baby, you're the best!

Here's a video I put together which was removed by YouTube and actually earned  a strike against my channel because it violates child safety policy. Any video showing young people (not even children, necessarily, but young adults) engaged in dangerous behavior is considered a violation under the theory that it entices children to emulate the behavior.

What is interesting is that FailArmy and other big-money sites seem to get away with this all the time but I guess they are profitable to YouTube so.... too bad, kids. I guess you'll have to rely on your parents being remotely competent human beings in order to keep you safe. But someone like me who gets almost no views for the most part, does not target a child audience, actually includes warnings to kids not to engage in this behavior and actually SHOWS clips of some subjects being clearly injured, is somehow the bad guy. Welcome to the ass-backwards world of corporate-owned North America. Enjoy the fucking Kool Ade y'all.

The joke is that all of my clips which they deem unsuitable for YouTube, were downloaded from YouTube to begin with. And when I cast an appeal, stating this fact, I just get the canned response stating that my material was verified to be in violation and I am banned from activity for 30 days or whatever. Further more, three strikes and my channel gets shut down - or something like that.

Oh well. Whatever! 

Let's see if it gets by the Blogger firewall. I suspect it will not and not because of child safety hoopla but because there is probably no license agreement which will allow me to use popular music, which YouTube does thankfully feature. I'm fine with using popular songs and letting the rights-holders monetise my vid for their profit. I would never try to profit from a vid which borrows other peoples' work.

Here goes:

Nope. Maximum file size exceeded. It's a five minute vid and not even HD. Oh well. I already know it won't get by the DailyMotion copyright blocker. I'll give Vimeo a shot.

HA!! Thanks Vimeo:

Baby, You're the Best!

My friend, the Ponderer

 Just a shout-out today, to one of my fave pals, The Ponderer, and her favourite band:

Guaranteed smile!

I've been putting a lot of videos together; carefully edited compilations for the most part. The goal here was to be as cute as possible!

Onward and upward?

I got some good chunks of sleep last night and in positive spirits today have been energized. I hauled three bags of chillable groceries upstairs to the fridge, planted some laundry in the washer, boxed a load of booze bottles (mostly the housemate's actually) which have lingered in the kitchen for months, and swapped a full blue bin out for an empty one with two days until collection.

I also had a productive chat with the housemate and surrendered to a couple swarmings by the doggo.

By noon this was already rendered the most productive day in memory.

I've paced myself very well with frequent short breaks and suffered no physical breakdowns, panics or hyperventilation.

At the genesis of this is a discovery by a bariatric clinic dietitian who I conferred with for the first time on Thursday.

There are three great hurdles on this journey of which I have often said, "I still don't see the complete path to recovery, but I see the landscape, and I trust in the many professionals who are guiding me; doctors, nurses, dietitians and counsellor." The discipline to stick to the intricate diet structure, the physical stamina to stick to the very demanding logistics of the diet structure, and the challenge of somehow needing to improve health prior to surgery (which was supposed to be the initiating event)

With all this in mind the new dietitian suggested I could come off of the surgical route and go on to the non-surgical route for one full year, and then... have the surgery. In other words, all the best of both worlds. This is amazing to me. It never occurred to me such a full service was even available.

As long as the doctors approve this change, I will go on a much stricter diet which given my particular issues will actually be easier to adhere to, logistically simple and almost guaranteed to promote significant weight loss prior to surgery which should help me gain mobility and help me convince the surgeons I am an acceptable risk. Currently they judge I am not.

I am now, finally, seeing the path.

BIG mind, little mind

Something got me thinking about that old conundrum again; the annoying observation that the one thing the human mind can't bear to contemplate is the human mind.

But I recall trying to explain to Aqualad why it sparks small terrors when I catch glimpses of my inner mind; how it feels like a crack in sanity when in a fugue, for instance, I catch little dreams which one should not see when awake but only in sleep when dreams come conveniently packaged with eraser pills so that you forget.. Little waking dreams which reveal that my brain is still busy trying to solve yesterday's dilemmas but sampling the wrong realms. Like trying to find my lost bottle of pills but searching my minecraft world for them. Mixing real life with a video game. That "error" should not scare me. That should not smack of mental deficit or craziness. I understand why these things seem to happen; how a mind can work through metaphor, or how my interpretations are lost in translation.

But it does torment a little. Not playing too much Minecraft might have dismissed that particular issue and so might getting enough sleep but that doesn't answer the question. Why does it push my buttons?

Today I'm inclined to think that it's not the subject matter of inner mind that spooks but simply proximity. I spent earlier years swiftly collecting revelations and small enlightenments and assuming there might be much to come in that journey; that a unity of mind was possible. And that set me exploring many things, like poets who seemed to speak of such oneness; such evolution.

But now I feel that unity of mind is the very thing we fear most of all. It is clear the instinctive mind is vastly more powerful than consciousness. Today I surmise that that imbalance is so tremendous that our real mind must protect consciousness from itself. Because there is some independence of course. The inner mind cannot control this new thing called consciousness; only influence it by playing tricks on it. But wait. Haven't I come to these conclusions before? And to imagine that consciousness might control inner mind is even more far-fetched.  

Oh well. The point is: I don't feel today that it is evidence of an inner mind's flaws that is so scary but merely the presence of the inner mind itself; even just a glimpse of it. It is like coming face to face with God.

And suddenly seeming... utterly... powerless.

Today is quite possibly a landmark day in the final accounting of my life, for reasons having nothing to do with the above thoughts so far as I know. I hope to return tomorrow and tell you about it.

A Habs fan defends the Leafs

mean to assume that anyone has been missing me in the lost land of Blog World. Ithat  I'm sorry to myself for not having my shit together. Not blogging is the most obvious indication that I am not functioning properly. Oh, by the way, my space key, backspace,I have determined that my keyboard is physically broken. It's definitely nt a driver or software issue.n external keyboard for the time being id I can find one. I'm sure there are a couple around somewhere... Oh for fuck sakes. I'll have to switch to a andcursorionkeys are all misfiring. My directinmeanthSorry I haven't posted in a while. And by that donn't 

Rooing and Roaching

Hey hey. Remember me? It's April 50th and I'm right on track with regards to April A to Z!

Rooing: Not sure if this precisely qualifies as onomatope but a roo is when a dog makes a "roo" noise. It's more than a wimper and less than a howl. It's common in greyhounds and so, by the way, is:

Roaching: the manner in which a dog, a greyhound especially, lies on its back, usually sleeping, with its legs in the air, kind of like a prone cockroach, though I prefer to think this is not the source of the term, because greyhounds are adorable and roaches are disgusting beyond words according to my completely arbitrary sensibilities.

Question R: What RETAIL store would you choose if you could shop there for free?

The liquor store. Just kidding! The grocery store. Just kidding! The liquor store.