Mysterious Chimpanzee Rituals
Zuu just told me that nothing comes after infinity, and zero is nothing, so infinity is both the highest number and right next to zero. Faulty math, but sound logic! She tied my brain in a knot until I figured out what she was saying.
March 9, 2022
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Some people like the extra hour of light in the evening when we switch Daylight Savings Time in the spring. I like the extra hour of darkness in the morning. I'm going to start calling it Darkness Spending Time.
March 9, 2024
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Well my kids are finally terrified of ghosts. I wonder if this has anything to do with my hundreds of paranormal books or my favorite pastime of visiting graveyards with them. I wonder if I should tell them I was also terrified of ghosts, but only until I was about 30. Maybe 35.
March 9, 2021
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Based on my age alone, if I catch Covid I have a 1 in 90 chance to die*. So unless there's evidence that this vaccine I'm getting tomorrow will give me a 1 in 89 chance to die, or worse, I see no reason to be hesitant.
*My numbers are wrong! I left the original post to own the mistake. My chances are actually something like 1 in 800, or .125%. About 4% of everyone who died though is my age. My kidney issues are minor, but don't help matters. And I do believe that if I catch it and give it to others, I'm responsible for all the death that stems from me, if I had had the chance to mitigate it. And if I get it and spread it to nobody, that's just moral luck. I'd bear the same responsibility. The drunk driver who killed nobody is only different than the drunk driver who killed someone, because he was luckier. That's a meaningless difference, it's the same crime.
March 9, 2021
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I just saw that only 53% of Bernie supporters will definitely vote for the nominee. Reminds me of something Bill Maher said Friday about why Republicans are in power- they only have to fight the Democrats, while the Democrats have to fight the Republicans AND the Democrats.
March 9, 2020
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But Hillary just killed all the pornstars she had affairs with.
March 9, 2018
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It's been said that chickens are the egg's way of making more eggs.
March 9, 2018
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What do you do about North Korea? What would I do if I was president? I'll admit it, I have no idea. The people are suffering. What would lead to less suffering?
March 9, 2017
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Richard Dawkins- Mysterious Chimpanzee Behavior May Be Evidence of “Sacred” Rituals
https://richarddawkins.net/2016/03/mysterious-chimpanzee-behavior-may-be-evidence-of-sacred-rituals/
March 9, 2016
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Cosmos with Neil DeGrasse Tyson is on in 15 minutes. Remember, any time he says "billions," DRINK!
March 9, 2014
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About the hardest I ever laughed was in a Trivial Pursuit game about 15 years ago... the question asked who came up with the heliocentric theory. In what he thought was a flash of insight Zerbe answered, "Cornucopius."
March 9, 2014
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The sad plight of Uranus...in an effort to make it sound less like a butt, they made it sound like pee.
March 9, 2014
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Christianity = Buddhism in the Gospel of Thomas, Joseph Campbell on Power of Myth With Bill Moyers
Campbell: What’s it’s saying is that Jesus didn’t go out there, he went in here, which is where you must go too, and ascend to Heaven through that inward space to that source from which you and all life came.
Moyers: But aren’t you undermining one of the great cardinal doctrines of the tradition of classic Christian faith – that death, the burial, and resurrection of Jesus, prefiguring our own and overcoming the body with a higher physical truth?
Campbell: Well, that would be what I would call a mistake in the reading of the symbol – that’s reading it in terms of prose, instead of poetry. That’s reading a metaphor in terms of the denotation instead in terms of the connotation. It’s purely a literary problem.
Moyers: The poetry gets to the unseen reality.
Campbell: That which is beyond even the concept of reality! It’s that which transcends all thought. It’s putting you there all the time, and in some way, giving you a line to connect with that mystery which you are and the myths do it, by gosh, they do it. Now, according to the normal way of thinking about the Christian religion, we cannot identify with Jesus. We have to imitate Jesus, but to say “I am God”, as Jesus said, is for us – blasphemy. However, in the Thomas Gospel, Jesus says, “He who drinks from my mouth will become as I am, and I shall be He.” Wow. That’s Buddhism. We are all manifestations of Buddha-consciousness, only we don’t know it. The word “Buddha” means “the one who woke up”. He woke up to the fact that he was Buddha-consciousness. And we are all to do that. To wake up to our Jesus within us. This is blasphemy in the normal way of thinking in Christianity, but it’s the essence of Gnosticism and the Thomas Gospel.
March 9, 2014
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I leaned down to kiss my dog on her head, but I didn't keep an eye on her and in the meantime she looked up at me. My lips touched her wet eyeball.
March 9, 2013
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I'm reading "The Believing Brain" by Michael Shermer... a book on why we believe what we believe. I got excited when I read about Spinoza's Conjecture- that belief comes quickly and naturally, skepticism is slow and unnatural, and most people have a low tolerance for ambiguity. I looked ahead at the next two chapters, "Belief in an Afterlife," and "Belief in God." Exactly what I wanted them to be- great book! At least I believe it is.
March 9, 2013
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Please don't judge me, but I've come to realize I believe in the 9/11 conspiracy. The evidence is just too overwhelming. Face it people- 19 members of al Qaeda conspired to attack America with airplanes.
March 9, 2013
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On this day in 1765, after a campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerated Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed on the charge, though his son may have actually died by suicide.
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The Wealth of Nations by Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith was published on this day in 1776.
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages."
"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."
"Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many. The affluence of the rich excites the indignation of the poor, who are often both driven by want, and prompted by envy, to invade his possessions."
I own that book, but I will never read it! Much more enjoyable reading quotations from it. Besides, it's massive.
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On this day in 1841, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the United States v. The Amistad that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally.
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Gold was discovered in California on this day in 1842.
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The Barbie doll debuted on this day in 1959.
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On this day in 1997, observers in China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia got to see comet Hale-Bopp to be seen during the day, during a solar eclipse.
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A perfect documentary was released on this day in 2012- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
When Jiro talks about the rice master, Hiromichi, he says that sometimes he worries that he is so knowledgeable that he might just be making it all up. That's the real conundrum, isn't it? In a certain sense we just have to trust experts. We don't have their expertise, so we don't know enough to know whether they're just full of crap.
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Amerigo Vespucci joined us on this day in 1451. When his parents named him, I bet they didn't realize they were also naming two continents.
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Other notable birthdays- Yuri Gagarin (1934), Bobby Fischer (1943), the BTK Strangler, Dennis Rader (1945), Terry Mulholland (1963), Emmanuel Lewis (1971), Oscar Isaac (1979)
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We lost Robert Mapplethorpe on this day in 1989.
"I don't think there's that much difference between a photograph of a fist up someone's ass and photograph of carnations in a bowl."
Patti Smith wrote to him- “You drew me from the darkest period of my young life, sharing with me the sacred mystery of what it is to be an artist.”
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Death trembled on this day in 1994 when he took Bukowski.
"For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us."
Charles Bukowski, the apathetic Yoda.
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George Burns left us on this day in 1996.
"If you live to be one hundred, you’ve got it made. Very few people die past that age."
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Robert Blake died today. That only leaves one Little Rascal- Sidney Kibrick who played Butch's sidekick, Worm.
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Huffington Post- Palin Crossed Border For Canadian Health Care
Forget that it's true, why would she say it?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/palin-crossed-border-for_n_490080.html
March 9, 2010
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This guy did a nice piece of work. Quick cuts of his top hundred films.
https://youtu.be/q-561E0YdNY
March 9, 2011
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Daily Kos- GOP pushes bill inhibiting Americans from filing class-action lawsuits against large corporations
The big lie- republicans are working for the little guy. It's not like the Democrats are great, but even a small difference has massive consequences.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/03/07/1641107/-GOP-pushes-bill-inhibiting-Americans-from-filing-class-action-lawsuits-against-large-corporations
March 9, 2017
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What do you do about North Korea? What would I do if I was president? I'll admit it, I have no idea. The people are suffering. What would lead to less suffering?
Mar 09, 2017 9:22:07pm
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Messy Messy Chic- Moonlight Etchings of the Forgotten Artist who Taught Edward Hopper
Zowie, beautiful!
https://buff.ly/2EE4KpR
March 9, 2020
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Quite possibly the most perfect bit in the history of stand-up comedy. Louis CK's "of course, but maybe."
https://youtu.be/XLGzFQg_1xc
March 9, 2021
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CNN- Ex-Trump attorney admits statements about 2020 election were false and is censured by judge
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/03/09/politics/jenna-ellis-former-trump-attorney/index.html
Well this is a surprise... she now testifies in court that it was a false statement that they had evidence that the election was stolen. You don't say. That $224 fine though, a little harsh.
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Errol Morris's short film that was part of the 2002 Oscars.
https://youtu.be/BEsoSR2npes
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Dancing in the Dark YouTube comment
"My wife and I are now 76 and 75 and every time this song comes on she gets up and starts dancing like she's 20 years old and I'm playing the drums on the table like I know what I'm doing. Thank you Bruce for a great song."
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Something Steven Pinker said that he overheard at a Boston bus stop- "I'll rip your head off and shit down your windpipe."
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Rory Scovel- "I love anybody who is smart enough to know that God is not a man, but dumb enough to still think that God is a woman. Like, you were so close, and then you just veered right back into traffic."
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Bertrand Russell, Death as the Final Event of the Self- “It is not rational arguments but emotions that cause belief in the after life. The most important of these emotions is the fear of death. If we genuinely and wholeheartedly believed in life after death, we should cease completely to fear death.“
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Lao Tzu- "Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe."
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Christopher Hitchens- "When I read of the possible annihilation of the elephant or the whale, or the pouring of oven cleaner or cosmetics into the eyes of live kittens, or the close confinement of pigs and calves in lightless pens, I feel myself confronted by human stupidity, which I recognize as an enemy."
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Albert Einstein- "I am enough of an artist to draw freely from the imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
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Hunter S Thompson speaking about Edmund Muskie:
“I never said he was (taking ibogaine), I said there was a rumor in Milwaukeee that he was. Which was true, and I started the rumor in Milwaukee. If you read that carefully, I’m a very accurate journalist.”
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Mitch Hedberg- "I like when they say that a movie was "inspired by a true story" because that's weird. It means the movie is not true, it was just inspired by a true story. "Hey Mitch, did you hear that story about that lady who drove her children into the river and they all drown?" "Yes I did. And that inspired me to write a movie about a gorilla.""
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Daniel Kahneman, Well-Being: Foundations of Hedonic Psychology- "Money does not buy you happiness, but lack of money certainly buys you misery."
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Ellen DeGeneres, to Liza Minelli- "One of the most amazing Liza Minnelli impersonators I’ve ever seen in my life. I mean that is really… Good job, sir."
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Hagakure- "When there is a choice of eating or not eating, it is better not to eat. When there is a choice of either dying or not dying, it is better to die."
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Arthur Schopenhauer- "Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection."
Addendum:
Steven Pinker, From Better Angels of Our Nature: "You and I ought to reach this moral understanding not just so we can have a logically consistent conversation but because mutual unselfishness is the only way we can simultaneously pursue our interests. You and I are both better off if we share our surpluses, rescue each other’s children when they get into trouble, and refrain from knifing each other than we would be if we hoarded our surpluses while they rotted, let each other’s children drown, and feuded incessantly. Granted, I might be a bit better off if I acted selfishly at your expense and you played the sucker, but the same is true for you with me, so if each of us tried for these advantages, we’d both end up worse off. Any neutral observer, and you and I if we could talk it over rationally, would have to conclude that the state we should aim for is the one where we both are unselfish. Morality, then, is not a set of arbitrary regulations dictated by a vengeful deity and written down in a book; nor is it the custom of a particular culture or tribe. It is a consequence of the interchangeability of perspectives and the opportunity the world provides for positive-sum games. This foundation of morality may be seen in the many versions of the Golden Rule that have been discovered by the world’s major religions, and also in Spinoza’s Viewpoint of Eternity, Kant’s Categorical Imperative, Hobbes and Rousseau’s Social Contract, and Locke and Jefferson’s self-evident truth that all people are created equal."
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