An Old Sufi Proverb For Caturday

A traveler asked a teacher, "What is the secret of life?"

The master replied, "The secret of life is to make wise decisions."

The traveler then asked, "How can I make wise decisions?"

To which the master replied,"You will make wise decisions based on your experience."

"How do I gain experience?" the traveler asked.

"Poor decisions."  

 

NOTE: I received a radiant bouquet of posies from the MOTI yesterday but my Verizon Cloud won’t let me download pictures just now; I must not have accumulated adequate social credits yet this month. I will post the glorious pictures as soon as Big Brother sees fit to allow.

 

Verizon has finally deemed me worthy to access my own Cloud so here is my lovely bouquet that arrived on Friday from the MOTI. It smells like Spring in the valley and is equally delightful to the eye, all blue and lavender set amongst of deep pink roses with splotches of gold double tulips. It perfumes the entire room. Thank you, my pretties, for yet another bunch of extraordinary pretties. They are even lovelier today as the tulips have unfurled to their full majestic glory but I’m not going to temp the Verizon gods to more mischief, so you must use your imagination. Thank you, thank you!

Closeup of the unfurling tulips:

 

 

 

Wing Day Special: Three For The Price of One

The Democrat’s guide to solving inflation:

Take one chicken wing. Cut it into 3 pieces.

Now you have 3 times as many wings - so you can afford to pay the new, higher price per pound. If people complain, blame Trump – or White Supremacy. You can now sell the drumettes and wingettes at an increased price to suppliers, who will sell them as overpriced appetizers, donate the wing tips to a soup kitchen and take a tax write-off.

There. Done and dusted.

A bunch of Yankee doodles sticking another feather in their cap.

 

PS: Beware the Ides of March

Et Tu, Brute?

What Would You Do For Wisdom? Mutt Day Edition

“What I would do for wisdom,”
I cried out as a young man.
Evidently not much. Or so it seems.
Even on walks I follow the dog. –

Jim Harrison, Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry

Not much, evidently.

But then, who needs wisdom when “you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy…” (h/t Joey Biden).

Time, Again

Originally posted 3-13-22:

The Doomsday Clock was developed in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit founded by Manhattan Project scientists following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The group’s members included Albert Einstein and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic bomb  - serious scientists – who wanted a metaphorical way to remind the public of the high stakes involved with nuclear weapons.

All of which makes it difficult to take their current day counterparts seriously.

The Doomsday Clock remains set at 100 seconds to midnight in 2022, unchanged since 2020.

The current Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is comprised of a batch of Post-Normal steampunk scientists with political agendas in need of advancement. This is how they define themselves:

“The Bulletin is a media organization, posting free articles on its website and publishing a premium digital magazine…The Bulletin focuses on three main areas: nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies.” 

A media organization? That’s great, you wouldn’t want any real science going on around nuclear weapons of self-destruction. And please note: they’ve added climate change to the mix of things that lead to self annihilation. All that’s missing is a statement on diversity, equity and inclusion…oh wait!

“The Bulletin is committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The profound challenges of our moment cannot be met without increasing the diversity of background and perspective of our organization. Data show that homogenous organizations have blind spots that obscure incoming risks and areas of opportunities. The Bulletin is determined to improve diversity along the lines of age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression.”

Doesn’t sound like much serious science going on around here. Confirmation: the President and CEO of the Bulletin of Atomic Science  - that’s responsible for scaring informing us how close to midnight and annihilation we are – is Rachel Bronson.

“(Ms. Bronson) earned a BA in history from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA and PhD in political science from Columbia University.”

Not physics, not math, not chemistry but rather political science: more politics, less science. But I note Ms. Bronson has written many articles about the politics of global energy. Plus she’s appeared on NPR, CNN, PBS, al Jazeera, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart giving her  all the bona fides and gravitas needed to scare inform us of pending global disaster, most likely due to ‘climate change’.

So here’s my advice: forget about the Steampunk Scientists’ Doomsday Clock.

Steampunk clock designed in the style of an Astrolabe featuring wings and dials, cogs and gears

It’s nothing more than political science fiction. The only clock you need to worry about is the one that stole an hour from you last night.

To quote that wise old Indian Native American: “politicians are the only ones who think you can cut an inch off one end of a blanket, sew it on the other and make it longer.”

 

It’s hard to believe I wrote this last year just 2 weeks before they bored into my brain to confirm what the MRI indicated: metastasized tumors. I no longer perceive time as I once did and will never whine about Daylight Saving Time again, although I pray God lets me live long enough to break that promise.

I’m growing stronger bit by bit, day by day and am most humbly grateful to be here. I will try to post a new open thread Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays for awhile and see how it goes.

As always I thank you for your prayers and good thoughts and wish everyone a lovely, peaceful Sunday.