Signs of Life in 2017

[neil]

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Just November 4, 2016 right now.
I drop by for a peep or a post every few weeks.
No activity in the last little while,
but that doesn't mean anything.

I will be back.
Checking the PROJx pulse.
See what I see.
Maybe see you.



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[neil]

November 8, 2016
may
prove
a
darker
day
than
November 22, 1963

[neil]

Friday haiku :
seen in retrospect -
Goliath or Behemoth /
insects under glass

[neil]

Thursday haiku :

in here before now -
bouncing between yes and no /
seen twice but thought once

[neil]

still kickin fridges 'n' finger lickin the dickins outta sum slick digits 'n' fried chicken







December 03

[neil]

JANUARY 25, 2017


fwiw, a recent letter to the editor of the local rag :

WHICH I MERCIFULLY DELETED SEVERAL DAYS LATER
HAVING THOUGHT BETTER OF THE MATTER AND
REALIZING THAT SOME THINGS BELONG
WHERE THEY ARE AND OTHER
THINGS DON'T

hurrah

this
being
Sunday
the
Twenty
Ninth
day
of
the
year
TWO
THOUSAND
SEVENTEEN

2,017 pennies is only $20.17. That's not that much history. Maybe [you, me, they] are in a bit of a hurry.

[neil]

[neil]

talked to a guy in prison earlier this afternoon.
i was glad to talk to him, he was glad to talk to me.
he has a challenging cellie. the cellie is in his 60s,
been in prison 38 years and will never get out.
seems the cellie is bitter.
makes for a challenging relationship.

yes it does.

[neil]

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my dad is 90 today.
still going like a train.
such a stud.



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[neil]

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bronzed and on display -
echo of a whisper's wish /
obituary



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[neil]

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mother hiphop sticks my lyrics to the fridge with a magnet ~ mars ill



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[neil]

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nobody knows the trouble I've seen ~ traditional



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[neil]

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doves on a fence rail -
frost blossoming clothes each blade /
blue jays ring the day



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[neil]

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Sunday, March 19, 2017

a few notes on sentence breaks and ancillary thoughts

The current convention on sentence breaks in written English is to
signify the end of a sentence with a period. Next, there is a space.
To begin the following sentence, the first letter of the first word is
capitalized. Three symbols for one expression. This might be thought
to be inefficient in terms of stern logic. Logic tends to favor
expressions with the minimum number of terms. Convention, however, is
not dictated solely (or at all) by logic. Convention is established by
the context of history and refined by the context of current practice.
The use of three terms to express a single sentence break in modern
English might be a practice reaching back to the predominance of
cursive over printed English. In cursive writing a period can be
minimized by an unconscious reduction in pressure against the writing
instrument. Spaces can easily be minimized in the action of writing.
Capitalization can be more emphatic in cursive than in type. In terms
of cursive, these three symbols could be thought of as a system of
redundancies which guarantee the effectiveness of the expression. All
of this is conjecture of course, made clear by the repeated use of
"might" and other indicators. In the context of cursive writing, then,
it might be fair to say that a redundant system composed of three
symbols to communication one expression is effective and efficient in
practice. If this is the case for cursive writing, it could make sense
to maintain the same conventions for printed writing if only to
obviate confusion and/or consternation because consternation is a fun
word to use.

for extra credit :
The above is a theory or a succession of theories. In modern thought,
especially modern scientific thought, theory is an important part of
framing large conversations. When speaking in terms of theory it is
much more important to be aware of terms weighted with value than it
is in general conversation. In the above theoretical notes care has
been taken to express the ideas in terms suitable to theory, such as
the use of "might" and "can" instead of "is", and "if" instead of
"when". The above discussion is of little or no consequence. Many
discussions which pivot on theory, however, are of great consequence.
Such discussions should be followed with a close inspection of the
particulars of wording. It is a simple thing for a person who is
deeply involved in the mechanics of a given theory to discuss the
theory and its implications in language that is less precise than the
precision which they devote to the development and inspection of the
theory itself. This, naturally, is sloppy thinking and can result in a
divide in communication between the one who is invested in the theory
under discussion and those to whom she/he hopes to make the
implications of the theory relevant. Words can matter, which is why
this was proofread. Otherwise, flip a booger on it.



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[neil]

dry erase shenanigans

[neil]

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It's April.
Are we there yet?


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[neil]

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[neil]

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Yo, you just wake up or what? Sure, no problem.
Look, if you wanna eyeball some fly verse don't
even bother with "current" sites. Come in here
and chew on the bestest word wetness. I wouldn't
mislead you. Get busy. Or get some coffee and
get busy.



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[neil]

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When Worlds Collide

i was in college 72-76. Miles Davis' BITCHES BREW came out in 70, Davis' 45th album. LIVE-EVIL in 71. (Zappa's HOT RATS and Beefheart's TROUT MASK REPLICA in 69, just for reference). first couple years shared apt w/an accomplished acoustic guitarist(music major). used Ernie Ball metals on his Martin. practiced Bach's bouree until his fingers bled. John introduced me to John Fahey, Bert Jansch, Leo Kottke. he was also a space cadet, so there was plenty of King Crimson, Joe Walsh, Spirit, John Prine, you name it. last roomie was a SERIOUS sax player(music major). he was not into getting good enough to play other people's stuff. Steve was into Miles Davis, naturally. McCoy Tyner. Weather Report(Wayne Shorter/Joe Zawinul) broke out in 71 & dropped an album a year all the way to 80. The Mahavishnu Orchestra(John McLaughlin) broke out in 71. saw them in concert around 73. Return To Forever(Chick Corea) broke out in 72. Herbie Hancock released HEADHUNTERS in 73. every single one of the founders of fusion(a tectonic shift by any measure) came out of Miles Davis bands, and for all practical purposes one album, BITCHES BREW. taste is taste, but history is history.



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[neil]

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On Being Struck By Lightning

I believe that writers write because they have a writer, i.e., a well defined area of their mind/brain which is built to write and enjoys it. Moping about having a "dry spell" or "writer's block" has always amused me - if your writer doesn't want to write, it doesn't matter what your self image thinks it should be able to will itself to do. Obvious. A person's writer writes exactly and only what it is equipped to write, and enjoys writing. "The muses" are nonsense. Vision and passion, as much as I can determine, are largely nonsense. "Will power" is certainly nonsense when it comes to writing. What is often mistaken for passion is a slavish devotion to self image as artist, which is nothing but pride. To quote Mark Heard, "You can be what you like, if you like what you are." Art can have its own momentum which is a psychological entropy leading to stagnation. Just because a person has written X, is no guarantee that the same person can write X² , and X³ . Especially if the person's writer is bored with the idea. Creativity is like any other river, each river is defined by its width, depth, and the force of its current; all of which change on a daily basis. There as so many alcoholic writers because of the failure to recognize something so basic. This failure is largely due to pride, expressed as "I SHOULD be able to do thus and such." Nonsense. The only thing a person should do is what they are fitted to do, determining which is often a matter of signigicant mystery and certainly has nothing to do with what other people(and often one's self) think or feel. If a writer writes something of worth, the only response that makes any sense is to be grateful and then get on with the rest of life.

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[neil]

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Stop looking. Stop listening. Think.
Stop spectating. Act.
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 12:58 pm
Schrödinger's cat had/has Multiple Personality Disorder.

Anyway, isn't the whole Schrödinger's cat business
just another garden variety Gordian knot made of
Möbius strips?

It's like the infamous "glass half empty/half full" red herring.
The answer depends on information that is withheld
which implies that the answer will be found on the
MENSA acceptance criteria examination.
The vital evidence which is withheld is
whether or not the glass is IN A STATE
of being emptied OR A STATE of being filled.
And no, a glass being used in a still life is not
exempted by reason of simple evaporation.

Don't use your brain for a door stop
and you will be in a better position to
resist the efforts of Others [yep, Them]
to use your brain for nefarious schemes.

I can hear the n'er-do-well knuckles
snapping like packing bubbles as we speak.

Oh, cut that out, it's so OCD.
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 2:04 pm
In the current issue of "Sophistry Quarterly Illustrated" Professor Curmudgeon Stew advances the following :
"To grasp the bare bones fundamentals of time travel requires a conference Vulcan mind meld comprised of
at least three humans [not necessarily terran], seven Vulcans, Lieutenant Commanander Worf, one and a half
Arcturians and at least four pan-galactic communications carriers. Even given these stringent protocols it is
quite possible that during the course of the conference/meld as many as five of the participants will have died
and/or disappeared and one hapless soul will have morphed into a mélange of Chewbacca and Waldo."

Professor Stew offered no theoretical framework for his clearly exhaustively researched assertions.
In the spirit of fair play fostered by "Sophistry Quarterly Illustrated" all statements are assumed
innocent until proven guilty. The Professor was, naturally, properly Mirandized.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 8:14 am
has it ever occurred to anyone that numbers are arbitrary?
the base ten system is absolutely arbitrary.
there is nothing inherent in base ten notation that
makes it more efficient than any other base notation.

i want my education back.

if prose is Newtonian word mechanics,
then poetry is quantum word mechanics.

and if you aren't thoroughly confused, there is always ...
www.academia.edu/4832069/Newtonian_Quantum_Gravity
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 9:25 am
the referenced Stendahl quote :
"Mathematics allows for no hypocrisy and no vagueness." is of course without merit.
you may as well say "Words allow for no hypocrisy and no vagueness."
if it is anything mathematics is an extension and expressive
tool of logic to which all the laws of logic apply.
one of the basic concepts of logic
is that a line of reasoning must be
1 - internally consistent
2 - externally consistent.
both internal and external consistency have to do with the definition of terms.
for example "if A = B and B = C, then A = C."
IF mathematics is defined, as Stendahl does, as an inherently romantic notion, THEN Stendahl's deduction is true. However, since mathematics is only a human tool with no agency for action within itself, then it is wholly possible for mathematics-the-tool to be applied to a given set of phenomena according to the precepts of a set of untrue definitions. Romanticism is a scourge. sloppy thinking has always accompanied it. Consider an apothegm attributed to Benjamin Disraeli by Mark Twain :
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

interesting PDF on "sloppy thinking" as a characteristic
of the "firefighting mentality" in organizations. the Kepner-Trego PDF analyzes "firefighting mentality" as a passive coping technique rooted in a reactionary unwillingness to accept responsibilities associated with creative adaptation. sounds like romanticism to me ...

www.britannica.com/biography/Stendhal-French-author
www.debate.org/…/Stendhals-The-Red-and-the-Black-…/1/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism
www.kepner-tregoe.com/…/70D2378A-FCDB-2656-BD044DC1…/

The danger of refusing to think for yourself is that it exposes you to the possibility that you may be manipulated by a person who is stupider than you are. Bbbbrrrrr.
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Fri Apr 07, 2017 10:18 am
“All get what they want; they do not always like it.” - C.S.Lewis



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[neil]

Us Murkuns have difficulty dealing with the fact that virtually no one outside of Murkuh takes us seriously. So, here's what we up and didded. We found the best scientists that money could buy(just sign the ethics waiver here, and here, and here) and gave them the best most secretest lab that money could buy. Then those rascals took the DNA of P.T.Barnum and Lizzy Borden, slopped 'em together in some sort of cookin' jar, and dang if they didn't grow us a President. That'll show 'em.

In Other News :

TODAY the Los Angeles City Council became the seventh city to pass a resolution calling on Congress to launch an impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump. With this vote, Los Angeles joins Richmond, Alameda, and Berkeley, CA; Charlotte, VT; and Cambridge and Leverett, MA.

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO BE TOLD ...

[neil]

do i have to do everything in this relationship?
photobucket tryin' to run some racket on my jacket,
they get busted up when i bust loose with fresh juice
and leave skid marks on their forehead full o' pockmarks.
dang it.

[neil]

on a Japanese movie binge. wish i could watch 'em with Crystal & Ron & Christie & Bronxite ...