What Are Thoughts?

Tucson Weather Today

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Did you ever try to recall the many random thoughts that run through your mind while listening to a boring conversation?

I tried that once or twice.

And once I made notes.

Here are some of those items:

The nearly unbelievable immensity of the Universe.  Amaazing! Incredible!

How can any person nearing comprehension of the vast expanse of the entire universe avoid absolute madness when attempting to accept the tremendous distances between clusters of galaxies... if the word comprehend means to approach an understanding of a concept?

Goethe wrote, "A man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days."
That's nonsense.
That's a load of crap.

What exactly is the difference between the concepts of Time and Duration?

Definition of Time:
Time is a measure in which events can be ordered from the past through the present into the future, and also the measure of durations of events and the intervals between them.

Definition of Duration:
Duration is the time during which something continues.

Okay.

So what, then, is a jiffy? If you look it up, you will find that a jiffy is used to measure the duration between alternating power cycles. Also a jiffy is a casual term for a short duration.

Did you ever hear of a hectosecond?
A hectosecond equals 100 seconds
or 1 minute and 40 seconds.

Well, that's enough of that for now.

Oh wait --

Try to imagine this:

The entire universe, in all its immensity, is probably only a drop in a bucket... only a single molecule of some unknowable whole.

Yes, my thoughts are random and scattered.

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Yesterday's episode of Celebrity Jeopardy featured Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller), some female designer, and Zachary Quinto (the new Mister Spock) -- and I noticed that the Answers given by Alex Trebeck were considerably dumbed-down from the usual.

Oh well, they are celebrities, you know.

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Did You Know . . .?

About 400 million years ago, before trees were common, the Earth was covered with giant mushrooms.
source:

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HISTORICAL EVENT

Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane on this day in 2005. Despite being only the third most powerful storm of the 2005 hurricane season, Katrina was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. After briefly coming ashore in southern Florida on August 25 as a Category 1 hurricane, Katrina gained strength before slamming into the Gulf Coast on August 29. In addition to bringing devastation to the New Orleans area, the hurricane caused damage along the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, as well as other parts of Louisiana.

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WORD FOR TODAY

vellichor
noun
the strange wistfulness of used bookstores, which are somehow infused with the passage of time --filled with thousands of old books you’ll never have time to read, each of which is itself locked in its own era, bound and dated and papered over like an old room the author abandoned years ago, a hidden annex littered with thoughts left just as they were on the day they were captured.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Michael Joseph Jackson

(Aug 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009)

Michael Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actor. Called the King of Pop, his contributions to music and dance, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.

Elliott Gould

(born August 29, 1938)

Elliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. In addition to his performance in the classic comedy Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Gould is perhaps best known for his significant roles in Robert Altman films, starring in M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye; and California Split. In recent years, he has starred in a recurring role as Jack Geller on Friends and as Reuben Tishkoff in Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, and Ocean's Thirteen.

John Sidney McCain III

(born August 29, 1936)

John McCain is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican presidential nominee in the 2008 United States presidential election.

Rebecca De Mornay

(born August 29, 1959)

Rebecca De Mornay is an American actress and producer. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business alongside Tom Cruise. Her other notable film roles include Sara in Runaway Train, Thelma in The Trip to Bountiful, Helen McCaffrey in the thriller Backdraft, and her portrayal of the nanny Peyton Flanders in the 1992 thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.

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This Is Who I Am