Day By Day

     

Tucson Weather Today

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I think it's pretentious to create art just for the sake of stroking the artists ego.
--Lou Reed

Yesterday it rained all morning and into the afternoon out here in the scrub east of Tucson. Eva was plenty pissed off about not being able to get outside to run laps around the pool and chase away the wild critters that presumed to invade her territory. So she napped in the front parlor... napped a lot.

RAINY DAY EAST OF TUCSON - December 4, 2014

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Stephen William Hawking is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge.

Stephan Hawking has stated that God does not need to exist.

God does not exist video


What does exist is a pretty darn god website titled:
God Does Not Exist

Below is the opening on the home page:

Welcome.

If there were no journalists and national press to investigate politicians then they would get away with even more crimes than they currently do and government would be filled with even more sleaze and corruption than currently exists. Similarly, if atheists were not proactive then theists would get away with even more delusional beliefs and rational crimes than they currently do. It is insufficient for atheists to simply sit back and ignore the theists and hope they'll go away. History shows that they will keep beating their religion drums until the end of time, irrespective of what philosophical or experimental evidence is put before them.

As I said, this is a pretty darned good website... for those who have a working brain, and are not afraid to use it.

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Did You Know . . .?

Benjamin Franklin wrote a scientific essay about farts. Because he thought European academic societies were pretentious, he responded to a call for scientific papers with his essay, “Fart Proudly,” which suggested research be done to improve the odor of human flatulence.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fart_Proudly

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HISTORICAL EVENT

ON THIS DAY IN 1933 the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment and bringing an end to the era of national prohibition of alcohol in America. At 5:32 p.m. EST, Utah became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, achieving the requisite three-fourths majority of states' approval. Pennsylvania and Ohio had ratified it earlier in the day. After the repeal of the 18th Amendment, some states continued Prohibition by maintaining statewide temperance laws. Mississippi, the last dry state in the Union, ended Prohibition in 1966.

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WORD FOR TODAY

pejorative [puh-JOR-uh-tihv]
adjective
1. Tending to make or become worse.
2. Disparaging; belittling.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney

((Dec 5, 1901 – Dec 15, 1966)

Walt Disney was an American business magnate, cartoonist, and filmmaker. As a prominent figure within the American animation industry and throughout the world, he is regarded as a cultural icon, known for his influence and contributions to entertainment during the 20th century. As a Hollywood business mogul, he and his brother Roy O. Disney co-founded The Walt Disney Company.

Paula Maxine Patton

(born December 5, 1975)

Paula Patton is an American actress, who has appeared in such films as Idlewild, Déjà Vu, Mirrors, Swing Vote, Precious, Just Wright, Jumping the Broom, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Baggage Claim, and 2 Guns.

Francisco "Frankie" Muñiz IV

(born December 5, 1985)

Frankie Muniz is an American actor, musician, writer, producer, and racing driver. He is known primarily as the star of the FOX television family sitcom Malcolm in the Middle.

Little Richard

(born December 5, 1932)

Little Richard (born Richard Wayne Penniman) is an American recording artist, songwriter, and musician. 

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When I was growing up, I was the most pretentious person I have ever met. I only read obscure books and watched obscure movies and only listened to obscure music.
--Richard Melville Hall

This Is Who I Am

   

Deep Thinking

    

Tucson Weather Today

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"As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron.
--H.L. Mencken

I have been trying to think deeply, which is a difficult task at even the best of times, and this is not one of those times, not with Eva putting in her two cents whenever she feels she should do so.

It's about God and the possibility of such a being's existence that I am contemplating. I am not thinking about the mythical god of today's organized religions, a god that was first conceived from scientific ignorance, described and revised through undependable word-of-mouth conversations, and illustrated by succeeding generations of the insufficient intellects of Man.

I am thinking about an unknown and probably unknowable entity that was somehow the instigator of biological life -- and I am thinking about things that cannot be grasped by a human brain, at least in its present stage of development.

In some unknown way, I have long known that I know many things that I do not know. I know...

(Three long nonsensical paragraphs deleted)

For the life of me I don't know why I am pursuing such a useless course of thought.

And neither does Eva.

Hey! I just had a thought... "The sub-atomic particles of quantum mechanics exist only in the mind of the theorist."

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Did You Know . . .?

The Canary Islands are named after dogs, not canaries; the islands' Latin name was Insularia Canaria – Island of the Dogs.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1781 The German-born English astronomer William Hershel discovered Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun. Herschel's discovery of a new planet was the first to be made in modern times, and also the first to be made by use of a telescope, which allowed Herschel to distinguish Uranus as a planet, not a star, as previous astronomers believed.

The planet Uranus is a gas giant like Jupiter and Saturn and is made up of hydrogen, helium, and methane. The third largest planet, Uranus orbits the sun once every 84 earth years and is the only planet to spin perpendicular to its solar orbital plane. In January 1986, the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Voyager 2 visited the planet, discovering 10 additional moons to the five already known, and a system of faint rings around the gas giant.

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WORD FOR TODAY

narcissism
noun 
1. inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.
2. Psychoanalysis: erotic gratification derived from admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Daniel Peter "Danny" Masterson
(born March 13, 1976)

Danny Masterson is an American actor and disc jockey known for his role as Steven Hyde in That '70s Show. He currently stars as Milo Foster in the TBS comedy Men At Work.

Peaches Honeyblossom Geldof
(born 13 March 1989)

Peaches Geldof is a British journalist, television presenter and model.

William Hall Macy, Jr.
(born March 13, 1950)

William H. Macy is an American actor, screenwriter, teacher and director in theater, film and television. His film career has been built mostly on his appearances in small, independent films, though he has appeared in summer action films as well. Macy was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo. He has played the main antagonist in the Showtime television series Shameless.

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard
(Mar 13, 1911 - Jan 24, 1986

L. Ron Hubbard was an American author and the founder of the Church of Scientology.

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The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
--Albert Einstein

To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.
--Confucius

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

    

Twists And Turns Of The Mind

Tucson Weather Today

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In an interesting little piece, George Will wrote:

The Stolen Valor Act of 2005, a compound of political pandering and moral exhibitionism, was whooped through the Senate, aka the "world's greatest deliberative body," by unanimous consent; the House, joining the stampede, passed it by a voice vote.

The Stolen Valor Act allows fines and imprisonment for anyone who falsely claims to have been awarded any military decoration or medal authorized by Congress, with the severest sentences for claiming the highest honors.

Read more: Our problematic speech - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

George Will's articles (and others) always provoke me to introspection, for some reason, often resulting in stirring up intense anger and resentment within my innermost secret thoughts--angers and resentments completely unrelated to the original article. And often it features as the villain: The government. The government. The government.

What it is with me, I suppose, is this festering rage against all authority figures I've always felt, beginning in my subteen years and building throughout my lifetime. Just what is it, I've always wondered, that gives another person (or group of persons) the right to tell me what I can or cannot do?

This question has plagued me all my life and has been the source of many, many misguided, stupid, and just plain wrong decisions I have made. No, I'm not blaming the government for my mistakes in life...

...or am I?

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The Sunday morning TV news shows, sadly, were again profoundly disappointing to me. the Penn State scandal, the Republican debates and the candidate gaffes, and the so obvious schadenfreude of the commentators and round table participants...

And it rained quite a bit this morning, too... which puts a damper on my daily walk schedule.

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We understand nothing of the works of God unless we take it as a principle that He wishes to blind some and to enlighten others.
--Blaise Pascal

Evolution? Good God!

Tucson Weather Today

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I was asked recently what I most regret doing in my life and I thought about it for a while and then decided that the thing I most regret ever doing was turning down the corner of the page of the innocent and inoffensive book I was reading just before I got up out of my chair and went out to the kitchen and fixed myself a bowl of Ramen Noodles... I had turned down the corner so I would be able to more easily find my place when I got back to the reading of that book. I could have used a nearby paper scrap as a page marker but I didn't.

I was just that lazy. Always have been. Probably should regret that, too. Not that I would or could ever do anything about it... being lazy.


There is a point when human progress will stop... will be unable to continue on its current course...and the change might well be a transformation from Homo Sapiens to the inevitable next step in biological mans' ongoing evolution.

And if you think in your vanity that such a change is impossible and if with incredible ignorance you still avow that mankind is the creation of an all-knowing and all-powerful God and that man is therefore the pinnacle of biological life, then I can only remind you of the plight of the Neanderthal.

Think about it.


There is a novelist who poses the idea that there is a place which is no country for old men and I believe that the location of this place is the very plot on which you yourself stand at each and every instant, and that all men are old men... because men are not eternal and what will follow will be something new... and the new will not be merely men... nor women.

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“I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit.”
--Mark Twain

. . . Who Art In Heaven?

Michelangelo's Creation Of Adam

Much of my reading is concerned with the opposing philosophies of Theism and Atheism. There are excellent essays written by seemingly serious thinkers on both sides. Some of them conclude that GOD most definitely exists. Others declare that HE does not. And still others eschew conventional theology while proposing the existence of some undefined HIGHER POWER.

Well, as for me, after seventy years of searching, reading, and quiet contemplation, I have come to believe in that higher power. But not in a God that is vitally concerned with humanity.

More accurately, I believe in the possibility and even the probability of the existence within this vast universe of an entity that is superior to mankind. Or even multiple races of superior and probably undetectable entities. Undetectable because of our lack of sensory organs necessary for such detection and our lack of imaginative powers necessary for even conceiving of such alien (forces?) beings.

Additionally, I believe that we (members of the human race) are probably no more than mere meaningless biological animals that instinctively believe ourselves as having 'importance' or even 'meaning' of some sort.

Although I have honestly tried, I have never been able to believe in the "God" presented to us by organized religious institutions. Their various dogmas are easily recognized when examined dispassionately as being nothing more than a mish-mosh of childish fairy-tales, magical mumbo-jumbo, and fear-inspired superstitious nonsense.

The *higher power* in which I believe is some unknown and perhaps unknowable force that somehow bends the straight line of my rigidly-ruled life into a new (better) direction that I could not accomplish by exertion of my own will alone.

I have experienced this mysterious helper more than once in my life.

To name but two . . .

When I stopped smoking cigarettes (instantly) after 30 years of tobacco addiction.

and . . .

When I stopped drinking (instantly) after many years of alcohol addiction.

There were more.

In the next few days I will attempt to honestly describe some of those times.

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