To Sleep Or Not To Sleep

Tucson Weather Today

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It's been four days since I had a cup of coffee in the morning. And I feel like crap. The main reason I decided to stop my caffeine intake was an experiment to see if this would cure my worrisome inability to sleep at night. A maximum of four or five hours of uninterrupted sleep was all I had been able to manage for quite some time now. I suspected the villain was caffeine.

Sure enough, last night I went to sleep at ten o'clock and slept until five this morning. That's seven hours. The night before that was roughly the same. So it appears that the build up of caffeine in my body is indeed the culprit.

But I just feel completely out of it throughout most of the day. I know, yes I know, that a single cup of coffee would bring me back up to the level whereby I could push myself into giving a damn about whether I do anything or not.

Isn't that pathetic?

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Why do I think anyone else but me would care about such subjective revelations?

I don't.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Albert Einstein

Born March 14, 1879

Died on Apr 18, 1955

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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
--Albert Einstein

Lack Of Caffeine

Tucson Weather Today

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I got a late start today. Well, no... I started to write this entry at 5:30 this morning, Tucson Time, which is of course 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time. But for some reason I could not put two words together in my mind, let alone type them into the file. So I downloaded and read my overnight email, checked celebrity birthdays, hunted up a quotation, and shut the computer down.

No coffee. That's three days of no caffeine. That might be one of the reasons for my current feelings of lethargy, both mental and physical.

So, now at 4:00 P.M. I am finally getting around to uploading this to blogger.

Oh . . . I did manage to get out for my two-mile walk today.

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My Word For Today

fictitious
Adjective
Not real or true, being imaginary or having been fabricated.
Of, relating to, or denoting the imaginary characters and events found in fiction.

Although I have long been well aware of the meaning of this word, I decided to post it anyway.

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BORN ON THIS DAY

L. Ron Hubbard

Science Fiction Writer

Jokester and Charlatan

Born March 13, 1911

Died January 24, 1986

According to Wikipedia: Science Fiction writer L. Sprague de Camp wrote to Isaac Asimov on August 27, 1946, to tell him: "The more complete story of Hubbard is that he is now in Florida living on his yacht with a man-eating tigress named Betty-alias-Sarah, another of the same kind... He will probably soon thereafter arrive in these parts with Betty-Sarah, broke, working the poor-wounded-veteran racket for all its worth, and looking for another easy mark. Don't say you haven't been warned. Bob [Robert Heinlein] thinks Ron went to pieces morally as a result of the war. I think that's fertilizer, that he always was that way, but when he wanted to conciliate or get something from somebody he could put on a good charm act. What the war did was to wear him down to where he no longer bothers with the act."

Which means that Hubbard was recognized from the beginning as a man to be avoided and his ideas to be ignored.

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That's all I have for now. Hopefully tomorrow I will have more to offer.

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"I find that writing is a constant battle with exactly the same problems you've always had."
--Douglas Adams

No Title Necessary

Tucson Weather Today

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Did not get enough sleep last night and am feeling listless this morning. Hopefully I will pep up later. If so, maybe I can come up with something worthwhile to add to the blog... if not, "Oh well."

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My Word For Today

subsume
to include within a larger class, group, order, etc.
to show (an idea, instance, etc.) to be covered by a rule, principle, etc.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Barbara Feldon

(Agent 99)
Get Smart

born March 12, 1932

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Tomorrow night is nothing but one long sleepless wrestle with yesterday's omissions and regrets.
William Faulkner

One Year Ago in Japan

On March 11, 2011 a 9.0 magnitude tremor shook the Northeast section of Japan, triggering a tsunami and killing thousands of people.The Fukushima nuclear power plant was also damaged and began leaking radiation. Clearing up and rebuilding has been a huge task and one year later, there is still much more that needs to be done.

Many more pictures HERE

A Year After Fukushima

Debris one year later

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Daylight Saving Time (United States) began Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 2:00 am and ends Sunday, November 4, 2012, 2:00 am. Except Arizona and Hawaii. Move your clocks ahead 1 hour in spring and back 1 hour in fall.

Not having to put up with the twice each year nuisance of having to change time on all the clocks in the house is just another of the many advantages of living here in Tucson, Arizona. As of today, though, I will have to remember that until November we are now three hours behind the East Coast instead of only two.

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George Will was absent from the this week show's The Round Table. Without his calm, insightful conservative presence, it just ain't worth watching.

George Will's column in the Washington Post, regarding how Big Government can ignore The Law and get away with it will make you think... unless you are so brain-washed by socialist dogma that you can no longer think for yourself.

And that ultra-lengthy Cartier Jewelery commercial at the half-hour, with the dragon, leopard, sea monsters, sophisticated wealthy lady and the seemingly classical background music absolutely mystified me. All that imagery and computer aided graphics, the tools used by movie makers for their Action Adventure and childish mythological fairy tale films.

Does that actually sell jewelry?

No doubt.

I'm getting too old for the times.

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My Word For Today

contumely
(Noun)
Insolent or insulting language or treatment.
Synonyms
affront - insult - outrage

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Below is a link to a valuable resource for those who seek to increase their knowledge.

University of Toronto English Library

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Sam Donaldson

Born March 11, 1934

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Just when I was wondering what the Brits were up to lately, along comes the Post to update me:

The Washington Post reports:

Even as the Republican primaries highlight America’s divide over the separation of church and state, Britain finds itself locked in a debate over religion that is entangling not just the British government but even Queen Elizabeth II. The move to ban public prayers in tiny Bideford -- and potentially across all of England and Wales -- has erupted into a national proxy fight over the question of whether Christianity should still hold a privileged place in a modern, diverse and now highly secular society.

Perhaps organized religion is on its way out. It will take a long time, though. Oh well... successful human evolution takes a long time as well. Both are worth waiting for.

Probably . . .

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The questions don't do the damage. Only the answers do.
--Sam Donaldson

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Tucson Weather Today

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I recently read Neurons V Free Will which is an intriguing article in the intelligent life magazine. Admittedly I did not understand it completely, but I'm used to that. Experts on complicated subjects usually do not communicate their ideas clearly enough for me to grasp them. Or else my brain's workings are not all that powerful.

The majority of comments following the article were scornful of it and of the author. So perhaps I am better off having merely skimmed the piece and not having delved more deeply into it. Often I find the end comments more productive than the article itself. One comment from Alexandre Pilan for example, is: "Neuroscience today is like x-raying an Intel i7 processor to see what are the trend-topics in twitter."

As if I didn't already have enough to be confused about, now I am stuck with the puzzling (to me) aspects of Free Will or Not Free Will residing in the minds of human beings.

Maybe I'll sleep on it.

Maybe . . .

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I found a word that I was
unsure of. I looked it up.

quant
noun
1. a long pole for propelling a boat, especially a punt, by pushing on the bottom of a river or lake
verb
2.
to propel (a boat) with a quant
informal
A highly paid computer specialist with a degree in a quantitative science, employed by a financial house to predict the future price movements of securities, commodities, currencies, etc
Business Slang
An expert in quantitative analysis.

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A memo arrived at my email inbox a few minutes ago. Here is the title and the first paragraph:

RELEASE: 12-063

NASA LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION TO DEVELOP SPACE APPS

WASHINGTON -- NASA, governments around the world and civil society organizations will co-host the International Space Apps Challenge on April 21-22 with events across seven continents and in space.

Being a curious snooper, I conquered my distaste of the term "Apps" and read the rest of the report. After all, I am subscribed to the service that reveals what NASA is up to lately. As I suspected, this particular memo held no interest for me whatsoever. If you want to find out more about the subject, here is the link.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Sharon Stone

Born March 10, 1958

Also, Osama bin Laden was born March 10, 1957.
Executed by American Navy Seals -- May 1, 2011.

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Trying to find human life in the brain is like trying to hear the rustle of a forest by listening to a seed.
--Raymond Tellis

A Windy Day In Tucson

Tucson Weather Today

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It's early in the morning here in Tucson but the wind is blowing fiercely already, not a steady blow but in fits and bursts. According to the TV weather report the wind is to grow stronger as the day progresses, and a warning of dust storms crossing I-10 is posted. A danger of the spread of existing and newly created wild fires is a distinct possibility.

This seems to be one of those rare days when excusing myself from my daily walk is a definite maybe.

Oh well . . . there are plenty of other things for me to do instead, some computer related chores for the most part.

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As part of my ongoing project to construct a Family History of sorts, I have been collecting together a number of old photographs from albums packed away in the closet and then scanning them into a folder (titled Memories) on my computer. These pictures bring back recollections of my younger days, some of them nostalgic and others perhaps better left unrecalled.

The snapshot just below was taken in 1983 when I was living alone in Chicago, a few months before Donna and I were married.

Charles Gene Chambers

Age 44 (1983)

Below is another picture that was taken a bit earlier in that same year, dressed in my work clothes. I was employed by Teletype Corporation in Skokie, Illinois as a senior technician in the Research & Development Proving Laboratories

Charles Gene Chambers

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I found a word I was unsure of
its meaning -- so I looked it up.

endemic (en-DEM-ic)
adj.
1.
Prevalent in or peculiar to a particular locality, region, or people: diseases endemic to the tropics.
2.
Native to or confined to a certain region.

The Free Dictionary explains it in more depth.

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BORN ON THIS DAY

Yuri Gagarin

First Man In Space

born March 9, 1934

died March 27, 1968

Also born on this day . . .

Mickey Spillane

(Creator of Mike Hammer)

March 9, 1918 - July 17, 2006

More than 225 million copies of his books have sold internationally. I remember well the days in Junior High School when we (the guys in our class) gathered in the Boys Rest Room and passed around a battered copy of I, The Jury with, of course, the appropriate pages dog-eared and certain passages underlined in ink.



This was not a book of poetry.


Or was it?

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"Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo."
--Don Marquis

Today Is International Women's Day

International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women's Day is a national holiday.



Suffragettes campaigned in the U.S. for women's right to vote. The word Suffragette is derived from the word "suffrage" which means the right to vote. International Women's Day honors the work of the Suffragettes, celebrates women's success, and reminds of the many inequities still to be redressed. The very first International Women's Day event was run in 1911. 2011 was the Global Centenary Year.


Read more . . .

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I found a word that I was
unsure of. I looked it up.

suffrage

(noun)
1.
the right to vote, especially in a political election.
2.
a vote given in favor of a proposed measure, candidate, or the like.
3.
a prayer, especially a short intercessory prayer or petition.

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SHAIMA JASTAINA, WOMEN'S RIGHTS CAMPAIGNER: Saudi Arabia is the only country where women are not allowed to drive. Campaigners have been protesting against the ban for years -- in the early 1990s, 50 women lost their jobs for flouting the rules that force women to rely on male relatives, taxis or drivers -- but this year the focus was on one woman. In July Jastaina took to the road in Jeddah, later telling her old lecturer from the US, Nivien Saleh: 'I want to be able to drive ... and I want other women to be able to do the same. It's a basic human right.' Instead she became the first woman to be tried and sentenced for the 'crime'. Her punishment, which caused global uproar, was 10 lashes of the whip. Although it was reported the ruling was overturned by the late King Abdullah, Saleh said last week that Jastaina is still facing the punishment.

I read the above paragraph HERE as part of my research on the topic of women's rights.

The one sentence I question is, "It's a basic human right." Actually it's not. Not in the United States, anyway. I was taught many years ago that driving a motor vehicle is a privilege not a right.

There seems to be some controversial discussions lately about what constitutes a basic human right.

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Persian Letters is a blog that offers a window into Iranian politics and society. Written primarily by Golnaz Esfandiari, Persian Letters brings you under-reported stories, insight and analysis, as well as guest Iranian bloggers.

Topless Iranian Women Say No To Political Islam appeared in Persian Letters blog. I'm not sure how this short article supports International Women's Day.

But who am I to reason why?

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Look back, to slavery, to suffrage, to integration and one thing is clear. Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts.
--Anna Quindlen