"Considering the unforeseen events..."

 being in the desert gives one much incentive for reflection on the human condition....

lets start with some good news for a change..."High school basketball team gives up title after the coach discovers they didn't actually win." (3 min)..."The most beautiful wingsuit flight I've done" (3:34) Joanne's/ wingsuit...."Teen workers save restaurant as owner spends months in hospital(4:27)...also I found some really good music from a person whom I met long ago..."Eliana" (4:05) is a superb piece of musical nostalgia which is mr Steve Conns speciality. Also "Annalee" is well done..."20 Ph.D's in the time of one,  how AI is changing college" (9:51)Bloomberg Television... "Improve your lymphatic system for overall health and appearance' by dr Andrew Huberman (1 hr. 40 min) is about something one does not hear about nearly enough and how the lymphatic system is essential to good health...Also I really enjoyed "Trinity sessions revisited Cowboy Junkies with Natalie Merchant (57 min.) this is one of the most artfully presented musical concerts I have ever seen...the director of photography is Eugene O' Conner and deserves special mention...I think this was filmed in "Church of the Holy Trinity in 2007...ms.Merchants voice is remarkably dynamic...there is a very good interview with Michael Timmins  the superb guitarist of the Cowboy Junkies which illustrates the special qualities which this musical group brings to their performances at "Rock and Roll ghost (S14 E1)...this concert is as much a seance as a music performance!...also as a fan of the Clark Creative ensemble I like to go back and review the presentations from some time ago such as "You can call me Al" the Paul Simon tune...Ms. "B" is undoubtedly one of the most animated performers ever to take the stage...she also has a presentation where she performs with a hula-hoop....only Shakira come close to her degree of animation...I am sure that her Mom is behind the camera giving her cues on "dance" moves....good fun!....

"Considering the unforeseen events of this world, we should be taught that no human condition should inspire men with absolute despair." H. Fielding

"A stone thrown ..."

 as I was gathering my belongings into my truck to move yesterday morning (it only took 5 hours!) I nearly gathered up this beautiful reptile before my monkey brain recognized the potential danger of doing so...I got it into a bucket and dumped it 50 yards away unhurt except for its pride perhaps....

as I watch the early morning news I see where the federal government has not figured out how to make government work...yet...I listened with some interest of the Albanian governments utilization of Artificial Intelligence in their government..actually in the position of administrator of some sort...this makes much more sense than waiting for elected persons to do their job...to the detriment of a smoothly operating government ....when the supplemental food allocation is not available I am sure that hungry people will be less controllable than the well fed...however...as more businesses reduce their workforce more people need to find "rewarding" occupation of their time...when I look around to see what needs to be done it occurs to me that there is much trash that could be picked up....just a suggestion....the television is quite keen on the jewelry which was stolen in France...not edible...lets move on...I hear a lot of dis-satisfaction about the current POTUS guy tearing down a building to put up another building...one of the problems in the USA today is the ossification of society/government....change is needed to keep fresh ideas coming into use...AND!!!...the current POTUS guy is old and will "shuffle off this mortal coil" soon enough...buildings are the least of the problems in this country....some useful Youtube presentations (with hopeful ideas) are as follows..."Why doctors say "OpenEvidence" is a game changer"...this presentation illuminates how effective AI will be in reviewing massive amounts of information to make better and faster medical decisions...."the operation was a success but the patient died" is not a good thing..."What is Biocomputing" (BBC news) 6:41 is about using living cells for computational purposes....PsycHacks "Weed is more dangerous than you think" is concerned with the psychological reasons people get high...some true some not...Lex Fridman interviews Julia Shaw about her specialty which is "criminal psychology of murder"...she also speaks eloquently about sex and sexual preferences etc...well worth the time (2hours 42min)..." How Chinese cartels took over Maine with no law enforcement response" ...this is pretty scary stuff...."How English Archers Made Knights obsolete in one afternoon"...ouch! this intriguing historical documentary gives one much food for thought about the future of all warfare...(22 minutes)

got to go now..."miles to go before I sleep"

"A stone thrown at the right time is better than gold given at the wrong time." Persian Proverb

"I had rather have..."

 

top image first morning...quartzite...second image...last morning in coconino forest 23 degrees F...last image the savior mechanic....mr Franco....

I was up at dawn last Thursday to pack up and go into town for my blood work etc...appointment at 1:30 I am on the road by 2 pm headed west and south...the truck is "not well"...I miss my hwy 95 south turn and take the second hwy 95 south turn at needles ,calif....if you have ever not wanted to break down this is the road you do not want to break down on...winding, hilly, desert dangerous...the truck is "not well"...after what seems like hours I finally get to I-10 intersection and the truck barely makes it up the hills headed east towards Quartzite...I feel like a disaster is about to happen....the truck is "not well"....I go up the hills with my emergency flashers on at 25 miles and hour on the interstate...I finally get to the first Quartzite exit and when I take a left towards Main Street I wonder if I should leap from the overpass onto the highway...too messy I decide....I take a right onto Main Street and after a few hundred yards the engine stops and the red battery light comes on...the truck is "terminally ill"...I coast into an empty lot next to a store that is closed and imagine the truck is ready for the crusher....I sleep a fitful sleep sitting up in the passenger seat...at dawn I turn the key in the ignition and GLORIORSKI!...the engine starts and I put it into gear and the truck moves ahead!....I pull into a driveway with a "honey for sale" sign that I have been to before....the honey salesman is gone but another vendor (in a town of vendors) is taking about vendors stuff and life as a vendor etc...I ask him if the knows of any decent mechanics in town...he has a business card on a desk which has the name and number of a mechanic....I am not hopeful however...I drive out onto the road and marvel at the very fact that the truck moves...I go towards the scratched and dented tent (this is quartzite Arizona and 3/4 of the town is here on a temporary basis.)..I call the number on the card and the man says he is at the corner with all the statuary...never seen it but I will find it....I buy 14 dollars worth of groceries and head towards the statuary corner...I find the mechanic talking with another guy and I open the hood of the truck and start the truck...I tell him the transmission is shot...he looks and leans and listens for a few minutes...he says it ain't the transmission....I say the spark plugs are 20 thousand miles past due to be replaced...he says yep...lets do that first...he says I should go to where I am going to camp...(Quartzite is surrounded by thousands of campsites in the desert) I go to the auto parts store and buy $225 worth of plugs and boots then head to the closest desert camping area (14 days for free)...the next day the mechanic shows up and like a man obsessed begins working on changing the spark plugs...several mechanics shops I had asked about changing the spark plugs said it was too hard and they would not do it...this mechanic has worked all around the world on ships and on farm equipment and whatever...life is a challenge to him and he takes that challenge...he finished the job in more than two hours but less than 3 hours....I drove the truck 8o miles to the closest town with another auto parts store and got a serpentine belt and he replaced that too...I drove the truck 70 miles south to Yumertonville with the air conditioner on and it seems to run fine and after two years NO ENGINE LIGHT!...I suppose I should consider this truck breakage to be pretty normal but I was so sure that it was the end of "life as we know it" that it feels more miraculous than normal....

"I had rather have a fool make me merry than experience make me sad."   Shakespeare

"Indeed, the dictum..."

black  cattle (Angus?) are a great improvement in herd management over the boney longhorns
 

 these red headed caterpillars seem to be specific to a single species of plant..many of the elk hunters seem to think that driving down the pipeline right of way is sufficient scouting to get an elk...however if you walk around a bit you can see where the elk have fed and pooped...and also enjoy the rest of nature...

rain, rain and more rain seems to be the weather forecast today...up at 4 am and by now I have ground considerable coffee beans with my recently purchased coffee bean grinder...super heavy duty and capable of producing a finer grind than the USB powered one I already own...munched half a dozen croissants and consumed 2 mugs of coffee probably to the detriment of my nervous system...I have done worse, much worse...was remembering my months (10 months) in New Orleans in 1984 when I often walked home from Miss Mays Place pool and bar in the early dawn light after listening to jazz music in Tylers beer garden till 2 am or so...one would think I would be a much better pool player than I am after spending so much time in pool joints...anyhow, I survived that episode of my life and suppose it was a learning experience...for someone as stupid as me "it takes a whole lot to medicine to make be believe that I'm somebody else"... (thanks randy)...I just listened to "Philosophize this'  on the stoics...mr west does a good job of explaining how mr Aurelius managed to come to write his "meditations"...this mans writing is some of the first philosophy I ever read...and found it engaging enough to continue a lifelong pursuit of other peoples philosophic world views...and I have come to realize that everyone is living according to some worldview or another... but that does not allow us to be regarded as philosophers any more than scribbling some doggerel makes us a poet...however ones self image is more important than how others view us...I was awakened at 2 am this morning by  the talking outside my room...also the regular horn sounding on the auto outside the room was a way of harassing me...alas and alack I am forever being subjected to meanness by a rotten segment of the population...I think that since I published the names of several of the constabulary from Oregon who were convicted of crimes of a sexual nature (actually most of these cops were guilty of failing to report the sexual abuse of co-workers) such is the way some people use their power...and in calling for the release of Rap Brown who killed a couple of cops during a time when blacks were being executed by rogue cops I have incurred  the rathe of more than a few officers of the law....well so be it...yesterday I was stalked by a member of the more soiled contingent of the local law enforcement community... this happens regularly and often these folks like to refer to me as "the perv"...which is not a compliment....but I don't care to retract any criticisms I have made about corruption...police work is very difficult and needs to be supported not condemned...a few of the better YouTube presentations I have viewed recently are ..."Organisms are processes, not things"Wahida Chandler (20min) and "Heidegger's They-Self: WhyYou're Not actually living your own life"...this entire lecture needs to be listened to for it to be understood..."How to control your inner voice and increase your resilience" Dr. Ethan Kross (3 hours 9min.) a good explanation of inner dialogue and how it effects you...

"Indeed, the dictum that truth always triumphs over persecutions, is one of those pleasant falsehoods which men repeat after one another till they pass into common places, but all experience refutes." J.S. Mill

  

"I wish men to be free..."

 I have baked corn muffins, onions, potatoes, apples, peaches, fish, beans and eggs in my solar cooker

a fat happy cow munching mucho grass in the silva grazing area...more water is needed however...

I see on the BBC news channel this morning that some people are expecting the death and destruction in Gaza and nearby places to slow up...to quote Waylon Jennings..."I'll believe it when I see it and I haven't seen it yet..."according to General Russell Honore' (Retired) the USA gives 11.5 million dollars a day to Israel...shame shame shame!...AND! in the last two years the USA has given Israel $21.7 billion bucks....shame shame shame...If Trump is "Putins Putty"...he has been "Netanyahu"s Ninny"...I would like to see a more scientific approach to keeping the peace...there are some excellent Youtube presentations pertaining to relationships...I have taken to putting my phone in the top pocket of my vest to listen to the YouTube presentations while I walk around doing photography in the morning and also while I am cooking breakfast etc ...in keeping up with the current state of affairs in the ever interesting (DULL, DULL ,DULL!)...such riveting stories about such buttheads as mr. Diddy Combs..."here is Diddy thinks with his testicles and  all his sex is spectacles"...more money than brains...some helpful presentations might be "Freud, Hollywood and the Male Gaze" (The British Academy) 15minutes..."How to understand emotions' Dr. Lisa Barret (2hours and 20 minutes) Huberman #129..."How to find build and maintain healthy romantic relationships" Dr. Esther Perel...Dr. A Huberman...this is an excellent presentation and covers a lot of subject matter with Dr. Huberman contributing his extensive research experience...in the evenings I watch a lot of music videos and BOPFLIX has a lot of musical offerings of a certain genre...

"I wish men to be free, as much from mobs and kings- from you as me." Lord Byron

"Communication= from the latin..."

 top image = probably 2 species of caterpillar...next image is metal lid from a container of axel grease...from back when there were wagons crossing this area...the next image is of 4 small obsidian flaked tools all of which have a similar small half circle flaked spot which I think was used to scrape sinew clean for use...just conjecture on my part...

I have been able to listen to a lot of YouTube presentations over the last month or so, and I am amazed at how didactic these scholarly offerings are...I do however take umbrage at some of the comments I have heard about "social media"...it is buffet and it ain't all healthy...so choose well and nourish your mind...or not...there is a fellow who goes by the moniker "internet anarchist' who has said about Lex Fridman..."he rarely adds anything meaningful to the conversations and even when he does it's rarely anything interesting..."....this is the opposite of my impression of Dr. Fridmans many presentations...and he probably also has the best screen in screen additions...he is a master of making things clear for his viewers...he had an interview (# 482) with a mr Pavel Durov who founded "TELEGRAM" which is a messaging application I think...it is known for being able to transmit information without being hacked by others than the intended  recipient...supposedly....mr. Durov spent some jail time in France while the French authorities tried to convince him to turn over his "keys" to the kingdom as it were...he allegedly resisted...this interview which is 4 hours and 34 minutes long is interesting in that mr. Durov  explains his history as an academic in Russia as a teenager and his decision to create this popular application which has brought him some wealth and fame...his image online without upper body clothing illustrates the result of his intense exercise regime...and also may account for his attractiveness to women and his 106 offspring...some of which were as a sperm doner...Dr. Fridman seems to be enthusiastic about folks who are disciplined in their exercise routines...however, since I also exercised daily at my labor jobs I cannot but wonder if some of these folks might not be more "useful" while expending energy... as Capt. Elon Musk often says "BE USEFUL"...towards the end of this interview Durov says with some enthusiasm that he is a fan of "Snoop Dogg" and mr. Dogg has a telegram account with which he managed to sell a lot of snoop dog gifts otherwise known as useless plastic crap...in his latest "musical?" offering mr Dogg  seems to be suffering from the effects of a lifelong pot addiction...amazingly Mr. Durov does not use drugs or alcohol or even coffee...so what his attraction is to the the pimp and pothead mr dogg I cannot imagine....however, one of the things that mr Durov holds sacred is "anonymous communication"...that is to say no restrictions on communication...this is the opposite of what Ralph Nader advocates,,,who says no anonymous communication on the internet is best...something between these two views might be best..."Communication= from the latin "communicatio"= making common...a fundamental concept in the study of behavior, whether by humans, animals, or machines that acts as a frame of reference for the concept of language. Communication refers to the transmission of information (a message) between a source and a receiver, using a signaling system.""Communicative Shift"= speech developed 50 to 60 thousand years ago... Script developed 5500 years ago...Print developed 500 years ago and now artificial intelligence which is less than a decade old and which appears to be poised to dominate human communication...a phase shift in what humans can expect to encounter...