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Perfection

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We all remember being in writing class class at some point in school with the teacher explaining in depth the true, underlying, meaning of some story as most of us scratched our heads, strongly suspecting that the teacher was full of shit. I’m reminded of this as I read a book about a piano player describing how the left and right hands contribute to the story, portraying full ranges of emotion and every other element that makes a story great. There must be high points, recovery time from those highs, humorous parts, chase scenes, and resolution. Similarly with an artist. How the blank space belittles the subject, how the bold reds and subtly painted eye direction let the viewer in on the subjects true intentions. In performances of all kinds. Motion telling a compelling story, balanced in rhythm, contrasting sections to shock the audience, or flowing, breezy lines of motion pulling at the heart strings. The best teachers always emphasize this adherence to story. Most of us inward
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Here’s what I don’t get. Most republicans are still standing behind Trump and Trump is standing behind Putin. The American flag has become a Republican flag as represented flagging behind dumb ass trucks. How can they say that they represent America more than Democrats and support, by proxy at least, Russia??
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My Price for Gas. CNG

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  So, just to rub it in a bit, here’s the price that I pay at the pump. While I would much prefer to be going completely clean with electric, natural gas is much cleaner than regular gas. And, as you see, much cheaper. $8 bucks will get me down the road a couple hundred miles. So why don’t we all have natural gas cars you ask? You would have to contact your local government official to ask that question. No one has an answer but them. If you want to talk about conspiracies, there you go.
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Temporally Symmetrical Consciousness

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After reading an article the other day describing a new theory that time may be symmetrical, running backwards at the end of the universe, I began to contemplate that reverse universe. The opposite of entropy and everything that ever happened going backwards. The universe would be devoid of consciousness, or would it? You may remember some records created to play back spoken words when played backwards. Sure, not too hard, but consciousness? Perhaps this will remain in the realm of fantasy till the day that we create our post life consciousness that will have virtually limitless intelligence. Perhaps, if they find that time is symmetrical, they will then endeavor to create such a consciousness. I’m fascinated by this reversible consciousness idea. It’s kind of nice to have Dark Matter and Dark Energy as unknowns to mentally see if what we know about it would fill in the missing puzzle piece of some grand conjecture. Perhaps this one?
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Living in a Simulator

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  We are all probably living in a simulator. If you extrapolate the ever increasing realism of the “metaverse” over the next hundred years, considering that the largest companies are now dumping tens of billions of dollars into it, you will come to realize that we will reach total realism in this virtual world, not being about to tell real from fake. The next mental leap, easy enough taken, allows you to realize that if we can achieve it, then it probably has already been achieved before somewhere in the universe. Whoever achieves this ability will be able to make unlimited virtual versions of this universe in simulations. Therefore, there is a good chance, or actually almost definite chance that we are living inside of a simulation as in the Matrix. Ok, many of you have already taken this in. Now, I have to ponder another inevitability that I alone seem to ponder. The reason for life. If all life tends to evolve toward complexity in the long run, then the end goal will be to evo
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The downside of a goal oriented world

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All around us, day in and day out we are suffused with messaging to be our best selves. As Henry Rollins sang “Do it, don’t think about it, do it!” (which Nike immediately stole and turned into their own “Just Do It” ad campaign). Self help books instruct us in a miriad of ways about how to visualize our goals and how to achieve them, despite the odds. After being dragged to church the preacher has us pray as a way to reach our goals, no matter what. I remember thinking at this time that I guess that I should leave my wife and kids to reach my goals, unachievable otherwise. This “Achieve your goals, no matter what” mantra that life gives us causes tension and is probably the root cause for many broken homes. Many of you have endured from me over the years an expression of this tension. My massive mental bag of goals, such as having hours a day to play my piano, ride every skatepark in the world, yada yada, have given me nothing but grief. I have great kids and a hard ass May as
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Noting the checkout notes

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  A few years ago I mentioned that I noticed that the local grocery store scanner beep sounds were a B flat note. Aaron Seeman kindly pointed out that it was because the beeps are based upon the 60 cycle hum of our alternating current. Last night I noticed that Albertson’s grocery store uses an A flat note. My conclusion is that some person somewhere at their HQ made the decision that an A flat note would be the best note to be heard over and over. To beat this monotony, I pull up a piano app and riff off the note. I can’t help makings up music every time I hear a chime sound. Sorry to all of those around me who have to endure the whistling or piano riffs.
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