Death of Hypatia®

Author: Death of Hypatia Inc.

  • WIBCI Post #136

    WIBCI we learned to eat more crow?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If credit was given where it was due?

     

    I can’t believe I’m typing this but…..

    some credit MUST be given to the President of these United States.

    FOR THE PAST 72 HOURS…IN A ROW…. the POTUS has NOT:

    • lied to the public in an address, speech, and/or comment on camera,
    • posted a regrettable opinion on a social media platform,
    • performed military operations without Congressional approval,
    • defied the Constitution,
    • enacted an Executive Order that oppresses the poor whilst advancing the rich,
    • offended an entire collection of individuals,
    • utilized the Department of Justice for personal vengeance,
    • and/or exhibited a cringy lack of decorum internationally

    Maybe he’s not so bad?

     

     

    April Fools.

     

     

     … more “WIBCI Post #136”

  • Know Thyself #136

    Know Thyself through proper INFLUENCE

    It seems to me, as much as you are using public air, the least you can do in return for this high privilege is to try to do something to bring people closer together.

    – Ed Sullivan

    This was said 40-50 years ago when ‘public air’ means something much different than it does now. But imagine if our influencers were humbled by their ‘high privilege’ and tried to bring us closer together…

    Would it make a difference?

     … more “Know Thyself #136”

  • WIBCI Post #135

    WIBCI we listened to Denis Miller?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If compared to today’s political climate, 36 years ago didn’t seem progressive?

    On October 8th, 1988, a few weeks before George Bush Sr. was elected President of the US, Denis Miller during SNL’s Weekend Update had this to say:

    You know, I don’t even think the Presidential system works anymore. I’m advocating a new system, the volleyball-tocracy. We elect six men, one of them serves until he screws up, they rotate, somebody else takes it for a while. 

    I think he was on to something…..… more “WIBCI Post #135”

  • Know Thyself #135

    Know Thyself through visceral REACTIONS

    I watched an opening day baseball game last night. It did not make me feel good.

    The commentators were doing a live interview with the second baseman….during the game.

    Not during warmup, not in between innings, not during the 7th inning stretch…during the game. The commentators thought it better to split the focus of the professional athlete from the professional sporting event he was being paid millions for, with witty repartee with streaming color hacks.

    What’s next? Home run shouts outs to the highest bidder?

    Just when I thought you couldn’t pretend less to be entertainment…. you prove to be an obvious, tacky, in your face, no rest for the wicked, shameless, eyeball whore, advertisement.… more “Know Thyself #135”

  • WIBCI Post #134

    WIBCI we were more like dogs?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If created less chaos?

    Cesar Millan, ‘The Dog Whisperer’ was interviewed on PBS’ To Dine with Date Sullivan. They were having dinner at his favorite restaurant and talking about how he went from homeless immigrant to where he was today. Specifically he was talking about how he learned he had to rehabilitate the human owners, NOT the dogs.

    “Human rationalize, we have a choice, so we should be like the most balanced of them all, but we are not.

    We are the ones that create confusion, happiness, and chaos, all over the world.

    Animals would never aim for confusion, happiness and chaos; they would never follow an unstable leader, ever, woman or a man.

    We are the only species to follow unstable leaders.”

    Ain’t that the truth.

    So I thought about it. We also seem to be the only species capable of extinguishing another. Just us and Mother Nature/time. We are the only species that enslaves. We are the only species that takes more than we need.

    Seems everybody else might be better at this whole evolution thing…

    What do YOU think?… more “WIBCI Post #134”

  • Know Thyself #134

    Know Thyself through SAMENESS

    It’s the sameness I’m talking about now. Sameness in spite of difference.

    Different sounds for the words, but the same ideas.

    Different colors, but the same spirit.

    Different churches but the same faith.

    Different liquor but the same hang overs.

    Different jokes but the same laughter.

    Different faces but the same humanity.

    Thank God for the differences, because it is out of those differences that culture grows and grows big in all directions at once.

    – Orson Welles

    I agree with Mr. Welles differences should be celebrated. When I visit a foreign city, I don’t want drive thru fast food just like I can get in the good ole U. S. of A., I want what she’s having.

    Disliking differences I believe to be a sign of cowardice and insecurity.

    Fly those freak flags!… more “Know Thyself #134”

  • WIBCI Post #133

    WIBCI we knew why the US is conducting an oil blockade in Cuba?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If our government talked to us?

    Oil blockades don’t hurt governments, they hurt people. People can’t cook. People can’t get to work. People can’t get surgeries. I can find out who and how we are doing this, but the WHY remains unclear. So the POTUS can instruct our military to harm to the citizens of another country and doesn’t have to explain the rationale to us?

    When government motives aren’t explained, government actions appear sketchy.

    Sorry I’m a citizen who questions, I know how you hate that.… more “WIBCI Post #133”

  • Know Thyself #133

    Know Thyself through LITERATURE

    The following is from Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse. This novel is what I consider a slow burn. Really well written, relays a definite feeling, but for this particular short book, I found it better to sip than to chug. Historically, I’m a very slow reader, I often reread, or even start over, if I don’t feel like ‘I got it’, or I wasn’t fully paying attention. I also tend towards ‘classics’ which have proven over time to be worthy of getting, so rather than assume a book that I can’t put down isn’t worth it, I soldier on. My point is, I really like Steppenwolf in doses, therefore I’m offering my selections, perspective, questions, and suggested contemplations to you likewise in doses, at least a triumvirate.

    Steppenwolf, can you sadly relate? Part I:

    The forgotten years of my youth came back to me. How I used to love the dark, sad evenings of late autumn and winter, how eagerly I imbibed their moods of loneliness and melancholy when wrapped in my cloak I strode for half the night through rain and storm, through the leafless winter landscape, lonely enough then too, but full of deep joy and full of poetry which later I wrote down by candlelight sitting on the edge of my bed. All that was past now. The cup was emptied and would never to be filled again. Was that a matter for regret? No, I did not regret the past. My regret was for the present day, for all the countless hours and days I lost to mere passivity and that brought me nothing, not even the shocks of awakening. 

    I cannot relate so very much to striding through storms, I like me a good storm, but from a warm, protected, vantage point with wifi, not for striding. But I can relate to a time when being with just myself was enjoyable, something I looked forward to; I liked spending time with me and hearing what it is I thought. There were even times when I did sit on the edge of a bed at night to capture thoughts that came from me. In accordance with Mr. Hesse, these recordable, non-regrettable moments don’t occur as often as they once did as the rest of the world keeps barging in on me…and me. Also in accordance, I too feel zero regret when I look back on my life, I feel this only when I look forward.

    Good choices or bad, I made them and I lived then.

    I feel like my ability to make my own choices is leaking, and I’m not exactly sure how to describe what I’m doing now.

     … more “Know Thyself #133”

  • WIBCI Post #132

    WIBCI those with voices, used them?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If celebrities with an audience of 17.86 million also had balls?

    I watched the Academy Awards, half live, have later.

    What I noticed is this; of all the people who spoke on the microphone that night, the only ones who actually had guts and took advantage of those listening to speak to one or more of the horrendous things going on in the world….

    – weren’t white men.

    Is this complacency because you are the last group to ever be suppressed, is it because you have no lack-of-rights to complain of, or is it because those affected by all the bad in our current society….. AREN’T YOU?

    Be cooler if you cared beyond your career.… more “WIBCI Post #132”

  • Know Thyself #132

    Know Thyself

    Due to our Country’s 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I’ve been on a bit of a Benjamin Franklin kick. You may have heard the story of how upon exiting the Constitutional Convention Benjamin Franklin was approached by a group of citizens asking what sort of government the delegates had created.

    Wikipedia: The source of this quotation is a journal kept by James McHenry (1753-1816) while he was a Maryland delegate to the Constitutional Convention. On the page where McHenry records the events of the last day of the convention, September 18, 1787, he wrote: “A lady asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy – A republic, replied the Doctor, if you can keep it.” Then McHenry added: “The Lady here alluded to was Mrs. Powel of Philada (Elizabeth Willing Powel).” The journal is at the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. 

    A republic, if you can keep it. What amazing forethought two and a half centuries ago. They just CREATED a form of government, one that Benjamin Franklin knew in 1787 would be difficult to hold together.

    If he could see us in 2026, what do YOU think Dr. Franklin’s thoughts would be on our ‘keeping’ abilities?

     

    full story… more “Know Thyself #132”

  • WIBCI Post #131

    WIBCI honoring our nation’s champions wasn’t polarizing?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If our administration appeared worthy to bestow ‘honors’?

    White House visits by championship teams (per wikipedia):

    In the United States, the winner of a professional championship game, such as the Super Bowl or World Series, often visits the White House after winning said championship. Usually, the championship team meets with whoever the president of the United States is at the time, and the president gives a speech related to the team.

    Although the exact start of the tradition of championship teams visiting the White House is unknown, the earliest known time it happened was on August 30, 1865. On that day, then president Andrew Johnson welcomed two amateur baseball teams to the White House: the Brooklyn Atlantics and Washington Nationals.

    The first time a professional sports team visited the White House was in 1869 when the Cincinnati Red Stockings visited Ulysses S. Grant at the White House.

    In 1963, John F. Kennedy welcomed the Boston Celtics to the White House, that being the first time an NBA team visited the White House.

    In 1992, the Toronto Blue Jays became the first Canadian-based team to visit the White House, following their victory in the 1992 World Series.

    These visits are usual, they’ve been recorded happenings for over 160 years.

    Maybe it’s just me, but White House visits under our current regime seem….unusual.

    It is not unusual for individuals to decline such an invitation, Larry Bird did not visit Ronald Reagan in 1984, Michael Jordan played golf instead of meeting President Bush in 1991, and ‘In 2011, Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas refused an invitation to visit the White House after the team’s Stanley Cup win due to his belief that the federal government had grown out of control under the presidency of Barack Obama.

    What is UNUSUAL is that entire teams have refused to meet our current President.

    What is also UNUSUAL is that 50% or 10 out of 20 of the teams invited to the White House during our current administration, never met the President.

    And what is also UNUSUAL is that our current leader is the first and only President of the United States who has ever revoked/taken back/had his fingers crossed per an invitation to the White House for our nation’s champions.

    Classy.… more “WIBCI Post #131”

  • Know Thyself #131

    Know Thyself through HISTORY:

    According to the US Department of the interior’s National Park Service, at the Constitutional Convention on September 17th, 1787, Benjamin Franklin wrote a speech directed to President Washington, but whose purpose was to convince the three delegates who had announced their refusal to sign the Constitution to abandon their opposition. Too ill at 81 to read it himself, it was delegated that James Wilson the delegate from PA to read (a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a future Supreme Court Justice):

    “I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them. For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise….”

    I believe it takes a strong person to be open to changing their minds. Why do we pick sides and then die? The ability to change an opinion, to me, shows courage, not weakness. I believe weakness is digging in, plugging your ears, and sticking your head in the sand. Benjamin Franklin is truly an amazing human being, one we should pay more homage to. Not only is he humble enough to admit that, if given ‘better information’ and the ability to give the matter ‘fuller consideration’ he could absolutely change his stance on ‘important subjects’. Imagine if our civil servant representatives thought like this.

    Further, according to Psypost.org:

    “Research on metacognition has provided robust evidence that changes of mind tend to improve choice outcomes. So why are people so reluctant to change their minds? There are at least two possible reasons. First, deciding to change your mind is typically a result of making extra cognitive effort to analyze the quality of the initial choices. Not every decision requires that effort.”

    AKA we are lazy…

    “Second, frequent changes of mind may signal personality traits that are not socially desirable. Meaningful and fulfilling interpersonal relationships rely on the ability to predict and rely on another person’s actions.

    Erratic and frequent changes of mind could negatively impact relationships and people may avoid doing this to improve their social integration.”

    AKA we are insecure and would rather fit in than be correct. Sounds scary and accurate.

    Not meaning to depress you more, but not only was Benjamin Franklin brilliant, ahead of his time, and never to be duplicated,  he could also predict the future:

    “In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no form of government, but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and believe further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government.”

    Per Wikipedia the entry for Despotism begins: “In political science, despotism is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. Normally, that entity is an individual, the despot (as in an autocracy), but societies which limit respect and power to specific groups have also been called despotic.”

    Eeeeesh. What do YOU think Ben would think of the state of our republic today?… more “Know Thyself #131”

  • WIBCI Post #130

    WIBCI we were as CONFIDENT as Dr. Seuss?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If we thought like this?

    You have to be odd to be number one.

    -Dr. Seuss

    Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
    -Dr. Seuss
    … more “WIBCI Post #130”

  • Know Thyself #130

    Know Thyself: We Won’t Go Back

    Want to be inspired?

    Rev. Al Sharpton at Jesse Jackson’s Memorial 3/6/2026

    Rest in Peace… more “Know Thyself #130”

  • WIBCI Post #129

    WIBCI we learned from HISTORY?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If we learned instead of repeated?

    Howard Zinn’s ‘A People’s History of the United States’ is a no holds barred, curt, straight forward, brutally honest, account of the founding of this country. While skimming through it recently I was struck by how many phrases that were describing over 2.5 centuries ago ring so very true today.

    (Circa 1839)  “Certain men in the farm country became leaders and organizers: Smit Boughton, a country doctor on horseback; Ainge Devyr, a revolutionary Irishman. Devyr had seen monopoly of land and industry bring misery to the slum dwellers of London, Liverpool, and Glasgow, had agitated for change, had been arrested for sedition, and fled to America. He was invited to address a Fourth of July rally of farmers in Rensselaerville, where he warned his listeners: ‘

    If you permit unprincipled and ambitious men to monopolize the soil, they will become masters of the country in the certain order of cause and effect’….”

    What do YOU think?… more “WIBCI Post #129”

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