Death of Hypatia®

Author: Death of Hypatia Inc.

  • Know Thyself #129

    Know Thyself through assumed acceptance

    I was watching one of the thousands of crime dramas that plague our eyeballs and two individuals interviewed, one was a victim and one was a friend of the accused, there was something odd about their footage. Like it was blurred, or feathered at the edges, like the people walked the line of human and animation. Then I noticed in small font in the upper corner the word ‘Digitally Anonymised’.

    My first thought was, great, another term that we are innately supposed to comprehend and immediately accept as a necessary evolution in life. A term that is thrown at us with no explanation, a phrase we must wrap our heads around real time, whilst understandably being more interested in whether one is now leaning more guilty than not. It is like the side effects listed in pharmaceutical ads, I want to think about, what I think about possible ailments that could be so bad that permanent blindness and/or anal leakage is a chance one would take.

    But you give me no time to think about it. I will be bombarded with 8 more monochromatic choreographed outings on Main St. USA in the next 10 minutes that I will forget that I do not comprehend all that is put in front of me.

    Hey world I do not know what a G is. I understand that my phone’s network should have as many as possible, but at the core, I do not understand what it is.

    So ‘Digitally Anonymised‘ is a thing in our lives now? I get it for protecting identities, but like all neat-o technologies, won’t this be used as a filter for dating apps? Isn’t this a dangerous route to take, can’t images be altered so it ‘isn’t’ who it is? How does one know that this tech was utilized if that 10pt CG wasn’t there with a phrase that is yet to exist in the Dictionary, or Wikipedia? Are there regulations? Will blurrier versions of newscasters, soap stars, and President’s start appearing before our eyes in the near future and no one stops to ask what we think about it?

    I don’t know, I found it creepy.

     … more “Know Thyself #129”

  • WIBCI Post #128

    WIBCI Public Service Announcement:

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If we warned more?

    To children of all ages, if anyone physically or mentally makes you feel uncomfortable in any way, shape, or form, and tells you not to tell.

    TELL.

    Tell every fucking person you come into contact with. Tell your parents, your siblings, your teachers, friends, friends’ parents, that weird old lady always watching you out her window, your neighbor, that boy you like, that girl you hate. ANYBODY.

    If someone does something to you and tells you not to tell, it is because they know they did something wrong. So TELL.

    If they name someone specifically not to tell, agree you won’t do it, promise if you have to, and as soon as they are out of your sight you break that promise and tell that very person and everyone else in between. This is a promise everyone will be okay that you break. Go on telling until someone makes it stop happening.

    TELL. TELL. TELL.

     … more “WIBCI Post #128”

  • Know Thyself #128

    Know Thyself through NOTICING

     

    Know your own happiness.

    – Jane Austen

     

    Disconcerted is a good way to describe how I felt when I came across this quote. The reasons for this are threefold:

    1. This is the point of Death of Hypatia®
    2. As a collector of quotes and a bit into 16th century British literature, the lion’s share of the chagrin admittedly is from missing this before now. Although I get more quotes from characters words than the authors, this should have bubbled up in my weird cross referencing way of looking at the world.
    3. I didn’t read it while reading about happiness, Jane Austen, groundbreaking women, nor philosophical beliefs; it was ‘quote of the day’ on the app where I listen to nature sounds to fall asleep to.

     

    The initial abashed blush faded, I selected a fusion of pink noise and an aggressive snow storm, and thought… well, Jane got it.

     

     … more “Know Thyself #128”

  • WIBCI Post #127

    WIBCI: We Knew WHERE THE MONEY WENT?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If there was some trust?

    Per the Federal cuts that have taken place in the US…. I’m all for a good tightening of the belt, but the disassembling of departments necessary for our future seems a bit aggressive no? According to squared compass.com:

    “Taken together, these actions — alongside other forms of attrition and in the face of an extended hiring freeze across most of government[17]— were expected to drive the projected departure of 317,000 federal employees (roughly 50 percent more than the annual average number of separations during President Trump’s first term) and reduce the federal workforce by about 249,000 employees overall after accounting for new hires by year’s end, OPM Director Kupor announced in November.[18]“

    ON TOP of the salaries of over 300,000 people, the Fed pulled back 24.95 Billion dollars from just the top 10 agencies. This includes the Departments of: Ed, Energy, Interior, Labor, Transportation, Housing/Urban Development, Agriculture, as well as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and The Environmental Protection Agency.

    In other words, the Federal cuts for 2026 ‘saved’ the US Federal Government the salaries for 317,000 people and for JUST THE TOP TEN AGENCIES ‘saved’ the US Federal Government 24.95 BILLION DOLLARS.

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If we were told where the money went?… more “WIBCI Post #127”

  • Know Thyself #127

    Know Thyself

    I was watching a storm from a secure little nook and noticed birds actually flying around in hurricane force winds. They were obviously timed and must have been necessary, but seemed risky. It made me wonder, some of them had to die in a crazy once in a decade storm, right? I mean one of them had to have timed it poorly or missed a mark. But have you ever seen dead wild animals after a storm, because I never have. So maybe Darwinism worked itself out.

    Anyways it was cool to worry about another species for a minute.… more “Know Thyself #127”

  • WIBCI Post #126

    WIBCI The Constitution was the final say?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If our leader adhered to it?

    By a vote of 6-3 the Supreme Court struck down the sweeping tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed on imports per two executive orders. The Constitution gives taxing power, including tariff power, to Congress and not the POTUS. Any Presidential imposition of tariffs depends on an act of Congress. Chief Justice John Roberts found that IEEPA was not an act that delegated tariff authority to the executive branch. So the answer was no.

    Shouldn’t that be the end of it? If the President’s job is to uphold the Constitution and something he did was unconstitutional than shouldn’t they just say ‘my bad’ and move on? Not this one.

    Instead, our leader, went on a time out worthy tirade, said he would invoke other laws and announced a blanket tax on all countries invoking section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, in which Congress said the president could levy tariffs of up to 15% for up to 150 days to fix ‘fundamental international payment problems’.

    How is this not authoritarian?

    … more “WIBCI Post #126”

  • Know Thyself #126

    Know Thyself

    I think there are two types of people:

    A. Those that find Curling surprisingly fascinating; those whom are sure that if they would have dedicated hours each week to mastering the craft in their prime, they could have been Olympians and are stunned to find themselves watching it for hours at a stretch wondering why they don’t just dump all the stone things in the middle.

    and

    B. Those who think it’s silly.

    Which are you?

     … more “Know Thyself #126”

  • WIBCI Post #125

    WIBCI We Knew Our Rights?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If we knew what could/couldn’t be done to us and our communities?

    Per my State’s official website:

    When can ICE enter people’s homes and other private spaces?
    Under most circumstances, ICE agents cannot legally enter private spaces—such as homes, private
    offices, or the non-public areas of a workplace—without one of the following:
    • A judicial warrant signed by a judge or magistrate; or
    • Voluntary consent from someone who has actual or apparent authority over the property (e.g., someone who lives there).

    *Note that an ICE administrative warrant (Forms I-200 and I-205 described above) is not a judicial
    warrant and does not authorize entry into a home or other private space without consent. A judicial
    warrant is one that is signed by a judge.

    If ICE agents are seeking to enter a house, a person has the legal right to speak through the door to:
    • Ask to see the warrant before opening the door;
    • Check whether the warrant is signed by a judge; and
    • Deny entry if it is not.

    ICE OUT… more “WIBCI Post #125”

  • Know Thyself #125

    Know Thyself through what you celebrate.

    I do not observe Valentine’s Day. I believe it to be commercialized, inorganic, and mercenary. But in an attempt to try and be more open minded, I gave it a look.  Here’s what I came up with:

    Saint Valentine, an Italian (shocking) 3rd-century Roman saint who was commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14th. What coincides with our ‘holiday’ today is that for centuries, his feast day has been associated with a tradition of courtly love. What doesn’t quite equate to today is that he is the patron saint of epilepsy, beekeepers and the city of Terni. He was martyred for ministering to persecuted Christians. More elaborate versions of the story is restoring sight to a blind daughter of one of his jailers and upon his execution wrote her a letter signed ‘Your Valentine’.

    In the 19th century, handmade cards gave way to mass-produced greetings, and as with everything else, in the 20th and 21st centuries all soul was removed and it was as monetized, commercialized, and dehumanized to scientific perfection.

    Seems I am not swayed. Anywho, Happy St. V Day.… more “Know Thyself #125”

  • WIBCI Post #124

    WIBCI we appreciated what was different?

    We all accept that all snowflakes are unique, but I was thinking about it and looked it up. Here is what I found:

    Per Wikipedia:

    Wilson Alwyn Bentley (February 9, 1865 – December 23, 1931), also known as Snowflake Bentley, was an American meteorologist and photographer, who was the first known person to take detailed photographs of snowflakes and record their features. He perfected a process of catching flakes on black velvet such that their images could be captured before they either melted or sublimated, and elaborated the theory that no two snowflakes are identical.

    He got interested in snowflakes as a teen on his family farm in Vermont:

    He tried to draw what he saw through an old microscope given to him by his mother when he was fifteen. The snowflakes were too complex to record before they melted, so he attached a bellows camera to a compound microscope and, after much experimentation, photographed his first snowflake on January 15, 1885. He captured more than 5,000 images of crystals. Each crystal was caught on a blackboard and transferred rapidly to a microscope slide. Even at subzero temperatures, snowflakes are ephemeral because they sublimate.

    Apparently these photos were so good that no one really took photos of snowflakes for 100 years. But is 5,000 really an exhaustive study? And as this sounds like a rather difficult and cold way to spend your time, not many people are out there trying to prove him wrong me thinks. But as I kept reading I came across Kenneth Libbrecht, a snowflake scholar from this century, he is also a professor of physics at California Institute of Technology. I found his way of backing up Bentley’s theory illuminating:

    Libbrecht thinks that the question of whether there have ever been identical snowflakes is just silly. “Anything that has any complexity is different than everything else,” even if you have to go down to the molecular level to find it.

     

    Sounds to me like different than everything else is what makes something special.

    If you want to learn more, check it out:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_Bentley… more “WIBCI Post #124”

  • Know Thyself #124

    Know Thyself through MESSAGING

    Reflecting on the recent Grammy’s, Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies, and the Super Bowl Halftime show; arguably three of the biggest stages before the world’s eyeballs, is it just me or did you also perceive some degree of messaging….say, oh I don’t know, something in the vein of:

    Pardon me, America, um…. you could be doing it better.

    Just me?

     … more “Know Thyself #124”

  • WIBCI Post #123

    WIBCI we represented ourselves better?

    I was watching a pair of pale and wispy Olympic ice skaters from a newish country, bedazzled up with aggressively bunned hair, frozen smiles, heaving for breathe, anxiously awaiting scores for the pinnacle of a lifetime’s worth of hard work and achievement.

    The only thing blighting this moment is the U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A chant obnoxiously drowning out the commentators attempts to make the down time interesting.

    Poorly played Emma.

    Albeit the timing for this particular moment was less than classy, to me, chanting this in public places no longer rings of patriotism, it seems more like a bully mantra, more likely to color my cheeks with embarrassment than pride. Maybe if you were there in the stadium, surrounded by countrymen, it might be catchy, but from my couch, it wasn’t the best look.… more “WIBCI Post #123”

  • Know Thyself #123

    Know Thyself Public Service Announcement

    How President’s SHOULD speak to journalists:

    For anyone who can’t remember a non-circus White House briefing, how the current President speaks to journalists, particularly women is NOT to be emulated. These interactions with journalists are meant to give the people of the US a better understanding of the goings on about the POTUS, not an embarrassing display of his insecurities. It is not impressive to speak like an impotent ogre to women. It is not a display of power, quite the opposite actually, it shows fear that these journalists, even those without male genitalia, are smarter than you.

    I hope the bar will be picked back up, dusted off and put at the proper level someday.

     … more “Know Thyself #123”

  • WIBCI Post #122

    WIBCI we embodied separation of church and state?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If when the new POTUS was sworn into office that he/she/they placed their hand on the US Constitution?

    Here are the words they say:

    “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

    Nothing against the Bible but if we truly are tolerant of all religions and not supposed to cross the streams per Thomas Jefferson, than why not swear on the actual thing you are supposed to ‘preserve, protect and defend’?

     … more “WIBCI Post #122”

  • Know Thyself #122

    Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY

    I find Philosophy fascinating, such that I’m begun a course to study them chronologically across multiple sources and take note of what stands out from each man.

    I like starting from the beginning because I believe it almost impossible to follow geniuses in any field and proclaim they had zero influence.

    I want to try and picture when was the first time in history this happened:

    Guy A. after hearing someone speak and finding themselves in the company of a friend sometime after saying (in my mind I’m picturing Latin, white guys, togas, and the memory recall that was necessary before he printing press):

    Hey, ___ious ___imus I heard this guy the other day say something rather interesting….

    and Guy B. follows this with:

    Huh?! That is interesting, say it again and I’ll write it down. Where did I put that papyrus?

    and this writing or copies of it makes it way through a few thousand of years without deteriorating, being recycled, being seen as heretical, and falls into the right hands and is disseminated, discussed, critiqued, and remembered throughout history as something to learn from. I also like trying to figure out why I want to learn about this, the answers, at least in part, are better summed up by experts:

    There are, in all ages, men born to be in bondage to the opinions of the society in which they live. There are not a few who today play the free thinker and the philosopher…
    -Jean Jacques Rousseau

    The enterprise is not an essentially civic one. It does not begin with a settled position on political and moral matters, then seeking ways to enshrine the settled view. Rather the mission is a broadly epistemological one. The search, as we shall discover, is the search for truth, or at least for such illumination as to allow us to see the biases and half-truths that have lead from one blind alley to another in the labyrinth of thought.

    –Daniel N. Robinson D. Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University

    ‘So much of our lives is meaningless, a self-canceling vacillation and futility; we strive with the chaos about us and within; but we would believe all the while that there is something vital and significant in us, could we but decipher our own souls. We want to understand;… we want to seize the value and perspective of passing things, and so to pull ourselves up out of the maelstrom of daily circumstance. We want to know that the little things are little and the big things are big, before it is too late; we want to see things now as they will seem forever – ‘in the light of eternity’. We want to learn to laugh in the face of the inevitable, to smile even at the looming of death. We want to be whole, to coordinate our energies by criticizing and harmonizing our desires; for coordinated energy is the last word in ethics and politics, and perhaps in logic and metaphysics too….We may be sure that if we can but find wisdom, all things else will be added unto us. Truth will not make us rich, but it will make us free.’  

    –Will Durrant The Story of Philosophy:

     

    … more “Know Thyself #122”
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