Death of Hypatia®

Category: Blog

  • WIBCI Post #148

    WIBCI Americans had more BALLS?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If more people were like Bruce Springsteen?

    The Boss was the musical guest on Stephen Colbert’s 2nd to last show (whose contract, after over a decade of ‘success’, was not renewed, allegedly due to political pressure aka people not having balls nor a sense of humor).

    “I am here in support tonight for Stephen, because you are the first guy in America who’s lost his show because we got a President who can’t take a joke. And because Larry and David Ellison feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want. Anyway Stephen, these are small-minded people, they hot no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about.

    This is for you.”

    Then Bruce Springsteen sang the only main stream fight song anyone of any generation has had enough balls to write under the current monarchal administration:

    The Streets of Minneapolis

    Through the winter’s ice and cold, down Nicollet Avenue
    A city aflame fought fire and ice ‘neath an occupier’s boots
    King Trump’s private army from the DHS, guns belted to their coats
    Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law or so their story goes

    Against smoke and rubber bullets, in the dawn’s early light
    Citizens stood for justice, their voices ringing through the night
    And there were bloody footprints where mercy should have stood
    And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets, Alex Pretti and Renee Good

    Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice singing through the bloody mist
    We’ll take our stand for this land and the stranger in our midst
    Here in our home they killed and roamed in the winter of ’26
    We’ll remember the names of those who died on the streets of Minneapolis

    Trump’s federal thugs beat up on his face and his chest
    Then we heard the gunshots and Alex Pretti lay in the snow dead
    Their claim was self-defense, sir, just don’t believe your eyes
    It’s our blood and bones and these whistles and phones against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies

    Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice crying through the bloody mist
    We’ll remember the names of those who died on the streets of Minneapolis

    Now they say they’re here to uphold the law but they trample on our rights
    If your skin is black or brown my friend you can be questioned or deported on sight
    In our chants of “ICE out now!” our city’s heart and soul persists
    Through broken glass and bloody tears on the streets of Minneapolis

    Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice singing through the bloody mist
    Here in our home they killed and roamed in the winter of ’26
    We’ll take our stand for this land and the stranger in our midst
    We’ll remember the names of those who died on the streets of Minneapolis
    We’ll remember the names of those who died on the streets of Minneapolis

    I don’t see anything in these lyrics a reasonable adult could disagree with, let alone argue against.

    Thank you Bruce.… more “WIBCI Post #148”

  • Know Thyself #148

    Know Thyself through the Colbert Questionert:

    The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in its second to last ever show highlighted the Host himself, Stephen Colbert, putting him in the hot seat for the final Colbert Questionert. Mr. Colbert describes this as: ‘a set of 15 questions ergonomically calibrated to unearth a person’s true self.’

    Why don’t YOU give it a try?…..:

    1. What is the best sandwich?
    2. What was your first concert?
    3. What is the scariest animal?
    4. Apples or Oranges?
    5. Have you ever asked anyone for their autograph?
    6. What do you think happens when you die?
    7. Favorite Action Movie?
    8. Window or Aisle?
    9. Favorite Smell?
    10. Least Favorite Smell?
    11. Earliest Memory?
    12. Cats or Dogs?
    13. You get one song to listen to for the rest of your life: What is it? (not played continuously)?
    14. What number am I thinking? (asked by Stephen Colbert, since you are not on Late Night, IF you were asking someone to guess what number YOU were thinking, what would the number be?
    15. How would you describe the rest of your life in 5 words?
    … more “Know Thyself #148”

  • WIBCI Post #147

    WIBCI we celebrated our own MILESTONES

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If we recognized not just where we are, but where we started?

    It is one year today since I began blogging, this was the official launch of Deathofhypatia.com, and I have since successfully trademarked both the name and the logo since its online inception.

    Therefore I’m going to try something new in year 2, this year’s blog posts MAY include a look back at last years, aka year 1’s posts. Of course this will only be in practice if A) I do not have a new and burning subject to blog about and/or B) last year’s post was leaning towards lame. *Note, I of course can only do this because the world, without the aid of social media, has yet to become acquainted with this website and therefore no one will tire of a recap of what wasn’t read to begin with:)

    Therefore in honor of our anniversary, below are the first posts for both WIBCI and Know Thyself:

    • Know Thyself Post #1

      Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY:

      I believe Focus is Key.

      Try this: Take a walk. Go outside if possible. Focus on consciously utilizing all five of your toes with each step you take.

      How is YOUR posture? Are YOUR shoulders up and scrunched or down and back like your shoulder blades could almost touch?

      If not, try and correct this consciously…. have you noticed how you can actually just tell your body what to do? You can actually make yourself taller, try it.

      Do YOU feel more in control?

      Imagine focusing like this on everything YOU do. What do YOU Think?

      Multi-tasking sucks.… more “Know Thyself Post #1”

     

    • WIBCI post #1

      Wouldn’t It Be Cool If BILLIONAIRES had souls?:

      WIBCI: The Billionaire that owns the largest online retailer and shipping outfit in the US (the fourth richest man in the world), partnered with the Billionaire that owns a US electric car company (the richest man in the world) – and converted the largest US shipping fleet of vehicles to ones that didn’t pollute our environment, you know the kind the richest man in the world makes?

      I think that would be Better for the Most.

      What do YOU Think?… more “WIBCI post #1”

    … more “WIBCI Post #147”

  • Know Thyself #147

    Know Thyself through your sense of ENOUGH:

    Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough.

    -Melody Beattie

    Enough is a big word in the Death of Hypatia world. Realizing this concept is a cornerstone of all I’m asking you to think about.

    Per the Dictionary; ENOUGH: /ee–nuhf/adj/:

    1. adequate for the want or need; sufficient for the purpose or to satisfy desire.

    What positive things do YOU have enough of in your life?

    … more “Know Thyself #147”

  • WIBCI Post #146

    WIBCI celebrities stopped SELLING OUT?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If they were going to use up/ruin their clout, why couldn’t it be for a cause, not KahShield.

    There once was the Golden Age of Hollywood, described by scroller.net as:

    ..more than just a glamorous era; it was a revolution in storytelling, star power, and silver screen magic. Between the late 1920s and early 1960s, a wave of iconic actors and actresses captivated the world with unforgettable performances and timeless style. These stars weren’t just famous, they defined fame as we know it today.

    Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, James Stewart, Bette Davis, Charlie Chaplin, Grace Kelley, Marlon Brando, and Elizabeth Taylor were icons. Katherine Hepburn was a humanitarian ambassador for UNICEF, Jimmy Stewart served in WWII, and Elizabeth Taylor was a pioneering activist for HIV/AIDS. Grace Kelley was an actual royal princess. They had class, were looked up to for good reason (for the most part), they made a difference with their fame, they made art.

    Oh how times have changed….

    Billy Bob Thornton, I don’t wish to guess where you are, who your carrier is, nor the strength of your signal. I don’t care, weren’t you a bad boy at one point, please go away.

    Samuel L. Jackson cheapening himself for Dice Dreams? The SNL Weekend Update guys AND Jason Alexander also partaking of the gambling app bandwagon. Don’t you guys invest?

    Ludicrous hawking vitamins! Busta Rhymes handing over his soul to Walmaht! Christopher Walken…. oh Mr. Walken…Mr. ‘More Cowbell’…..light beer….. why?

    Kevin Hart and Shaq….YOU ARE OVER EXPOSED.

    The guys from Scrubs whose commercial campaign has lasted longer than the show, its going away, and its comeback; STOP IT.

    Tom Brady, YOU AREN’T FUNNY, you are never going to be funny, please stop trying; watching you try and appear human with emotions is as painful as watching people dance on Beverly Hills 90210.

    Liberty Biberty was funny for a hot second….. you killed it…..happy now?

     … more “WIBCI Post #146”

  • Know Thyself #146

    Know Thyself through RIGHT AND WRONG

    Right is right,

    even if everyone is against it,

    and wrong is wrong,

    even if everyone is for it.

        •  William Penn

    I believe in gut feelings. I believe our bodies know when something is off. That pit in your stomach, when the hairs on your arms stand up, when you listen a little deeper and are more aware than normal. I had an older sibling give me advice when I started ‘going out’: 1. the first thing you do when you arrive at a celebration is find the second exit/entrance to the establishment, 2. have a pre-approved meet-up-spot/plan-B plan with at least one reliable associate ‘just in case’, and 3. pay attention to your Spidey senses; when they tell you to go………get pizza.

    Instinctually this ‘sense’ exists in every animal, a necessity to many for survival; but like all muscles this sense can atrophy in those that fail to use it. Some humans have mastered the ability to ignore such feelings, but I believe they still feel them. I think even the biggest narcissist ‘feels’ when they are doing something wrong like everyone else, they are just able to rationalize that whatever advantage the act supplies them with is worth any corroding effects to the parts of them that are still decent.

    End of the day, I concur with Mr. Penn:

    Right is right,

    even if everyone is against it,

    and wrong is wrong,

    even if everyone is for it.

    I would replace the period for a comma and add the following line to the end.

    because everyone feels it.

    I do not believe Right and Wrong are subjective. What do YOU think?

     

     … more “Know Thyself #146”

  • WIBCI Post #145

    WIBCI our leaders messages had SUBSTANCE?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If we were governed by those who evolved towards a better future for us?

    the phrase M/A/G/A is today’s version of ‘Four legs good, two legs better.” (This is from Animal Farm by George Orwell, a three hour audio book that IS worth usurping one evening’s worth of scrolling, trolling, or gaming, in my opinion)

    The phrase M/A/G/A is sheer rubbish propaganda. How can you have such a vague, subjective slogan that sheep willingly advertise on their person, lawn, and/or pickup truck, without some clarification? Does the populace just love an acronym so much that they continually turn a blind eye to injustice and ambiguity, or are they avoiding the mortal humiliation of being wrong?!?

    When was this ‘great’ time in America anyways? Whom exactly was it ‘great’ for? Cause if it’s white, rich, old, men; when exactly were their liberties trampled upon? When were they disadvantaged? When did they not receive the lion’s share of everything?

    To me M/A/G/A means Middle-Class Americans Give All while the white, rich, old, men, gladly take it and innact laws to keep it that way. And Americans wear the hat while the 1% laugh all the way to their retirement compounds.

    Call me naive but I want my leaders to be heroes, not inarticulate, aggrandizing, narcissistic, tyrants, who are ‘good at business’.

    In Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces he discusses both the tyrant and the hero:

    The inflated ego of the tyrant is a curse to himself and his world. No matter how his affairs may seem to prosper, self terrorized, fear haunted, alert at every hand to meet and battle back the anticipated aggressions of his environment, which are primarily the reflection of the uncontrollable impulses to acquisition within himself. The giant of self achieved independence is the world’s messenger of disaster. Even though in his mind he may entertain himself that with humane intentions. Wherever he sets his hand there is a cry, if not from the housetops then, more miserably, within every heart. A cry for the redeeming hero. The carrier of the shining blade whose blow, whose touch, whose existence, will liberate the land….

    The hero is the man of self achieved submission. But submission to what? That precisely is the riddle that today we have to ask ourselves, and that it is everywhere the primary virtue and historic deed of the hero to have solved. As professor Arnold J. Toynbee indicates in his six volume study of the laws of the rise and disintegration of civilizations: schism in the soul, schism in the body social will not be resolved by any scheme of return to the good ole days, archaism, or by the programs guaranteed to render an ideal projected future… or even by the most realistic hard-headed work to weld together again the deteriorated elements. Only birth can concur death. The birth, not of the old thing again, but of something new, within the soul, within the body social there must be, if we are to experience long survival…..  

    Tyrant or Hero?

     … more “WIBCI Post #145”

  • Know Thyself #145

    Know Thyself through what you expect in a leader

    I’ve thought about it and the following is a list of the qualities and/or what I would like to see my political leader(s) do:

    • Take a joke
    • Learn lessons
    • Admit faults
    • Know their children’s birthdays
    • Experience empathy
    • Have lifelong friend(s)
    • Act honorably
    • Have emotions
    • Pay taxes
    • Be well read
    • Described as decent
    • Know history
    • Have a hero

    What is important to YOU?

     … more “Know Thyself #145”

  • WIBCI Post #144

    WIBCI Republicans wanted Americans to vote?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If Republicans didn’t need to cheat to remain in power?

    What if Republicans were good enough at their jobs and thereby didn’t require gerrymander or stooping to changing voting rights to be re-elected? WIBCI Republicans did what was Better for the Most of their constituents and thus won elections because they got the most votes fair and square?

    I would rather win anything justly, against a foe at full strength, on an even playing field, without a net or corked bat. This way, if I win, I truly won, and if I lost, it was because, in that moment, I wasn’t the best, and only the best should win.

    Cheaters are undeserved and should not be honored or revered in my humble opinion. Cheaters expect accolades, but when received they do not appreciate, reciprocate, nor respect you for them.

    So VOTE…..while you still can.… more “WIBCI Post #144”

  • Know Thyself #144

    Know Thyself, do YOU have privacy?

    I was having a phone conversation the other day and we were discussing money. In the midst of this conversation between two individuals cell phones we both were interrupted with, ‘This call is being recorded’. We both heard this, neither of us initiated a recording, therefore we promptly hung up and called each other back.

    Whom initiated this conversation? My cell phone manufacturer, my wireless carrier, my internet provider? Why were they ‘listening’ in the first place.

    I Know Thyself enough to Know I didn’t like it.… more “Know Thyself #144”

  • WIBCI Post #143

    WIBCI BIG PHARMA played a smaller part in our lives?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If side effects mattered?

    I’m starting to think that the masses aren’t really thinking far into the future where things like outcomes, denouements, and consequences come to rest. It seems like instant gratification is of far more import than possible, agonizing, life altering, disfiguring, mortifying, and mortal side effects. I’m starting to believe that if there was a drug that was available to the public that gave you a 25% chance of losing 45% of your body fat, with a 65% chance of dying 10 years earlier than you would have with a crazy expensive price tag and people would treat it like they were Cabbage Patch Kids in the 1983 Christmas season.

    What does a drug need to offer YOU where you would roll the dice on the following LISTED side effects:

    • an infection in and around the anus and genitals that may be fatal
    • urinary tract and genital yeast infections in both MEN and women
    • and my personal favorite: lower limb loss
    … more “WIBCI Post #143”

  • Know Thyself #143

    Know Thyself through your DE-GENERATION

    The following is the headline for a Fortune article that I found rather terrible, it was titled:

    The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents

    If you have room for another awful thing to think about, give it a read. The article begins:

    ‘Earlier this year, in written testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath said that Gen Z is less cognitively capable than previous generations, despite its unprecedented access to technology. He said Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to score lower on standardized tests than the previous one.’

    Less cognitively capable?! Can we twirl that little nugget around in our brains for a moment? Meaning things like ‘literacy’ and ‘numeracy’ are on the decline. It is believed the dipping test scores correlate with time spent on screens in and out of school. Horvath wrote. “It is a question of aligning educational tools with how human learning actually works. Evidence indicates that indiscriminate digital expansion has weakened learning environments rather than strengthened them.”

    Gen Z, I’m so sorry this was done to you. For most of us who require defining definitions; Gen Z are those born between 1997 and 2012. You know the generation that drew the teeny tiny straw, the ones who need AI to get jobs but weren’t taught how to use AI, the ones born into a world without empathy, those who will never afford to own their own home, will most likely make less than their parents, have been physically poisoned by monster corporations their entire lives and most likely suffer from physical and/or mental issues related to these and other environmental factors, paid too much for a worthless education, and now we learn that because of how they were taught as children, the are less cognitively capable?! The article goes on to describe this pitiable generation with uplifting phrases like ‘eroding learning capabilities‘, ‘a less capable population‘ and Horvath warned; it endangers how humans are able to overcome existential challenges in the decades to come… We’re facing challenges more complex and far-reaching than any in human history—from overpopulation to evolving diseases to moral drift,” he told Fortune. “Now, more than ever, we need a generation able to grapple with nuance, hold multiple truths in tension, and creatively tackle problems that are stumping the greatest adult minds of today.”

    oh dear.

    Can we break out just one phrase:

    Can YOU think of anyone you know between the ages of 14 and 29 that you believe capable of ‘grappling with nuance, hold multiple truths in tension, and creatively tackle problems that are stumping the greatest adult minds of today‘?!

    I hope you do because most of the ones I know don’t know how to do laundry.

     

     

     … more “Know Thyself #143”

  • WIBCI Post #142

    WIBCI humans entertained humans?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If I didn’t just see, what I just saw?

    I just walked by a television, if I had to guess, it was probably on ‘live TV’, and probably was the end of a movie. It was late in the credits, that is what caught my attention, I don’t believe I’ve seen the end of credits on ‘live TV’ in quite some time. Normally I have to split my attention between the opening credits of one in the corner, while the closing credits of the previous means of entertainment shrinks away whilst increasing to a pace only Speed Reader could keep up with.

    May I digress, and shout out to anyone who got the Great Space Coaster reference. I remember he could read a book and give Gary Gnu a synopsis in seconds. He read so fast he needed a headband. If you don’t know, now you know.

    Anyways, back to me being caught off guard with the sight of complete credits. As a member of the audience you were allowed you to see all the images those that made it intended you to see, right until the final fade to black. Having worked near people who yearned to be IN credits themselves, I understand the importance of them, and proudly like to sit in a movie theater until all the names have stopped rolling by. We owe the Best Boy Grip this at least. So I was impressed that the station, or service, or platform allowed the audience to see all the hardworking people that spent a portion of their lives dedicated to the preceding art offering.

    Then I saw it.

    The final credit, the one that drifted by, slower than all before it. This individual apparently deserved the honor of not only taking longer to drift by but then to stop and linger into the open window of the final image on screen. There this obviously consequential contributor remained until the final dip-to-black. Who, do you ask, did this final, significant credit go to? Whom did the broadcasting medium think so important as to break the norm of whizzing the credits by our eyeballs in teeny tiny zoomed out font at super human speed?!

    None other than……

    ChatGPT

    So….we are giving credit to computers for creating entertainment now?

    Does this make anyone else uncomfortable?

     … more “WIBCI Post #142”

  • Know Thyself #142

    Know Thyself through Literature:

    Steppenwolf, can you sadly relate? Part II:

    As I mentioned in Know Thyself #133 in reading Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, I couldn’t get far without stopping and thinking about what I read, and then writing about it. I find this book.…so far….wordy and entirely cerebral. As a slow reader to begin with, books such as these take me ages and I have to pepper in filler books to not get mad at myself for not finishing the first one.

    Therefore and as predicted my comment in above mentioned post, on a particularly looonnnggg passage from Steppenwolf, will be spread across three posts. Here is #2

    In KT post #133 the passage ended with:

    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.
    Following the passage, I commented on what I related to and asked you to think whether and where you relate.

    But thank God, there were exceptions. There were now and then, though rarely, the hours that Brough the welcome shock,, pulled down the walls and brought me back again from my wanderings to the living heart of the world. Sadly and yet deeply moved, I set myself to recall the last of these experiences. it was at a concert of lovely old music. After two three notes of the piano, the door was opened of a sudden to the other worlds. I sped through heaven and saw God at work. I suffered holy pains. I dropped all my defenses and was afraid of nothing in the world. I accepted all things and to all things I gave up my heart. It did not last long, a quarter of an hour perhaps; but it returned to me in a dream at night, and since, through all the barren days, I caught a glimpse of it now and then. Sometimes for a minute or two I saw it clearly, threading my life like a diving and golden track. But nearly always it was blurred in dirt and dust. Then it gleamed out in golden sparks as though never to be lost again and yet was soon quite lost once more. 

    To me these are those memories of moments, people, experiences, that rush onto you when you least expect it, and you feel it all over again. Optimistically, I do not believe all my lifelong cherished memories have already happened, but especially when it comes to loved ones who are gone, sometime conversations or smells of moments I lived with them, rush back to my consciousness.

    I think these moments happen more often than we properly take notice of.

    What do YOU think?… more “Know Thyself #142”

  • WIBCI Post #141

    WIBCI SNL skits from 38 years ago didn’t still ring true?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If it were just funny, not funny and a little sad?

    On October 8th, 1988 Saturday Night Live did a sketch parodying the Bush-Dukakis Debate. After the debate concludes journalists Peter Jennings (played by Tom Hanks) and David Brinkley (the late/great Phil Hartman) give their impressions:

    Peter Jennings: Well, this concludes our debate, and with me is my colleague, David Brinkley, a veteran in many such debates. David what were your impressions?

    David Brinkley: Well, what we saw were two men doing everything they could to avoid saying what they would do if elected. Because they know if they did, we wouldn’t elect them. But that’s nothing new, of course, Peter. Every president from Washington to Ronald Reagan has been either a liar or a fool, and usually both!

    Peter Jennings: Well, David, throughout your career, you’ve been known for your cynicism, but certainly you haven’t lost that much faith in the presidency.

    David Brinkley: Well, Peter, as I get older, I find I’ve lost faith in a good many things – country, family, religion, the love of a man for a woman.. I’ve reached a point where it’s struggle to get up in the morning, to continue to plow to a dreary, nasty, brutal life.. of terrible desperation.. at the end of which we’re all just food for maggots!

    Conjures recollections of recent debates, the world doesn’t change much does it? This should have calming effects, like we’ve gone through this before…. but I feel like our trials and tribulations have been upgraded, rebooted, and not in a good way.… more “WIBCI Post #141”

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