Death of Hypatia®

Category: Know Thyself

  • 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”

  • 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”

  • 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”

  • 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”

  • 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”

  • 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”

  • 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”

  • Know Thyself #141

    Know Thyself through South Park

    I find South Park, the animated sitcom both witty and clever. I enjoy the biting yet awkwardly insightful commentary on current events.

    But,

    Occasionally while watching old episodes that ‘entertained’ feeling is usurped with a ‘terror dusted deja vu’ feeling.

    The eerie past life ick you get when you see an episode from 2011 with a cockamamie preposterous plot line that is undeniably similar to a cockamamie preposterous current event in 2026.

    The South Park episode that I’m particularly speaking of was called Funnybot (E2S15) from 2011.

    Here’s the plot:

    James Valmer, a fictional disabled classmate character, is hosting South Park Elementary’s first annual comedy awards show. The award for Most Unfunny People goes to the Germans, which infuriates the German government causing Angela Merkel and others to come to the US the next day, take the students hostage, and reveal Funnybot, a comedy robot. Funnybot was created to show the world German’s are funny. It isn’t long before Funnybot is famous the world over, pervasive across all media, a house hold name. But, like all things in this world of ours, the good times are fleeting.

    Besides pissing off all human comedians for obliterating their livelihoods, Funnybot begins to increasingly exhibit malevolent behavior culminating in the robot opening fire with two rotary cannons during a stand-up performance killing almost all of the audience.

    When the children manage to get to Funnybot, they discover what his ultimate plans are:

    ‘I am taking comedy to the next level, the extermination of all biological life on Earth….

    It is the ultimate joke.

    Humans make comedy, humans build robot, robot ends all life on Earth, robot feels awkward….. Exterminate!

     

    Is Funnybot…….AI? Is South Park like some 21st century Oracle!?… more “Know Thyself #141”

  • Know Thyself #140

    Know Thyself through exposure

    While watching advertisements with brief interruptions of entertainment on my television, I caught one of the thousand pharmaceutical commercials telling us to tell our doctors about a particular drug.

    And this one I found particularly absurd.

    Picture a woman dreamily reading outside on her gorgeous veranda when she takes a moment to look up to the warm sunlight….grateful….happy. We hear her thoughts about how she needed more from her antidepressant(s) and how thankful she is that her doctor (ha!) recommended she take another drug in parallel with her existing antidepressant(s) to help her feel less depressed.

    But….

    Among the cornucopia of alleged side effects, but not limited to, were: new or sudden MOOD changes, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, and the terrifying statement that when taken with ANTIDEPRESSANTS this drug may INCREASE the risk of MOOD CHANGES and SUICIDAL THOUGHTS….. huh

    So a drug that is touted to help when you ‘aren’t getting enough from your antidepressants’, may make you more depressed and possibly want to end your life if taken in conjunction with the said existing antidepressants you are supposed to take this with? Huh.

    Oh and the landslide of side effects is preambled with the statement that ‘weight gain’ and ‘reported sexual side effects were not common’ but at the end there is a conflicting statement that ‘high cholesterol and weight gain may occur’. Therefore leading with ‘weight gain is not common’ and concluding with ‘weight gain may occur’ seems like contradictory bookends….even for a pharmaceutical ad.

    So do we just accept that ads are for the lowest common denominator and that we are slowly being coaxed into joining said dummy denomination, or should we just tune out and silently wait until the ads are interrupted with entertainment?… more “Know Thyself #140”

  • Know Thyself #139

    Know Thyself through the Out Dated

    If asked is there something that is now considered ‘Old Fashioned’ that I prefer to the current replacement, there would be many, but the one that jumps into my mind are Photo Albums.

    Photo Albums are so much better than being flashed pictures on someone else’s device. You have to sit clumped together and be happily barraged with inevitable finger pointing, questions, stories, and memories. Pictures can be physically handed from one person to another, put in frames, or stuck in the corner of mirrors and car visors.

    Maybe its just me, but any joy that is felt when someone shows me a picture on a little screen for a nano second is inescapably replaced with annoyance while I watch you flick up and down through hundreds of photos and dozens of strings while endlessly apologizing. I’d prefer to discuss past happenings found important enough to document while making eye contact, rather than staring at the top of your head while you scroll on your device saying things like ‘I just saw it yesterday’, ‘who sent that to me again?’, and my favorite, ‘I can’t find it, but anyways….’… more “Know Thyself #139”

  • Know Thyself #138

    Know Thyself through the Gifts you’ve Given:

    I mentioned thinking about gift giving in Know Thyself Post #69, and WIBCI Post #101 but try this;

    Think about the best gift you’ve ever given someone else, now understand the answer may involve two different gifts.

    First: I want you to think of the gift you gave where you spent the most thought and/or time on conjuring, finding, fixing, making, affording, etc. This could be the one you are most proud of and/or the one that you think garnered the most from you. Maybe something that you would have loved to receive?

    Second: think of the best gift you ever gave per the receiver and their subsequent reaction(s).

    Same gift?… more “Know Thyself #138”

  • Know Thyself #137

    Know Thyself through your PREJUDICES

    When I was really young I thought those that were rich were wealthy BECAUSE they were smart; I thought that they worked hard, overcame obstacles, honed their craft in order to earn their money and therefore should be admired.

    I no longer think this, in fact after reflecting, I have found that instead of admiring the rich, I dislike them. I do not see rich people as smart people, I see them as assholes. I mean come on, can you think of any filthy rich lovely people? Even Bill Gates is in Ep files!  I have thought about it and realize I have felt this way for a very, very long time. I’m not alone, if you think about it, this feeling has been ingrained in us for quite some time.

    Example: Notice: 1. Of the following movies/characters were they ‘billed’ as Good or Bad Guys?, and 2. What are these Bad Guys fighting to control more of?

    Mr. Burns from The Simpsons, Mr. Potter from It’s a wonderful life, why did the Goonies have to move?  Steff (James Spader) vs. Duckie in Pretty in Pink, Zac Dawson (Leo DiCaprio) vs. Cal Hockley (Billy Zane) in Titanic, Burgermeister Meisterburger from Santa Claus is Coming to Town, The entire premise behind Memoirs of a Geisha, Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Daddy Warbucks wasn’t nice till he adopted an orphan which began as a publicity stunt (come on….his surname is War-Bucks?!). We grew up being shown that Bad Guys reside in dark, yet roomy castles, mansions or lairs, NOT in the apartment next door to Danny LaRusso overlooking the empty pool in Reseda (Karate Kid…please say you knew that). This rich is bad concept was reinforced and regurgitated in Hans Gruber from Die Hard, Goldfinger, Gordon Gecko, Lex Luther, Jaba the Hutt, the entire cast and point of The Outsiders, West Side Story, Heathers, and The Hunger Games,

    Haven’t we learned in the countless remixes of A Christmas Carol that Scrooge is a dick until he realizes that money is NOT the most important thing in the world, and that GREED has caused all the ills in his lonely life?

    Why is it that we have had the notion of ‘you can’t take it with you’ beaten into our brains for years, and yet in real life we seem to forget this teaching/tenet/principle as soon as we get our first taste of money or power?

    So therefore since it seems Mo Money, Mo Gross, I’m proudly prejudice against the Wealthy and will remain so until proven wrong.… more “Know Thyself #137”

  • 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”

  • 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”

  • 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”

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