Death of Hypatia®

Category: Blog

  • 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”

  • WIBCI Post #138

    WIBCI healthcare was LESS on us?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If Medical Care wasn’t so REMOTE?

    Below are a smattering of synonyms for the word REMOTE per Thesaurus.com:

    • distant, far-flung, far-off, inaccessible, isolated, lonely, lonesome, obscure, secluded, and unknown…

    hmm I concur these are feelings I associate with the Healthcare industry, but they aren’t….shall I say, inviting?

    As I am a strong believer that meaning in words can be found in what the word is NOT, here are some of the antonyms listed:

    • befriended, close, known, loved, sociable, approachable, convenient, friendly, gentle, likely, possible, relevant, and warm…..

    Ahhhh, cozy no? So the second list of words are the opposite of what Remote Healthcare is designed to feel like. Hmmm, does marketing know this?

    I saw a commercial where you can BYO medical instruments to your next gynecologist appointment if you want ‘the latest in comfort’. I also saw advertisements touting how you can inject your own medication, with syringes, in the comfort of your own home…..

    To each his own, but I feel good with the uncomfortable reluctant feeling that bubbles up with the thought of buying my own medical instruments to appointments and giving myself shots, and I wish to continue leaving such matters to experts.

     … more “WIBCI Post #138”

  • 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”

  • WIBCI Post #137

    WIBCI our leaders thought before they spoke?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If our leaders’ words had meaning/bite/truth/substance?

    When our POTUS during a prime-time address said:

    “We’re going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong,” and threatened to hit Iran “extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.”

    May I say on behalf of more than most Americans, that we do not concur with the above statement. I do not, nor does 99% of the conscious, thinking, population of the United States wish for a people and their country to be enihilated.

    He does not speak for us.

    Also the irony is not lost on me that the new kid on the block is speaking in ‘Ages’. What does this country know about Ages? We are celebrating a whopping 250 years of existence when Iran is one of the world’s oldest continuous major civilizations, first unified in the 7th century BC. In other words this civilization he so cavalierly could obliterate, has existed for 2,700 years, or 10 times longer than the USofA.

    So again, world, he does not speak for us.… more “WIBCI Post #137”

  • 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”

  • 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

    Steppenwolf, can you sadly relate? Part I:

    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.

    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 to stride within. 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 us. 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, or drying up, and I’m not exactly sure how to describe the ‘living’ that I’m living right now.

    Can YOU relate?

     … 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”

→←