Stranger things

[Cobie]

7 hours ago, Cobie said:

 

含德之厚者 One who embraces the fullness of virtue 
比於赤子     May be compared to a newborn babe. (DDJ Ch 55)

 

It's very modest of you to depict yourself as so much older; while seeing us as virtuous infants - thank you. 

 

I’ll return the honour, here you are:

 

[Nungali]

12 hours ago, Cobie said:

 

含德之厚者 One who embraces the fullness of virtue 
比於赤子     May be compared to a newborn babe. (DDJ Ch 55)

 

It's very modest of you to depict yourself as so much older; while seeing us as virtuous infants - thank you. 

 

 

 

Ohhh ... I still see you guys as  'virtuous' infants     !    And my modesty is as strong as ever . 

 

A question on Chinese translation ;   'May  be '   , in Chinese is that like it signifies in English, in that  they also 'may not be ' as well  ? 

 

Why 'may be '  ? Why not  'could', ' are '    'the same as ' ,  'like '  'has the  same virtue as '  , etc .   ?  

[Nungali]

5 hours ago, Cobie said:

 

I’ll return the honour, here you are:

 

 

 

I have a caption for those images ; 

 

Image 1  ; " I think  my nappy needs changing ." 

 

Image 2  (later )   " Why haven't you changed it yet ?" 

[Cobie]

 

19 hours ago, Nungali said:

I have a caption for those images ; Image 1  ; " I think  my nappy needs changing ." Image 2  (later )   " Why haven't you changed it yet ?" 

 

I more had in mind: Image 1 ; " I think this world is rotten  ." Image 2 (later ) " udaimonia or death. “ 

 

 

Edited May 27 by Cobie

[Cobie]

 

19 hours ago, Nungali said:

… 'May  be '   , in Chinese is that like it signifies in English, in that  they also 'may not be ' as well  ? 

 

No, the ‘may’ refers to the choice of simily. Most translate it as “is like a newborn baby.”

 

 

Edited May 27 by Cobie

[Nungali]

4 hours ago, Cobie said:

 

 

I more had in mind: Image 1 ; " I think this world is rotten  ." Image 2 (later ) " udaimonia or death. “ 

 

 

 

Indeed !  So obviously .... that little guy ain't me !  

 

 

 

[Nungali]

(sorry , that could be one of the  worst things I posted       ) 

[Nungali]

 

 

 

 

and this one so big and heavy , it appears to have mangled and stretched his legs ! 

 

[Nungali]

< deleted  >  

 

.

Edited June 3 by Nungali

[Taomeow]

Million, billion, trillion -- in many (most?) people's minds any which number with many zeroes is just "a lot."   But there's lots and then there's other lots.  Here's an interesting way to put them in perspective:

 

A million seconds ago was May 23rd

A billion seconds ago was 1993

A trillion seconds ago was 30,000 B.C.

The US national debt is now rising by $1 trillion every 180 days.

Edited June 5 by Taomeow

[Nungali]

Its the biggest one in the world !   Typical Americans !   They have to have the biggest one of everything !  

 

 

 

 

Its all those  cars and farm  machinery you got  , plus electronics  and agricultural  products ,  from Japan ; the country you owe the most money to .  

 

Strange thing ;  

 

 

[Nungali]

 

The Art Museum That Offered Donald Trump a Solid Gold Toilet 

 

- it didn't  work  ..... the toilet rejected the offer . 

[Nungali]

....  cars and farm  machinery , plus electronics  and agricultural  products  and  gold toilets   

[old3bob]

 

does someone make golden threaded straight jackets...?

 

[Taomeow]

@Nungali It's most definitely a direct quote from Lenin who asserted, in one of his numerous fantasy stories economy-related articles (which poor me had to study in school) that "once we've built communism, we will make toilets out of solid gold."  I doubt Trump is a communist, don't know about the authors of the article (didn't open it because my computer issued some kind of warning about a redirect somewhere I didn't dare tread), but I think this is something that would find itself at home in the Current Events section...  oops... presently nonexistent. 

I do not intend to break the rule about its nonexistence here -- if I mention something like the dynamics of the national debt, that's not "current," it's "habitual" -- started in the 1980s and then sharply skyrocketed in 2020 and onward.  

Incidentally we owe most of it internally, to our very own money-reinventing companies --  Japan is but a drop in that bottomless bucket.   

[zerostao]

On 5/27/2025 at 6:34 PM, Nungali said:

(sorry , that could be one of the  worst things I posted       ) 

 

 now that's quite a claim! 

Yet, hardly,,,

 

On 6/3/2025 at 5:51 PM, Nungali said:

 

 

 

 

and this one so big and heavy , it appears to have mangled and stretched his legs ! 

 

 

They're all so big and heavy. Even the mini.

Back in the day, I often reminded myself of how heavy gold was; and wearing it or even having it added so much weight, it prevented personal flight.

 

Invisible things can also be heavy like that. Heavier, still.

 

Only child know.

 

In a sky full of people only some want to fly.

Isn't that crazy?

In a world full of people only some want to fly.  Isn't that crazy?

 

And then you see things 

The size of which you've never known before.

 

If all were there when we first took the pill.

Then maybe.

 

(Slight sigh, shy)

 

Those around criticize and sleep.

 

 

 

On 6/3/2025 at 5:54 PM, Nungali said:

< deleted  >  

 

.

 

What? 

Who?

 

13 hours ago, Nungali said:

 

The Art Museum That Offered Donald Trump a Solid Gold Toilet 

 

- it didn't  work  ..... the toilet rejected the offer . 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Stranger Things?

 

Could be. Should be. Would be.

Then she looked at me with those big bright eyes and said, You ain't seen nothing yet.

 

@Nungali 

 

Bubby, we all post worst things sometimes. 

Edited June 5 by zerostao

[liminal_luke]

Diabolus Ex Machina - by Amanda Guinzburg

 

The above is a transcript of a GPT conversation.  A writer asks GPT to read and offer advice about some essays, and GPT pretends to have read the pieces when it didn´t.  Very strange.

Edited June 5 by liminal_luke

[zerostao]

30 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

Diabolus Ex Machina - by Amanda Guinzburg

 

The above is a transcript of a GPT conversation.  A writer asks GPT to read and offer advice about some essays, and GPT pretends to have read the pieces when it didn´t.  Very strange.

 

So, GPT is just like me and many of my former classmates.

Yes, Professor, we read the assignment....

And then we C&P something we found scanning the internet, re-wording it, presenting it as our authentic opinion.

 

Edited June 5 by zerostao

[zerostao]

,,,,,,,,On Monday, when it was hard to access the site--labeled as software issues--

The days leading up to that, all the talk of giant solar flares that could knock out orbiting satellites, causing all kinds of problems to our tech, the phrase "sending us back to the stone age" was used.

 

I noticed other websites were hobbled and thought ( hopefully) this is not software issues; it is solar flare mayhem (magic)

 

Concerning the matchup between tech and solar flares, I was pulling for solar flares.

Maybe, next time.

Here we are, having resigned our agency to the Great Computer, The Machine,,,

We shouldn't even think about it, just sit back eat bon bons and let AI do it all for us. What could possibly go wrong?

 

In boxing terminology; tech has some technical skills, and a game plan.

Brave Helios on the other hand, probably doesn't even have a game plan. What Brave Helios lacks with that, it makes up for with raw power.

Boxer vs Puncher.

 

If I'm in Brave Helios' corner, I'm saying this; ok, we didn't win that round. But tech must win every round. And all we need is one well placed left hook or a one-two combination and it's game over.

Now go out this round and send that pretender back to the stone age.

 

 

Edited June 5 by zerostao

[Taomeow]

I'd be all for being sent back to the stone age -- provided my own age would be prenatal, or to be precise, pre-conception.  Once you're carried in the mother's womb and born and raised in the technology age, it's game over for the stone age adaptation purposes --

to the same, or greater, extent as being born and raised in the stone age is game over for your functionality in the technology age.

 

If I were to choose a reincarnation plan though, I would definitely have my intent set tens of thousands of years back.  I wonder if reincarnating back in time is possible.  (Don't see why not -- some folks even retain vague impressions of technology from their previous incarnations into times that are "future" to their present ones.  Some of those carriers of slightly under-erased memories of things-to-come become inventors and some write sci-fi, the rest just have strange dreams from time to time.  I sometimes get future tech dreams -- I even thought of trying to patent some of the things I saw, but I'm too tech lazy.  The ones I saw were very benign -- e.g. a far superior thingie as replacement for the cast they presently put on a broken limb, a large feather-weight umbrella that, when folded, can fit in your wallet...  stuff like that.) 

Edited June 5 by Taomeow

[liminal_luke]

10 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

 

If I were to choose a reincarnation plan though, I would definitely have my intent set tens of thousands of years back.  I wonder if reincarnating back in time is possible.  (Don't see why not -- some folks even retain vague impressions of technology from their previous incarnations into times that are "future" to their present ones.  Some of those carriers of slightly under-erased memories of things-to-come become inventors and some write sci-fi, the rest just have strange dreams from time to time.  I sometimes get future tech dreams -- I even thought of trying to patent some of the things I saw, but I'm too tech lazy.  The ones I saw were very benign -- e.g. a far superior thingie as replacement for the cast they presently put on a broken limb, a large feather-weight umbrella that, when folded, can fit in your wallet...  stuff like that.) 

 

I usually prefer to read novels that take place in contemporary times, but a story featuring a reincarnated version of Taomeow with "under-erased memories" set in the Paleolithic era?  I wouldn´t begin to guess even what genre such a work might belong in.  The literary possibilities boggle.

[old3bob]

1 hour ago, Taomeow said:

I'd be all for being sent back to the stone age -- provided my own age would be prenatal, or to be precise, pre-conception.  Once you're carried in the mother's womb and born and raised in the technology age, it's game over for the stone age adaptation purposes --

to the same, or greater, extent as being born and raised in the stone age is game over for your functionality in the technology age.

 

If I were to choose a reincarnation plan though, I would definitely have my intent set tens of thousands of years back.  I wonder if reincarnating back in time is possible.  (Don't see why not -- some folks even retain vague impressions of technology from their previous incarnations into times that are "future" to their present ones.  Some of those carriers of slightly under-erased memories of things-to-come become inventors and some write sci-fi, the rest just have strange dreams from time to time.  I sometimes get future tech dreams -- I even thought of trying to patent some of the things I saw, but I'm too tech lazy.  The ones I saw were very benign -- e.g. a far superior thingie as replacement for the cast they presently put on a broken limb, a large feather-weight umbrella that, when folded, can fit in your wallet...  stuff like that.) 

 

if  I remember correctly P.D. Ouspensky did a lot of pondering/theories along such lines of "going back", but I haven't studied those materials in like 40 years...

[Taomeow]

39 minutes ago, old3bob said:

 

if  I remember correctly P.D. Ouspensky did a lot of pondering/theories along such lines of "going back", but I haven't studied those materials in like 40 years...

 

I don't know his work at all, but I've seen the structure of Time through ayahuasca-opened eyes.  The "present" was like an observation point from which I could look at Time in all directions, the easiest was looking down onto the past.  It was like a layered cake of winding rivers (or maybe of one river snaking this way and that way, its segments layered on top of each other), going all the way into deep infinity.  The layers were see-through, so I could look down at the recent past, further down at the past that was more remote, etc..  Rivers were not just loopy but some loops did indeed cause Time to flow backward.  I could focus on a particular section and "zoom in."  It also appeared that I could dive anywhere into that river from my observation point -- but it was as scary as jumping from the edge of a cliff into an abyss, so I didn't.  (I also didn't want to go UP but SHE dragged me there anyway and showed me the source of all that flow.  This source I should liken perhaps to a dripping sink or some plumbing piping underneath it -- Time we experience and everything in it was apparently a side effect of operations of that "sink," That World -- a very incomprehensible place where you couldn't tell biology from technology, a bit like one of those Borg cubes and a lot like one of those Mesoamerican bas reliefs.  SHE wanted to show and explain things to me but that place terrified me and I begged HER to get me outta there.)   

[Nungali]

8 hours ago, Taomeow said:

@Nungali It's most definitely a direct quote from Lenin who asserted, in one of his numerous fantasy stories economy-related articles (which poor me had to study in school) that "once we've built communism, we will make toilets out of solid gold."  I doubt Trump is a communist, don't know about the authors of the article (didn't open it because my computer issued some kind of warning about a redirect somewhere I didn't dare tread), but I think this is something that would find itself at home in the Current Events section...  oops... presently nonexistent. 

I do not intend to break the rule about its nonexistence here -- if I mention something like the dynamics of the national debt, that's not "current," it's "habitual" -- started in the 1980s and then sharply skyrocketed in 2020 and onward.  

Incidentally we owe most of it internally, to our very own money-reinventing companies --  Japan is but a drop in that bottomless bucket.   

 

      if I borrow  money  from myself ....  do I have debt  or have I become wealthy  ? 

 

 

[Nungali]

6 hours ago, zerostao said:

 

 now that's quite a claim! 

Yet, hardly,,,

 

You could try Die Antwoord 'Baby's on Fire'  . 

 

 

6 hours ago, zerostao said:

 

 

They're all so big and heavy. Even the mini.

Back in the day, I often reminded myself of how heavy gold was; and wearing it or even having it added so much weight, it prevented personal flight.

 

You should leave jewelry at home before going to the airport ... its a weight / luggage / fuel thing . 

 

6 hours ago, zerostao said:

 

Only child know.

 

In a sky full of people only some want to fly.

Isn't that crazy?

In a world full of people only some want to fly.  Isn't that crazy?

 

And then you see things 

The size of which you've never known before.

 

If all were there when we first took the pill.

Then maybe.

 

(Slight sigh, shy)

 

Those around criticize and sleep.

 

 

 

 

What? 

Who?

 

 

  Hide contents

 

 

 

Stranger Things?

 

Could be. Should be. Would be.

Then she looked at me with those big bright eyes and said, You ain't seen nothing yet.

 

@Nungali 

 

Bubby, we all post worst things sometimes. 

 

 

.....   Bubby    ???