Per the mention yesterday of telekinesis and a certain individual's skill sets, are you really sure those temp readings are correct? In fact, can you ever be really, really sure of that again?
Juuusst askin' the question. I don't pretend to, um, know the answer...
That's quite the detailed examination of the origin and meaning of panem et circenses.
Whatever the precise details, I think the more generalized popular meaning works well enough to say - or at least for *me* to say - that in ancient Rome, the folks at least occasionally got some actual bread as well as a show, while we here in modern times with our Neoclassical venues in D.C. get just a 3-ring circus with a bunch of large herbivores running amok for the entertainment of the crowd and the incoming ringmaster, all while making a big stinking mess out of the place.
And my answer to Russell's question is, No, actually. No I'm not...
My oldest sister got sick last night so we cancelled lunch today. We had a fun dinner last night, close to 30 came over my niece from LA came and was thrilled that we brought a sugar cream pie. A good time. We’re on the road home taking a lunch break.
I did get to use the pancake machine this morning! 🤠
“Showlo coont lay” is what I think the lady said in the beginning. She’s says they are “anticipatory” in that they can predict their owner’s next move. It’s possible they’re telepathic. I’m telling you, “The Telepathy Tapes” will have you thinking twice about your belief in telepathy.
Some writers - Jonathan Haidt comes to mind - have explained that our sense perceptions and physical responses are so much faster than our conscious thoughts that you might say "telepathy" would be downstream of connection and communication through bodily senses and "pre-thought" reactions.
In the tradition of Greek philosophy, we put language-based thought or speech at the pinnacle of our ideas of meaning-making and communication, but that's only one way of conceiving of, shall we say, interaction among beings.
Jingzhou, Hubei….cold here in the Middle Reaches Yangtze River. Not freezing but bone chill damp cold. 2000 year old city, central to Chu culture in the East Zhou Dynasty during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. King of Chu was the last holdout and the final state to fall to Qin Shihuang, “uniting” the entire country. Jingzhou is central in Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, the canonical text of Chinese literature.
Did I use “canonical” correctly? It’s one of a few most important books in Chinese literature.
The museums are very good. Shang Dynasty stuff from 2500 years ago. Pottery, ancient relics and funerary stuff and a remarkable mummy of King Wu of Chu. Chu culture was something, and it was snuffed out by Qin Shihuang, the guy that 'united" all of China into a single country.
What’s funny….hidden away in the charmless parts down some funky alley that looks like you’re on the way to a trash transfer station will be a restaurant with food that is unbelievably good.
You’re right though…no Youtube videos of those places.
But.... When I said "...on the way to a trash transfer station"....the trash transfer stations in America would appear beautiful compared to here.
Not noted in my descriptions of China are what it looks like outside the glittering metro hot spots. It's just plain filthy dirty WTF is going on here dirty. A rural peasant population is slowly being trained to not toss refuse in the place they are standing, although it still happens. Not that long ago, when a peasant couple with a small baby needed to let that baby do its business, it'd drop it right there on the sidewalk. Some places that are now quite nice river walk type tourist zones used to be the local fecal depository. It was bad.
“The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean 'according to the canon' – the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context.” I only hear the term as it applies to Catholic teachings but it seems appropriate in this case.
Good morning. Cold here--15 degrees. Gonna get colder tonight and tomorrow. The new snow from last night should be light and powdery. Did I mention that its cold?
My family here in Palm Beach County are toughing it out as temperatures fell almost all the way down to 50º at sunrise this morning. I’m hoping the locals received ample warnings to bring pets and livestock into their homes so as to spare them the harsh cruelty of Nature’s wrath.
Such dramatic scenery to our south. I find it breathtaking to consider just how much collective human socio-cultural development was lost as a result of the “Columbian Exchange”, as Charles Mann puts it in describing what happened to the world after Columbus.
Cultural landscapes created by dead and forgotten peoples. But they left us monuments in stone and some hairless dogs to marvel at…
It would be nice if we had an Oy! button. Just saying. I know you guys are really busy blowing up terrorists and stuff, but it seems like a simple button should be an easy afternoon's work.
Morning! Happy fourth Advent Sunday.
It’s 52º here, and 14º back home, per the remote’s temp sensor.
Per the mention yesterday of telekinesis and a certain individual's skill sets, are you really sure those temp readings are correct? In fact, can you ever be really, really sure of that again?
Juuusst askin' the question. I don't pretend to, um, know the answer...
Good morning. 20s here right now, 40s later. It's Sheldon's birthday. He wants to go out for hamburgers.
Might be more entertaining to eat in...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlGNm7_dvz4
I'm not gonna' say you should have seen this coming, okay?
'Afternoon, Cynthia. Hope y'all have a good time.
The hamburgers were pretty good.
👍🍔🎂
The good professor, Bret Devereaux, has a new blog post out yesterday about the term “Bread and Circuses”.
https://acoup.blog/2024/12/20/collections-on-bread-and-circuses/
That's quite the detailed examination of the origin and meaning of panem et circenses.
Whatever the precise details, I think the more generalized popular meaning works well enough to say - or at least for *me* to say - that in ancient Rome, the folks at least occasionally got some actual bread as well as a show, while we here in modern times with our Neoclassical venues in D.C. get just a 3-ring circus with a bunch of large herbivores running amok for the entertainment of the crowd and the incoming ringmaster, all while making a big stinking mess out of the place.
And my answer to Russell's question is, No, actually. No I'm not...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of_jyeDZ3Sg
My oldest sister got sick last night so we cancelled lunch today. We had a fun dinner last night, close to 30 came over my niece from LA came and was thrilled that we brought a sugar cream pie. A good time. We’re on the road home taking a lunch break.
I did get to use the pancake machine this morning! 🤠
Sounds fun. I hope your sister feels better soon!
Thanks for the article, very interesting although I did chuckle a bit at the “human sacrifice and drinking hot chocolate” bit.
Thanks for noticing. I did that on purpose, but it's also an actual fact from the archaeologists.
I will try to offset that by having some hot chocolate while I write my checks to charities on Boxing Day.
“Showlo coont lay” is what I think the lady said in the beginning. She’s says they are “anticipatory” in that they can predict their owner’s next move. It’s possible they’re telepathic. I’m telling you, “The Telepathy Tapes” will have you thinking twice about your belief in telepathy.
Some writers - Jonathan Haidt comes to mind - have explained that our sense perceptions and physical responses are so much faster than our conscious thoughts that you might say "telepathy" would be downstream of connection and communication through bodily senses and "pre-thought" reactions.
In the tradition of Greek philosophy, we put language-based thought or speech at the pinnacle of our ideas of meaning-making and communication, but that's only one way of conceiving of, shall we say, interaction among beings.
I don’t need convincing. Seen it, experienced it. Many times.
I knew you were going to say that...
I may not be telepathic, but I saw this one coming.
That would be "precognition," a separate skill from telepathy.
I think I've mentioned I was a skilled tradesman?
You have mentioned that. Do you have telekinesis, too?
Oh, yeah? Well, I telepathed it first!
Reputable breeders don’t “inbreed” they “linebreed.” I have a linebred PWD. https://www.wylanbriar.com/breeding-advice/breeding-inbreeding-linebreeding-and-outcrossing-explained/
Thanks, that's informative.
Jingzhou, Hubei….cold here in the Middle Reaches Yangtze River. Not freezing but bone chill damp cold. 2000 year old city, central to Chu culture in the East Zhou Dynasty during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. King of Chu was the last holdout and the final state to fall to Qin Shihuang, “uniting” the entire country. Jingzhou is central in Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, the canonical text of Chinese literature.
Did I use “canonical” correctly? It’s one of a few most important books in Chinese literature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0GVIoSybXc
In case anyone else wondered what Jingzhou, Hubei looks like ...
That’s the developing tourist zone. I’d describe it as the usual charmless post industrial city.
There probably aren't any videos of the charmless parts on YouTube.
The museums are very good. Shang Dynasty stuff from 2500 years ago. Pottery, ancient relics and funerary stuff and a remarkable mummy of King Wu of Chu. Chu culture was something, and it was snuffed out by Qin Shihuang, the guy that 'united" all of China into a single country.
What’s funny….hidden away in the charmless parts down some funky alley that looks like you’re on the way to a trash transfer station will be a restaurant with food that is unbelievably good.
You’re right though…no Youtube videos of those places.
It's the same here: there's no correlation between how up-market a place looks and how good the food is.
But.... When I said "...on the way to a trash transfer station"....the trash transfer stations in America would appear beautiful compared to here.
Not noted in my descriptions of China are what it looks like outside the glittering metro hot spots. It's just plain filthy dirty WTF is going on here dirty. A rural peasant population is slowly being trained to not toss refuse in the place they are standing, although it still happens. Not that long ago, when a peasant couple with a small baby needed to let that baby do its business, it'd drop it right there on the sidewalk. Some places that are now quite nice river walk type tourist zones used to be the local fecal depository. It was bad.
“The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean 'according to the canon' – the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context.” I only hear the term as it applies to Catholic teachings but it seems appropriate in this case.
Thanks.
Thomas Pueyo wrote about Mexico in several essay-blogs.
https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/mexico-before-europeans
https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/the-meteoric-rise-and-fall-of-the
https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/25-fascinating-facts-about-mexico
https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/why-is-80-of-mexico-nearly-empty
Pretty good summaries of current knowledge on these subjects.
Good morning. Cold here--15 degrees. Gonna get colder tonight and tomorrow. The new snow from last night should be light and powdery. Did I mention that its cold?
My family here in Palm Beach County are toughing it out as temperatures fell almost all the way down to 50º at sunrise this morning. I’m hoping the locals received ample warnings to bring pets and livestock into their homes so as to spare them the harsh cruelty of Nature’s wrath.
Oh, the humanity!
"I’m hoping the locals received ample warnings to bring pets and livestock into their homes..."
So. Did you telepath them an ample warning or did you let them suffer "the harsh cruelty of Nature's wrath"?
I already know the answer. Just want to get it on the record.
Way to hoist him on his own petard!
Or, as some of the younger folks say... BOOM!?
Right before they say "OK boomer."
Aye, aye, Jean-Luc!
https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/91et54/has_this_shakespearean_joke_been_made_about_borg/?rdt=38819
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow ... somebody's got to have some damn perspective around here! Boom.
32 with a high of 45. Sunny. We had a thunderstorm yesterday evening.
I’m not sure you can even jump-start an iguana at conditions such as those.
I don't think it's quite cold enough for iguanas to fall out of trees on your head.
Keeping your hard hat handy, I hope...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD8SxDSKNJ0
Such dramatic scenery to our south. I find it breathtaking to consider just how much collective human socio-cultural development was lost as a result of the “Columbian Exchange”, as Charles Mann puts it in describing what happened to the world after Columbus.
Cultural landscapes created by dead and forgotten peoples. But they left us monuments in stone and some hairless dogs to marvel at…
Good observations.
I like what you did with the links in the article. Thanks!
Avec plaisir.
I think he was my 7th grade French Teacher!
Apparently he didn't cover the dangers of petards very well. Or maybe someone just missed class that day?
Did you learn Yiddish from Sholom Aleichem?
Well done, CW!
And can I get an "Oy" from the congregation!
Oymen!
It would be nice if we had an Oy! button. Just saying. I know you guys are really busy blowing up terrorists and stuff, but it seems like a simple button should be an easy afternoon's work.