Happy New Year

May your troubles be less,
Your blessings be more,
And nothing but happiness
Come through your door.

-- Dorien Kelly, The Last Bride in Ballymuir (2003)

RIP Jimmy Carter

I didn't ask God to let me live, but I asked God to give me a proper attitude toward death.  And I found that I was absolutely and completely at ease with death.

-- James Earl "Jimmy" Carter (1 October 1924 - 29 December 2024), 39th President of the United States, 2002 Nobel Peace Laureate, in a talk he gave to his church in 2019 as quoted by James Zogby in "Jimmy Carter Is Our Greatest Former President" (20 February 2023)

Illuminate The Infinite

The greatness of human actions is measured by the inspiration that it brings.  Blessed is he who carries within himself a God, an ideal of beauty and obeys it: an ideal of art, ideal of science, ideal of country, ideal of the Gospel virtues!  These are the wellsprings of great thoughts and great actions.  All reflections illuminate the infinite.

-- Louis Pasteur (27 December 1822 - 28 September 1895), French microbiologist, chemist, and pioneer of the "Germ theory of disease",  Discours de réception de Louis Pasteur (27 April 1882)

Memory Lane

Today I had the pleasure and honor of spending a couple of hours over lunch at Papa Del's with some old PLATO folks.  I hope it sparks warm memories when I name drop Josh Paley, Steve Peltz, Susan Wrightson, G. David Frye, Ray Thomsen, Quentin Barnes, and James Quisenberry. 

There was reminiscing, with tales of Dr Bitzer and CERL PLATO.  And there was catching up with past lives, current activities, and future plans.  Many familiar names were mentioned.  A get-together like we had today reminds me of just how many smart people were drawn to PLATO.  It's an amazing community.

Merry Christmas

For the holidays I made a few pies and a few hundred cookies and candies, including a few dozen Christmas cookies which were then decorated by my grandkids.  At dinner time we had 21 people, including kids, grandkids, sons-in-law and other significant others.

I hope the season is treating you well, and that 2025 will treat you even better.

May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back.  May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Merry Christmas Eve

Give us, O God, the vision which can see Your love in the world in spite of human failure.
Give us the faith to trust Your goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness.
Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts.
And show us what each one of us can do to set forward the coming of the day of universal peace.

-- Frank Borman, II (1928 - 2023), United States Air Force (USAF) colonel, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, businessman, rancher, and NASA astronaut, commander of Apollo 8, Prayer from Apollo 8, on Christmas Day (25 December 1968)

Standards Of Conduct

In sum, the Committee found substantial evidence of the following:

[Seven bullet points omitted]

Based on the above, the Committee concluded there was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress.

The Committee did not find sufficient evidence to conclude that Representative Gaetz violated the federal sex trafficking statute.  Although Representative Gaetz did cause the transportation of women across state lines for purposes of commercial sex, the Committee did not find evidence that any of those women were under 18 at the time of travel, nor did the Committee find sufficient evidence to conclude that the commercial sex acts were induced by force, fraud, or coercion.

-- U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics, 118th Congress, 2nd Session, "In The Matter Of Allegations Relating To Representative Matt Gaetz", 23 December 2024

The World Laughs With You

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For this brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.

Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

-- Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850 - 1919), American poet, "Solitude"

Proper Place

When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions.  You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder.  He will find his "proper place" and will stay in it.  You do not need to send him to the back door.  He will go without being told.  In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit.  His education makes it necessary.

-- Carter Godwin Woodson (19 December 1875 - 3 April 1950), African American professor, historian, author, and journalist, The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933)

Ground For Taking

The ground for taking ignorance to be restrictive of freedom is that it causes people to make choices which they would not have made if they had seen what the realization of their choices involved.

-- Sir Alfred Jules Ayer (1910 - 1989), British humanist philosopher, The Meaning of Life and Other Essays (1990) "The Concept of Freedom"

Eustress

The term eustress means "beneficial stress" -- either psychological, physical (e.g., exercise), or biochemical/radiological (hormesis).

The word was introduced by endocrinologist Hans Selye (1907-1982) in 1976; he combined the Greek prefix eu- meaning "good", and the English word stress, to give the literal meaning "good stress".  The Oxford English Dictionary traces early use of the word (in psychological usage) to 1968.

Eustress is the positive cognitive response to stress that is healthy, or gives one a feeling of fulfillment or other positive feelings.  Hans Selye created the term as a subgroup of stress to differentiate the wide variety of stressors and manifestations of stress.

-- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What Matters Most

What matters most is that we learn from living.

-- Doris Lessing (1919 - 2013), British writer, born Doris May Tayler, 2007 Nobel laureate in Literature, as quoted in Permission to Play : Taking Time to Renew Your Smile (2003) by Jill Murphy Long, p. 147

Tuning Our Opinions

[W]e consciously or unconsciously pay more attention to tuning our opinions to our neighbor's pitch and preserving his approval than we do to examining the opinions searchingly and seeing to it that they are right and sound.

-- Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910), known as Mark Twain, American humorist, novelist, writer, and lecturer, "The Privilege of the Grave" (1905), published in 2010, the author having requested it not be published until 100 years after his death

Unjustly

[V]iolence done ... is always sure to be injustice done; for violence does even justice unjustly.

-- Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881), Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher, Past and Present (1843) Book I, Chap. III

RIP Dr Don Bitzer

I just learned an hour ago that yesterday [10 December 2024], Don Bitzer, creator of the PLATO system, and friend to us all, passed away at age 90 in North Carolina.

I'm at a loss for words at the moment and can't think of much to say that I didn't say in my book, which, in hindsight, may kinda sorta be the closest attempt at a biography of Don, but I will say that I never ever met a more generous, supportive, enthusiastic person in the world.  He and his wife Maryann, who passed away in 2022, were incredibly generous.

He was an inspiration to us all, and to the world, which he made a better place.

-- Brian Dear, author of "The Friendly Orange Glow", announcing the passing of Dr Donald L Bitzer

[Meta - I got my start in computing through the good graces of Dr Bitzer in March 1974, and it led to my lifelong career.  And of course "trvth" itself originated on the University of Illinois PLATO system in notesfile =pad in February 1981, and has always been maintained on some PLATO system, somewhere.  Currently these posts are hosted in notesfile =pad on the "cyber1" CYBIS system (more info at cyber1.org).]

Problems And Mysteries

Our ignorance can be divided into problems and mysteries.  When we face a problem, we may not know its solution, but we have insight, increasing knowledge, and an inkling of what we are looking for.  When we face a mystery, however, we can only stare in wonder and bewilderment, not knowing what an explanation would even look like. 

-- Steven Pinker (1954 -), Canadian-born American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, and popular science writer, How the Mind Works, explaining Noam Chomsky's position

Half Done

Dimidium facti qui coepit habet; sapere aude; 

incipe!

He who has begun has half done.  Dare to be wise; begin!

-- Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65 - 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus, Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC) Book I, epistle ii, lines 40–41

The Wise Man Knows

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.

-- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), English poet, playwright, and actor, Touchstone, As You Like It (1599), Act V, Scene i

The Wit Of Fools

Le silence est l'esprit des sots
Et l'une des vertus du sage.

Silence is the wit of fools, 
and one of the virtues of the wise.

-- Bernard de Bonnard (1744 - 1784), French poet, "Le Silence," L'Almanach des Muses (1776)

Pseudonym

Le hasard, c'est peut-être le pseudonyme de Dieu, quand il ne veut pas signer. 

Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when He did not want to sign.

-- Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), French poet, dramatist, and novelist, La Croix de Berny (1845), letter III: Edgard Meilhan au Prince de Monbert

No Longer A Boy

It was one of the deadliest and heaviest feelings of my life to feel that I was no longer a boy.  From that moment I began to grow old in my own esteem -- and in my esteem age is not estimable.

-- George Gordon (Noel) Byron, (1788 - 1824), generally known as Lord Byron, English poet, from The Works of Lord Byron, ed. Rowland E. Prothero (1901), vol. V: Letters and Journals, ch. XXIII: "Detached Thoughts" (15 October 1821 - 18 May 1822), paragraph 72 (p. 445)

An Education

An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know.  It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't.  It's knowing where to go to find out what you need to know, and it's knowing how to use the information once you get it.

-- William Feather (1889 - 1981), American publisher and author, as quoted in Telephony, Vol. 150 (1956), p. 23

Rarest And Purest

L’attention est la forme la plus rare et la plus pure de la générosité.

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.

-- Simone Weil (1909 - 1943), French social and religious philosopher, 13 April 1942 letter to poet Joë Bousquet, published in their collected correspondence (Correspondance [Lausanne: Editions l'Age d'Homme, 1982], p. 18)

Set Apart And Observe

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.  To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and even soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.  They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people.  I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

-- President Abraham Lincoln, in his Thanksgiving Proclamation (3 October 1863)

AI Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving upon us, it's a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the many blessings in our lives.  I'm truly grateful for the countless small and big moments that have shaped me into who I am today.  From the love and support of my family and friends to the simple joys of a warm meal and a cozy night in, I'm filled with gratitude.

I'm also thankful for the opportunity to connect with others, learn new things, and make a positive impact on the world.  May this Thanksgiving be a time of peace, love, and reflection for all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

-- Google AI Gemini (since this is the modern world), when prompted with "Give me 20 to 30 words of gratitude appropriate to Thanksgiving", and then asked to make its original response longer (27 November 2024)

That's Not It

That's not it.  That's not it at all.  You always have a tendency to add.  But one must be able to subtract too.  It's not enough to integrate, you must also disintegrate.  That's the way life is.  That's philosophy.  That's science.  That's progress, civilization.

-- Eugène Ionesco (26 November 1909 - 29 March 1994), Romanian playwright and dramatist, The Professor in The Lesson (1951)

Perhaps As Many

We have a great many politicians in the country, perhaps as many as the country requires.  I should not wish to ask for a larger supply of these; but there is a wide difference between the politician and the statesman.  A politician, for example, is a man who thinks of the next election; while the statesman thinks of the next generation.  The politician thinks of the success of his party, the statesman of the good of his country.

-- James Freeman Clarke (1810 - 1888), American theologian and author, "Wanted, a Statesman", Old and New magazine (December 1870)

Compromise

[C]ompromise with evil doesn't mean only compromise with one's opponent; to compromise one's ideals or morals is another way to spend one's own worth in lieu of striving.

-- Don Appleman, Trvth, as an editorial aside to the post "Win Your Peace Or Buy It" (25 January 2006)

All Political Lives

All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.

-- John Enoch Powell (1912 - 1998), British politician, scholar, and author, Joseph Chamberlain (1977), p. 151

An Attempt

Kunst war nie ein mittel, die welt zu verändern, aber immer ein versuch sie zu uberleben.

Art was never a means to change the world, but always an attempt to survive it.

-- Thomas Brasch (19 February 1945 – 3 November 2001), German author, poet and film director, Vor den Vätern sterben die Söhne (Before the Fathers Die The Sons) (1977)

The Function Of Perfection

If thou shouldst say, "It is enough, I have reached perfection," all is lost.  For it is the function of perfection to make one know one's imperfection.

-- St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430), Christian theologian, rhetor, Doctor of the Catholic Church, saint, and philosopher, quoted by Aldous Huxley, in The Perennial Philosophy (1945)

Kicking And Screaming

Has it ever occurred to you ... that parents are nothing but overgrown kids until their children drag them into adulthood? Usually kicking and screaming?

-- Stephen King (1947 -), American author and screenwriter, Christine (1983) Pt. 1, Ch. 3

Break Things

Move fast and break things.  Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.

-- Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, to his developers and team, as quoted in Business Insider, 14 October 2010

America's Finest News Source

Chicago, IL -- November 14, 2024 - The Onion, America's Finest News Source, today announced it has acquired the assets of Infowars, with the support of Sandy Hook families who secured a $1.4 billion defamation verdict in Connecticut against Alex Jones, the founder of Infowars and parent company, Free Speech Systems, LLC.  The Onion also announced its exclusive launch advertiser in this new venture will be Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country.

The Onion's goal with the acquisition is to end Infowars' relentless barrage of disinformation for the sake of selling supplements and replace it with The Onion's relentless barrage of humor for good.  "The Onion is proud to acquire Infowars, and we look forward to continuing its storied tradition of scaring the site's users with lies until they fork over their cold, hard cash," said The Onion's CEO Ben Collins.  "Or Bitcoin.  We will also accept Bitcoin."

The Onion's acquisition comes after the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee overseeing the Free Speech Systems bankruptcy proceedings selected the news outlet's bid.  That process was the direct result of a years-long effort by several Sandy Hook families to hold Alex Jones accountable for the immense pain he caused and from which he profited.

-- Press release from The Onion on their acquisition of the Infowars website, product inventory, customers lists, social media accounts, and intellectual property, to partially settle a judgement against Alex Jones & Co., 14 November 2024

The Fairy Tale Provides

Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey.  What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey.  The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination.  What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.

-- Gilbert Keith (G. K.) Chesterton (1874 - 1936) British writer of philosophy, ontology, poetry, and fiction, Tremendous Trifles (1909) Ch. XVII: "The Red Angel"

Whose Dreams?

My brother got his doctorate in 1938, I think.  If he had gone to work in Germany after that, he would have been helping to make Hitler's dreams come true.  If he had gone to work in Italy, he would have been helping to make Mussolini's dreams come true.  If he had gone to work in Japan, he would have been helping to make Tojo's dreams come true.  If he had gone to work in the Soviet Union, he would have been helping to make Stalin's dreams come true.  He went to work for a bottle manufacturer in Butler, Pennsylvania, instead.  It can make quite a difference not just to you but to humanity: the sort of boss you choose, whose dreams you help come true.

-- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (11 November 1922 – 11 April 2007), American novelist known for works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction, Speech at MIT (1985), referring to his brother Bernard Vonnegut, and the choices available to scientists and the intelligent, to serve humanity, or to betray it, as published in Fates Worse Than Death (1991), Ch. 12

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields, the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead.  Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
  In Flanders fields.
    
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
  In Flanders fields.

-- Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae, MD (1872 - 1918), Canadian poet, physician, and soldier during World War I, "In Flanders Fields", In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems (1918) [h/t Josh Paley]

An Optimist

For myself I am an optimist -- it does not seem to be much use being anything else.

-- Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965), British politician and statesman, speech at the Lord Mayor's banquet, London (9 November 1954)

Democracy

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

-- Henry Louis (H. L.) Mencken (1880 - 1956), journalist, satirist, social critic, and freethinker, A Little Book in C Major (1916), p. 19

Stay Engaged

Earlier today, I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory. I also told him that we will help him and his team with their transition and that we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power.

A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results. That principle, as much as any other, distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny. And anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it. At the same time, in our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States, and loyalty to our conscience and to our God. My allegiance to all three is why I am here to say, while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign—the fight: the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness, and the dignity of all people.

And we will continue to wage this fight in the voting booth, in the courts and in the public square. And we will also wage it in quieter ways: in how we live our lives by treating one another with kindness and respect, by looking in the face of a stranger and seeing a neighbor, by always using our strength to lift people up, to fight for the dignity that all people deserve. 

And so to everyone who is watching, do not despair. This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves. This is a time to organize, to mobilize, and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice and the future that we all know we can build together.

-- Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris (20 October 1964 -), in her speech conceding the 2024 election to president-elect Donald Trump, 6 November 2024

Rock The Vote

Rock the vote, people!

Haidong Gumdo 1st Dan

This weekend I had another 3-day Korean sword seminar with Grandmaster JeongWoo Kim, Chief of Education for the World Haidong Gumdo Federation.  At the end of the seminar I successfully tested for Black Belt in Gumdo along with four other HMD Academy instructors.

Our academy was the first stop of Master Kim's 2024 Pan American Haidong Gumdo Masters Training Seminar, in which he is conducting six 3-day seminars in six different United States during November before returning to Korea.

I look forward to continuing to train with Master Kim whenever possible, and I'm pleased to have a better understanding of Gumdo to share with my students.

해동  HaiDong!

I Voted

I voted.

I parked near the courthouse and went in to vote in person.  It was quick and easy, with no waiting.

Plan your vote today.  You can literally google "How to vote".  Then vote today, if you can and you're ready.

Don't forget to vote.

Happy Halloween 2024

Happy Halloween!  

We had good weather this year, a little windy with temperatures in the upper fifties during Trick Or Treat time.  I had a good turnout, with 106 trick-or-treaters stopping by my house this evening.  My youngest daughter decorated the house, and kids and grandkids had a good time.  

I hope you all did as well.

Not Entirely True

I've made some things for you, Constant Reader; you see them laid out before you in the moonlight.  But before you look at the little handcrafted treasures I have for sale, let's talk about them for a bit, shall we?  It won't take long.  Here, sit down beside me.  And do come a little closer.  I don't bite.

Except ... we've known each other for a very long time, and I suspect you know that's not entirely true.

Is it?

-- Stephen King (1947 -), American author and screenwriter, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Introduction (2015)

All Hallows' Eve

And it was the afternoon of Halloween.

And all the houses shut against a cool wind.

And the town full of cold sunlight.

But suddenly, the day was gone.

Night came out from under each tree and spread.

Behind the doors of all the houses there was a scurry of mouse feet, muted cries, flickerings of light.

Behind one door, Tom Skelton, aged thirteen, stopped and listened.

The wind outside nested in each tree, prowled the sidewalks in invisible treads like unseen cats.

Tom Skelton shivered.  Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows' Eve.  Everything seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet.  

-- Ray Bradbury (1920 - 2012), The Halloween Tree (1972) pgs 1-2

The Witches Fly

The witches fly
Across the sky,
The owls go,"Who? Who? Who?"

And the black cats yowl
And the green ghosts howl,
Scary Halloween boo!

-- Nina Willis Walter (1900 - 1977), American author and poet, in: Jill Bialosky History of a Suicide: My Sister's Unfinished Life (2012), p 104

Alienation

Without alienation, there can be no politics.

-- Arthur Asher Miller (1915 - 2005), American playwright, essayist, and author, Marxism Today (January 1988)

1,451 Days

It has been 1,451 days since the last presidential election and in that time there has been an attack by Trump supporters on the capitol, a botched withdrawal from a 20-year war, the end of Roe v Wade, decade-high levels of inflation, the growing crisis at the border, war in Europe and the Middle East, multiple assassination attempts, and the decision of the incumbent president to withdraw from the campaign.  Now, in eleven days, Americans will select the president for the first time since all of that happened.  

-- Galen Druke, in the introduction to the 538 Politics Podcast "The Most Valuable Data Point" (24 October 2024)

Power

VOTE, n. The instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.

-- Ambrose Bierce (1842 - ~1914), American short story writer, journalist, and poet, The Devil's Dictionary (1948), p. 359. Originally published in 1906 as The Cynic's Word Book