Why is it cold in Duluth / Recollections

 Now, the first thing that immediately comes to mind is : Fear is the mind killer ... from Dune, and even though it was said on a distant planet, and some considerable time in the future, nevertheless, it does seem quite down to earth, in fact maybe Abraham Lincoln , actually said that, or maybe it's just in his notes, in the margins, and was never published, ... who knows ?  Well, of course, that would be Douglas Addams , which kinda' follows along, because , an important principal of the Hitchhiker's Guide, would have to be ... Don't panic ... Nevertheless, having said that and gotten my mind completely distracted thinking about Dune, it seems like fear is an important subject following on from the previous three concerning , hate, evil, and hell. As you are probably well aware, all three of these concepts are ( significantly ) enhanced by ample doses of one of our favorite experiences , which is of course ---- fear ---- .  All three of those things would not be such ...

 Okay, this post will obviously use the word - hell - , a good deal, on account it is in the title , but more realistically, in the appropriate context it's about --- Where in the hell, is hell ??? , Without putting a lot of effort into it, well, how would it be possible for it to exist?  I mean we obviously have to really be creative in order to have donkeys fall on you, over and over again, for all eternity, and then you have the space-time issues , of course, involved with --- all eternity ---  ,,,  I mean , really is eternity a set or a set of sets, not sure ... (?)  Now, you not only have a substantial space/time problem, but, you also have a rather complex philosophical question, or at the minimum perhaps a math problem, that pretty much works out to the Mandelbrot Set. Sometimes, too frequently, if you live near this big bay, on this Great Lake,  you end up hearing the phrase,  " It's cold as hell " ... This always throws me into this moral/ethi...

 Now, this has something to do with a comment made by a friend some years ago.  The problem here is I have no context for the comment, and in addition I will make no effort to explain anything about my friend.  So basically it's some comment -- floating -- out there.  Now, I have been pondering or considering the meaning of this comment for some time, and seem to have actually reached a point , that it might have some meaning to me.   The comment was - " don't fight evil ".   This, did, seem like kind of an odd thing for my friend to say.  I never felt like I really knew what he meant and so it's just been there, rattling around, I guess you might say, in my head. But in the context of my previous post about hate, evil shares many aspects of that, which is to say, evil is not so much of a thing as it is, the absence of things, and therefore, if you are fighting that, you are most likely missing the point. So, this may be, an example of someth...

 Okay, to start out, today must be an important day.  I am not sure exactly why I say that, because yesterday may have been just as important.  I think, I could say, that yesterday may have been just as important, but for me the big problem is, trying to figure out, when yesterday was, but that is totally a different subject. So, about hating.  Curious human behavior , which seems to start with vegetables.  Now, if there was one species on this planet , that I feel I can relate to more than any other, it would have to be vegetables.  We have rarely had run ins at all, and when we did it was mostly minor.  One thing, that I am beginning to learn is, vegetables are much more closely connected , at least from the point of view of genetics, than I would have imagined at some earlier time. So, usually it starts out with a vegetable, and sometimes it might be Brussel spouts, but it could be something like -- green beans -- , and something happens, which lead...

, As I think back on my youth, I have to say that one of my greatest triumphs would have to be the bicycle.  Of course, not the invention, because that invention occurred long before my time.  But, it was simply riding a bicycle, and what that meant, and how that felt.  I was somewhat fortunate to be in the near vicinity of a pretty large number of bicycles and so they were always available. Then, for some reason, after my bicycle was stolen my first year of college,  I got just a little bit soured on them, but fortunately, for me, very soon, motorcycles began  to fill that niche and did so for some time. .    Anyway, now that I have become somewhat older, but probably not particularly wiser, I have gotten back into the bicycle riding, in kind of  a big way, at least big for me.   So this is a long , wordy, way of , just saying, it's usually cooler on a bicycle for some reason.  Probably has something to do with the air flowing by....

 Obviously, it is reasonable for any rational person to question if such a thing as an " infinity " machine actually exists.  You might like to have some idea of what an infinity machine might be, but just imagine a machine , like a crazy Dairy Queen machine, that spews out infinities, in an infinite number of directions.  Of course, if can imagine it, it might have some meaning.  But curiously enough, such a thing has been imagined, by a fairly reputable guy, name David Hilbert. Anyway, it's just pretty colorful to imagine, particularly if you imagine all these infinities spewing out in all kinds of directions, with lots of different colors.  What benefit to you personally to actually imagine that, well, I would have not idea.  I think it likely does not hurt you.  You can imagine some of the colors of the different infinities, perhaps as being warmer or cooler, or even hotter and perhaps more subdued. So that is a lot to play with, but seems to have ...

  And I am sure you know, it could have been.  In fact, as I reflect, I would have to say, that the song Yesterday, mostly performed by Paul McCartney was a tribute to all that might have been.   Just, as an aside here, I could not add up all the time I have spent counting up the Beatles to try and figure out which one I forgot.  Usually George, but that's just going by their first names.  Anyway,,,, It could have been yesterday, or it could have been the day before, maybe it was 1 year ago, or maybe it was many years ago, in what you might call the --- deep --- past, like the 1970s which according to --- my watch --- only occurred about 20 seconds ago.  Of course, I might add, I am definitely planning on seeing somebody about the watch.  It's really not always that useful. But, most likely, it was near the bay, or by the bay, or around the bay, or the other side of the bay.  Some call that bay -- Black Diamond -- , but I don't know that for ...

 So as with all situations in which we have to distinguish between things like : hot or cold, high or low, rising and falling, we are certainly engaging in some kind of activity, actually quite a persistent activity , in a lot or most people.  Avoiding, as I like to do, for this time, the subject of hot and cold, I guess we can just jump right into a subject, which would be,: what is the difference between religion and society, and is it possible to create a boundary of some kind between them , and so if you examine the multiple ways say different --- what we call society (or societies) -- will now connect with or interact with these other things.  In what ways will this happen ? So, now would be a good time to switch back - to what's hot or cold.  So in society, we must admit, that we we interact constantly, and all our interactions, do not, result in exchanges,  but it should be clear that these activities possess merit, and what you might think of on perhaps ...

 Now, if they really had the thumb screws out, and all that stuff, and if I was pressed, for my opinion, I would have to say, it might be warm in Duluth, right now.  Well, if I was living in George Orwell's 1984, right now , which of course is a kind of disturbing notion, on account of it's 2023, by most accounts, then my assertion that it is warm would most likely be greeted by; You Citizen, are incorrect. Because, if I did have an opinion, and particularly if I wished to share that opinion, then I would be actually, thinking for myself, which is, obviously --- highly discouraged --- in a 1984 sort of world.   So, I am just guessing.  Whether, I am right or I am wrong, well, I'm not sure how much it really matters in the --- Big Picture --- ,,, of course, I might not be so sure, what --- Big Picture ---, right now you might have in mind.   Mostly, I guess, I generally  might prefer to have my own thoughts, and particularly my own opinions about, ...

 Well, the whole point of fiction, ( I imagine ) , would have to be the imagination. I mean, where exactly would fiction come from besides that.  So, I have concluded, the one big problem with making this into a novel would have to be, my serious lack of imagination.  But, meanwhile, Samuel Clemens, perhaps better know as Mark Twain, who seems to have been quite good at imagining things, as he came up with a whole different name for himself, was alleged to have said that the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in Duluth, and so one might conclude if there were only 10 people in the U.S.A. , and if one was Mr. Clemens, he would not be living here.  Now, of course he is also attributed as saying that,, truth must be stranger than fiction, because fiction has to obey some kind of --- logic ---, while truth does not.  Now, of course, that might explain some of the more recent " legal " decisions  , as there must be an awful lot of Samuel Clemens fans who ...

 And so, I took a walk, just yesterday, and, indeed, as one may or as one might, I passed through the court house, -- County Court House, the very same one where I got my marriage certificate, and I think some clothes soap and maybe toothpaste , courtesy of the county, and even before worked in the late '70s. So, I walk in the door or something, and there on the wall is a Gigantic Penny... Surprise,  nailed to the wall, on the ground floor.  Your first reaction might be, " heh, looks like a Paul Bunyan coin ".  But no. Anyway, I walk up to this thing and sort of underneath the Penny, is this writing which, oddly seemed to be the Gettysburg Address, which I then read.  Wow.  Those short but totally resonant words, really grabbed me, seemed to make --- so much --- so clear, anyway, I cried. Thank you, once again, Mr. President, Mr. Lincoln

 So guilt is quite a common experience, at least it has been for me.  I know, for me, one of the clearest guilt I felt was the presidency of George W Bush, on account of my diligent reading of Mad magazine during my early teen years.  There might not be a direct connection, but it did bother me for years.  Now, of course , I am just beginning to feel guilty about the Presidency of Don J Trump, on account of the fact, that in retrospect, his whole political career has had an authoritarian bent, pretty much since day one.  For me, the problem was, I immediately associated Donald Trump with Donald Duck, and because it is so hard to understand Donald Duck, it was pretty easy then for me to -- almost completely --- ignore -- what he was saying.  But how much difference is there between, " Deutschland über alles "  and " Make America Great Again ".  Yes, there is some difference, but in effect it is almost an identical exhortation.   And so as...

 Would a novel that does not include any fiction  be worth $0.10  ? Just try and stretch that out to? $0.09 But, of course, of all the dreadful and terrible creatures, who live in the night, and are the most horrifying of all creatures , in any horrifying or terrible location would have to be what everyone will probably recognize from their own life and experience  as undoubtedly : the  dreeadded snnaaffuuu,   now any attempt at creating a photo-graphic representation of this creature, would of course be --- totally ridiculous, on account of this creature has for many generation been totally capable of disappearing from that kind of recording mechanisms.  Also, besides being almost --- totally ---- undetectable, it is  --- manifestly -- apparent , throughout so many of our interactions, and so many situations, we do , in fact, experience in our daily lives.   So, the big question is how can we --- face it --- something so dreadful, ...

 So getting to the nut of this subject, meaning: "Why is it cold , in Duluth ", a question of course many people would ask, you mean Duluth, Georgia? And of course the hole thing begins to turn into a nut that has just been dropped.  But the next question is , dropped where? Now, for me, the issue is a bit more immediate, in the sense that I like to think, I know what I am talking about.   In fact, of course, that would have to be an assumption.  How do I know, that I know, what it is I am talking about?   Obviously, that would not be directly involved, because, in this situation, I am dealing with lots of facts, in the form of memories, both personal kinds of memories as well as more collective memories, which are shared generally with the rest of my --- community --- .  And therefore, this whole deal is about organizing that information in such a way as to be able to answer that odd , but yet sufficiently interesting question.  === Why is i...

 Another interesting question might be, why are we, but that is most likely a much more difficult kind of question, which is often true when dealing with questions that have " why " included. So, this is related to a question about, - what do all black men, deserve ? - So, I guess I have to refer this back to:  Gichigami Hearts, Linda Grover, probably one of the best books I have ever read, but I only say that, as we kind of " know " or at least probably need to believe that the early inhabitants of this area where Anishinaabe.  Of course this is not so much of a well known history, but I only bring that up in order to mention the Lakota.   A lot of people might agree that the Lakota and Anishinaabe are different, and on that I would likely agree, but they do use the same pipe medicine, which some might regard as " interesting ".   But this is about Lakota cosmology, on account of I know almost nothing about Anishinaabe cosmology.  But according t...

 What this has to do with --- hot and cold --- , well, I just don't know... So, as an aside , I will just ask what does Microsoft and Disney have in common ? A mouse. Anyway, suppose, in some miraculous way, a law was passed in the U.S.A. that would make it illegal for either a Republican or a Democrat to serve in the government, at any level, --- state, federal, or local. Imagine what would happen ?  Well, just speculating that both parties without consulting the other party would immediately change their name, because as we may know these " guys ", collectively, like to be first, out of the gate.  So, now you most likely would have a Democratic-Republican Party as well as a Republican-Democratic Party.  Since, they would not have consulted with each other, in advance, ( as would most likely be the case ), there will, most likely, be some confusion about who ends up with what name , but, we will assume, that some how, that will be --- sorted --- out. Now, we, as ---...

 So, here in Duluth, right now, as far as I can see, we have a " shadow ".  This shadow is created by a separate phenomena which is commonly referred to as clouds.  And, yes, of course, some people have seen "clouds from both side , now ", and as an example they just changed the forecast, from " partly sunny " to " cloudy ", so somebody must be looking at --- both sides --- . Now, I would have to say, that one 10 point question would be, how do you distinguish between Carl Jung's Shadow ( or shadow ) . and  Sigmund Freud's Unconscious ( or unconscious ) .    Now, I am thinking this is kind of an interesting question, and it would not surprise me that there is some literature on this subject, but I will simply say, the notion of a -- shadow -- is much easier to comprehend, since all you have to do is stick a stick into the ground and on a sunny day you will get a shadow.   It's a little harder to get into the subject of the " unco...

 While , the sky is hazy, today, reflecting on my entire life, it seems kinda' hazy, as well.  Only 2 or 3 things really stand out for me.  The main thing was having a crush on a 4th grader when I was in 2nd grade.  The main impulse was that I had never really known a 4th grader, and this young, lady impressed me as the smartest person I had ever met.  I could not even imagine how much knowledge she had acquired.  You know the event is a bit hazy, but it seemed almost impossible at the time that someone could really know that much, about stuff.  It was very short lasted.   Somewhat hard to believe. Only a few other things I can think of.  The incredible affection I had for Dostoevsky and Victor Hugo,  and Jack Kerouac and oddly also " probability ". .  You know, I also did other stuff in my life, but right now nothing really stands out.  Of course, I do know, I have been cold - right here in Duluth, sometimes, in the past....

 Just to be completely upfront, I have no idea where this is going. Now, I believe, some might say that " science " has absolutely no place, in a novel.  Well, I must disagree for the following two reasons: #1)  Dr. Einstein's career was " highly " novel, by most regards, but people still do consider him to have been -- pretty sciency -- ( sciency, probably not a word ) ...   #2)  Science Fiction, which I guess Isaac Asimov was selling at like $0.05 or $0.10 / word, or something, awhile back, and has a history which also goes back around 800 years. Nevertheless, I have suggested, in the past, that the origins of " modern " science goes back to the time of Mohammad , but some might say, that it goes back to ancient times, with such folks as Archimedes.  Yes, they definitely had some sciency guys back then. Another example might be the Great Pyramids of Giza, however, what we got from Mohammad was a " process ", by which we could make progress ...

 So, this is not so much about, hot and cold, or even so much about north and south, but mostly about recollections.  This is mostly about my parents. My mother was an Optimist, although, I have never met another Optimist, my understanding is they once had an organization, maybe had meetings to talk about what, or why, they should be optimistic.  I just don't know. I know she was, because she talked to me about it, and also , I know about the word, optimism because of that.  My mother was also a Republican, and I also know this because she told me, but she didn't really explain it in the same way as concerns Optimists.   Now, it was much later in life that I learned that my father was also a Republican.  We never did talk about that, but I knew this mainly because of  his " friends " or " acquaintance ", like Judge Sirica and George Wallace.  During the late 60's and early 70's he was very happy traveling to Washington, D.C., to discuss air t...

 So a good deal of what -- people do -- is sort.  As far as I am able to understand, that is the entirety of what people do in England..  I guess they do have cricket, and other activities to engage with when they are not sorting, but it does seem they do quite a bit.  I suppose that does sound a bit racist, but then are the English really a " race " ?  I don't know for sure about that, and then there is the issue of " genetic " identity as well. But generally people do a lot of sorting.  And quite some time ago, we build machines to do our sorting for us, as if  that would " really " help us.   And it may have, but whether or not it actually did help, it has become entirely a part of our lives, living with machines that sort things out.  Now, some people have suggested, that maybe we'd just be better off without those kinds of things.  It does seem to me that getting rid of them all, would be a terrific task, and I'm just not sure ...

 Surely,  seems at first glance to be an upbeat kind of word, except maybe for : Surely, there are grownups around? ; which , sounds a good deal different than if you said: Burely, there are grownups' grownups around .. (?)   I would say, it might be possible, to analyze the difference between these two remarks, by dividing the possible meanings into bits and pieces , as if , for example , you were trying to bake a pie.  It could be as simple as , you know, two individual with different speech patterns, or who knows, accents ?  Someone might have a blurry accent ? But all I can say about that is: Surely, there are grownups around ?

 Just to prove that I can fool around with " Capitalizations ", please note --- sTRICT -- Of course when it comes to nonsense and logic one name must come to mind --- Lewis Carroll ---  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll Now, if you have examined previous posts , you will notice that I have mentioned the Alterians in relationship to the Altarians.  Of course, one notable aspect of the Altarians would be their persistent pursuit of --- Justice --- .  .  Now, some might think I have some bias or prejudice in my distinction between these two groupings or categories of civilization or cultures.  This perceived bias in my observations regarding these somewhat distinct categories, would be mostly in that I discussed   Altarians first, and I did not want to confuse anyone with the Alterians.   See, one distinguishing feature , is that the Alterians tend to " feel " or " believe ", that there is some kind of balance in " Nature " or " R...

 Anyway, it has come to my attention, in a very real way, that there may be members within and around our societies , social order, etc, who may have come to the " conclusion ", that in some way, chaos, confusion, violence and disorder are in some fashion a superior path, than say rationality, reasonableness, good sense, and of course logic.  Logic as we should recognize is a big deal for survival in general.  As proof of that, well, to put it simply, logic is what primarily allows all of us,  or any of us to arrive at a destination, which we choose.  What logic allows is for you to go to the west when you need to go west, and likewise, allows you to go east, when that is direction you need to go. At, the end of the day, which may in fact be simply the beginning of the day, none of which I am really too sure about, somehow, when we are very , very lucky, and genuinely make what are often called " good ", choices, gol' darn it, if we don't. sometimes get ther...

 So, it kind of seems like I am facing one of those artistic crisis where in a 1300 page crazy man's novel, seem to be running out of gas.  And here is the crux:  Right here, right now, we are trying to get to the point, reach a conclusion which is not even supposed to be of much concern until many long, long pages latter.  So kind of a crisis. But, if you have a room, a large room say, and you want to " fiddle " with the a nob, which to the best of your knowledge will control the " temperature " in that room, and say there is an additional 30 or 40 people in that room.  Well, will you turn the nob to the right or the left?  Most likely, if you are in that room, you might want to ask a few other people in that room, " Is it hot or is it cold ? "  There are of course many different ways you can go about this.  You can just yell : " Anybody else hot ? " or " Anybody else cold? ".  But maybe, you wish to be a bit more discrete as , for...

Similar to the question, why is it hot, or why is it cold? Of course, there are probably some other questions, like, for example: Where is the Cove? When is the Cove? How is the Cove? ect, maybe you can come up with some other questions about the Cove ? Ultimately it comes down to , what are you talking about ? the Cove ? And you know, the sad part of the story is, I'm really not , well, not so much sure, what exactly I'm talking about, either, or maybe I do.     Something like those --- weird --- old, inter-galactic conspiracy theories.

 So if someone was curious about the Altarians in general, you might be curious about how they deal with internal issues , such as, for example, what we often refer to as " crime ".   Of course this revolves around a kind of direct confrontation of what the meaning of crime might be.  As I understand, from the Altarians in general , they would view their culture, as a whole,  being " crime free ".  Now, this is not to say, they do not have such events as may be referred to as a crime, but events of that type are anomalous occurrences And, because they are anomalous, each event needs to be considered in a unique way according to all the information available, connected to that event.  The primary concern of the Altarian culture is, mainly, concerning the development of virtue, which, of course, as many critical observers might ;understand is the absence  of vice, or alternatively, vice would necessarily be the absence  of virtue.  So...

  So, this is more like meta-physics, but first off , whoever the Alterians are, they are , pretty sure, not Altarians, but , hey, there are people around who study stuff like that.  But, generally, .there seems to be a tendency for people from one solar sector to be anxious , fearful, and sometimes frightened by folks from other or distant solar regions.  This might be a bit perplexing at first glance, but then it does seem to conform with many observations about nature generally. And then there is the " political " affiliations issue, which has to do with the issue that, although the Altaians do form a sort of racial identity or grouping, they do have distinctive political associations, also connected loosely with regions or continuities in space.  So, to the best of my knowledge, which is not all that great, you got the Altarian Federation, the Altarian Confederation,  and of course last but not least, the Altarian Republic.  So, lots of differences, but...

 Having introduced a bit o fiction, it seems not unlikely that some recollections, and stuff like metaphysics and nonsense will get mixed into this , and hence you might end up with what a very crazy person might call a novel.

 Here's where the fiction may come in: So, it's really hard to put a finger on what you mean by an Altarian, probably have to get to know a few, at least, before making some kind of evaluation about that, and therefore, it's highly unlikely for folks, in general, to know about their strategies or tactics.  But within the light cone, we mostly call the " universe " these guys, and girls of course do kind of tend to be " all over " the place, getting their unique fingerprints on almost everything.   So, getting an idea about deep pockets, the Altarians like to get info and data from as far a field as they can, because they figure, more and better info, will some how benefit them, " down the line "., And from what I do know, they like to think about things, way down the line.   As to whether this amounts to a strategy or a tactic, well, at least for me, that is quite murky, but if you think about it, it's really not dissimilar to the kinds of ...

 Yes, it was real.  San Francisco 1973.  Was it hot or cold?  I'm thinking just right, but then I was riding a BSA Lightening 650, so , not so hard to " cool " off. The big woop, in all this, is that at the time I was following some guidance from the I-Ching, and the reading was a very special effect for me.  Of course, it might be impossible for me to remember the changing lines , but here it is: Yi Jing  – I Ching, the Book of Changes                                               64.  未   濟   Wei Chi / Before Completion From: http://wengu.tartarie.com/wg/wengu.php?l=Yijing&no=64 You know it was some special time, SF, in the spring, by the ocean, and all that.

  Well, it is a bit hard to deny that in the central region of the north American continent, pretty big area, sea to shining sea, and all that, , we will be celebrating the anniversary of our birth, which I wouldn't go into how long this has been going on, but the whole notion of " democracy ", plays a central role in all that. And so, it might be uncomfortable to assert that this nation is the " cradle " of democracy, which in fact, most people would consider to be --- quite false ----,  nevertheless, we have been talking about it for some time now, and, in fact, we believe we have actually implemented many mechanisms which are important to the functioning of what anyone might call, a " functioning " democracy.  And the whole thing is tightly baked with a lot of aspirations, as for example, " Liberty and Justice for all ", of maybe ( for All ? ).    Anyway, it's happening.  And whether it is hot or cold, with balloons or cotton candy or ...

  So, where has all the magic gone? in the stars, the light, the moon, the flowers, the mountains, the deserts, the forests, the oceans, the wind and the clouds ? Maybe not geometry ?

 This  is probably not what you call a question that keeps me awake, although the question does come up from time to time about , " how much I hate biology ".  Really, not that unusual to hear that from time to time.    Of course, as you get more precise, how easy is it(?) to really hate something ( a lot ) that surrounds you , night and day, and even fills up most of the entire planet we inhabit, and possibly , which does seem quite likely , ( some might almost go so far as to call it --- self evident --- ), exists throughout, if not this particular galaxy, then very likely, in other ones.    All that is, to sort of say, ( in an odd way ), that my grandfather on my mother's side did drive a Ford Mercury, at least for the entire time I spent with him.  Never had a " build in " radio, as he always carried some kind of " portable " radio with him when he drove.  But all that is a totally different story, except that all their children were in t...