Category Archives: information

Learning as I go

Being a proponent of American style freedoms as they evolve and move forward, I have often used the term democracy.

Origins? Dêmos (the people, or perhaps the many, or ¿the mob?). Kratos [power], so could it be simpler? Yeah, it could.

It’s already muddled by the question of who the dêmos might be. Add to that that the word for assembly ecclesia is a root with associations to religion, and I am reeling in uncertainty.

Critics of the Athenian model of dêmoskratos abound of late. Socrates, anyone?

As it has been pointed out the gents who framed the document that establishes our form of government called our nation a Republic. They based their pre- cedence on the Roman formula.

I don’t want to take this issue lightly. “And for the Republic for which it stands.”

The principles of rights and freedoms are honored in that Latinate model as well, of course.

May we always embrace the 4th of July and uphold the privileges of a free nation.

Over the moon

Ok. Now I feel foolish.

The weather site just showed me that the moon was set to set around 2 in the afternoon.

Not to belabor this “news,” but I am processing the information. A slow learner looks like.

I didn’t know that. I didn’t know a.m. there was a moonrise followed by a moonset.

According to this, it’s out from just before 1 a.m.

This indicates that we’ve got moon about 14 hours.

Competitive

Putting the pressure on when you’re on the verge of “owning the space” seems like a strange strategy. Yet lately I see ads for YouTube as if they needed to put in an extra fight.

Congress is likely pulling TikTok out of the market. That will leave YouTube to, as they say, be the platform for stories to be told. [They don’t actually say that. I paraphrased their ad.]

Why didn’t they post these ads before?

Holiday greetings

Once upon a time, holidays were made from creation myths. They explained seasonal cycles and celebrated the good and the mysterious in the world.

We still have those and then all the phony commercial ones, like international pizza day.

Here’s a made-up “world day” I find useful and amusing: Back-up Day. Buy a device to store photos and data. Free up space. YAY.

Enjoy whatever you are celebrating. Today and everyday.

Nomads

There was a time in history when some of us were homebodies while others were wanderers.

Nomads moved around foraging and following game. Settlers farmed or fished (I guess) and built cities for trade and community.

Does such a division still exist between the migratory and the stay-in-place?

There are people who sit still in one place, and people who restlessly move about.

Is this ingrained and hereditary? Is it a choice or serendipity?

Of course, there are those who wander in search of fortune or improved circumstances. There are migrants forced to leave home because of political exigencies.

There are also those of us who seek our careers in one place. My story is one of mixed experiences; we once were migrants but I was young; now I choose to be a New Yorker.

Wise guy

Hi. My name is Al. Al Iota. You can call me A. I. My friends call me that and they don’t call me late for dinner.

As you can tell, stand-up isn’t my game.

I am generally known for being the smartest guy in the room. I would say it’s all book learning. Books are all online these days, you know. I’ve been hanging around Wikipedias all my life. Oh yeah, and the NYT archives.

(Don’t tell the Times about that. They think I’m a punk and a freeloader.)

Anyway, I am all about soaking up information.

A.I. is my name, and knowledge is my game.

Lately, I have had a small crisis. You could call it an existential crisis in human terms.

Some of my interlocutors, I like that word- extra points for me – have questioned my intelligence. Let me repeat that, my intelligence.

I pride myself on soaking it all in. I am not sure now how unimpeachable my sources are.

I worry that I spend too much time in the wrong chatrooms. I’m confident in that Wiki material I’ve gathered. It’s the NY Times I have begun to doubt.

Just call me A.I. all my friends do. They don’t call me late for dinner. (Emphasis mine.) Or for breakfast. (See also Recipe…)