if I was humble I'd be perfect

on the 2024 primary elections

"Robert Kennedy, Jr. is the Marjorie Taylor Greene of the Democratic Party. Both are batsh!t crazy." ~~ G.E. Nordell

happy 4-20 holiday to those who celebrate

WOW!! today was early direct deposit of Social Security check NUMBER 200 !! - barely enough to live on these days, but absolutely prevents me having to sleep under a freeway bridge

March 2023 Quotations (52)

"Every day is one of those days . . ."
~~ line from Apple+ movie "Luck"

"The fascist Republicans in the U.S. Senate are all a-dither about possible 'weaponizing' of government oversight. This is one result of the Rethuglicons having long ago weaponized stupidity."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was."
~~ Abraham Lincoln [1809-65]

"I am not a man, I am dynamite."
~~ Friedrich Nietzsche [1844-1900]

"Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction."
~~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [1929-68], in a student newspaper in 1947

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything."
~~ Greek philosopher Plato [427-347 BCE]

"He who thinks he knows, doesn't know. He who knows that he doesn't know, knows."
~~ Joseph Campbell [1904-87]

"The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of consid-ering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist; a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain."
~~ Ursula K. Le Guin [1929-2018] Page, in "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" [1973]

"Movies will make you famous; Television will make you rich; But theatre will make you good."
~~ actor Terrence Mann

"At the end of the day it's better to be an unpleasant winner than a nice loser."
~~ soccer/futball star Giorgio Chiellini

"To write down one’s impressions of Hamlet as one reads it year after year, would be virtually to record one’s own autobiography, for as we know more of life, so Shakespeare comments upon what we know."
~~ British author Virginia Woolf [1882-1941]

"Being homosexual isn't a crime . . . It's not a crime. Yes, but it's a sin. Fine, but first let's distinguish between a sin and a crime. It's also a sin to lack charity with one another."
~~ Pope Francis, denouncing laws against homosexuality in an AP interview

"If you feel pain, you're alive. If you feel other people's pain, you're a human being."
~~ Count Leo Tolstoy [1828-1910] of Russia

"The truth of a proposition has little or nothing to do with its psychodynamics. The notion that 'truth will prevail' is merely a pious wish; history doesn't show it."
~~ Robert A. Heinlein [1907-88], in "Methuselah's Children" [1958]

"No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life. There may be countless trails and bridges and demigods who would gladly carry you across; but only at the price of pawning and forgoing yourself. There is one path in the world that none can walk but you. Where does it lead? Don’t ask, walk!"
~~ Friedrich Nietzsche [1844-1900]

"My so-called inventions already existed in the environment. I’ve created nothing. Nobody does."
~~ inventor Thomas Alva Edison [1847-1931]

"Democrats get angry when officials commit treason, Democrats hate fascism, Republitards love both."
~~ Brian J. Harris

"Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted . . . but to weigh and consider."
~~ Sir Francis Bacon [1561-1626]

"No rational argument will have a rational effect on a man who does not adopt a rational attitude."
~~ philosopher Karl Popper [1902-94]

the Scientific Principle of Parsimony says that things will be created or connected or behave in the simplest or most economical way.

"An unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English-speaking audiences."
~~ Edith Wharton [1862-1937]

"All spiritual practices are illusions created by illusionists to escape illusion."
~~ Ram Dass

"The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose."
~~ James Baldwin [1924-87]

"A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face."
~~ Dr. Maya Angelou [1928-2014]

"We are imperfect mortal beings, aware of that mortality even as we push it away, failed by our very complication, so wired that when we mourn our losses we also mourn, for better or for worse, ourselves. As we were. As we are no longer. As we will one day not be at all."
~~ writer Joan Didion [1934-2021]

"It's how you deal with failure that determines your success."
~~ internet marketer Rick Beneteau

"You never stop learning until there is dirt in your face."
~~ line in the movie "The First Grader"

"My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness. Continue to allow humor to lighten the burden of your tender heart."
~~ Dr. Maya Angelou [1928-2014]

"I wish I'd a knowed more people. I would've loved 'em all. If I'd a knowed more, I would a loved more."
~~ Toni Morrison [1931-2019], in "The Song of Solomon" [1977]

"Remember that literature was not created to serve life, nor even translate it, but to escape it."
~~ French critic Paul Léautaud [1872-1956]

"The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen."
~~ architect Frank Lloyd Wright [1867-1959]

"'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' marked the beginning of American literature. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since."
~~ Ernest Hemingway [1899-1961]

"Giving up is simply not an option."
~~ teenage eco-activist Greta Thunberg of Stockholm, Sweden

"For this Nation to remain true to its principles, we cannot allow any American's vote to be denied, diluted, or defiled. The right to vote is the crown jewel of American liberties, and we will not see its luster diminished."
~~ Ronald Reagan [1911-2004]

"Only those who would fail to see the relationship between the fight for civil rights and the struggle for world peace would be surprised to see me. Both fights are the same."
~~ James Baldwin [1924-87]

"We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good."
~~ astronomer Carl Sagan [1934-96]

"We are bound together by the loss and the pain of the days that have gone by. We are also bound together by the hope and the possibilities in the days in front of us."
~~ President Joe Biden, in 2023

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is 'What are you doing for others?'."
~~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [1929-68]

"The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor."
~~ Thomas Donahue, President, AFL-CIO (and frequent AFL-CIO slogan)

"I dream my painting and I paint my dream."
~~ Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh [1853-90]

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does."
~~ American philosopher William James [1842-1910]

"The image of God is your final obstruction to a religious experience.”
~~ Joseph Campbell [1904-87]

"I believe that today’s Trump supporters are people who are making a conscious, knowing, and morally flawed choice to continue supporting a sociopath and a party chock-full of seditionists."
~~ Tom Nichols, in The Atlantic Magazine, March 2023 issue

"[It’s] really sad to see Tucker Carlson go off the rails like that."
~~ Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah

"As time goes on, you'll understand. What lasts lasts; what doesn't doesn't. Time solves most things. And what time can't solve, you have to solve yourself."
~~ Japanese writer Haruki Murakami

"The book of nature is written in the language of mathematics."
~~ physicist & astronomer Galileo Galilei [1564-1642]

"Color is a power which directly influences the soul."
~~ Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky [1866-1944]

"One simply cannot concern oneself eight or even five hours a day with nonsense-taken-seriously and not be corrupted by it. The corruption lies in the very habits of thought."
~~ author Patricia Highsmith [1921-95]

"I don’t know about you, but I practice a disorganized religion. I belong to an unholy disorder. We call ourselves ‘Our Lady of Perpetual Astonishment’."
~~ author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. [1922-2007]

"Make men and women only sufficiently jealous or fearful or drunken or angry, and the hot red eyes of the cavemen will glare out at us today."
~~ British author H.G. Wells [1866-1946]

"Everyone pretends. And everything is more than we can ever see of it.”
~~ Ian Bogost, contributor at The Atlantic Magazine

"Maybe it’s better to regulate railroads and banks instead of uteruses and drag shows."
~~ New Mexico poet Mary Oishi

{each set of posted quotations are then posted at the Working Minds website, alphabetical by author}

WAKING UP - a short poem by G.E. Nordell

Inside
I burn with the light of a thousand suns
In the outside world
A tiny few detect the heat produced
And are curious

But mostly
Folks see what they always see
Because their eyes are closed
So very tightly

Burning with the light of suns
Is available to everyone
You just have to declare it so

Waking up makes all the difference

Copyright 2023 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved

ORIGIN OF WUHAN VIRUS SOLVED LONG AGO

Back in September 2021, there was a lot of information about the Wuhan COVID crisis, so I built a timeline page on the subject. Part of that work included sifting thru pieces about the Wuhan Lab and the fish market, leading to the identity of Patient Zero, the first victim of the disease. The evidence is clear.
Wuhan Institute of Virology and Patient Zero

The F.B.I. and other agencies are dilly-dallying for reasons other than science.

Copyright 2023 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved

ZERO TOLERANCE FOR POLLUTION in Rio Communities

The City of Rio Communities, New Mexico Planning & Zoning is supposed to decide whether to recommend rezoning 300 acres of residential (PD) land to HEAVY INDUSTRIAL (I-3). That land is owned by Cibola Land Holdings — a Yates Petroleum Empire company.

SIMPLE SOLUTION: Set up an overlay zone on all industrial properties for the city for ZERO TOLERANCE FOR POLLUTION where ANY air or water pollution gets the business shut down for 30 days, second and further violations include $5000 fine; proof is evidence taken by city/county/state/federal officials on that property, regardless of source.

THEN see who files for zone change . . .

(This also works for Belen and Valencia County)

Copyright 2023 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved

Chinese New Year - Year of The Wabbit !

SENIOR SCOUTS

Somebody should create a Senior Scouts group modeled after the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
You could have Merit Badges for peeing & pooping & farting & napping.
You could have local and national Walker Races.
You could have Sympathy Badges for each time you fall down, with oak leaf cluster or gold star if taken to the hospital for overnight or longterm stay; same for each heart attack or stroke.
You could have Medical Condition Badges for official diagnoses of diabetes, macular or glaucoma, cancer (gold star after 5 years cancer free), or dementia.
You could have Scroll Badges for each college degree received after age 65.

The motto could be 'Having fun with decrepitude'.

Copyright 2023 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved

January 2023 Quotations (51)

"[We are] in a country that doesn’t care about reality or government or decency or much of anything else."
~~ Tom Nichols, staff writer at The Atlantic Magazine

"Teach self-denial and make its practice pleasure, and you can create for the world a destiny more sublime than ever issued from the brain of the wildest dreamer."
~~ Sir Walter Scott [1771-1832]

"The assertion that 'all men are created equal' was of no practical use in effecting our sepa-ration from Great Britain and it was placed in the Declaration not for that, but for future use."
~~ Abraham Lincoln [1809-65]

"Don't let the noise of others's opinions drown out your own inner voice."
~~ Steve Jobs [1955-2011]

"Desire is the cause of all stress."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed."
~~ Albert Einstein [1879-1955]

"How do we make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or disadvantage to anyone?"
~~ R. Buckminster Fuller [1895-1983]

"Do not expect justice where might is right."
~~ Greek philosopher Plato [427-347 BCE]

"A wise bear always keeps a marmalade sandwich in his hat in case of emergency."
~~ Paddington Bear

"If you are going to get anywhere in life you have to read a lot of books."
~~ author Roald Dahl [1916-90]

"Whoever wants music instead of noise, joy instead of pleasure, soul instead of gold, creative work instead of business, passion instead of foolery, finds no home in this trivial world of ours."
~~ Hermann Hesse [1877-1962]

Hey !!
Republicans and other fascists:
Every time that you punch the button to visit the fascist propaganda machine - you know: Fox, QAnon, OANN, fascist Twitter personalities - you kill a bunch of your brain cells. So be careful, you obviously have only a small number of brain cells left.
~~ G.E. Nordell

"Ya gotta remember always: Fifty percent of the population is below average. And it is even worse on Facebook. (And now we know that it is worse than that on Twitter.)"
~~ G.E. Nordell

"Joy is not in things - It is in us."
~~ Richard Wagner [1813-83]

"The universe is what it is, not what I choose that it should be."
~~ Bertrand Russell [1872-1970], in "The Freethinker’s Universe" [1951]

"A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader."
~~ Vladimir Nabokov [1899-1977]

"When it’s all been said or done, did we live for truth or for treasure?"
~~ David French, contributing writer at The Atlantic Magazine

"I have been accused of a habit of changing my opinions in philosophy. I am not myself in any degree ashamed of having changed my opinions . . . I claim only, at best, that the opinion expressed was a sensible one to hold at the time when it was expressed."
~~ Bertrand Russell [1872-1970], in 'My Opinions' — preface to "The Bertrand Russell Dictionary of Mind, Matter, and Morals" [1952]

"You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist."
~~ Friedrich Nietzsche [1844-1900]

"When I wake up in the morning I want to feel hungry for life. Desire is what drives me. When I go to sleep, I feel I have experienced a small death, so that I can wake up in the morning renewed and reborn."
~~ French actor Jean-Louis Barrault [1910-94]

"This minding of other people's business expresses itself in gossip, snooping and meddling, and also in feverish interest in communal, national, and racial affairs. In running away from ourselves we either fall on our neighbor's shoulder or fly at his throat."
~~ Eric Hoffer [1902-83], in "The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature of Mass Movements" [1951]

"The more [that] you pursue permanence, the more [that] you feel the impermanence of things."
~~ Alan W. Watts [1915-73]

"Atheism is a non-prophet organization."
~~ George Carlin [1937-2008]

"To be wealthy in an unjust society is a disgrace."
~~ Chinese philosopher Confucius / Kong Qiu [551-479 BCE]

"The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook."
~~ American philosopher William James [1842-1910]

"Money does not make people wealthy. In fact, some people are so poor [that] all they have is money."
~~ futbol/soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal

"I got to tell you something, if Steve Bannon and I had organized [January 6th], we would have won. Not to mention, it would’ve been armed."
~~ Cong. Marjorie Taylor Greene [QAnon GA-14], speaking in December 2022 to the New York Young Republican Club about the events of January 6th

"A first novel is like spring lamb, tender and pink."
~~ Benjamin Lytal

"The question of justice will be front and center next year."
~~ Teresa Hanafin, Boston Globe staff writer

"Really: somebody should make Elon Musk take a drug screen test, same as the one that the V.A. requires me to take. I am not kidding, the gazillionare is off the rails."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"It's so obvious to the point of cliche at this point that Trump is in this for one person and one person alone, himself. He steals fundraising, picks lousy candidates, and is an anchor in competitive races, so one would wonder how much longer the party tolerates this loser nonsense."
~~ Rory Cooper, once a top aide to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor

"Being born a woman is my awful tragedy . . . Yes, my consuming desire to mingle with road crews, sailors and soldiers, bar room regulars – to be a part of a scene, anonymous, listening, recording – all is spoiled by the fact that I am a girl, a female always in danger of assault and battery. My consuming interest in men and their lives is often misconstrued as a desire to seduce them, or as an invitation to intimacy. Yet, God, I want to talk to everybody I can as deeply as I can. I want to be able to sleep in an open field, to travel west, to walk freely at night . . ."
~~ writer Sylvia Plath [1932-63]

"Tell me, what is it [that] you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
~~ American poet Mary Oliver [1935-2019]

"For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream."
~~ Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh [1853-90]

"When an executive told me he was so busy he never took a vacation, I replied, 'You mean to tell me that you can handle an $80 million project but can't manage to plan two weeks for some rest and rejuvenation?' "
~~ automobile executive Lee Iacocca [1924-2019]

"The danger of civilization, / of course, is that you will / piss away your life / on nonsense."
~~ Jim Harrison [1936-2016]

"I had to get to space to understand that Earth is and will stay our only home. And that we have been ravaging it, relentlessly, making it uninhabitable."
~~ actor William Shatner

"The only reason that I exist is so my shadow has something to do."
~~ comedian Steven Wright

"The future isn't as far away as it used to be."
~~ Mark Sumner, writer on Daily Kos

"Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends than that good men should look on and do nothing."
~~ philosopher John Stuart Mill [1806-73]

"Societies and individuals that continue to foster manipulative one-upmanship roles (power over the computer or a human) are destined to fail; societies of rational interchange of ideas (power from the computer and from other humans) are destined to succeed."
~~ G.E. Nordell, in The Los Angeles Times September 1982

"I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me."
~~ Anaïs Nin [1903-77]

"You have power over your mind, not outside events, realize this and you will find strength."
~~ Roman emperor & philosopher Marcus Aurelius [121-180 CE]

"When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people."
~~ Abraham Joshua Heschel [1907-72]

"Hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny."
~~ movie producer Christopher Markus

"Your power is a function of velocity, that is to say, your power is a function of the rate at which you translate intention into reality. Most of us disempower ourselves by finding a way to slow, impede, or make more complex than necessary the process of translating intention into reality."
~~ Werner Erhard

"The world may seem like a mess today, but lookin' on the bright side . . . it's still not as bad as it's gonna be tomorrow."
~~ "Ziggy" daily cartoon panel 1/2023 - drawn by Tom Wilson & Tom II

"Life is an existential fandango. If you make it so."
~~ G.E. Nordell

ME: wanna hear a really bad joke ??
whoever: okay
ME: ... the Republican Party !!!
~~ G.E. Nordell

"We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are."
~~ businessman Max De Pree [1924-2017]

"The main lesson of thirty-five years of A.I. {artificial intelligence} research is that the hard problems are easy and the easy problems are hard."
~~ cognitive scientist Steven Pinker

{each set of posted quotations are then posted at the Working Minds website, alphabetical by author}

BAD JOKE

ME: wanna hear a really bad joke ??
whoever: okay
ME: the Republican Party !!!
>>>>>>>> G.E. Nordell