File Created 10-16-2024 by madmike@InfinitelyRemote.com [----------------------------------------------------------------------] Up In The Air - Aware Contributed by: masodo Monday, January 06 2020 @ 03:58 pm EST [1][HornyNewYear.jpg] I did not really make any sort of resolution to post more to my blog projects this year. Just the fact that they exist keeps me ever mindful of my desire to build upon those existing structures. I think if I ever tried to develop some sort of posting schedule - which every "how to succeed in blogging" author would stress is a "must" - I would soon find another hobby. I'll admit I really don't want to work that hard; I'd rather wait for inspiration and add to the internet when the mood strikes me. I guess that's the difference between hobby and obsession: one you do for enjoyment the other because you cannot imagine it otherwise. [2][MQJ.jpg] So - if I may be so colloquial as to begin a sentence thus - I was intending to search the inter-webs for content that might relate to my [3](Unofficial) Oaklandon Community Blog and in the process discovered (on a map) that the nearby [4]Indianapolis Regional Airport (a.k.a. Mount Comfort Airport) is referred to as MQJ, the 3 letter identifier assigned by the [5]FAA. A search involving this new-found tidbit lead me to an extraordinary internet resource by the name of [6]Flight Aware [7][FlightAware.jpg]-[8][FlightAware.jpg] From [9]https://flightaware.com/about/: FlightAware is a digital aviation company and operates the world's largest flight tracking and data platform. With global connectivity to every segment of aviation, FlightAware provides over 10,000 aircraft operators and service providers as well as over 13,000,000 passengers with global flight tracking solutions, predictive technology, analytics, and decision-making tools. The "iFrame" presented here is centered on Mt. Comfort Airport but the source website offers you the ability to investigate any airport you choose. You can see detailed information about every airplane in the sky in real-time. I am truly amazed at this technology and thought this would make an ideal "share" to kick off the new year. IFRAME: [10]https://flightaware.com/live/airport_status_bigmap.rvt?airport=KMQJ [11]https://flightaware.com/live/airport/KMQJ Comments (0) __________________________________________________________________ BlogDogIt - Up In The Air - Aware - BlogDogIt http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20200106155843554 References 1. http://BlogDogIt.com/Stories/UpInTheAir/HornyNewYear.jpg 2. http://BlogDogIt.com/Stories/UpInTheAir/MQJ.jpg 3. http://oaklandon.deburger.com/ 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_Regional_Airport 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aviation_Administration 6. https://flightaware.com/live/airport/KMQJ 7. https://flightaware.com/ 8. http://BlogDogIt.com/Stories/UpInTheAir/FlightAware.jpg 9. https://flightaware.com/about/ 10. https://flightaware.com/live/airport_status_bigmap.rvt?airport=KMQJ 11. https://flightaware.com/live/airport/KMQJ [----------------------------------------------------------------------] this: Contributed by: masodo Wednesday, December 18 2019 @ 12:50 pm EST IFRAME: [1]https://www.youtube.com/embed/7duPNQCp-w4 [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7duPNQCp-w4 The Air That I Breathe __________________________________________________________________ This song was a major hit for The Hollies in early 1974, reaching number two in the United Kingdom. In the summer of 1974, it reached number six in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number three on the Adult Contemporary chart. In Canada, the song peaked at number five on the RPM magazine charts. The audio engineering for "The Air That I Breathe" was done by Alan Parsons. In an interview, Parsons noted that Eric Clapton once said that the first note of "The Air That I Breathe" had more soul than anything he'd ever heard. - [3]wikipedia Comments (0) __________________________________________________________________ BlogDogIt - this: - BlogDogIt http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20191218125024570 References 1. https://www.youtube.com/embed/7duPNQCp-w4 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7duPNQCp-w4 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Air_That_I_Breathe [----------------------------------------------------------------------] Tokyo Keyhole Contributed by: masodo Thursday, September 26 2019 @ 02:31 pm EDT Back in July I posted a [1]Gigapixel Panorama that was inadvertantly labeled as "Tokyo" when it was in fact the [2]Hong Kong Project. It turns out there is in fact a Gigapixel Panorama of Tokyo and I am happy to share that here on BlogDogIt too. Enjoy! IFRAME: [3]http://www.360gigapixels.com/tokyo-tower-panorama-photo/tokyo-tower- panorama-photo_iframe.html [[4]Bust out of frame] Please post screen-shots of any interesting "finds" in the comments below. Check out the viewer platform here: [5]https://krpano.com/ Comments (0) __________________________________________________________________ BlogDogIt - Tokyo Keyhole - BlogDogIt http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20190926143155394 References 1. http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20190718111217263 2. http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20190718111217263 3. http://www.360gigapixels.com/tokyo-tower-panorama-photo/tokyo-tower-panorama-photo_iframe.html 4. http://www.360gigapixels.com/tokyo-tower-panorama-photo/tokyo-tower-panorama-photo_iframe.html 5. https://krpano.com/ [----------------------------------------------------------------------] Introducing: Glitch N. Matrix Contributed by: masodo Thursday, August 22 2019 @ 12:00 pm EDT I am pleased to announce the addition of a brand new domain in the [1]DeBurger Photo Image & Design empire: [2]GlitchyMatrix.com [3][GlitchyMatrix-logo-550.jpg]-[4][GlitchyMatrix-logo-550.jpg] The following is the "About" section from my new blog: [5]Glitch N. Matrix-[6][cropped-GlitchNMatrix-sm.jpg] Throughout my life I have experienced instances of utter weirdness; from Déjà vu and prophetic dreams to bizarre observations and unexplained occurrences. It was after experiencing a very obvious “glitch in the matrix” moment that I felt compelled to investigate the availability of the domain name glitchinthematrix dot com… it was taken (no surprise.) That was actually a good thing because it lead me to grab-up GlitchyMatrix.com (a much pithier option I feel.) I am excited to venture into this creation and have chosen the moniker “Glitch N. Matrix” with which to present content on this site. Apologies to [7]Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck for choosing his visage (flipped) to stand for my Mr. Matrix – I am quite uncertain why I chose to do so [8][1f609.svg] The internet is chock-full of reports of the strange, bizarre and inexplicable. It is my intention to seek out examples of this Glitchy Matrix in which we live to share them with readers. I will gladly accept story submissions and suggestions and hope to one day make GlitchyMatrix.com a “go-to” source for reports of glitches in the matrix. From the category: [9]Personal Reflections Shaken by [10]GlitchNMatrix | Posted on [11]August 22, 2019 It is a timeworn cliché to ask the question, “where were you when the lights went out?”; this being ostensibly a reference to the legendary [12]Northeast Blackout of 1965. So too, are many folks prompted to recall events of three years prior to that catastrophe, when plied with the question, “where were you when Kennedy was shot?” We who were alive during those occurrences may (or may not) be able to offer solid alibis for our whereabouts and activities at the time, but when an apparent Glitch in the Matrix occurs in conjunction with a major event, the moment will be forever etched in your consciousness. This is my story of just such a moment… [13]Dancing People-[14][DancingPeople-200.jpg] Several years ago I was given the gift of a really nice earthenware coffee mug that featured embossed, silhouetted figures of people dancing – in a petroglyphic motif – about its circumference. It was an uplifting graphic that added buoyancy to its substantial heft. This mug became my constant companion as I would transport my “wake-up juice” on my daily three mile commute to the photo lab at which I was employed. I recall one day, while heading off to work, I stopped momentarily to tie my shoe; using my truck’s bumper to prop up my foot for the task. It was not until I was walking into work, and rounding the back of the truck that I noticed the coffee cup setting where I left it – on the rear bumper – without so much as a drop missing from it’s precious cargo. I tell you this anecdote to illustrate why I had taken to thinking of this item as “my lucky cup.” This talismanic status was to be a short-lived manifestation however, for not long after the mug’s demonstration of its amazing survival skills, it met its match in the form of the concrete sidewalk just outside my home’s front gate. My house at the time had a chain-link fence and a front gate that I would routinely pass through; performing the action of unlatching, opening, closing and latching. One fateful morning as I was turning to close the gate, my prized earthenware work of art tumbled from my grasp and fell (seemingly in slow motion) to the pavement below – shattering into countless small pieces. At the time I could not fathom the forces that would cause me to subject my inanimate friend to such an awful fate but could not dwell on the matter as I was off to work. When I arrived at the lab a crowd of fellow employees were gathering around a large central work table where the manager was setting up a television. “What’s going on?” I inquired to the dazed and confused looking assembly… The timing was just about right. The explanation was clear. Tuesday, September 11, 2001. 8:46:40: Flight 11 crashes into the north face of the North Tower (1 WTC) of the World Trade Center, between floors 93 and 99. [15][Towers.jpg] [16]Norman Vincent Peale “This is a dynamic and mysterious universe and human life is, no doubt, conditioned by imponderables of which we are only dimly aware. People sometimes say, “the strangest coincidence happened.” Coincidences may seem strange, but they are never a result of caprice. They are orderly laws in the spiritual life of man. They affect and influence our lives profoundly. These so-called imponderables are so important that you should become spiritually sensitized to them. Indeed, the more spiritually minded you become the more acute your contact will be with these behind-the-scenes forces. By being alive to them through insight, instruction, and illumination, you can make your way past errors and mistakes on which, were you less spiritually sensitive, you might often stumble.” https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/coincidence * Norman Vincent Peale, Stay Alive All Your Life Have you ever experienced a glitch that seemed related to a remote event? Tell us about it in the comments below. Please add [17]GlitchyMatrix.com to your blog visitation rotation, I hope to have great fun over there and hope you decide to join me. Comments (0) __________________________________________________________________ BlogDogIt - Introducing: Glitch N. Matrix - BlogDogIt http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20190822120050469 References 1. http://DeBurger.com/ 2. http://GlitchyMatrix.com/ 3. http://glitchymatrix.com/ 4. http://BlogDogIt.com/images/spotlight/GlitchyMatrix-logo-550.jpg 5. http://glitchymatrix.com/author/glitchnmatrix/ 6. http://glitchymatrix.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/cropped-GlitchNMatrix-sm.jpg 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck 8. https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/12.0.0-1/svg/1f609.svg 9. http://glitchymatrix.com/category/personal-reflections/ 10. http://glitchymatrix.com/author/glitchnmatrix/ 11. http://glitchymatrix.com/2019/08/22/shaken/ 12. http://blackout.gmu.edu/archive/a_1965.html 13. http://GlitchyMatrix.com/images/DancingPeople.jpg 14. http://GlitchyMatrix.com/images/DancingPeople-200.jpg 15. http://GlitchyMatrix.com/images/Towers.jpg 16. http://GlitchyMatrix.com/images/NormanVincentPeale_th.jpg 17. http://GlitchyMatrix.com/ [----------------------------------------------------------------------] Hong Kong Keyhole Contributed by: masodo Thursday, July 18 2019 @ 11:12 am EDT In January 2019's [1]Keyhole into Shanghai City, I shared with readers the [2]BIGPIXEL Studio's 195 gigapixel panorama shot featuring Shanghai City. That post has since gone on to occupy the prestigious position of [3]Number One Most Viewed Article here on BlogDogIt (having registered nearly 33,000 views to date.) It certainly was a fascinating internet attraction and has offered countless hours of visual exploration to all those who have taken the time. By now however, you have probably seen every square yard of Shanghai City and are asking yourself, "Now what?" ... Hong Kong! Let's Go...! IFRAME: [4]http://www.bigpixel.cn/t/5834170785f26b37002af474 [[5]Bust out of frame] Please post screen-shots of any interesting "finds" in the comments below. Check out the viewer platform here: [6]https://krpano.com/ Comments (0) __________________________________________________________________ BlogDogIt - Hong Kong Keyhole - BlogDogIt http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20190718111217263 References 1. http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20190103142620543 2. http://www.bigpixel.cn/ 3. http://blogdogit.com/staticpages/index.php?page=20120430035725666 4. http://www.bigpixel.cn/t/5834170785f26b37002af474 5. http://www.bigpixel.cn/t/5834170785f26b37002af474 6. https://krpano.com/ [----------------------------------------------------------------------] Tickled by MoonBagel Contributed by: masodo Wednesday, April 03 2019 @ 12:48 pm EDT This article serves to usher in a brand new topic area here on BlogDogIt: "From The Gopher Hole" There is so much interesting content in the internet depths of Port:70 that I have decided to drag some of the more glittering gems into the light of day. Enjoy! [1]hogz of entropy #190 moo, oink, up your butt.-[2][HOE190.gif] h0e. >> "Hume Tickles Me" << by -> MoonBagel I would like to introduce this paper by stating three things quite simply. First, this is quite possibly the stupidest move I have ever made in my "scholastic career." Second, this class landed at bad time for me -- it managed to conveniently coincide with a fun-filled period of existential angst. ("Katie, you have more angst than anyone I know" -- my mother over Christmas Eve dinner, December 24, 1997). Finally, this is the first time in well over a year I have felt truly inspired. With these things in mind, I proceed: While I have tremendously enjoyed being a part of this class, occasionally contributing a little insight or any of a number of inane comments and listening to those of others, I feel compelled to admit that I do not have any impenetrable, or even defendable, opinions regarding the vast majority of the topics we have covered in this class. There were concepts and excerpts which did touch me profoundly. I was doing some final reviewing on the afternoon of the 13th, and it was those pieces that stuck out in my mind above all others, and those which stick with me as I type this paper. The prompt given for this final was "Explain your point of view concerning major philosophical issues studied in this class." I intend to do so. I realize fully that what follows is not what was intended when the assignment was given, but as I started to type the original draft of my paper, I realized this was going to be yet another entry in the long line of BS papers I have written for a huge number of classes over the course of the past few years. It occurred to me that this was NOT what I needed to be writing to fulfill what I consider to be goal of this final. If nothing else, this assignment begged brutal honesty, and that is what I offer as opposed to my usual steady stream of bullshit. I cannot begin to verbalize the adrenaline rush I felt when I realized this was my big, bright, shiny, sparkling, glowing chance to write honestly and feel completely justified. Regardless of my grade, I will come away feeling fulfilled, knowing that on this occasion I was not just playing a game with my teacher and that I wrote something that I can take pride in. At the beginning of the semester we read Plato's Apology. It floored me, as does most any writing that involves a person standing up, unfailing, for something that is Right or Just. One thing that bothers me most about the generation I am a part of is that the vast majority of us have nothing we are willing to stand up for. To see that strength elsewhere is immensely reassuring to me when I wonder if there is any hope that we will ever even resemble virtuous people. Reading that passage over is a large part of the reason I decided to complete this assignment as I am. While a final paper for one class in high school is fairly insubstantial compared with Socrates dying for his personal belief system, I keep in mind the Emperor Marcus Aurelius stating and restating that our Virtue is something we should prize, and we should never tarnish it by doing anything that is not right. My little duct-taped copy of The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius is another thing that affected me deeply throughout this semester. I plan on purchasing the book very soon after turning in my class copy, and along with that, my journal will keep me in touch with what I initially felt when I read his words. Attitude is everything -- if a task or an obstacle is set in your path, a negative attitude will not help you to continue your journey. I often recall what Aurelius wrote about Maximus in the fifteenth entry of Book 1 -- "no man could ever think that he was despised by him." I believe I could be a truly content person if, in old age, I could look back on my life and be assured that no man ever thought himself despised by me. I typed out the first entry in Book 2 and keep it in my room as a reminder that in every day of my life, I will meet people with unimaginable differences, and I must learn to deal constructively, and hopefully kindly, with each. I do not have to agree with someone to respect them, or to simply tolerate them. I was reminded that sadly, people are generally compelled to grasp at the most insignificant, fleeting, insubstantial abstracts in their lives and become ardently attached to their accumulated material wealth. I was simultaneously reminded that I am capable of transcending that... well, perhaps I will not be able to transcend it entirely (as I am human), but I can keep at the forefront of my waking thoughts the importance of family, Love, Virtue, and Honor. As I age, and even in my youth, I will bear in mind that death is a part of the life cycle and is inevitable; I should not fear death, rather, I should accept its inevitably and move forward with my life through the time in which I do have control. The simplicity of life is important -- too much is lost in the overbearing spectacle some men shape their lives into. Nature does not oppose itself, as that is unnatural. The idea that we ultimately are the same material as the soil, an oak tree, or the star Alpha Centauri is quite humbling. Each creature is born of the death of another. I was very impressed by Immanuel Kant's astoundingly logical discussions involving the hypothetical and categorical imperatives and sense of duty. They appear to be workable and effective in practice -- virtually every mentally stable person can agree on such categorical imperatives as "murder is wrong." Though it has been said that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions," I prefer Kant's "without the principles of good will this may become evil indeed." There is a huge gap between intentionally killing someone and accidentally killing someone, one that is certainly worthy of note. If it provides nothing else, taking the time to ask whether a decision is one you would be comfortable fully shouldering the blame for and if you would be comfortable if that decision was echoed throughout the world gives you time to thoroughly think through a choice. Differentiating between profound concerns and relatively trivial ones through the hypotheticals and categoricals is also valuable. Plato's Cave struck me, as well. It can takes one's previously infallible sense of what is real, and flip it around, kick it and poke at it a little, and leave you with a new, perhaps unsettling, perspective. It gives a profound twist to the phrase, "food for thought." After I first read this allegory on one of the first days of this semester in my Language Arts class, the concept of our lives being controlled by puppeteers manipulating shadows proceeded to dance about in my head for the rest of the day, and a number of days after. Whether this is taken in a political sense or a more religious one, the perspective it provides is invaluable. The next time I see "fish" spelled "ghoti" I will be reminded of Russell and Wittgenstein, and how they had far to much time on their hands. They made reasonable points -- it is impossible to know precisely what another person is attempting to express when you speak with them. However, I feel that is one of the beauties of speech and language. The vagueness of some words and the intricacies of others smack me around on a daily basis. The Metaphysical unit of this course intrigued me the most by far. Until I was about thirteen years old, my various religious education teachers at St. Therese were thoroughly convinced that I would become a nun one day -- "she sure knows her religion!" Apparently I was getting to know the Catholic Church a little too intimately for the tastes of some. After my teachers tired of my incessant questioning and I was shouted at on more than once occasion to "Stop asking questions! You shouldn't be questioning your religion. You are supposed to have faith!" From that point on, direct participation in organized religion left me with a repugnant taste in my mouth. I still remain fascinated by it, however -- the culture surrounding some of our world's long-standing faiths, as well as the dogma that is at their roots. I am not able to make these dogmas my own, however. I have remained a devout agnostic since I was thirteen years old, through threats of "you're going to go to hell!" and friends' not-always-subtle attempts to convince me to convert to their various faiths, from Aquinas's proofs of the existence of God to Anselm's ontological argument and Aristotle's unmoved mover. I have no fact-based, logical argument prepared for when I state my disagreement with their conclusions and explanations. All I can say is that I feel spirituality should be and, in fact, is an intensely personal experience, and not a choice that results from incessant exterior pressure. I simply cannot believe in God by playing the statistics -- 75% odds that a belief in God will save my soul from suffering eternal damnation or simply not waste my time is not a compelling reason to believe. Hume tickled me. I am not sure how else I could express Hume's effect on me. He tickled me. While he made strong points which are worthy of consideration, I an incapable of taking him seriously. Perhaps he was not taking his ideas seriously, either. Maybe he merely did not exist. Perhaps the Hume argument is worth utilizing the next time I want to hear a band or artist that is performing at the numerous establishments in Kansas City/Weston/Westport/Lawerence areas that serve alcohol, and therefore will not allow a minor through their doors -- "I don't exist! You can't prove I exist! Just try to keep me out." Unfortunately, I will probably be sobered somewhat when Big Mr. Door Man uses physical force to remove me from the premises. Ah well -- it looked good in theory. Hume's tickling kept my thoughts careening about inside my head for a number of days. It is entirely possible that I do not exist! Hume created opportunities for brainstorms I never dreamt I would be part of. I thought for well over a week about Hume's arguments and realized that I am not able to craft a reasonable rebuttal. His statements, as ridiculous as they may read, stand. Sure, I still think I exist -- but what evidence do I, personally, need to accept that "fact"? For the time being, I will trust in my senses to guide me. I learned a great deal about Marxism which my thoroughly Americanized, "Communism = EVIL!" mind had not been exposed to previously. I still maintain that Marxism is a lovely system, in theory. If the evolution of his dialectical materialism had been allowed to progress normally, perhaps we could have had 45+ years of peace instead of the nuclear arms race and Star Wars. I can relate to the problem of man's alienation from his work when he has little control over it, and recognize the maddening exploitation in the primal communal, slave, feudal, and capitalist societies. Perhaps if they had not been so greedy... but, ah! there is the problem. It seems to be impossible to implement a man-made system and have it work to the point where it can fulfill the boldest idealists' dreams. Human drives are indestructible, and it is those most natural of tendencies which cause the most mechanical and artificial of systems to crumble. In the end it was Tolstoy's My Confession who affected me most intensely. He too suffered an existential crisis: "My life came to a standstill....The truth was that life was meaningless. It was as though I had been living and walking along, and had come to an abyss, where I saw clearly that there was nothing ahead but perdition.... "...I did not know myself what it was I wanted: I was afraid of life, strove to get away from it, and, at the same time, expected something from it." In many cases I found his words to be intensely familiar. He lived a seemingly perfect life -- he had money, an education, respect. I have many advantages -- I am well-liked by most (so far as I know), I have a supportive and close family, and that elusive “potential.” Regardless, I do not have all the answers, nor will I pretend to. I must take my time to be pensive and ponder. About those issues which I have neglected to discuss in this paper, well, all I have to offer is a “maybe next time?” coupled with a shrug. I expect to have to re-read all of my books in the near future to exercise my newly-gained philosophical perspective. My summer will be filled going over and over the Meditations, and perhaps reading The Apology once again, to give me strength in the face of apathy, indifference, and ignorance. A large block of time will be spent creeping around bookstores in search of writings by Nietzsche, Hume, Marx, Kierkegaard, Sartre, and especially Tolstoy. When I read Sophie's World again, it will be an entirely different experience than when I first read it. I have perspective! I may not have been able to make the most out of this course while I was a part of it, and I am saddened that I could not bring myself to take full advantage of it, but I refuse to let my mind atrophy further by letting that which I did ingest drift away. This paper will remain with me in the future, and will, in all likelihood, suffer through revisions at the mercy of my confused, questing adolescent brain. Hey, just think -- you could be holding a burst of brilliance in your hand. After dozens of revisions, this could be my masterpiece. Or maybe it won't be. At any rate: Though my continued reading will not appear on a progress report, nor will it be fit for mention on a college application, that which I have learned and will learn will know no confines, and that, ultimately, is what is truly important. What is my point of view concerning major philosophical issues studied in this class? It is still evolving. "I don't know." That is my honest answer. --- Comments from my teacher: [ What on earth is wrong with this? It's insightful, honest, covers at least 80% of what we talked about, is beautifully written and shows a keen understanding of major issues. I'm proud of you for finally turning something in to me that shows your "potential" as "actuality." Most of what you've done this term has seemed sort of "last minute." I'm sure this was, too, but your intellect has allowed you to burst the bubble of indifference. Maybe a hair short, and with an unnecessary apologetic opening -- excellent work. 275/300 -- A] Comments (0) __________________________________________________________________ BlogDogIt - Tickled by MoonBagel - BlogDogIt http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=2019040312484666 References 1. https://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/gw?gopher://infinitelyremote.com:70/0/www.textfiles.com/magazines/HOE/hoe-0190.txt 2. http://BlogDogIt.com/images/HOE190.gif [----------------------------------------------------------------------] War and Peace: TL;DR Contributed by: masodo Wednesday, February 06 2019 @ 12:04 pm EST [1]War and Peace in paper-back-[2][WarAndPeace.jpg] Few folks would argue that to commit oneself to reading a 12~1500 page novel is a daunting assignment, to say the least. This is however, something I have intended to do and something I am pleased to say I have finally accomplished. [3]War and First Edition-[4][Tolstoy_-_War_and_Peace_-_first_edition_1869.jpg] In the interest of full disclosure: Rather than curl up in some well-lit nook to pour over this monumental tome in hardcover form, I chose rather, to listen to the "Golden Voice" of [5]David Fredrick Case (a.k.a. Fredrick Davidson) read [6]Leo Tolstoy's - "War and Peace" aloud to me - via the [7]Blackstone AudioBook - on my daily commute. At nearly 60 hours of playing time this too proved to be a serious commitment to task. A brief synopsis of this Leo Tolstoy masterpiece follows: Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the most well-known characters in literature: Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves his family behind to fight in the war against Napoleon; and Natasha Rostov, the beautiful young daughter of a nobleman who intrigues both men.[[8]Amazon] All-in-all I must say, this was a very rewarding exercize and well worth the effort. The book is in the public domain and is [9]available to read on-line if you are feeling adventurous. LibraVox also has [10]available AudioBook versions if you wish to have the story read aloud to you, thanks to community volunteers. [11]War and Peace notes on 9th draft [12]Tolstoy's notes from the ninth draft of War and Peace, 1864. Many people will ponder tackeling a reading of this - currently rated, "ninth longest" - book and will quickly decide on any of several thousand other things with which to while away the hours. If you are one of those who, after picking up the book - finding it simply too arduous - fliped to the back of the book, you have been unwittingly blessed with a fine bit of philosophical verbiage from the brilliant mind of Leo Tolstoy; a bit of wisdom that has long been the reward to those who travel through the narative on the authors intended path. If you go through life having never read War and Peace I suggest you at least examine the following, closing chapter. Rather than a "spoiler" you are most likely to find the encouragement to discover how Tolstoy masterfully laid the foundational context for this rather mind-bending look at reality versus history: __________________________________________________________________ [13]WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy [14]Second Epilogue [15] CHAPTER XII From the time the law of Copernicus was discovered and proved, the mere recognition of the fact that it was not the sun but the earth that moves sufficed to destroy the whole cosmography of the ancients. By disproving that law it might have been possible to retain the old conception of the movements of the bodies, but without disproving it, it would seem impossible to continue studying the Ptolemaic worlds. But even after the discovery of the law of Copernicus the Ptolemaic worlds were still studied for a long time. From the time the first person said and proved that the number of births or of crimes is subject to mathematical laws, and that this or that mode of government is determined by certain geographical and economic conditions, and that certain relations of population to soil produce migrations of peoples, the foundations on which history had been built were destroyed in their essence. By refuting these new laws the former view of history might have been retained; but without refuting them it would seem impossible to continue studying historic events as the results of man's free will. For if a certain mode of government was established or certain migrations of peoples took place in consequence of such and such geographic, ethnographic, or economic conditions, then the free will of those individuals who appear to us to have established that mode of government or occasioned the migrations can no longer be regarded as the cause. And yet the former history continues to be studied side by side with the laws of statistics, geography, political economy, comparative philology, and geology, which directly contradict its assumptions. The struggle between the old views and the new was long and stubbornly fought out in physical philosophy. Theology stood on guard for the old views and accused the new of violating revelation. But when truth conquered, theology established itself just as firmly on the new foundation. Just as prolonged and stubborn is the struggle now proceeding between the old and the new conception of history, and theology in the same way stands on guard for the old view, and accuses the new view of subverting revelation. In the one case as in the other, on both sides the struggle provokes passion and stifles truth. On the one hand there is fear and regret for the loss of the whole edifice constructed through the ages, on the other is the passion for destruction. To the men who fought against the rising truths of physical philosophy, it seemed that if they admitted that truth it would destroy faith in God, in the creation of the firmament, and in the miracle of Joshua the son of Nun. To the defenders of the laws of Copernicus and Newton, to Voltaire for example, it seemed that the laws of astronomy destroyed religion, and he utilized the law of gravitation as a weapon against religion. Just so it now seems as if we have only to admit the law of inevitability, to destroy the conception of the soul, of good and evil, and all the institutions of state and church that have been built up on those conceptions. So too, like Voltaire in his time, uninvited defenders of the law of inevitability today use that law as a weapon against religion, though the law of inevitability in history, like the law of Copernicus in astronomy, far from destroying, even strengthens the foundation on which the institutions of state and church are erected. As in the question of astronomy then, so in the question of history now, the whole difference of opinion is based on the recognition or nonrecognition of something absolute, serving as the measure of visible phenomena. In astronomy it was the immovability of the earth, in history it is the independence of personality- free will. As with astronomy the difficulty of recognizing the motion of the earth lay in abandoning the immediate sensation of the earth's fixity and of the motion of the planets, so in history the difficulty of recognizing the subjection of personality to the laws of space, time, and cause lies in renouncing the direct feeling of the independence of one's own personality. But as in astronomy the new view said: "It is true that we do not feel the movement of the earth, but by admitting its immobility we arrive at absurdity, while by admitting its motion (which we do not feel) we arrive at laws," so also in history the new view says: "It is true that we are not conscious of our dependence, but by admitting our free will we arrive at absurdity, while by admitting our dependence on the external world, on time, and on cause, we arrive at laws." In the first case it was necessary to renounce the consciousness of an unreal immobility in space and to recognize a motion we did not feel; in the present case it is similarly necessary to renounce a freedom that does not exist, and to recognize a dependence of which we are not conscious. ~~~~~ THE END ~~~~~ [16]Download in PDF-[17][DL-PDF.jpg] Download in PDF From Archive.org tag:historic pub_dom educational read listen musing living] [18]Comments (1) __________________________________________________________________ BlogDogIt - War and Peace: TL;DR - BlogDogIt http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20190206120429244 References 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace 2. http://BlogDogIt.com/Stories/WarAndPeace/WarAndPeace.jpg 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace 4. http://BlogDogIt.com/Stories/WarAndPeace/Tolstoy_-_War_and_Peace_-_first_edition_1869.jpg 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Frederick_Case 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace 7. https://www.amazon.com/War-Peace-Classic-Collection-CD-Audio/dp/B01N3UEX78/ref=BlogDogIt.com 8. https://www.amazon.com/War-Peace-Leo-Tolstoy-Tolstoi/dp/1981407219/ref=BlogDogIt.com 9. http://friends-partners.org/oldfriends/literature/war_and_peace/war-peace_intro.html 10. https://librivox.org/search?title=War+and+Peace&author=Tolstoy&recorded_language=&search_page=1&search_form=advanced 11. http://BlogDogIt.com/Stories/WarAndPeace/Tolstoy_-_War_and_Peace_-_ninth_draft.jpg 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace 13. http://friends-partners.org/oldfriends/literature/war_and_peace/war-peace_ep2c12.html 14. http://friends-partners.org/oldfriends/literature/war_and_peace/war-peace_ep2c12.html 15. http://friends-partners.org/oldfriends/literature/war_and_peace/war-peace_ep2c12.html 16. https://archive.org/details/warandpeace030164mbp/page/n5 17. http://BlogDogIt.com/images/DL-PDF.jpg 18. http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20190206120429244#comments [----------------------------------------------------------------------] Digging Up The Roots of Cyberspace Contributed by: masodo Friday, January 25 2019 @ 03:32 pm EST [1]Port 70-[2][gopherIT-sm.gif] After over twenty years, I finally did it... It has been that long since the dial-up modem took me into the esoteric world of the Trader's Connection [3]Bulletin Board system of Indianapolis, Indiana. That was the first hub connection to the internet I was able to access and set me back $4.95 every blessed month. Of course there was a freely available dial-up connection to the [4]Indianapolis/Marion County public library but access to the world outside of their facility was mainly connections to other Libraries across the U.S. [5]LYNX icon-[6][LynxIcon.jpg] T-CON (as the BBS came to be known) offered a portal to the upstart "world wide web" via the venerable, text only, internet browser known as "[7]LYNX" and while websites were all the rage, it was [8]GopherSpace that was "where the action is." It was in that era when I learned the basics of internet page building. Not too many years later I was cutting my teeth on the LINUX operating system and hosting my own website servers. Through it all I was longing for the early days of inter-web exploration and vowing to build up a GopherSpace location in an effort to do my part toward keeping that means of communications viable. Without further ado... I am pleased to announce this long awaited dream of mine is now on-line: [9] gopher://InfinitelyRemote.com Imagine a world where the internet does not track you with cookies. Imagine an internet without advertising (if you dare.) GopherSpace is that internet. GopherSpace stood as early predessor of the internet of today. This undeniable resurgence of the Gopher Protocol could possibly represent the roots of a brand new World Wide Web. And after all who ever said there could be only one? If this sounds like something that might interest you why wait... Get yourself a copy of LYNX browser installed on your system and "Gopher IT!" [----------------------------------------------------------------------] iIIIIIi iIIIIIi Welcome to the InfinitelyRemote GopherHole! IIIIIIIIIi IIIIIIIII How did you end up here? II iIIi iIIi II IIi iII IIi iII contact: [10]gopher@InfinitelyRemote.com II IIIi II (if you think you should.) II IIIi II IIi iIIiIIi iII This service has been prepared as an edu- iII III III IIi cational exersize - much content has been IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII assembled from questionable sources --- iIIIIIi iIIIIIi browse accordingly. ;-) & Enjoy! [----------------------------------------------------------------------] A rare interview with some of the founders of Gopher: Mark McCahilll and Farhad Anklesaria Description -English: A rare interview with some of the founders of Gopher: Mark McCahilll and Farhad Anklesaria, also including some early screenshots. Date 2 November 2013, 21:43:08 Source [11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR76UI7aTvs Author Kevin Henninger, Mark McCahill, Farhad Anklesaria and John Goerzen (jgoerzen@complete.org) Comments (0) __________________________________________________________________ BlogDogIt - Digging Up The Roots of Cyberspace - BlogDogIt http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20190125153222872 References 1. gopher://infinitelyremote.com/ 2. http://BlogDogIt.com/Stories/gopher/gopherIT-sm.gif 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system 4. https://www.indypl.org/ 5. https://lynx.invisible-island.net/ 6. http://BlogDogIt.com/Stories/gopher/LynxIcon.jpg 7. https://lynx.invisible-island.net/ 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol) 9. gopher://InfinitelyRemote.com/ 10. mailto:gopher@InfinitelyRemote.com?subject=port%2070 11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR76UI7aTvs [----------------------------------------------------------------------] Some Old New Friends Contributed by: masodo Thursday, January 17 2019 @ 11:05 am EST [1]Friends & Partners-[2][FriendsAndPartners.jpg] In searching out some digitized text from "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy to insert into an article I was working on over at [3]The Vestibule I was rewarded with [4]the complete volume of the work. This exercise also served to introduce a very interesting, international, collaborative project between individuals in the United States of America and Russia and the Newly Independent States: [5]Friends & Partners. [6]The sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all forms and degrees of human comprehension. - Ezra Pound-[7][EzraPound.jpg] The website is certainly dated and its home page serves to celebrate the sites 20th anniversary (which occurred January 19, 2014.) It is unfortunate that this (obviously monumental) labor of love has stagnated in its development. However, it is found none-the-less worthy of those glowing rays of attention bestowed by the [8]BlogDogIt Spotlight. As luck would have it we have made our discovery in time to congratulate this web service on 25 years of contribution to the world wide body of knowledge. Born on January 19, 1994, Friends and Partners is one of the first Internet services developed jointly by citizens of the United States and Russia. Resulting from a chance meeting on the Internet ([9]you can read our story here), it is but one of many examples of how the Internet, itself rooted in the Cold War separating our nations, can provide an effective means of bringing us together. About the authors . . . We are Natasha Bulashova, of Pushchino Russia, and Greg Cole of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Our careers in information science led to our chance meeting via the Internet and to our discovery that despite cultural differences, a steep language barrier, and the misunderstandings upon which we were raised, we can become good friends. It is our greatest hope that this server will help others do the same. Please Note: Many of the links offered on the Friends & Partners web site are broken due to age and attrition but a great deal of valuable resources and entertaining content are still available to those willing to do a bit of cyber-exploration (you know who you are.) Comments (0) __________________________________________________________________ BlogDogIt - Some Old New Friends - BlogDogIt http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20190117110540667 References 1. http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/index.html 2. http://BlogDogIt.com/Stories/Friends-Partners/FriendsAndPartners.jpg 3. http://deburger.com/vestibule/index.php?topic=302.0 4. http://friends-partners.org/oldfriends/literature/war_and_peace/war-peace_intro.html 5. http://www.friends-partners.org/ 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Pound 7. http://BlogDogIt.com/Stories/Friends-Partners/EzraPound.jpg 8. http://blogdogit.com/index.php?topic=SpotLight 9. http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/ourstory/story.html [----------------------------------------------------------------------] Keyhole into Shanghai City Contributed by: masodo Thursday, January 03 2019 @ 02:26 pm EST [1]The Current Number One Post On BlogDogIt.com-[2][No1.png] #195GigaPixels [3]BillionPixelStudio-[4][195000explore.jpg] Enjoy a unique bird's-eye panorama of Shanghai City captured on the Oriental Pearl Tower with a resolution of 195 gigapixel, highest of its kind in Asia. By [5]BIGPIXEL Studio. Many thanks to [6]Vijay Shah (HEM News Agency) for [7]sharing this discovery with us. Prepare to be astounded! IFRAME: [8]http://sh-meet.bigpixel.cn/?from=BlogDogIt.com&isappinstalled=0 [[9]Bust out of frame] Please post screen-shots of any interesting "finds" in the comments below. Check out the viewer platform here: [10]https://krpano.com/ IFRAME: [11]https://www.youtube.com/embed/l284IbzUwdk [12]The Documentary of 195 gigapixel Shanghai photo Image size: 195 gigapixel Print size 199.7 meters Number of photos: 8700 Production cycle: 2 months Creation Date: May 2015 Location: 230 meters from Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower __________________________________________________________________ The map shown below is roughly centered on Pearl Tower and was made to show the general extent of coverage by the 195 GigiPixel image presented above. The red circle indicates approximate distance to the Shanghai Ferris Wheel (location marked on enlarged map - click!) Not precise but gives some idea... [13]Click to Enlarge-[14][FromPearlTower_TH.png] [15]Comments (5) __________________________________________________________________ BlogDogIt - Keyhole into Shanghai City - BlogDogIt http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20190103142620543 References 1. http://BlogDogIt.com/staticpages/index.php?page=20120430035725666 2. http://BlogDogIt.com/images/No1.png 3. http://sh-meet.bigpixel.cn/?from=BlogDogIt.com&isappinstalled=0 4. http://BlogDogIt.com/images/195000explore.jpg 5. https://www.facebook.com/BillionPixelStudio 6. https://twitter.com/halfeatenmind 7. https://halfeatenmind.wordpress.com/2018/12/30/super-high-resolution-from-china-the-24-9-billion-pixel-photo-thats-blown-minds/ 8. http://sh-meet.bigpixel.cn/?from=BlogDogIt.com&isappinstalled=0 9. http://sh-meet.bigpixel.cn/?from=BlogDogIt.com&isappinstalled=0 10. https://krpano.com/ 11. https://www.youtube.com/embed/l284IbzUwdk 12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l284IbzUwdk 13. http://BlogDogIt.com/images/FromPearlTower.png 14. http://BlogDogIt.com/images/FromPearlTower_TH.png 15. http://blogdogit.com/article.php?story=20190103142620543#comments