Day 675

More content featured by Blake's "Comrade in Arts," the talented bibi16 for the Day 675 entry on THE 800 DAYS blog!

Selections by bibi16:

• "Artificial Intelligence or Ten Ways Not to Communicate with Other Human Beings" [doesn't just the TITLE say a whole bunch here, already?]
• "When Taking Pictures In Public Places"

 I think the 10 points in the first article should be posted ANYWHERE that language is used... which means "posted pretty much everywhere"! In libraries, schools, coffee shops, stores, community hall bulletin boards, etc... In my opinion, if people adhered to the suggestions bibi16 offers, communications between people would be less confusing, more open and straightforward - and people would be able to understand each other as well as respect each other much more than we do at present. As well, since some of the points in bibi16's article are about considering the written word/languages we speak, I think if people acted upon the information in the article, many would decide to learn written language better, too.

bibi16's second article featured in the post gives some information on what is permissible and not permitted when people are taking photos with cameras, cell phones, etc. I didn't know some of the things in this article before - like that if you're on private property you can be asked/told to stop taking photos but that your cell phone/camera is not supposed to be taken away from you. Luckily, I don't use my cell phone camera that much or do not use it often in any location without asking people if they mind...but for those who love using their phone-cam, bibi16's article is a good read providing important information.

The Day 675 post on The 800 Days blog features bibi16 again and is associated with Monday February 14 2011.

Oh and for those who celebrate - it's Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day.

(belated as I am writing post date)

Day 676

Blake is featuring works by bibi16 on his The 800 Days blog for Day 676! Blake announces bibi16 as his "comrade in arts," which is fitting when you see one of bibi16's poem titles:

"Hitler's Mother"

The last two lines strike me hard,

"No one offers consolation
To Poor Hitler's Mother"

The second featured piece, "Blowing Him Again," by bibi16 caught my attention immediately - not by its title but - by its alliteration and repetitive rhyming at the beginning... weaning, tiny, teeny djinni (genie/jeannie), breaking, bottles, barefeet, burning [...] Butterflies bleed."

POWERFUL attention-getters, along with impact of concept once you read how these words are all used together!

It ain't over til its over.

bibi16's works arrive on Blake's Day 676 post on Sunday February 13 2011.

Day 677

Over on Blake's The 800 Days blog there is some comic relief (vid-clip of Robin Williams' "Golf" comedy bits) for the Day 677 post - along with a Force Majeure statement...

Force Majeure statements generally free involved or associated parties from liabilities when unseen circumstances or extraordinary events and circumstances cause said parties unable to fulfilling obligations. This is the short and basic explanation, anyway.

Where a "obligations" are concerned - with respect to The 800 Days blog, there is no heavy-handed signed legal contract, anyway, for Blake (or myself) to provide unlimited absolutely steady content online (or content strictly of a certain type). There is, however, a sort of unspoken agreement (along with some expectations) that all parties (Blake, myself, readers) enter into concerning blog posting... whereby content goes out (and is read) in steady fashion.

My thoughts are that this Force Majeure piece can be used to remind readers that, basically, "stuff happens" sometimes... to prevent a steady flow of content to the 800 DAYS project.

The Force Majeure created by Blake is definitely worth reading closely as it contains a mix of comedy, reality, satire, seriousness, social commentary and is its own little bit of art.

The Day 677 post is associated with Saturday February 12 2011.

Day 678

For the Day 678 entry on Blake Hall's The 800 DAYS blog, we are treated to some poetry. As always, the content contains items that will make you think, "Hmm." The title of this piece, "In This Spiritual Conspiracy."

Although in a number of places, the text appears to argue upon itself, don't let the messages stand as such - but instead, take time to consider opposites. What struck me most is how opposites in this piece exist as they are. A bit of a new concept outside of our Western either-or mentality... things existing as opposites without being detrimental to each other...

ie:  "I have no words: I make silence out of silence" and "I have no words: I make silence out of words" opposites words (sound) and silence exist here without detrimental opposition... they just ARE - but also, the narrator has transformed sound to make it silence...where silence was in the first place (I have no words/sound?).

I like the concept that "Love is the religion we come to share." Repetition of this line is like a reminder that we "come to this," are required to provide action toward this. It's more like a reminder than a statement of "what is." I also like the call to action line late in the piece, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

"Be the change you want to see in the world" will be my mantra for a little while and this is one of the lines that sticks with me most potently of all the text in this piece...

What thoughts do you have about this Spiritual Conspiracy?

The Day 678 post on The 800 Days blog is thought provoking art, associated with Friday February 11 2011

The Day The World Did Not End

On May 22 2011, I woke up surprised and thought... "The world did not end yesterday." I am thankful for this as May 22 is my birthday!

:)

On the day the world did not end, I didn't feel the ground shake, didn't hear of anyone claiming to see Jesus up in the sky or walking the Earth - didn't hear of World War Three starting when I listened to my radio. Actually, I heard sirens yesterday evening but that was when I walked to the store to get some cat food for my trusty rescue cat companion. The sirens ended up being fire trucks responding to a fire alert that likely turned out okay as I heard no report of an out of control fire in my region on the radio throughout the evening when I got home from the store. Fire response teams are on particularly heightened alert state and round-the-clocks schedules in my area as there is a province-wide fire ban in my region.

What were YOU doing The Day The World Did Not End?

Harold E. Camping from the USA was the driving force behind some of the "End Of Times" hysteria and phenomena we recently witnessed in/from North America. Although Biblical text is available which says we cannot know the end times or the time of Christ's return, Mr. Camping felt he had calculated a time of Christ's return - AGAIN in 2011. He has done this before in 1988 and 1994...

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. -- Matthew 24: 36-44.

Unfortunately, for some believers in Camping's calculations and message, there were some heavy losses as some people sold their belongings - expecting not to need material wealth and items after May 21 2011...

What is more disturbing than all of this is a general public's brand of ridicule-inducing criticism of all this End Times stuff... Perhaps it's just me - and the fact that I just observed turning one more year older (I'm in my forties) so I may need more calm and less confusion (including energy-sapping DRAMA) in my life - but what on earth DOES criticism do, anyway, if it is not thought out well first?

I have criticisms of Camping's theories - but I do not share a general public's viewpoint that Camping is a madman, an idiot, or any of the negative descriptors used for Camping's character that I have heard as of late. I would love to sit and discuss the topic of End Times with Camping (though I have heard he has taken ill). I would criticize theory, not the man.

Camping was born in 1921 and is an elderly individual... c'mon General Public - speak TO or ABOUT the man WITH your critical thinking skills engaged rather than your reaction mode on full power...

"Camping is wrong because he is an idiot" and "Camping is wrong because he is a whacko" are not reasonable statements that anyone can follow up on... try something like "Camping's literalist interpretation of Scriptures and understanding of Numerology combined led him to believe the world would end/Jesus would return May 21, 2011 - which was an event that did not come to pass." From the latter, we can discuss what went wrong for Camping, where theory, calculations, etc., veer to the side and do not serve us, Camping, followers, a general public, etc.

On the day after Camping (and others) believed the world would end, I was listening to talk radio, various stations, about this End Times phenomena... and heard some distraught followers of Camping say they did not know what to do as of May 22 2011...

For these people, part of their world DID END...

This is tragic.

Day 679

Blake4d's offering for Day 679 on his The 800 Days blog reminds me very much of the work of satire by Jonathan Swift called, "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being a Burden on Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick" more commonly known as "A Modest Proposal." Certainly a certain part of the topic (taboo in our society) is brought to the reader - that of cannibalism...

EXPECT to feel some discomfort and dissonance when you read the morsel Blake has prepared... and if, as you ingest the material, "How To Serve Man or Cooking for Cannibals and Dummies," you feel you'd like to become a vegetarian, nobody at all will blame you.

:)

The Day 679 offering on The 800 Days blog is SATIRE (and social commentary) and is associated with Thursday February 10 2011.

Day 680 (Tidbits)

2012 Theories, Planet X and Nibiru information await you over at Day 680 on Blake Hall's THE 800 DAYS blog. It will help to be open minded as you read this article as there are a lot of "far out" ideas conveyed in it, however, the ideas aren't wholly dreamed up by Blake4d...

The ideas are largely from the late Zechariah Sitchin (1920-2010) who was best known for his Ancient Astronaut theory for human origins. Sitchin was a scholar of ancient Sumerian culture and myth, as well as being known for using Biblical Scriptures to support his theories - sort of a synthesis of historical interpretation of data from ancient Sumerian myth combined with interpretation of Scriptures.

A lot of other scholars have questioned and continue to question Sitchin's interpretations and even the accuracy of his scholarship (his methodology) concerning Biblical and mythological interpretations. In particular and most prominently, Sitchin's knowledge of, interpretation of and statements surrounding ancient language and translation are still contested by scholars in several academic and spiritual/religious fields.

That said (and because I wanted to be sure to assert that there are, in fact, some questions surrounding the validity of parts of Sitchin's theory), people interested in learning about Planet X, Ancient Astronaut theory and such have the option to approach these and related topics with caution and use of critical thinking. I don't mind saying that, although I also question Sitchin's methodology and translation of a few important ancient terms, myself, I find his Ancient Astronaut theory compelling to a certain extent - even when the words "aliens" and "reptiles" enter the picture within the scope of his theory.

Blake has given a lot of summary information about what the Planet X ideas are over on his blog post, along with a list of instances where serpents, lizards, reptiles are present in other cultures (as explanations for human origin or as gods of early human generations) - making Sitchin's claims that humans are derived from an ancient, reptilian race seem like information we should sit the heck up and be aware of.

The Day 680 entry over on The 800 Days blog is associated with Wednesday February 9 2011.

Day 681 (Tidbits)

Lore of the Illuminati is the topic for Blake's Day 681 post on THE 800 DAYS weblog.  I agree with some of Blake's opening words for the post, that, "[...] there is too much information out there on this subject to be ignored [,,,]" however I'd have warned more about CONFIRMATION BIAS in the opening words if it were my blog post...

The topic of The Illuminati is an absolutely HUGE one - as multi-faceted as the topic of The Bilderberg Group, but Blake promises to re-visit this topic in future days of posting to The 800 Days blog. I'm glad for these plans because there's no way the topic of The Illuminati can be decently covered in just one or two blog postings.

I love the quote Blake placed only about a third of the way into the post and I am posting it here, too:

Stop throwing the Constitution in my face!

It's just a goddamned piece of paper!

- George W. Bush

WOW... GEORGE!

I don't feel I should be adding or taking away from Blake's original post here so I'll turn my post into a short little critique and warning about Illuminati in pop-culture... while Blake goes on, within his blog post, to explain details about the Illuminati for those who might not know much about this group.

My critique is against pop-culture renditions of or perceptions of The Illuminati based on popular fiction such as the enormously successful Da Vinci Code by writer, Dan Brown.

Now Da Vinci Code is an outstanding piece of fiction - but it has MANY misleading details, the most dangerous of which happens to be its opening words which immediately make the claim that what follows in the book is largely fact - the historical locations, pieces of art, etc.

What the fictitious novel really is - is a whole bunch of historical accuracies mixed in with fiction to make confirmation biases and make a story flow... PERIOD.

One extremely AWESOME thing about Dan Brown's book, however, is that IT RAISES QUESTIONS on a number of topics - historical accuracy, Mary Magdelene, Jesus, Illuminati, Ancient Scholarship, etc. This is awesome - but the draw backs here are that a person pretty much has to take a fine-toothed comb through the entire book in order to sort the facts from fiction.

This is a process I am currently and actively plodding through with painstaking deliberateness.

Suffice it to say that if Da Vinci Code is your only reference source connected with what you know about The Illuminati, you will have a lot of learning to do. I'm sure you'll find Blake's post on the topic of Illuminati more along the side of fact than you will the pop-culture thriller novel Da Vinci Code by Mr. Brown.

I must say - I have enjoyed the Dan Brown book immensely and am about to attempt my third read-through of the novel at the end of March. Before I start re-reading, however, I am poring through some Apocrypha works just so I will be well acquainted with some Scriptures outside the Christian Canon which are referred to in the Da Vinci Code book.

I urge you to go read what Blake has written on the topic of The Illuminati - and take some time to have a really good look at all the images he has posted - they're very impressive, indeed! I am particularly taken with the last image on the blog post... the hand-pyramid and the eye within, including radiating lines that extend beyond the hands.

The Day 681 post is associated with Tuesday February 8 2011. 

Day 682 (Tidbits)

Can U say B-I-L-D-E-R-B-E-R-G-S?

Blake can - and does... he says a LOT about the Bilderberg Group over on THE 800 DAYS blog for the Day 682 post.

I find the topic of the Bilderbergs fascinating but there's so much to unravel, connected with this group of elite individuals that I often find myself distracted and going off on tangents when I attempt to study about The Bilgerbergs. There are oh, so many elites involved in this group, each with significant histories and biographical details. *Note, the Bilderbergs or Bilderbergers or Bilderberg group isn't a family name or connection - they're called such because at their first major meeting, they assembled at The Hotel de Bilderberg in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

It was a closed meeting of elites back in 1954 and has become an annual occurrence (by invitation only) ever since - with outsiders being able to garner very little information about what goes on inside the meetings. Hotel de Bilderberg in Amsterdam is not always the location for the meetings anymore but the meetings have been going on annually for almost 60 years now!

Blake has a few interesting images up on the Day 682 post, including a chart of "The Round Table" that many conspiracy theories hold close in mind each time Bilderberg meeting members and the elite are mentioned. The Round Table shows how many elite entities such as The Bilderberg group, United Nations, The Trilateral Commission and more might be connected in a giant, connected larger entity...

Interesting stuff - but watch for confirmation biases, please, whenever dealing with Conspiracy Theories.

It may be that questions arising from meetings that seem strange, conspiratorial, etc., are more important than solid conclusions at this point... we really don't know what the Bilderbergers discuss - it's best not to jump to final conclusions yet, eh?

The Day 682 post is associated with a whole bunch of elites and Monday February 7 2011.

Day 683 (Tidbits)

A poem dedicated to Blondepoet/Debbie Murray is what is in store for you once you visit Blake's Day 683 post over on THE 800 DAYS blog.

To my knowledge, Blondepoet is someone Blake has never met as she lives in Australia. I'm familiar with Blondepoet from a writing site we all frequent and so I have a special interest in this poem - about a person Blake and I both know of but have never met. I've read Blondpoet's writings online, too.

My fave lines of the poem:

• To write our poems and sing songs for people we shall never meet, and singing words to people who we shall know only inn our dreams,
• but never do remember when we wake from the walking sleep upon a morning glorious sweeter once it is weened

I'm not positive I kept with the line structure Blake intended for these two lines but I hope he will forgive the line manipulation in favour of my presenting the lines on my blog to indicate the powerful message about acquaintanceship/friendship over distances...

In my interpretation of the poetry, the narrator (possibly Blake, maybe an anonymous narrator within the poem) is basically saying - "Distance is NOTHING... personal connection with people is everything and is what is important."

I also like the end of the third line, the message, "[...] and our two worlds collide" - very graphic, apt, metaphorical but powerful...

I also really love the balance brought about by the last few words of the last line, "[,,,] like so many a fairytale completes." What an awesome way to wrap up a poem with balance in both temporal concept (distances bridged) but literal suggestion (end of poem, completion of fairy tale).

The Day 683 post is associated with Sunday February 6 2011.