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Bernardo de La Paz
Bernardo de La Paz's Journal
Bernardo de La Paz's Journal
November 2, 2022
Worry, per se, is not a bad thing, because one might uncover a plan of action or something to do. But going over things 23 times, not so great.
So, how to deal?
DO NOT FIGHT THE WORRY. It is resistant. Trying to say to yourself "I must not think of elephants!" is a guaranteed way to think about elephants.
When worry comes along, first step is getting good at recognizing the syndrome before an episode can advance.
Then the key is to say to your worries "Hi old friend. You again." Take a deep breath and let go of the worry. Tell yourself it's okay, you've done all you can, so you should relax, you tell yourself, and it helps. Actively think of something else.
A key part is to DO SOMETHING, not then, but beforehand. That way you can be convincing when you tell yourself you've done what you can.
If you are awake late at night having difficulty sleeping, don't fight it hard. Actually get up, putter around, have a small (SMALL) tidbit to eat (it's not comfort food) and something non-alcoholic non-caffeine to drink. Distract yourself for a little while and then try sleep again. (A little while might be an hour even).
The key is letting go, and letting go is easier if you DO stuff (beforehand and during) and don't fight.
Meditation or meditative activities like gardening or crafts during the day can help some and controlling caffeine consumption is a help.
I recommend a good dose of coffee in the morning and then sip green tea in the afternoon and evening. The green tea (less so black tea) has other alkaloids besides caffeine that are soothing and the lesser amount of caffeine lets your body down gently into the night so that you aren't jonesing for caffeine at 2 am.
Practice makes perfect, or at least very good. It's all in the letting go of attachment
Worry, per se, is not a bad thing, because one might uncover a plan of action or something to do. But going over things 23 times, not so great.
So, how to deal?
DO NOT FIGHT THE WORRY. It is resistant. Trying to say to yourself "I must not think of elephants!" is a guaranteed way to think about elephants.
When worry comes along, first step is getting good at recognizing the syndrome before an episode can advance.
Then the key is to say to your worries "Hi old friend. You again." Take a deep breath and let go of the worry. Tell yourself it's okay, you've done all you can, so you should relax, you tell yourself, and it helps. Actively think of something else.
A key part is to DO SOMETHING, not then, but beforehand. That way you can be convincing when you tell yourself you've done what you can.
If you are awake late at night having difficulty sleeping, don't fight it hard. Actually get up, putter around, have a small (SMALL) tidbit to eat (it's not comfort food) and something non-alcoholic non-caffeine to drink. Distract yourself for a little while and then try sleep again. (A little while might be an hour even).
The key is letting go, and letting go is easier if you DO stuff (beforehand and during) and don't fight.
Meditation or meditative activities like gardening or crafts during the day can help some and controlling caffeine consumption is a help.
I recommend a good dose of coffee in the morning and then sip green tea in the afternoon and evening. The green tea (less so black tea) has other alkaloids besides caffeine that are soothing and the lesser amount of caffeine lets your body down gently into the night so that you aren't jonesing for caffeine at 2 am.
October 28, 2022
Musk will either wise up and abandon rigid libertarianism or he will drive Twitter into the ground in a Race to the Bottom as it become more indwelled by deplorables and nut jobs and less even visited by decent people.
A race because tRump has unTruth Social, Kanye West wants or will have Parler, and Musk has Twitter.
They are competitors now. Hence the Race, but it's not a healthy race.
They are competitors. Musk going to make Twitter as junky &successful (not) as unTruth Social
Musk will either wise up and abandon rigid libertarianism or he will drive Twitter into the ground in a Race to the Bottom as it become more indwelled by deplorables and nut jobs and less even visited by decent people.
A race because tRump has unTruth Social, Kanye West wants or will have Parler, and Musk has Twitter.
They are competitors now. Hence the Race, but it's not a healthy race.
October 24, 2022
I am positive there is a liberal progressive majority in America and that that majority sees through tRump completely.
But call it 50% of the population. The other 50% -- conned, CONservative, RepubliCON, conners -- is split, about 40% (20% of total) go along with tRump because they are conned or are Right Wing Authoritarian Followers. The hard core 30% of the population, about 60% of RepubliCons, the true believers, is split in half. The bottom half will live their lives always believing tRump tried to "take back America for us".
Even the top half of the true believers will soon realize that ...
. . . If there is so much fault and it never is tRump's fault, then it always is tRump's fault.
It's always "lying media, the crooked FBI, the rotten election watchers, the 'Kenyan' usurper, the bribed legislators, the lying former tRump Org officers, the Democrats, the illegals, the antifa, the covfefe boy, ...".
When it's always the other guy's fault, there is a pattern.
Two or three misfortunes, ... okay, maybe the other guys' faults.
But when there are handfuls of credible accusations of crimes and hundreds of credible accusations of shady or corrupted dealings, and it is never ever tRump's fault, ... there is a pattern that all but the dullest 15% of Americans will see.
When it is never tRump's fault on so much fault, then it always is tRump's fault
I am positive there is a liberal progressive majority in America and that that majority sees through tRump completely.
But call it 50% of the population. The other 50% -- conned, CONservative, RepubliCON, conners -- is split, about 40% (20% of total) go along with tRump because they are conned or are Right Wing Authoritarian Followers. The hard core 30% of the population, about 60% of RepubliCons, the true believers, is split in half. The bottom half will live their lives always believing tRump tried to "take back America for us".
Even the top half of the true believers will soon realize that ...
. . . If there is so much fault and it never is tRump's fault, then it always is tRump's fault.
It's always "lying media, the crooked FBI, the rotten election watchers, the 'Kenyan' usurper, the bribed legislators, the lying former tRump Org officers, the Democrats, the illegals, the antifa, the covfefe boy, ...".
When it's always the other guy's fault, there is a pattern.
Two or three misfortunes, ... okay, maybe the other guys' faults.
But when there are handfuls of credible accusations of crimes and hundreds of credible accusations of shady or corrupted dealings, and it is never ever tRump's fault, ... there is a pattern that all but the dullest 15% of Americans will see.
October 24, 2022
Even the top half of the true believers will soon realize that ...
. . . If there is so much fault and it never is tRump's fault, then it is always tRump's fault.
It's always "lying media, the crooked FBI, the rotten election watchers, the 'Kenyan' usurper, the bribed legislators, the lying former tRump Org officers, the Democrats, the illegals, the antifa, the covfefe boy, ...".
When it's always the other guy's fault, there is a pattern.
Two or three misfortunes, ... okay, maybe the other guys' faults.
But when there are handfuls of accusations of crimes and hundreds of accusations of shady or corrupted dealings, ... there is a pattern that all but the dullest 15% of Americans will see.
Soon, all but stupidest 15% Americans will realize that if it is never tRump's fault then
Even the top half of the true believers will soon realize that ...
. . . If there is so much fault and it never is tRump's fault, then it is always tRump's fault.
It's always "lying media, the crooked FBI, the rotten election watchers, the 'Kenyan' usurper, the bribed legislators, the lying former tRump Org officers, the Democrats, the illegals, the antifa, the covfefe boy, ...".
When it's always the other guy's fault, there is a pattern.
Two or three misfortunes, ... okay, maybe the other guys' faults.
But when there are handfuls of accusations of crimes and hundreds of accusations of shady or corrupted dealings, ... there is a pattern that all but the dullest 15% of Americans will see.
October 21, 2022
The whole CONservative enterprise and edifice these days is riddled with CON men and CON women, suckers, and sheep. Especially suckers.
The CONs got CONned. I'm not surprised.
They repeatedly CON CONservatives. Example in point: tRump's "Wall" that Mexico was supposed to pay for and that Steve Bannon may go to prison for.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62841761
Steve Bannon charged with fraud over border wall fundraiser
CONservatives are the most likely to be CONned. Their followers overrun with suckers
The whole CONservative enterprise and edifice these days is riddled with CON men and CON women, suckers, and sheep. Especially suckers.
The CONs got CONned. I'm not surprised.
They repeatedly CON CONservatives. Example in point: tRump's "Wall" that Mexico was supposed to pay for and that Steve Bannon may go to prison for.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62841761
Steve Bannon charged with fraud over border wall fundraiser
October 1, 2022
United States of Canada and the Jesusland Confederacy
Not exactly the map I'd make, but general idea
September 16, 2022
Conceivably, possibly, an advanced civilization may have found a Warp Drive to bust the speed limit of light, but there is large possibility that it can't be busted at all. (See Fermi Paradox link at end)
I am sure that there are dozens of intelligent life forms around the universe and easily could be millions among the trillions of galaxies that contain billions of stars.
Out of 5,000 or so discovered exo-planets, we have found one that seems to have a watery atmosphere and may be in the liquid water zone around its star. For a long time we thought that few stars might have planets.
If we use the last set of parameters and then instead of applying a billion years, apply only a thousand years, you still get about 16 civilizations, currently, in only the Milky Way.
But of course we must also consider the Fermi Paradox.
Think hard about the mind boggling numbers of stars. But yeah, it's really the interstellar distance
In 2021, data from NASA's New Horizons space probe was used to revise the previous estimate to roughly 200 billion galaxies (2×1011),[8] which followed a 2016 estimate that there were two trillion (2×1012)[9] or more[10][11] galaxies in the observable universe, overall, and as many as an estimated 1×1024 stars[12][13] (more stars than all the grains of sand on all beaches of the planet Earth).[14]
Conceivably, possibly, an advanced civilization may have found a Warp Drive to bust the speed limit of light, but there is large possibility that it can't be busted at all. (See Fermi Paradox link at end)
I am sure that there are dozens of intelligent life forms around the universe and easily could be millions among the trillions of galaxies that contain billions of stars.
Out of 5,000 or so discovered exo-planets, we have found one that seems to have a watery atmosphere and may be in the liquid water zone around its star. For a long time we thought that few stars might have planets.
The Drake equation is:
N = R? · fp · ne · fl · fi · fc · L
where
N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible (i.e. which are on our current past light cone)
R? = the average rate of star formation in our Galaxy
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fl = the fraction of planets that could support life that actually develop life at some point
fi = the fraction of planets with life that actually go on to develop intelligent life (civilizations)
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space[5][6]
N = R? · fp · ne · fl · fi · fc · L
where
N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible (i.e. which are on our current past light cone)
R? = the average rate of star formation in our Galaxy
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fl = the fraction of planets that could support life that actually develop life at some point
fi = the fraction of planets with life that actually go on to develop intelligent life (civilizations)
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space[5][6]
Range of results
As many skeptics have pointed out, the Drake equation can give a very wide range of values, depending on the assumptions,[52] as the values used in portions of the Drake equation are not well established.[27][53][54][55] In particular, the result can be N ≪ 1, meaning we are likely alone in the galaxy, or N ≫ 1, implying there are many civilizations we might contact. One of the few points of wide agreement is that the presence of humanity implies a probability of intelligence arising of greater than zero.[56]
As an example of a low estimate, combining NASA's star formation rates, the rare Earth hypothesis value of fp · ne · fl = 10?5,[57] Mayr's view on intelligence arising, Drake's view of communication, and Shermer's estimate of lifetime:
R? = 1.5–3 yr?1,[19] fp · ne · fl = 10?5,[33] fi = 10?9,[38] fc = 0.2[Drake, above], and L = 304 years[48]
gives:
N = 1.5 × 10?5 × 10?9 × 0.2 × 304 = 9.1 × 10?13
i.e., suggesting that we are probably alone in this galaxy, and possibly in the observable universe.
On the other hand, with larger values for each of the parameters above, values of N can be derived that are greater than 1. The following higher values that have been proposed for each of the parameters:
R? = 1.5–3 yr?1,[19] fp = 1,[22] ne = 0.2,[58][59] fl = 0.13,[60] fi = 1,[40] fc = 0.2[Drake, above], and L = 109 years[49]
Use of these parameters gives:
N = 3 × 1 × 0.2 × 0.13 × 1 × 0.2 × 109 = 15,600,000
Monte Carlo simulations of estimates of the Drake equation factors based on a stellar and planetary model of the Milky Way have resulted in the number of civilizations varying by a factor of 100.[61]
As many skeptics have pointed out, the Drake equation can give a very wide range of values, depending on the assumptions,[52] as the values used in portions of the Drake equation are not well established.[27][53][54][55] In particular, the result can be N ≪ 1, meaning we are likely alone in the galaxy, or N ≫ 1, implying there are many civilizations we might contact. One of the few points of wide agreement is that the presence of humanity implies a probability of intelligence arising of greater than zero.[56]
As an example of a low estimate, combining NASA's star formation rates, the rare Earth hypothesis value of fp · ne · fl = 10?5,[57] Mayr's view on intelligence arising, Drake's view of communication, and Shermer's estimate of lifetime:
R? = 1.5–3 yr?1,[19] fp · ne · fl = 10?5,[33] fi = 10?9,[38] fc = 0.2[Drake, above], and L = 304 years[48]
gives:
N = 1.5 × 10?5 × 10?9 × 0.2 × 304 = 9.1 × 10?13
i.e., suggesting that we are probably alone in this galaxy, and possibly in the observable universe.
On the other hand, with larger values for each of the parameters above, values of N can be derived that are greater than 1. The following higher values that have been proposed for each of the parameters:
R? = 1.5–3 yr?1,[19] fp = 1,[22] ne = 0.2,[58][59] fl = 0.13,[60] fi = 1,[40] fc = 0.2[Drake, above], and L = 109 years[49]
Use of these parameters gives:
N = 3 × 1 × 0.2 × 0.13 × 1 × 0.2 × 109 = 15,600,000
Monte Carlo simulations of estimates of the Drake equation factors based on a stellar and planetary model of the Milky Way have resulted in the number of civilizations varying by a factor of 100.[61]
If we use the last set of parameters and then instead of applying a billion years, apply only a thousand years, you still get about 16 civilizations, currently, in only the Milky Way.
But of course we must also consider the Fermi Paradox.
September 16, 2022
In MY lifetime, a Republican Vice President of the United States was prosecuted and convicted in court of crimes.
TWO Republican United States Attorney-General were prosecuted and convicted in court of crimes. Both served time in prison.
In MY lifetime, a Republican Secretary of Commerce was prosecuted and convicted.
A Republican Secretary of Agriculture was prosecuted and convicted and spent time in prison.
A Republican Secretary of Interior was prosecuted and convicted and got fines and 5 (five) years of probation and community service.
A Republican Senator was prosecuted and convicted and got a year of probation.
Republican Commissioner of the FDA.
Multiple Republican Chiefs of Staff.
Republican Senior Judge prosecuted, convicted, fined, jailed.
Republican General prosecuted, convicted.
Steve Stockman (R-TX) was convicted of fraud (2018).
Chris Collins (R-NY), pleaded guilty to insider trading (2019).
Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA), pleaded guilty to misuse of campaign funds (2019)
I could go on.
It is okay to be unaware of things that happened before your time but still very relevant today. But it is not okay to write as if important facts never happened once you do know.
It undermines the truthful narrative that Republicans are and have been more corrupt and dangerous than Democrats.
That narrative should be publicized, not cynically swept under the rug as if it never happened.
Jail not serious enouh for you? I guess you are young and a bit wet behind the ears, which is okay
In MY lifetime, a Republican Vice President of the United States was prosecuted and convicted in court of crimes.
TWO Republican United States Attorney-General were prosecuted and convicted in court of crimes. Both served time in prison.
In MY lifetime, a Republican Secretary of Commerce was prosecuted and convicted.
A Republican Secretary of Agriculture was prosecuted and convicted and spent time in prison.
A Republican Secretary of Interior was prosecuted and convicted and got fines and 5 (five) years of probation and community service.
A Republican Senator was prosecuted and convicted and got a year of probation.
Republican Commissioner of the FDA.
Multiple Republican Chiefs of Staff.
Republican Senior Judge prosecuted, convicted, fined, jailed.
Republican General prosecuted, convicted.
Steve Stockman (R-TX) was convicted of fraud (2018).
Chris Collins (R-NY), pleaded guilty to insider trading (2019).
Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA), pleaded guilty to misuse of campaign funds (2019)
I could go on.
It is okay to be unaware of things that happened before your time but still very relevant today. But it is not okay to write as if important facts never happened once you do know.
It undermines the truthful narrative that Republicans are and have been more corrupt and dangerous than Democrats.
That narrative should be publicized, not cynically swept under the rug as if it never happened.
September 16, 2022
The triad of language, music, and math are synergistic for children and adults. Studying one helps the others. Studying all three supercharges learning.
Mathematics is the science of pattern.
Music is the art of pattern.
Language is communicating by pattern.
Learning a second language before age 7 makes acquiring languages easy.
Learn a second one before age 18 and it is harder, but quite doable.
Trying to learn a second language as an adult is very difficult for almost every person.
Teaching Russian, though, now, is just ignorant.
Lucky children are taught second languages at early ages when they have no fear of mistakes and soak things up like sponges. By seeing (hearing) how another language fits together and how the same parts are in different orders and the concepts of gender (Russian has three) stretch the mind.
https://www.leadwithlanguages.org/why-learn-languages/early-childhood-elementary/
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/advantages_of_a_bilingual_brain
Smart parents encourage language learning at all ages.
You don't want your child to do well? Stop them learning a second language.
Wrong. They speak English already. And wrong: learning a second language HELPS English
The triad of language, music, and math are synergistic for children and adults. Studying one helps the others. Studying all three supercharges learning.
Mathematics is the science of pattern.
Music is the art of pattern.
Language is communicating by pattern.
Learning a second language before age 7 makes acquiring languages easy.
Learn a second one before age 18 and it is harder, but quite doable.
Trying to learn a second language as an adult is very difficult for almost every person.
Teaching Russian, though, now, is just ignorant.
Lucky children are taught second languages at early ages when they have no fear of mistakes and soak things up like sponges. By seeing (hearing) how another language fits together and how the same parts are in different orders and the concepts of gender (Russian has three) stretch the mind.
https://www.leadwithlanguages.org/why-learn-languages/early-childhood-elementary/
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/advantages_of_a_bilingual_brain
Smart parents encourage language learning at all ages.
Boost Their Academic Achievement
The cognitive benefits of learning a language have a direct impact on a child’s academic achievement. Compared to those without an additional language, bilingual children have improved reading, writing, and math skills, and they generally score higher on standardized tests.
The cognitive benefits of learning a language have a direct impact on a child’s academic achievement. Compared to those without an additional language, bilingual children have improved reading, writing, and math skills, and they generally score higher on standardized tests.
You don't want your child to do well? Stop them learning a second language.
September 14, 2022
You really have to whack some people with a metaphorical mental two by four to get them to think.
Ultimately, of course, it does not matter what hormones did what when. At least it is way down below the right of humans to be simply human first and to be able to choose what kind of human they are, let it harm none.
Simple language: "Half of us are already trans. Yup, the males." Stop 'em in their tracks
You really have to whack some people with a metaphorical mental two by four to get them to think.
Ultimately, of course, it does not matter what hormones did what when. At least it is way down below the right of humans to be simply human first and to be able to choose what kind of human they are, let it harm none.
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Gender: Do not displayMember since: Fri Jul 16, 2004, 11:36 PM
Number of posts: 49,001
