Merry Christmas Eve

 "A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others." - Marcus Aurelius

Like many others, I find myself working on Christmas Eve.  I don't mind working on a high holiday, because what I do matters to society.  I play a minor part in supplying electricity to people's homes, to hospitals, to traffic signals and municipal waste treatment plants, etc.  Likewise first responders, hospital staff and care facilities that attend to the lives of the sick and elderly - those are important things too.

So with that in mind, I'm OK foregoing spending the day with those I love, and instead spending it  somewhere I'd rather not be. 

The playlist has a bit of variety

 "No one could endure lasting adversity if it continued to have the same force as when it first hit us.  We are all tied to Fortune, some by a loose and golden chain, and others by a tight one of baser metal: but what does it matter?  We are all held in the same captivity, and those who have bound others are themselves in bonds - unless you think perhaps hat the left-hand chain is lighter.  One man is bound by high office, another by wealth; good birth weighs down some, and a humble origin others;some are restricted to one place by exile, others by priesthoods: all life is a servitude. 

So you have to get used to your circumstances, complain about them as little as possible, and grasp whatever advantage they have to offer.  No condition is so bitter that a stable mind cannot find some consolation in it" - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Old and New - Beautiful Lonergan Brass Gauge

 "If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you, but answer, 'He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone'." - Epictetus

Have you ever noticed that artistic and beautiful things are now completely segregated from the things we use daily?  I'm not sure why that is.  Very few things are built with aesthetics in mind any more - everything we routinely use is utilitarian and usually disposable. 

There are still beautiful and cool things you can buy from craftsmen, but very few ordinary items are built with any kind of beauty - some houses and cars, maybe.  Back in the day, things were made to look nice, just because.  And that was when the country was a lot less wealthy than it is now.  Maybe they were wealthier in spirit.

Take a look below.  Do you think the new sewing machine will last 100 years like the older one?  The old one has more grace and beauty in a single screw than the entire new machine has.  Why must it be so ugly and cheaply made?

Winter Solstice, Conjunction, and Chores

 "It is a universal law - have no illusion - that every creature alive is attached to nothing so much as its own self-interest" - Epictetus

 

The sad ending of the crew of Submarine 361

 "Putting off things is the biggest waste of life:  It snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future.  The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow, and loses today.  you are arranging what lies in Fortune's control, and abandoning what lies in yours.  What are you looking at?  To what goal are you straining?  The whole future lies in uncertainty:  Live immediately" - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

On April 25, 2003, Chinese fishermen sighted a periscope drifting and bobbing in the water off the coast of northeastern China, near Taiwan.  The fishermen reported the unusual finding, and the Chinese Navy was dispatched to investigate.  They found a submarine filled with dead men.

Some thoughts on the Covid vaccine - Updated

 "Know you not, that a good man does nothing for appearance sake, but for the sake of doing it right?" - Epictetus

The Simpsons

"What concerns me is not the way things are, but the way people think they are" - Epictetus

Announcement

 

 Dear faithful readers,

I am considering something that I've avoided for a long time, and this is a direct result of some decisions that Google has recently made regarding the back-end of their blogging platform, Blogger.

In the past, I've had a fairly good idea of what visitors were interested in, and tried to tilt my content somewhat - within my own interests - toward readers.  Recently Google made some major changes to the Blogger interface, and it reduced my ability to see what subjects readers are interested in.  

For example: I could get a lot of information on where readers arrived from, which pages got read, and what readers searched for using the search tool at the top of the blog.  That information is now very limited and nearly worthless.  

It may be that Google is nudging people toward installing Google Analytics, to get better data, and more information on you readers.  I don't know the answer to that.  I have a deep mistrust of Silicon Valley and don't like the idea of deep-monitoring people's behavior or reading habits - nor of sharing that information with unknown parties.

Nevertheless, since they have sharply curtailed my ability to better serve readers - again, within my own knowledge and interests - I am considering installing Google Analytics, to get a better idea of what reader's interests are.  

I do not intend to allow ads or try to make money from this - I do it to try and inform and educate readers about the handful of things that I sorta understand.  Google Analytics is designed more with retailing in mind, so I don't know if it will be useful to a lowly blogger.  Anyway my mind is not yet made up on this.

Let me know what you think and I will make a decision and let ya know.

This time of year

 "Life is neither good nor evil, but only a place for good and evil" - Marcus Aurelius

The Pogues

 "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane" - Marcus Aurelius

A very appropriate quote for the times...

A couple of years ago, I requested this album for Christmas and received it. 

Random thoughts and doings between Thanksgiving and Christmas

 "Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than his own soul." - Marcus Aurelius

Great 80's Music

 

 "Do the things external which fall upon you distract you?  Give yourself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around" - Marcus Aurelius

 

Microwave oven - replace or repair?

 "Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just" - Marcus Aurelius