Why I Always Favor A Free Marketplace Of Ideas

The vegetable life does not content itself with casting from the flower or the tree a single seed, but it fills the air and earth with a prodigality of seeds, that, if thousands perish, thousands may plant themselves, that hundreds may come up, that tens may live to maturity;  that, at least one may replace the parent.
—     Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2021	Unnoticed Perfection
	You Just Don’t Realize
2020	Maybe After A Couple Of Hundred Years I Think About It
	Worth The Time I’ve Waited
2019	Courage Facing Temptation
2018	I Can’t Laugh At #45
2017	Release, Harmonize, Illuminate
2016	One Trouble With Television
2015	I Am Lucky And I Am Grateful
2014	Future Envy
2013	We Do Not Want To Learn That
2012	Social Inhibition
2011	Studying Chinese Food
	Are You Bored, Too?
2010	Rant, Pant, Deep Breath – Reality

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Sits Loose

There is no chance and anarchy in the universe.  All is system and gradation.  Every god is there sitting in his sphere.
—    Ralph Waldo Emerson
[“When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
And when I thinks, I falls asleep.“
… I always thought this was a Satchel Paige quote, but I’ve not been able to find any direct attribution.  I welcome any reader’s input.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	My Fear Is She Loses This Bet
	Gotta Stay Hungry
2020	Still On The Obstacle Course?
	Thunder
2019	Expecting A December Correction
2018	Dominoes II (Update From Last Year’s Post)
2017	Dominoes
2016	Itchin’
2015	In The Not So Distant Future
2014	Sources
2013	Three Essentials
2012	Just Looking
2011	Religious Lessons
2010	View From Under The Bus… (A mid-term report card on the Obama Administration. Long, but still worth reading for historical perspective.)

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…Or At Least Smiled A Lot

The most wasted day of all is that on which we have not laughed.
—     Nicolas Chamfort
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On This Day In:
2021	Seeking Emergence
	Walking Alone
2020	51 Days Until The Moron (#45) Is Out Of Office
	Tearing The Roof Off It
2019	#Impeach45: Once A Buffoon, Now A Bad Joke
2018	Good Sense
2017	E Pluribus Unum
2016	Lacking
2015	Chip, Chip, Chip
2014	nom de plume
2013	The Real Reason
	From The Book
2012	When Young
2011	14 Ways To A Better Judgement

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If Only I Could…

People disparage knowing and the intellectual life, and urge doing.  I am content with knowing, if only I could know.
—    Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2021	Become Daily
	Just Pickin’
2020	So, You Think You Know The Answer?
	The One You Come Running To
2019	His Promises, OUR Hopes
2018	Where I Write
2017	At Last, An Honest Philosopher…
2016	Fake It ‘Til You Make It
2015	Hell Toupée
2014	Corrected And Amended
2013	Too Few
2012	Three Characters
2011	Universal Payment
2010	Privatizing the TSA?  (An old – and long – post, but still relevant!!)

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Quality

A person who sees Quality and feels it as he works is a person who cares.  A person who cares about what he sees and does is a person who’s bound to have some characteristics of Quality.
—     Robert M. Pirsig
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On This Day In:
2021	Eye On The Prize
	Everything That’s Precious
2020	And Most Adults Don’t Either
	And It Burns, Burns, Burns
	Just Dessert
2019	Happy Thanksgiving (2019)
2018	And Smiles…
2017	Or Savor A Little Longer…
2016	Sometimes I Just Want To Smell The Flowers
2015	One Truth – Done Well
2014	Now In Imagination, On The Other Hand…
2013	No Plan, No Map
2012	Singing About Love
2011	The Awesome Power Of Truth

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When Ghosts Seem Real

Oh, the laws of physics and of logic…  the number system…  the principle of algebraic substitution.  These are ghosts.  We just believe in them so thoroughly they seem real.
—     Robert M. Pirsig
From his book:  “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance“
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On This Day In:
2021	So Will Persistence
	I Won’t Shed A Tear
2020	Minute Fractions Of Happiness
	There’s Angels Everywhere
2019	Far Too Often
2018	A Divided / United Nation
2017	What We Want
2016	To The Extent
2015	Ambition
2014	More Branches To Climb
	Just In Time — Happy Thanksgiving (2014)
2013	For And Against
2012	De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum
2011	Similar And Different
2010	Reminiscing
	Differences

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You Ought To Be Having Fun

If any ideology is so serious that you can’t have fun while you’re doing it, it’s probably too serious.
—    Larry Wall
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On This Day In:
2021	Certainly Ending
	The Moment When
2020	#45: The Biggest Loser’s Self-Image
	Happy Thanksgiving 2020!!
2019	Defining Trumpism In Today’s Republican Party
2018	#45: It’s Tougher Being President
2017	Consequences
2016	Shouting At The Void
2015	Crab Feed
	Happy Thanksgiving (2015)
2014	Beyond Proof
2013	Poor Students Of History
2012	Between Two Worlds
2011	Common Humanity
2010	The Last Two Olympians

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Stubbornly Change

You can’t change the past.  You can’t even change the future, in the sense that you can only change the present one moment at a time, stubbornly, until the future unwinds itself into the stories of our lives.
―    Larry Wall
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On This Day In:
2021	Happy Thanksgiving (2021)!
	When You Get Where You’re Going
2020	Still In School
	The First Deuce
	Escape From Planet Junkyard
2019	Will John Bolton Testify?
2018	Just Maybe
2017	Police In My Review Mirror
2016	Full And Rich
2015	Go Deeper
2014	Intentional Mapping
2013	The Sweet Path
2012	Living Free And Abolition
	Morning Wood
2011	I Resemble That Remark

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Deadlines And Bills

A composer’s job involves the decoration of fragments of time.  Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.  Living composers are entitle to proper compensation for the use of their works.  (Dead guys don’t collect — one reason their music is chosen for performance.)
—    Frank Zappa
From his book:  “The Real Frank Zappa Book“
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On This Day In:
2021	Why We Protect The First Amendment
	When A Voice Can Make You Cry
	The March Continues…
2020	#45: And State Prison Waits When You Leave Office
	I Keep Getting Up
	Difficult To Relax
2019	Looking For A Republican With A Profile In Courage
2018	Hammers, Bells And Songs
2017	My Friends
2016	In Need Of Some Work
2015	Elections Have Consequences
2014	An Ear Of Happy Accidents
2013	Powerful Substitute
2012	Heroes Restored
2011	As You Should

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Honesty In Business

I realize that a lot of people feel that speaking out against unions is almost:  ‘Un-American.’  I remind them:  not all of America is unionized — in fact, the vast majority of Americans are not — and glad about it.
Some people fear that if the unions were to vanish, the labor situation would return to the way it was in the beginning, with child labor and sweatshops.  I agree with them.  Large employers do tend toward unscrupulous behavior when nobody is looking over their shoulder.
So, what the bottom line here?  I would like to see more honesty in business — at both ends of the table.  Honesty in U.S. business appears to be at its lowest ebb in history.
There are a number of reasons for that.  When political leaders do not demonstrate honesty, when people lie constantly in the media — everybody gets used to “The Big Lie” as a way of life.  At that point, honesty becomes a quaintly outmoded concept — nobody wants to be honest anymore, because if they are, they might finish last.
I would say that today, dishonesty is the rule, and honesty the exception.  It could be, statistically, that more people are honest than dishonest, but the few that really control things are not honest, and that tips the balance.
—     Frank Zappa
From his book:  “The Real Frank Zappa Book“
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On This Day In:
2021	Momentary Offering
	Happy Noise
2020	No Crumbs
	Too Many Detectives On This Case
	A New Day Is Coming
2019	Or In This Case – What’s Wrong
2018	Just Passing Through
2017	True Torture
	Happy Thanksgiving – 2017 !!
2016	Overtaken
2015	Alone Praying
2014	A Full Man
2013	Off Defending The Universe
	Taking Precautions
2012	Never, Never, Never
2011	Testing 1, 2, 3

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Two Happiness

A sure way to lose happiness, I found, is to want it at the expense of everything else.
—    Bette Davis
There is no way to happiness.  Happiness is the way.
—    Wayne Dyer
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On This Day In:
2021	Still Trying To Understand
	V Memories From Saudi Arabia
2020	Sometimes Just Being There Is Enough
	And I Owe It All To You
2019	Or Live For It
2018	Happy Thanksgiving (2018)
2017	Grateful Humility
2016	Obstacles
	Election + 2 Weeks
2015	Done What You Could
2014	Impossible To Other Men
2013	Just In Case
2012	Isn’t This Just Pleasant?
2011	No Void In Sight

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A Practical Theory

My theory on housework is, if the item doesn’t multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be.  No one else cares.  Why should you?
—    Erma Bombeck
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On This Day In:
2021	Still Building
	Golden
2020	Books And Blogs
	You Don’t Know What I Got
2019	#45 Is The Inverse
2018	A Message To The White House Press Corps
2017	Eeny Meeny Miny Moe
	Binge, Binge, Binge
2016	Feeling Warm Yet?
	Four Documentaries
2015	Just Like All The Others
2014	In My Own Vanity
2013	Filled With Words
2012	Lectio Auget Existentiae Meae
2011	Lied Lately?
2010	Born To Work At Faux News
	Lost Again (Uh, Make That Still)
	Qui Genus Humanum Ingenio Superavit
	They’re Back… (Part 1)

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Nothing Left

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me’.
—    Erma Bombeck
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On This Day In:
2021	Small Curves
	One For Me
2020	Like Belief In Truth And Facts
	Hey #45, Are You Tired Of LOSING Law Suits Too?
2019	Many Forms
2018	Serenity Prayer
2017	But The Clock Says It’s Already Two Minutes 30 Seconds to Midnight
2016	Towards No Regret
2015	109 And Beyond
2014	Are You Waiting?
2013	Traditional Human Sacrifice
2012	A Division Of Men
2011	Miles, Legends and Superwoman
	Got Tragedy?
2010	My Company For A Prince!!
	On The Shoulders Of Titans

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Do Streaming Recommendations Steal Your Soul

With that said, I don’t advise embracing the irrational or acting against your own interests.  It will not make you happy, nor will it prove a point.  Randomness is a poor substitute for genuine freedom.  Instead, perhaps you should reconsider the unstated premise of your query, which is that your identity is defined by your consumer choices.  Your fear that you’ve become boring might have less to do with your supposedly vanilla taste than the fact that these platforms have conditioned us to see our souls through the lens of formulaic categories that are designed to be legible to advertisers.  It’s all too easy to mistake our character for the bullet points that grace our bios:  our relationship status, our professional affiliations, the posts and memes and threads that we’ve liked, the purchases we’ve made, and the playlists we’ve built.
What remains more difficult to predict are the qualities that make you truly distinct:  your thoughts and beliefs, your personal history, the unspoken nuances of the relationships that have made you who you are, and the unbounded expanse of moral and imaginative possibilities that constitutes your own mind.  Attending to those aspects of yourself is the work of a lifetime — and far from boring.
—     Meghan O’Gieblyn
From her article:  “Dear Cloud Support:  Am I Stuck In A Groove“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine;  Dtd:  Dec 2021 / Jan 2022 issue
There is also an online version at:  https://www.wired.com/story/cloud-support-music-apps-predictability/
[But I believe the article may be behind a paywall.  I am a subscriber to the hard-copy magazine.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	Too Bad Politics And Greed Get In The Way
	Little Prayers
2020	Precarious Fools
	A Shining City Upon A Hill
2019	How #45’s Father Raised Him For Incompetence
2018	Describing #45 – “The Loser” – As A Successful Businessman
	Raking – #PresidentIdiot Proposes Full Employment For California
2017	Federal Deficit, National Debt And Tax Cuts For The 1%
2016	Picky, Picky, Picky
2015	Another Limitation On Religion
2014	Enduring
2013	Tell Me More…
2012	Passing…
2011	Fake It ‘Til You Make It

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But You’re Still Looking?

I have yet to find the person . . .  who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than he would do under a spirit of criticism.
—     Charles Schwab
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On This Day In:
2021	Misunderestimated
	The Sincerest Form Of Flattery
	Four Fifths Of Music
2020	Doctor’s Orders
	Make That Seven Orders…
2019	Innocent
2018	Ripost
2017	Just Asking…
2016	And 4
	How Tall Do You Stand?
2015	More Prejudice
2014	Say What?
2013	Daring Errors
2012	Are You Comfortable?
	I Just Have To
	In Flux
2011	True New
2010	A Job Well Started Is A Job Half Done
	I See With My One Good Eye

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