For Me: Blogging And Learning About Music / Guitar

Somebody out there is going to do something that’s far more surprising than anything that I would do.  I was surprised by the whole web thing in the first place.
—    Larry Wall
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On This Day In:
2022	I Remember…
2021	Biden Won By Almost 7 Million Votes
	Waiting Outside My Door (I’m Winning)
2020	The Tragedy Of Trump Republicanism
2019	What Do Your Children See You Doing?
2018	Is #45 STILL Losing America
2017	We Sleep To Remember And We Sleep To Forget
2016	Useful Gift
2015	Who’s The Boss?
2014	What Counts In The Future
2013	Improper Sequence?
2012	Two Gems
2011	A True Test

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Especially If He Blogs Excessively

Distrust that man who tells you to distrust.
—     Attributed to:  Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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On This Day In:
2022	Especially If He Blogs Excessively
2021	Table Talk
	No One Left To Blame (Carefree Highway)
2020	Plant Roots For A Hundred Years
	That Seat Is Taken (Love The One You’re With)
2019	Shining In The Dark
2018	Sometimes Wisdom, Too
2017	What Do I Know… (What Do I Know)
	Not Much Magic Here
2016	Rare Competition
2015	Now Where Did I Put That Thing?
2014	Reckoning
	Orange October (VIII) – Giants Win Game 1 Of 2014 World Series!!
2013	Trying To Capture Serenity
2012	Above The Vaulted Sky
2011	Active Learning

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Why I Keep Posting…

Words are also actions, and actions are a kind of words.
—    Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2022	Why I Keep Posting…
2021	A Little Forgetfulness
	Thoughts While Driving To Work (Highway 20 Ride)
2020	Making Potential Come True
	Predating / Predicting Nerdhood (Magneto And Titanium Man)
2019	Duration Unknown
	Day 6: Almost There
2018	Just Trying To Be Me
	Day 39: Half This Game Is 90% Mental
2017	A Letter To 45
	Some Small Place
2016	REDs
2015	Cities
2014	Still
2013	Dare = Hope
2012	Check My Math
2011	Just Asking

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I’ll Keep Trying To Anyway

Most of those who make collections of verse or epigram are like men eating cherries or oysters:  they choose out the best at first, and end by eating all.
—     Nicolas Chamfort
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On This Day In:
2022	Just Waiting
2021	I’ll Keep Trying To Anyway
	She Knows (Something)
2020	Respond
	Still Trying To Adjust (Just An Old Hippie)
2019	The Limits Of My Knowledge
2018	Even Tiny Progress
2017	Real Conservatism
2016	The Business Of Life
2015	Alone Again, Naturally
2014	Agreed
2013	Smile From Your Heart!
2012	Like You
2011	Got Days?
2010	K9 Humor – Has Anyone Seen My Setter?  (Must read!!)
	A Longer Blog Than You Want To Read (Probably)
2009	Back and Forth and Round Again…

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Or Blog Every Day

Not sure of much of anything these days.  Maybe that’s why I talk so much.
—    Robert M. Pirsig
From his book:  “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance“
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On This Day In:
2022	A Very Few
2021	Or Blog Every Day
	Every Woman Should Have One
2020	Where Are We Going?
2019	One Before I Go
2018	And Blog Posts, Too
2017	Just Doin’ It
2016	Definitely Not Bell Shaped
2015	Dreadful Pity
2014	Worse Than Useless
2013	Personal Prisons
2012	So, Not Yet Then
2011	Real Love

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Kinda Like Posting To A Blog About My Day

The historian always oversimplifies, and hastily selects a manageable minority of facts and faces out of a crowd of souls and events whose multitudinous complexity he can never quite embrace or comprehend.
—    Will Durant
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On This Day In:
2022	Keep Faith, But Also Keep Learning
2021	A Tenacious Cycle
	Once Upon A Time… (Like A Rolling Stone)
2020	Kinda Like Posting To A Blog About My Day
	Just A Different Point Of View (Tangled Up In Blue)
	You Be The Judge
2019	I Think I’m Repeating Myself
	It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like X-mas!
2018	No Reason To Turn
2017	Talking Knuth
	Seeing It Through
2016	Hoping For The Best Come January
2015	Adaptive Security
2014	Wants
2013	Side Effects
2012	Just Trying To Earn A Living
2011	Productive Worry

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And The Same Goes For Blogs / Posts

The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.
––    W. Somerset Maugham
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On This Day In:
2022	Three Reasons Why #45 Was Too Much For America To Handle
2021	Feeling Humble
	Laughter And Loving (When She Was My Girl)
2020	Mostly Dry, With A Chance Of Late Rain
	And The Same Goes For Blogs / Posts
2019	Not Enough
2018	One Thing We Do Know
2017	Preservation
2016	Going Back
2015	Just For Today
2014	Reaching For Destiny
2013	Still Just Passing Through
2012	Live Or Die
2011	On Secession
2010	A Rocky Weekend

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World Views: End Of 2019

Having completed my 10th year of blogging and a little more than a quarter of the way through my 11th, I thought I’d check to see my world coverage.  The U.S. recognizes about 195 countries / territories.  I believe the U.N. is upwards of about 210.
Aside from the normal (“expected”) ones missing (Cuba and North Korea), I’m still missing almost 15% of the world’s countries from at least one visit / view.  As near as I can tell, here is my list of countries which I have not had a view from (in alphabetical order):
1) Benin
2) Burkina Fasq
3) Central African Republic
4) Chad
5) Côte d’Ivoire
6) Cuba
7) Djibouti
8) Equatorial Guinea
9) Eritrea
10) Gabon
11) Guinea
12) Guinea-Bissau
13) Haiti
14) Liberia
15) Mali
16) Mauritania
17) Niger
18) North Korea
19) North Macedonia
20) Sierra Leone
21) Sao Tome and Principe
22) South Sudan
23) Suriname
24) Togo
25) Turkmenistan
26) Uzbekistan
27) Vatican City
28) Western Sahara
29) Yemen
I know it is pure vanity to imagine it — given my relatively small number of followers (1,400-ish), but I like to imagine if I cannot personally visit every country in the world in my lifetime, at least my blog has been viewed by at least one person in each country.
Like I said —  pure vanity  —  but at the end of each year I seem to inch a little closer to my goal.  Someone should tell them:  “Assimilation is inevitable.  Resistance is futile…”  (LoL!)
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On This Day In:
2022	Best Wishes For 2023!
2021	Best Wishes For 2022!
	A Toast To Innocence (Same Old Lang Syne)
2020	Best Wishes For 2021!
	Tomorrow Starts A New Year (Here Comes The Sun)
2019	Best Wishes For 2020!
	World Views: End Of 2019
2018	Best Wishes For 2019!
2017	Best Wishes For 2018!
2016	Best Wishes For 2017!
2015	Better Red Than Dead
	Tomorrow Starts A New Year
2014	Recovering
	Best Wishes For 2015!
2013	Best Wishes For 2014!
2012	My Creed
2011	It Probably Isn’t So

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1221

How do you spell “radar” backwards?  …
When I first started this blog I hoped to be soooo insightful a writer I would set the world on fire with the brilliance of my posts.  After about three months I decided I was only blogging for myself and stopped the hourly tracking of visitors (0), views (0) and followers (0).  However, because I am still me, I do notice and mark certain milestones – even if I rarely post about them.  Mostly I notice because they (the milestones) somehow tickle the “nerd” nerve in my reptilian brain.  Today is one such milestone.  I have been waiting to hit “1234” subscribers ever since I reached “1001”.  Today I hit “1221” (see image below – click on the image to see a larger version).
LOL!!  For those who as nerdy as me, the name of this type of thing is a “palindrome” (a word, number or sentence which reads the same backwards as forwards).
For anyone who cares:  No, I don’t believe I have anywhere near that many followers.  Based on the average number of daily visitors, I’d “generously” estimate my number of “real” followers at between 15 and 20.  Last year, for some reason entirely unknown to me, I averaged about 35 visitors per day.  Until proven otherwise, I believe this to be a one off and unlikely to be sustainable.  LOL.  But what do I know?
Anyway, 13 more followers to go until I reach the next “nerd” number…  Since it took me almost 3 years to get to 10 followers, I’m not holding my breath.
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On This Day In:
2023	Getting Called (On The Dark Side)
2022	More New Year’s Exercises
	7 Done, 12 Down
2021	Another Public Service Message
	Greetin’ The Sun (A Little Bit More)
2020	From The Mountains To The Shores
2019	Watering The Trees And Seeds
	1221
2018	Take Care Of Me…
2017	Make Some Difference
2016	Still 99%
2015	Adolescent Opinion
2014	In A Big World
2013	Vacancy For God
2012	Sweat Equity
	Try It… You’ll Like It
2011	Still Incomplete
2010	Happy New Year – 2010

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Sounds Like A Blog To Me

The body is a house of many windows;  there we sit, showing ourselves and crying out to the passers-by to come and love us.
—    Robert Louis Stevenson
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On This Day In:
2022	Unless You Stop To Hug Them
2021	And Still Don’t Understand
	Unconditional (I Cross My Heart)
2020	I Hope She Keeps Laughing
	Christmas Is Near (Don’t Miss Your Life)
2019	Ruff Clean
2018	Sounds Like A Blog To Me
2017	My Fear For America
2016	Proceeding Still
2015	Seeing Rainbows
	I Am A Runner
2014	The Law Of The Perversity Of Nature
2013	One Standard Deviation
2012	High Anxiety
2011	And I’m Taking Me There
2010	1,000

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Still Blogging

Guard well your spare moments.  They are like uncut diamonds.  Discard them and their value will never be known.  Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.
―    Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2022	Not By The Fireside
2021	None Live Apart
	Gotta Have A Friend (Spirit In The Sky)
2020	In The Moment
2019	I Will Try Again
	Original Chips
2018	Still Blogging
2017	Reliable Vision
2016	Still Walking
2015	Steps
2014	To Be Greatly Good
2013	Limited Capacity
2012	Two Ear Ticklers
	Justification
2011	To Avail The Nation

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Or Revisiting A Blog Site

There’s nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over.
––    Gail Carson Levine
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On This Day In:
2023	Images Are Everywhere
2022	An Honorable Preference
2021	Very Young Or Very New
	Feelin’ It (Happy Feelin’)
2020	Or To Destroy Democracy
2019	A Defense Of Liberty
2018	And Blog To Word Up To The Universe
	The Irony Of Greed
2017	Or Revisiting A Blog Site
2016	Alas, Too Often The Latter
2015	Either / Or
2014	Memorial Day – 2014
	Perfection
2013	Memorial Day Video
	Equal = Equal
2012	Congrats, Nephew!!
	Doggie Vision Networks
	The Flash: Omnibus
	JLI: vol 1
	Flash: Rebirth
	Burning Images
	What Do You Believe?
2011	Are We Still At War With The Poor?

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Not Another Barren Corner

The main risk with blogs is the distraction of too many leads to pursue, not too few.  Anyone who is reading online and not enlarging their cultural perspective has either found some remarkably barren corner of the blog world or needs a refresher course in the meaning of hyperlinks.
—    Chris Anderson
From his book:  “The Long Tail“
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On This Day In:
2022	In Less Than 70 Days…
2021	You Really Are
	What You Want (Whole Lotta Love)
2020	So Far The Only Burden Shifted Has Been The Cost
	Rockin’ The Hammond (Gimme Some Lovin’)
2019	The Powers Of Mind
	Day 10: Into Double Digits
2018	Up For Progress
	Day 1.5: Done (For Now)
2017	And Second By Second
2016	Bakeries And Coffee Shops
2015	Spirit Not Form
2014	Sometimes Even Kneeling Seems Insufficient
2013	Hobgoblins
2012	Got Sleep?
2011	Not Another Barren Corner

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Speed Spoils

Well, another day gone.  Another day closer to retirement!
I didn’t sleep well last night.  I’m not sure why, perhaps it was the late night cuppa-tea, but I had one of those “Inception” nights where you have a dream which seems absolutely real (virtual reality real), but you know it’s a dream.  I can rarely remember the whole thing when this happens, and this dream was no exception.  Anyway, I was in some kind of CSI / serial killer tracking police squad and we were trying to track some deranged wacko.  I can remember very few details:  I wasn’t a cop, I was only working with them.  The crimes were gruesome.  We never caught the “perp”.  I remember thinking, “This is not me doing this, so I must be dreaming.”  At that point, I stopped being a player in the drama and became an observer of the drama and myself as a performer in the drama.  That sense of duality there was pretty weird, too.  I woke once, just after mid-night and when I went back to sleep, I went right back into the dream.
As I said, I don’t remember much more about the details of the dream.  I do remember feeling close to consciousness several times and thinking, “Just relax and go back to the dream.  We might still catch him.”  Anyway, and like I said before, the more I thought about the awareness of dreaming, being in the dream, the more I thought about the movie “Inception“.  Hil woke me at the usual time (4:30 AM) and I was still in the dream.  I’ve always thought dreams were fairly short lived affairs.  The dream itself might have a duration of some length, but the actual time dreaming was seconds or minutes.  This dream really seemed to take all night and (as I said) I woke up feeling like I hadn’t slept at all.
Other musings:
Hil and I went out for another trip around the neighborhood.  This was a little over an hour, but much slower.  I reckon we walked about 2.5 miles.  My BP was more or less normal and my pulse was in the high 80’s and regular.  That’s two days now with no “known” irregular pulse.  Woo-hoo!!
On my daughter’s (Rebecca) recommendation, I’m having a little play with scheduling the release of my quote posts.  I’ve set two up to go off tomorrow and the next day.  I’m not really comfortable with the concept of timing posts this way as it seems deceptive somehow.  If something strikes my fancy today and I create the post today, is it misleading to publish it later?  Doesn’t that give the impression I had that thought later?  Fortunately, almost no one reads my little disturbances (ripples) in the time-space continuum, so my ethical itches will remain unscratched (or at least uncommented on).
And finally, I’m reading about computer greats and one of them said something I’ve believed for years but never really knew how to express (I paraphrase):  If you’re developing software that has lives dependent on it, it has to be perfect.  If you’re not, then you need to get it (the software product) out to the users as quickly as possible so they can tell you what’s wrong with it (what needs improving, not that it doesn’t work).  If you get a reputation for faster results, the market (your customer) is more forgiving.  But they still end up being more demanding in the end.  Speed spoils.
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On This Day In:
2023	Courage To Love
2022	Pass A Voting Rights Act For Democracy’s Sake
2021	Tomorrow President Biden Starts Wrestling
	Good-Bye #45 (The Tears Of A Clown)
2020	The Burden Of Faith
	On To Superbowl LIV (54)!!
2019	Are Your Dogs Barking?
	Dangerous Waistcoats
2018	And 40+ Years Later?
2017	He Is Alone
2016	Compensation
2015	Charlie Redux
2014	The Crux
2013	Erosion And Rechannelling
	Alliance, n.
2012	How Many Thought… (One I Know Of)
	Choices And Decisions
2011	Speed Spoils
	Simply Intended
2010	A Second 4 Hour Jog

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