A Butterfly Fluttering Its Wings In Brazil?

The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding.  Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home.  In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant, even petty.  And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows much promise. In the last few millennia we have made the most astonishing and unexpected discoveries about the Cosmos and our place within it, explorations that are exhilarating to consider.  They remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival.  I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.
We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it’s forever.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2023	More Pride (1940)
	Blogging To Find Shape
2022	My Conservative View
2021	Are We Getting Close To Uncertainty?
	How It Could Be (Float On)
2020	Two Loves
	A Short Count
2019	Don’t Forget: Fire Burns
2018	Especially In The Middle East
2017	A Good Local
2016	Life Unlimited
2015	Still Trying
2014	Destiny, n.
2013	No Apologies
2012	Utterly Convinced
2011	A Key To Effectiveness

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On Initiating The Creative Process

1.	Attempt what is not certain.  Certainty may or may not come later.  It may then be a valuable delusion.
2.	The pretty, initial position which falls short of completeness is not to be valued – except as a stimulus for further moves.
3.	DO search.
4.	Use and respond to the initial fresh qualities but consider them absolutely expendable.
5.	Don’t “discover” a subject – of any kind.
6.	Somehow don’t be bored but if you must, use it in action.  Use its destructive potential.
7.	Mistakes can’t be erased but they move you from your present position.
8.	Keep thinking about Pollyanna.
9.	Tolerate chaos.
10.	Be careful only in a perverse way.
—     Richard Diebenkorn
From:  “Notes to myself on beginning a painting“
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On This Day In:
2023	I Didn’t Finish It Yesterday
2022	Starting Over (Again)
	Another LONG Post (Guitar Review)
2021	Allowing For Compromise
	Whoa-whoa (It’s Not Unusual)
2020	Why #LyingDonald Hurts The US
2019	Blow Between Your Ears (Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time)
2018	Thinking Ahead
2017	I’d Like To Try
2016	Or Blog (And Bound)
2015	Welcome The Virtuous
2014	Closing The Gap?
2013	On Parenting
2012	What Knowledge Is
2011	The Indefinite Accumulation Of Property

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Stuck In The Middle…

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
—     Albert Camus
In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.
In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.
In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.
I realized, through it all, that…
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy.  For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.
—     Albert Camus
[The fuller version is attributed to Camus, but are “probably” not his words.  At least nobody has been able to locate the quote in his writings.  The shorter version is widely attributed to Camus, but I’m advised (I haven’t personally read Camus’ works – which are in French) that this is also not an accurate translation, but does capture the meaning.  (ex.:  “Midst” is sometimes translated as “middle”.)  In any case, the longer version is something it feels like he could have written.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Sit, Observe, Create
2021	Every Today
	Millions Disappear (I Only Have Eyes For You)
2020	Walking
	Another Night’s Dread (Hello Walls)
2019	Nowadays It Is Called Trumpism
2018	A Reluctant Joiner
	#IncompetentDonald: On The Road To Ruin
2017	He Says, It Says
2016	Marriage Advice
2015	To James (and ‘Tasha)
2014	Ssshhush, You Are Not Alone
2013	So I Chose Living…
2012	For However Short A Time…
2011	Take A Deep Breath And Continue (Or Not)
2010	Tootsie-Roll Day

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A Wonderful Tension

There’s this wonderful sort of tension in the wind — that moment when you’re held there suspended is a very beautiful moment … a moment of clarity in a very chaotic situation.  …  It’s like a shaft of light that penetrates.
—    Andy Goldsworthy
From:  “Leaning Into the Wind”
[Originally found at one of the blogs I follow:  “I can’t sleep” AKA:  “Live & Learn“
Located at:  https://davidkanigan.com/
The specific post is located at:  https://davidkanigan.com/2021/04/15/lightly-child-lightly-295/
Please visit the original site if you have a spare minute.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Once Upon A Time There Was Air You Couldn’t See…
2022	A Wonderful Tension
2021	Little And Large Choices
	I Got Something To Say (When The Going Gets Tough)
	Alternate Reality
2020	When?
2019	Two Guides
2018	A Call For You
2017	Because I Read
2016	On What Matters…
2015	Social Security
2014	Bewitching
2013	Visiting Joy
2012	Dedication To Today
2011	Project Second Chance – Adult Literacy
	Turning Coal Into Diamonds

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No Profit Without Risk

All life is an experiment.  The more experiments you make the better.
—    Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2022	Preparation
	The Natural Order Has Been Restored!
2021	No Profit Without Risk
	And One For Me (Bang A Drum)
2020	He’s Forgotten About Drugs And Rock ‘N Roll
2019	I Still Walk Daily
	A Windy Monday
2018	No Religious Test, Yes Religious Ban
2017	Looking At #DumbDonald
2016	No Great Thing
2015	Happy Memory
	Of Two Minds
2014	Sums
2013	Memories & Binging
	Admiration Due
2012	Choices Matter
2011	Acceptance Is The Key
2010	Just A Permanent Crease…
	Bodily Functions

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Three Errors From Eureka

The result of a mathematical development should be continuously checked against one’s own intuition about what constitutes reasonable biological behavior.  When such a check reveals disagreement, then the following possibilities must be considered:
a.)	A mistake has been made in the formal mathematical development;
b.)	The starting assumptions are incorrect and / or constitute a too drastic oversimplification;
c.)	One’s own intuition about the biological field is inadequately developed;
d.)	A penetrating new principle has been discovered.
—    Harvey J. Gold
From his book:  “Mathematical Modeling of Biological Systems“
—    As quoted by James Gleick
In his book:  “Chaos: Making A New Science“
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On This Day In:
2023	Easing Into 2023
2022	A Crucial Skill
2021	Our Fate Is Up To Us
	Amazing Or Terrifying? (Do You Love Me?)
2020	Still Willing
2019	Another Prayer
2018	After Silence
2017	Are You Looking Forward To A Trump Presidency?
2016	Three Errors From Eureka
2015	Limiting Choices
2014	Praise The Lord And Pass The Hypocrisy
	That Sound
2013	Still Waiting For Answers
2012	Informal Leadership
2011	A Little More Progress
2010	Bec’s Gone Again…

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The Critical State

But if chaos teaches physicists that the truly simple can nevertheless look complicated, the critical state teaches them that the truly complicated can behave in ways that are remarkably simple.  … The basic organization of any substance poised in the critical state between two phases depends very little on the precise nature of the elements involved.  There is a profound universality at work, which makes it possible to understand literally thousands of utterly different collectives in terms of simple mathematical games that share the same skeletal logic.
… One of the deepest discoveries in physics of the past two decades is that in nonequilibrium systems the critical state often arises on its own.
… It does not seem normal and lawlike for long periods of calm to be suddenly and sporadically shattered by cataclysm, and yet it is.  This is, it seems, the ubiquitous character of the world.
—    Mark Buchanan
From his book:  “Ubiquity“
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On This Day In:
2023	Some Things
2022	Vision Test
2021	Or These Days, On The Internet
	There Goes My Heart (Only The Lonely)
2020	Find An Antidote
2019	Take A Few Minutes To Remember
	Start By Doubting
2018	You Cannot Pretend
2017	A Long Shadow
2016	Learning, Experience, Chances or Money
2015	The Critical State
2014	Dawn, n.
2013	Ouch!
2012	Just Lookin’ Around
	Still Growing
2011	But Do You Want To?

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Intricate And Subtle Order

Cosmos is a Greek word for the order of the universe.  It is, in a way, the opposite of Chaos.  It implies the deep interconnectedness of all things.  It conveys awe for the intricate and subtle way in which the universe is put together.
―    Carl Sagan
From his TV Show:  “Cosmos“
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On This Day In:
2023	Squeeze Your Opportunity
2022	Completely Reasonable To Worry
2021	Seeking Happiness
	Check Your Watch (Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is)
2020	Expectation For The Near Future
2019	Indian Myth
	Did He Even Have The Courage To Ask?
2018	Nothing
2017	Approval First
2016	In Search Of Words
	Day 2 – Blending
2015	At What Price?
2014	Intricate And Subtle Order
2013	Attention To Detail
2012	Aequanimitas!
2011	Consider This

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