Michigan Countdown

day 1, 99 to go.
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“there may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. “
—   elie wiesel
[The text / quote above is a portion of a post which as been copied from one of the sites I follow:  I didn’t have my glasses on….
This specific post was titled:  “Peaceful.” and the specific link to the post is:  https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/2020/07/27/peace-for-all/
The site is mostly about family and life in and around Ann Arbor, Michigan.  (And occasionally about politics.)  I encourage any of my readers with a spare moment to visit the site.  I think you’ll find it time well spent.  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2019	Speak Up / Call Out
2018	Does Smiling Count?
2017	Giving Much
2016	Sounds Like Class
2015	Inert Ideas
2014	Worth Anything?
2013	Bruises Before Bed (Or Why You Didn’t Answer)
	Revealed Riches
2012	Extra Gears
2011	Say What?
2010	Hello Frogs…

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Role Reversal

Sometimes, you just gotta laugh…
This cartoon was found in a post on one of the blogs I follow:  Pacific Paratrooper
The specific post is located at:  https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/2020/05/14/armed-forces-day-week/
Please visit the site if you have a spare moment…   —  KMAB
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On This Day In:
2019	Right Or Wrong
2018	Open Doors
2017	When It Deserves It
2016	Expiation For Rest
2015	You’ll Get Through It
2014	A Special Kind Of Fall
2013	Very Rewarding
2012	MIB3 – The Team Is Closer Than Ever
	Yet
2011	Little By Little

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I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Plans

Plans For Today, Tomorrow, The Next Day…
[The above image was found at (and “borrowed” from) one of the blogs I visit regularly:  Pacific Paratrooper
Please visit the site if you have a free moment or two…  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2019	Beautiful Rules
2018	Skepticism
2017	WWGD?
2016	Growing Greatness
2015	When It Is Darkest
2014	Knowledge And Doubt
2013	Three Thoughts
2012	Gentle Reader
2011	Leave The Light On For Me Anyway

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All Foam And All Dreams

Oh how smoothly, how swiftly and horribly, how cruelly and thoroughly, one discovers the powers and prowess of Maya, the Supreme Power of Illusions!  With a simple sleight of her hand, léger de main, everything changes in a moment; electrically charged, exciting years of life shrink to moments – just to realize that all that fascinating reality had been a dream.  Perhaps all that happened before had been a continuous sequence of beautiful images that one would admire and fall in love with, only to realize at the end that it’s all a game of dreams, illusions and Maya.  The reality also strikes, at the same moment, that everything one would still experience in the future, would see with one’s eyes and feel with one’s hands, up to the moment of one’s death — that everything is not going to be any different in substance, or any different in kind.  Why should it be?  It’s always been all a game, all foam and all dreams.  It’s Maya, the lovely and frightful, delicious and desperate kaleidoscope of life with its searing delights, intertwined with its searing sorrows, the amazing show that has been ongoing since the dawn of Universe.
— Deodatta V. Shenai-Khatkhate
Originally found at:  https://dshenai.wordpress.com/2015/01/03/illusions-of-maya/
[I followed this blog for a couple of years.  Unfortunately, it is now a “private” site on WordPress.  Our loss…  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2019	Why #IncompetentDonald May Be The Most Successful President Ever
	Latina Fish Story
2018	Blocking The Light And Air
2017	It’s Even Dimmer When You Don’t Have It
2016	Inconvenienced By Degree
2015	Sincerity
2014	Prayers For Junior
	Senseless
2013	Interesting Drink
	Super Bowl XLVII Declared A No Bird Zone
2012	Smile
2011	Come Forward

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Senate Perfidy

Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.
—  Albert Einstein
[Friday’s vote in the U.S. Senate…  I’ve been reading some of the press releases from the Republican Senators who voted to block all new testimony and evidence in the impeachment trial of President Trump:  We don’t need anymore new evidence because the House Managers have proven the President is guilty and we don’t want the American public to hear anymore evidence in “our” (Republican controlled) chamber.  We’ve closed the book on this case, so let’s get on with voting to dismiss the impeachment because we Republicans don’t care that he’s guilty of violating his oath of Office by abusing his power.  (paraphrasing Tennessee Republican Senator Lamar Alexander)  What Alexander didn’t say was:  “I’m not even willing to discuss the President’s guilt in obstructing Congress ’cause I just said he was guilty and why should a guilty Republican President have to provide evidence (documents or witnesses) about his own guilt just because a Democratic controlled House of Representatives wants us to fulfill our Constitution mandated oversight responsibilities.”
The above quote (from Einstein) was found at one of the blogs I follow:   https://aponderingmind.org
The specific link is:  https://aponderingmind.org/2020/01/01/three-great-forces-rule-the-world-stupidity-fear-and-greed-albert-einstein/
Please visit the site if you have a spare moment…  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2019	Contributing To Congress
	Yellow Signs Of Spring
2018	But Take Heart
	Poetic Marker
2017	The Few, The Many, The Most
2016	To My Brother
2015	For Junior
	A Roman Rome
2014	Hmmm
2013	What’s A Motto With You?
2012	Worthy Companions
2011	Bourne Again
	Which Ten Are You In?

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Curing With Salt

The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.
—  Isak Dinesen
[Found at: The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally
The link to the specific post is:  https://annkoplow.wordpress.com/2017/10/16/day-1750-water/
The site is maintained by:  Ann Koplow.
Please give her blog a visit if you have some spare time.  —  KMAB
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On This Day In:
2018	A Politician With Skills
	And / Or A Genuine Smile
2017	A Lone, Brave Voice…
2016	Job Security
2015	For I Have Always Lived Violently
2014	We Stand !! (I Stand With George)
	Additional Requirements
2013	In The Present Day
2012	Feeling It
2011	Stretching Science

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Not Personal

Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience, but the conscience of the whole of humanity.  Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize the voice of justice.
—  Aleksandr Solzhenitshyn
[This quote was found at one of the blogs I follow:  I didn’t have my glasses on….
The original post can be found at:  https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/2019/09/08/disorientation/
Please give the site a visit if you have a spare moment or two…  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2018	Preference For Irrationality
2017	All At Once
2016	One Of My Vices
2015	The War Lord
2014	Orange October (II) – Giants Win NLDS Game 2 In 18 Innings (2 to 1)!!
	Acknowledging Doubt
2013	Fulfilled Acceptance
2012	Error Is Tolerated Here (So Far)
2011	In Defense Of Pain

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My Last Must Be My Best

I will live this day as if it is my last.
And what shall I do with this last precious day, which remains in my keeping?  First, I will seal up its container of life so that not one drop spills itself upon the sand.  I will waste not a moment mourning yesterday’s misfortunes, yesterday’s defeats, yesterday’s aches of the heart, for why should I throw good after bad?
Can sand flow upward in the hourglass?  Will the sun rise where it sets and set where it rises?  Can I relive the errors of yesterday and right them?  Can I become younger than yesterday?  No.  Yesterday is buried forever and I will think of it no more.
I will live this day as if it is my last.
And what then shall I do?  Forgetting yesterday neither will I think of tomorrow.  Why should I throw now after maybe?  Can tomorrow’s sand flow through the glass before today’s?  Will the sun rise twice this morning?  Can I perform tomorrow’s deeds while standing in today’s path?  Can I place tomorrow’s gold in today’s purse?  Should I concern myself over events, which I may never witness?  Should I torment myself with problems that may never come to pass?  No!  Tomorrow lies buried with yesterday, and I will think of it no more.
I will live this day as if it is my last.
This day is all I have and these hours are now my eternity.  I greet this sunrise with cries of joy as a prisoner who is reprieved from death.  I lift mine arms with thanks for this priceless gift of a new day.  So too, I will beat upon my heart with gratitude as I consider all who greeted yesterday’s sunrise who are no longer with the living today.  I am indeed a fortunate man and today’s hours are but a bonus, undeserved.  Why have I been allowed to live this extra day when others, far better than I have departed?  Is it that they have accomplished their purpose while mine is yet to be achieved?  Is this another opportunity for me to become the man I know I can be?  Is this my day to excel?
I will live this day as if it is my last.
I have but one life and life is naught but a measurement of time.  When I waste one I destroy the other.  If I waste today I destroy the last page of my life.  Therefore, each hour of this day will I cherish for it can never return.  It cannot be banked today to be withdrawn on the morrow, for who can trap the wind?  Each minute of this day will I grasp with both hands and fondle with love for its value is beyond price.  What dying man can purchase another breath though he willingly give all his gold?  What price dare I place on the hours ahead?  I will make them priceless!
I will live this day as if it is my last.
I will avoid with fury the killers of time.  Procrastination I will destroy with action; doubt I will bury under faith; fear I will dismember with confidence.  Where there are idle mouths I will listen not; where there are idle hands I will linger not; where there are idle bodies I will visit not.
I will live this day as if it is my last.
And if it is my last, it will be my greatest monument.  This day I will make the best day of my life.  This day I will drink every minute to its full.  I will savor its taste and give thanks.  I will maketh every hour count and each minute I will trade only for something of value.  I will labor harder than ever before and push my muscles until they cry for relief, and then I will continue.  I will make more calls than ever before.  I will sell more goods than ever before.  I will earn more gold than ever before.  Each minute of today will be more fruitful than hours of yesterday.   My last must be my best.
I will live this day as if it is my last.  And if it is not, I shall fall to my knees and give thanks.
—  Augustine “Og” Mandino II
From his book: “The Greatest Salesman in the World“
The quote is more popularly referred to (known by) as:  “Scroll V“
I originally found this at on of the blogs I follow:   https://yabakientelbaki.wordpress.com/
The original post from that site is located at:  https://yabakientelbaki.wordpress.com/2019/07/30/the-scroll-marked-v-i-will-live-this-day-as-if-it-is-my-last-5-numarali-parsomen-bugunu-son-gunummus-gibi-yasayacagim-og-mandino/
Please visit the original blog if you have a moment. I will be posting about the other nine scrolls in the future.  —  KMAB
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On This Day In:
2018	Making Friends
	Day 28: A Normal Loss And A Headache
2017	Sea Worthy
2016	Rising Integration
2015	No Worries
2014	Devouring The Present
2013	But So Far…
	Twice Moved
2012	Just Like Bubbles
2011	Caring and Driving
	Achieve Greatly
2010	Unwise To Trust
	Attitude
	If The Mind Is Not Tired
	Irrationally Crazy
	2nd Pair – Shoe Review
	Ahnu – Gesundheit!
2009	As for me…
	Health Care Reform Now!!

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If One Is Lucky Enough

Those in the first flush of youth can tell us about the drives of the libido but will never understand the changes that happen later in life when libido flags.  They will never understand how Sophocles felt he’d escaped a “savage monster” and George Melly felt “unchained from an idiot” when libido thankfully waned.
It also takes time and experience to learn the wisdom of the importance of sex other than as a recreational pursuit.  Those searching for partners, or looking to establish families, are likely to offer fewer pearls of wisdom than those who have managed to establish long-term relationships and created stable families where the importance of sex for bonding and reproduction come to the fore.  One needs to be older to know, if one is lucky enough, how to sustain a long term sexual relationship once the novelty has faded.  Even more importantly, it takes time and consequently age, to know how to sustain love in a relationship when sexual life has changed with age and infirmity.
Found at one of the blogs I follow:  Looking back in sadness
The specific post link is:  Young People and Sex
Please visit the original site if you have a spare moment.  —  KMAB
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On This Day In:
2018	Being President Doesn’t Make You Presidential
	Day 27: 4 Weeks / 55lbs
2017	I’m Seeing It, Too
2016	Personal Decisions
2015	Verbal Fluency
2014	Familiar
2013	Unbending
2012	Simple Sayings
2011	Wupped Again?
2010	3 and 1…
	Musical Notes…
	Doubt Tries…
	Northwest Passages – Evening Two
	The Beierly’s Web Site

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Just Asking…

QUESTIONNAIRE
by Wendell Berry
1.  How much poison are you willing to eat for the success of the free market and global trade?  Please name your preferred poisons.
2.  For the sake of goodness, how much evil are you willing to do?  Fill in the following blanks with the names of your favorite evils and acts of hatred.
3.  What sacrifices are you prepared to make for culture and civilization?  Please list the monuments, shrines, and works of art you would most willingly destroy.
4.  In the name of patriotism and the flag, how much of our beloved land are you willing to desecrate?  List in the following spaces the mountains, rivers, towns, farms you could most readily do without.
5.  State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes, the energy sources, the kinds of security, for which you would kill a child.  Name, please, the children whom you would be willing to kill.
Found at one of the blogs I follow:  https://www.brainpickings.org/
The specific post link is:  https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/08/14/wendell-berry-questionnaire-amanda-palmer/?mc_cid=e1165a44ab&mc_eid=a1951a747c
Please visit the original site if you have a spare moment.  I HIGHLY recommend following this blog, but caution, the posts can be QUITE deep and insightful.  —  KMAB
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On This Day In:
2018	Or Attacks On A Free Press
	Day 26: Life
2017	Still Looking For The Key
2016	Not So Much Anymore, Boss
2015	Green Binge
2014	Overdone
2013	The Courage To Remake The World
2012	Minor Gifts
2011	I Love It When A Plan Comes Together…
2010	Eloquence
	Cleaning the Chalk Board

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Define Your Life…

Your “vision” defines your life
by Jyoti Meena
One can focus on the thorns and feel the tingling sensation..
Or one can converge all the thoughts and vision on the petals and gratify the beautiful colours and patterns of the petals..
One can choose to heed on the leaves which are drying and defoliating..
Or one can look at the newbie bud which is yet to bloom and spread it’s soothing fragrance..
It’s all about how you see things through “YOUR EYES”…
Following the world blindly won’t make you wise…
So believe in your vision because “your vision defines your life”
From the site: Jyotichamp
Located at: https://championchinti.wordpress.com/
The specific post is at:  https://championchinti.wordpress.com/2019/07/23/your-vision-defines-your-life/
Please visit the original site if you have a spare moment. — KMAB
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On This Day In:
2018	It Is No Secret
	Day 25: When 4 or 5 equals 2
2017	Cowardly Defamation
2016	With No Allowance For Chance?
2015	Details
2014	Here’s One…
2013	Non-Fungible Commodities
2012	Hope And Tears
2011	Just Long Enough
	Meaningful Thoughts

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Always Surprises

The whole point of life was you couldn’t ever be sure what would happen next.  Sometimes what happened was good, sometimes not, but there were always surprises.
―   Veronica Henry
Found at one of the blogs I follow:  I didn’t have my glasses on….
The specific address for this post: https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/2019/08/03/surprises/
Please visit the original site if you have a spare moment.  —  KMAB
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On This Day In:
2018	You’ve Got To Stand For Something
	Day 24: Hand Touching Hand
2017	The Tide Will Turn
2016	Dreamers
2015	Three Roars
2014	Be R-E-L-E-V-A-N-T
2013	Lacking
2012	So Small A Thing
2011	Is Your Time Valuable?

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Propaganda vs. Art

Any society contains propaganda, but it is important to distinguish this from art and to preserve the purity and independence of the practice of art.  A good society contains many different artists doing many different things.  A bad society coerces artists because it knows that they can reveal all kinds of truths.
—   Iris Murdoch
[Found at one of the blogs I follow:  http://allisonmarieconway.com/
The specific link to the post this was from is: http://allisonmarieconway.com/2018/08/13/on-art-democracy-dangerous-play/
Please visit the blog if you have a free moment.  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2018	What Did You Bring Up?
2017	Waiting For My First Strike
2016	Mostly Just Masticating
2015	Don’t Mess With Mosa
	How Long Is This Run?
2014	The Importance Of Being Forgetful
2013	Anyway
2012	Habit Forming
2011	And In The Other Hand(ful)
	In Love With Words
	Boundless Naïveté
	Who Did You Say Signed Off On This Treason, Pat?

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Possibilities And Challenges

You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going.  What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.
—  Thomas Merton
[This quote is from one of the blogs I follow:
The blog is:  http://meditationsinmotion.wordpress.com/
The specific post can be found at:  http://meditationsinmotion.wordpress.com/2019/04/14/fixing-the-fixer/
Please give the site a visit if you have a free moment.  —  KMAB ]
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On This Day In:
2018	What I Tell You Three Times Is True
2017	And So On
2016	Kept
2015	Envy * 2
2014	Destiny For The Talented
2013	I Do Not Fear It
2012	Until Found
2011	Reducing Goods To Data
	The Fog Of Civilization Building

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After Life

“What Dreams May Come” (1998)  —  movie review
Today’s review is for the 1998 movie starring Robin Williams.  If you haven’t watched this movie and intend to AND want to avoid spoilers, stop reading now and come back after you’ve seen the film.
Okay, Robin Williams stars as Dr. Christopher James “Chris” Nielsen, Annabella Sciorra plays his wife: Annie Collins-Nielsen, Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Albert Lewis / Ian Nielsen (Chris’ son in disguise), Josh Paddock plays Ian Nielsen (Chris’ son), Rosalind Chao plays Leona / Marie Nielsen (Chris’ daughter in disguise), Jessica Brooks Grant plays Marie Nielsen (Chris’ daughter), and, Max von Sydow plays The Tracker / Albert Lewis (Chris’ mentor when he was a young doctor).  I’ve now given away most of the movie…  You were warned!
Chris is a pediatrician.  Annie is a artist / painter and art restorer.  They meet in idyllic circumstance and fall immediately in love.  They have a wonderful life, but trouble is on the horizon.  Suddenly their two children die in a car accident.  Life is turned upside down and there are hints of other “issues”.  On one of their anniversaries, Chris is also involved in and dies during a car accident and Annie is left alone.
Through a series of flashbacks we discover the “issues”: Chris was unable to deal with the death of the children and throws himself into his work to avoid the pain.  Annie had a nervous breakdown.  In the end, they comeback from the brink of divorce and are restarting their lives when Chris dies.  Chris is not ready for death and seeks out Annie as a “ghost / spirit”.  Annie is not ready for the loss of her love, has another breakdown and commits suicide.  There follows a lengthy, colorful and brilliantly imagined (sometimes disturbingly illustrated) imagery of heaven, hell, life, death, self-sacrifice, the meaning of love and, finally, reincarnation.
The film won two Oscars for Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction and it was almost certainly deserving as some of the imagery is at times beautiful and horrifying.  This is an adult drama and although rated “PG-13” is really not appropriate for children.  Some teens could deal with the imagery, but I am not sure they will get a lot of the philosophy.  Heck, I’m not sure most adults will, either.
Anyway, is this movie any good?  Did I enjoy watching it?  Did I find all of the philosophy reasonable and / or explained well?  Yes!  So-so.  And, mostly yes.  To start off, I purchased this movie as a one-off on discount with Vudu.  They had a sale of 5 films for $20 and I figured, what the heck, I usually enjoy most of Robin Williams’ work, so I’ll take a chance.  Just after that, one of my followers (and a blogger I follow) said in a comment that this movie was one of her favorite movies.  (If anyone is interested, she goes by “Cubby” and her site is: https://reowr.com/)  …So, I bumped this up my list of films to view sooner rather than later.
Good decision…   As mentioned, the visual effects are imaginative and stunning.  Imagine heaven as your own personal painting and you get to wake up in it and move around in it.  At first, it is blurry and “van Gogh”-ian (if that is even a phrase).  After about three minutes, it is almost funny because it makes “perfect” sense.  Well, it did / does to me anyway.
So, it is a great “viewing” experience…  But, did I enjoy watching it?  No.  And, yes.  Mostly, yes!  This mixed answer is because there are multiple levels of “enjoyment”.  The sound was variable and dipped to barely audible at points.  Because this is a “deep” movie, I had to replay some of the scenes to catch the dialogue.  This breaks the “fourth-wall” between the film and the viewer, but I recognized almost immediately that I would miss too much of the film if I couldn’t hear or didn’t understand all that was being said.  There are two other things which made the movie “uncomfortable” for me.  The imagery (some intense – as mentioned above) and the plot revolving around losing one’s family through chance accident.  The latter has always terrified me personally.  It’s never happened to me (thankfully), but it is a common plot device in movies and music and I never like it.
Anyway, this is a movie which you come to for the entertainment and stay for the philosophy – or at least I did.  Everything, and I MEAN everything in the movie is meant to make you think.  If you like that in a movie (I do), then you will enjoy / love this movie.  Does it explain “philosophy” well.  No.  It’s a movie!  It’s trying to get you to think about life and love while still entertaining you.  I think it does that.
Final recommendation: highly recommended movie.  Again, this is a sit, listen, watch and think about movie.  It may make you cry (I did).  It may leave you cold – it is not very “Christian” in it’s overall philosophy.  If you can’t get past that part of the film, you will almost certainly NOT like this movie.  If you have ever felt like you found the love of your life, not “just” a lover or a spouse, this movie will probably touch you.  It did me.
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On This Day In:
2018	Happy Valentine’s Day – 2018!!
2017	Happy Valentine’s Day – 2017!!
2016	Happy Valentine’s Day – 2016!!
2015	To My Special Lady
2014	Awakening
2013	Drowsy In Comfort
2012	Happy Valentine’s Day
2011	Own Your Bible

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