When I’m depressed, nothing interests me. At other times I enjoy many things, as I reminded myself in a 1985 Journal Entry:

Image by katiemiafrederick.com

Among these are drawing, doodling. cutting and pasting (collaging), writing, browsing in the library or second hand book stores, singing, looking for Indian artifacts in a plowed field after it rains, brainstorming or discussing ideas with a friend, smelling the earth after it rains, looking at rainbows, feeling the warmth of a purring cat, exchanging soul gazes with my pet dog, sharing food with friends, lying out under the stars, reading aloud with an intimate, snuggling under the covers while the rain patters on the roof, singing Christmas carols, the lit Christmas tree, walking along the beach collecting gifts from the sea, attending a Quaker meeting, viewing a sunset, picking and enjoying flowers, speculating on strange encounters, watching a heart-warming movie… Now I would add reading on evolution and consciousness.

I also think of the things I’m grateful for…Family; friends; curiosity; creativity; sleep; the ability to faint when physical pain gets too great; the lessening of fear of death with age; prolonged infancy developing into love; the “cooperative” gene; the “religious” gene serving to draw people together beyond family lines; mathematics, which leads us to believe that this is a rational world; the aesthetic experience associated with this world and its characteristics; the cherishing of nostalgic memories; the sense of peace associated with clinical near or after death experiences; the survival instinct which permits life on this planet to evolve; “emergence” –which unfolds what is and affects what is to be; the ability to read and write; consciousness–so that we can reflectively experience; and humor–the saving grace…

A surprising way to lessen depression–for me at least–is to go to Google and look at all the different species of birds. I accidentally discovered this method.

I also want to announce that I don’t intend to post any more until my helper arrives so I know how to control the site. Hats off to those still sufficiently nimble of wit to understand it.

YIKES

I can’t winnow  this for you (gotta march forward with my book), but these are too tempting to gloss over: __________________________ Judge Gives Trump Mafia Boss Treatment And Says So KeithDB  From < https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/23/2159841/-Judge-Gives-Trump-Mafia-Boss-Treatment-And-Says-So&gt; A very lengthy footnote, filling most of a page provides examples of that. Footnote 7 on page 4 is definitely worth…

by Nan Mykel March 24, 2023

A Suggestion

DO YOU SEE ANY LIGHT DOWN OUR TUNNEL? Earlier  in the week I read an article on the internet about how Americans have become so afraid of other Americans. They suggested all the nice psychological and open ways to approach the problem–all decent suggestions about communication solutions. BUT–they ignored the number one possible solution to…

by Nan Mykel March 22, 2023March 22, 2023

Moral Self-Correction in Large Language Models?

This is over Nan’s head but thought you might like to know. (Ha Ha, my computer wouldn’t accept “computer morality” in my tags, insisting it should be computer mortality…) arXiv Forum: How do we make accessible research papers a reality? Can we truly call it “Open Science” when most research papers are not fully accessible?…

by Nan Mykel March 21, 2023