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Post by swamprat on Sept 19, 2017 9:11:58 GMT -6
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Post by swamprat on Feb 4, 2018 18:21:26 GMT -6
George Carlin's wife died early in 2008 and George followed her, dying in July 2008. It is ironic George Carlin - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent and so very appropriate.
An observation by George Carlin: The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.
Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away.
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Post by auntym on Jun 19, 2018 15:51:45 GMT -6
www.dailygrail.com/2018/06/words-are-magic-how-the-language-you-speak-and-hear-changes-your-reality/ Words are Magic – How the Language You Speak (and Hear) Changes Your Realityby Greg / www.dailygrail.com/author/greg/Monday, June 18th In the modern world, science has gifted (or is that cursed?) us with an awareness that what we once thought was ‘reality’ is actually just a highly filtered, tiny portion of what is actually ‘out there’. As Buckminster Fuller put it: Up to the Twentieth Century, reality was everything humans could touch, smell, see and hear. Since the initial publication of the chart of the electromagnetic spectrum, humans have learned that what they can touch, smell, see, and hear is less than one-millionth of reality. But scientists have also found that the thing we think of as ‘reality’ is not only a filtered fraction of a much greater whole, but is also extremely malleable, due to the fact that – for each of us – what we think of as reality is actually an approximation, a model we have built in our minds, built on information taken in from our environment. And one of the major filters affecting how that model is built is the language we think in. As Mark Pesce points out in his excellent article “The Executable Dreamtime“, from the time “that language invaded and colonized our cerebrums, we have increasingly lost touch with the reality of things. Reality has been replaced with relation, a mapping of things-as-they-are to things-as-we-believe-them-to-be. ” Cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky gave some examples of how ‘reality’ changes based on our language and culture in a recent TED talk (embedded below), such as the cosmic model of the Kuuk Thaayorre people of northern Australia, who conceive of time and space in a completely different way to most of us. What’s cool about Kuuk Thaayorre is, in Kuuk Thaayorre, they don’t use words like “left” and “right,” and instead, everything is in cardinal directions: north, south, east and west. And when I say everything, I really mean everything. You would say something like, “Oh, there’s an ant on your southwest leg.” Or, “Move your cup to the north-northeast a little bit.” In fact, the way that you say “hello” in Kuuk Thaayorre is you say, “Which way are you going?” And the answer should be, “North-northeast in the far distance. How about you?” … that would actually get you oriented pretty fast, right? Because you literally couldn’t get past “hello,” if you didn’t know which way you were going. In fact, people who speak languages like this stay oriented really well. They stay oriented better than we used to think humans could. We used to think that humans were worse than other creatures because of some biological excuse: “Oh, we don’t have magnets in our beaks or in our scales.” No; if your language and your culture trains you to do it, actually, you can do it. There are humans around the world who stay oriented really well. There are also really big differences in how people think about time. So here I have pictures of my grandfather at different ages. And if I ask an English speaker to organize time, they might lay it out this way, from left to right… But how would the Kuuk Thaayorre, this Aboriginal group I just told you about, do it? They don’t use words like “left” and “right.” Let me give you hint. When we sat people facing south, they organized time from left to right. When we sat them facing north, they organized time from right to left. When we sat them facing east, time came towards the body. What’s the pattern? East to west, right? So for them, time doesn’t actually get locked on the body at all, it gets locked on the landscape. …For the Kuuk Thaayorre, time is locked on the landscape. It’s a dramatically different way of thinking about time. Boroditsky also discusses how various languages have differences in how colours are categorized – and thus, how we see the world – and that many languages assign different genders to objects, and this affects the way people understand those objects: If you ask German and Spanish speakers to, say, describe a bridge – “bridge” happens to be grammatically feminine in German, grammatically masculine in Spanish – German speakers are more likely to say bridges are “beautiful,” “elegant” and stereotypically feminine words. Whereas Spanish speakers will be more likely to say they’re “strong” or “long,” these masculine words. And Boroditsky also makes an important point when she notes that, through language, we humans are able “to transmit our ideas across vast reaches of space and time…we’re able to transmit knowledge across minds.” She jokingly says that she can “put a bizarre new idea” into the minds of her audience, proceeding to speak the phrase “Imagine a jellyfish waltzing in a library while thinking about quantum mechanics.” It’s nonsensical, but through language she has been able to implant that thought in each of our minds. The point is important because a lot of what we say is not nonsensical. Language is able to persuade, and this brings with it great responsibility for each of us. As Mark Pesce sagely notes in “The Executable Dreamtime“: To speak and be heard means that you are sending your will out onto the world around you, changing the definition of reality for all those who hear you. We do this from the time we learn to speak (imagine the two year-old asserting his will in a shrill cry for attention, and noting a corresponding change in the behavior of those around him) till the moment we breathe our last. For most people, most of the time, this is an unconscious process, automatic and mechanical. For a few others, who, by accident or training, have become conscious of the power of reason to change men’s minds, a choice is presented: how do you use this power? “We are all pan-dimensional wizards, casting arcane spells with every word we speak. And every spell we speak always comes true.” Owen Rowley, my mentor in both the magical mysteries and in the mysteries of virtual reality, taught me this maxim some years ago, though it took some years before I began to understand the full magnitude of his seemingly grandiose pronouncement. More than anything else, it places enormous responsibility on anyone who uses language – that is, all of us. Because we are creatures infected by language, and because language shapes how we come to interpret reality, we bear the burden of our words. We know that words can hurt, we even believe that words can kill, but the truth is far more comprehensive: all of our words are the equivalent of a hypnotist’s suggestions, and all of us are to some degree susceptible. With this responsibility comes an awareness of the burden we bear. It is how we encounter this burden – as individuals and as a civilization – which shapes reality. Though written a number of years ago, Pesce’s words seem particularly apt at this juncture in time, given the disregard that many people in 2018 have for the truth…we are subjected to a never-ending stream of propaganda that seeks to transform our model of reality. We would do well to be conscious of how we use language each day to construct our models of reality…and how certain others are seeking to use their own words as magical incantations against us. www.dailygrail.com/2018/06/words-are-magic-how-the-language-you-speak-and-hear-changes-your-reality/
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Post by jcurio on Jun 19, 2018 21:07:13 GMT -6
To speak and be heard means that you are sending your will out onto the world around you, changing the definition of reality for all those who hear you. We do this from the time we learn to speak (imagine the two year-old asserting his will in a shrill cry for attention, and noting a corresponding change in the behavior of those around him) till the moment we breathe our last. For most people, most of the time, this is an unconscious process, automatic and mechanical. For a few others, who, by accident or training, have become conscious of the power of reason to change men’s minds, a choice is presented: how do you use this power? Read more: theedgeofreality.proboards.com/thread/7306/words-live#ixzz5IvludoEf*********** I have trouble speaking (more often than I care to admit). It is one of the things that can turn into “mush” as we get older..... though people may be thinking correctly. Very frustrating. I’ve waited and looked forward a good part of my life, to chatting with my elders about their “stories”. I believe that used to happen! Instead, I’m waiting for nought. Everything is either forgotten, or ability to speak is diminished. How I compensate? I hear good stories of daily life from women 10 and 20 years younger than me. 😊
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Post by jcurio on Jun 19, 2018 21:12:00 GMT -6
A positive? My parents have always talked to us and others in terms of “East, West, North, south”.
I’m very grateful for that.
You can still say to someone “the sun should be on your right if you are facing ______” and help someone get orientated. (Time of day).
😁
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Post by jojustjo on Jun 19, 2018 23:42:32 GMT -6
True that. When I'd go horseback riding with my best friend as we did every moment we could escape....I always knew what time it was by the sun and where I was in our small valley. It was the sun that tipped me off to something wrong on 'the' day. Sun was not where it should have been it was much lower and I watched it like a hawk, not ever wanting to be late getting home. How did I miss that? I had help of course.. I look back on it now and remember riding along with her chatting...being silly teenagers..just enjoying the day..and then memory just goes off the reservation into a mix of the surreal...then back into definitive reality and knowing it was later than it should be. I don't remember my parents ever teaching me about north or south or the sun...I think I just came equipped.
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Post by jcurio on Jun 21, 2018 11:49:46 GMT -6
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Post by auntym on Mar 16, 2019 11:49:41 GMT -6
mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/03/linguists-claim-the-f-word-came-from-eating-soft-foods/ Linguists Claim the F-Word Came From Eating Soft Foodsby Paul Seaburn / mysteriousuniverse.org/author/paulseaburn/March 16, 2019 It’s hard to believe after watching current movies, listening to popular music or tuning in to late night television that the ever-more-prevalent expletive referred to as the F-word in polite company didn’t always exist. According to a new study, when it finally came into being, it was because a prehistoric man needed a word to describe the new effing soft food his prehistoric wife was trying to get him to eat. No effing way, you say? “We believe the range of available speech sounds used in human language has not remained stable since its origin. Our research shows that labiodental sounds – such as “f” and “v,” which are made by raising the bottom lip to the upper teeth – began to arise only after the transition to agriculture, between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago (depending on the world region).” In an article in Conversation, Steven Moran, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Comparative Linguistics at the University of Zürich, and Balthasar Bickel, a professor of General Linguistics at the University of Zürich, summarize their new study, “Human sound systems are shaped by post-Neolithic changes in bite configuration,” published this week in the journal Science. They searched for the origin of the labiodental sounds – “eff” and “vee” — which you just made if you’re mouth-reading this by raising your bottom lip to your upper teeth. (Non-mouth readers … go ahead and try it now.) According to their research, labiodental sounds appear in the majority of world languages today but is difficult for cultures who have edge-to-edge bites rather than the more common overbite. The edge-to-edge bite, while not great for speaking, is perfect for biting through tough foods, which those on paleo diets can attest to, and led the researchers to the Paleolithic age and the advent of agriculture, cooking and otherwise processing tough foods into soft foods. With the awkward edge-to-edge no longer needed as much, it evolved to the scissor overbite we use today. “Our research shows that labiodental sounds – such as “f” and “v,” which are made by raising the bottom lip to the upper teeth – began to arise only after the transition to agriculture, between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago (depending on the world region).” That links the emergence of words using the “eff” and “vee” mouth and teeth formations to the Bronze Age. While human babies have always been born with slight overbites, they quickly moved to the necessary edge-to-edge after developing teeth and moving from mother’s milk to tough vegetables and tougher raw meat. As softer grains and cooked mushy foods became more common, the overbite/scissors bite never changed and was kept into adulthood. And the effing F-word? It may have its root in the Latin futuere (futuo) which had the same meaning, but most language historians trace it to the 1400s and various Germanic words like the German ficken, Dutch fokken, Norwegian fukka and Swedish focka, all of which have very similar meanings. Let this be a warning to those on paleo or tough raw foods diets – you may lose your power to brag to your mush-eating friends about how eff-ing healthier you are than they. mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/03/linguists-claim-the-f-word-came-from-eating-soft-foods/
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Post by auntym on Apr 27, 2019 15:10:53 GMT -6
mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/04/crypto-language-merriam-webster-adds-cryptid-to-its-online-dictionary/ Crypto Language: Merriam-Webster Adds “Cryptid” To Its Online Dictionaryby Micah Hanks / mysteriousuniverse.org/author/mhanks/April 26, 2019 It isn’t every day that key cryptozoological terms get added to one of the world’s most famous dictionaries. However, Merriam-Webster made history yesterday after it added the term “Cryptid” to its online source for English language definitions. The term, according to Merriam-Webster Online, has been in use since 1983, for which they give the following definition: “an animal (such as Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster) that has been claimed to exist but never proven to exist” The word was among more than 600 new terms added to the online dictionary, which Merriam-Webster announced on it’s Twitter account on Tuesday. After years of searching for and collecting evidence, we put ‘cryptid’ in the dictionary. t.co/5pILJr0gHr pic.twitter.com/xmhfZaukgt — Merriam-Webster (@merriamwebster) April 23, 2019 www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cryptidWhile cryptid may be a new addition, it is a derivative of the earlier word “cryptozoology,” a definition for which had already appeared at Merriam-Webster’s website, and is defined as follows: “the study of and search for animals and especially legendary animals (such as Sasquatch) usually in order to evaluate the possibility of their existence” Here, we begin to find some confusion about the history and use of the term. The Merriam-Webster entry for cryptozoology cites its earliest use as dating to 1968, although apparently there is some difference in opinion on this since Oxford English Dictionary Online (which one must have a subscription to access) apparently presents the argument that it first appeared in print in 1959, or possibly earlier. Loren Coleman, who remains the most widely-regarded authority on the subject of cryptozoology today, notes in an article at his website that, “Supposedly, the first published use of the word ‘cryptozoology’ was in 1959 when a book by Lucien Blancou was dedicated to ‘Bernard Heuvelmans, master of cryptozoology’.” The book in question, then, would seem to have been Blancou’s Géographie cynégétique du monde. However, as Coleman also notes, zoologist and author Ivan Sanderson apparently used the term just two years later in his Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life, published in 1961 (and thus also predating the date given by Merriam-Webster by several years). Searching the text for the use of this term, it appears in hyphenated form in one of the footnotes accompanying the book’s seventh chapter, in which Sanderson wrote the following: “The title of this chapter is an acknowledgment of a good friend and fellow zoologist. He, Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans, Consultant to the Musee Royal D’Histoire Naturelle de Belgique, but resident in Paris, is the author of the only book that covers the ABSM problem world-wide. It covers also many other items of a crypto-zoological nature, and is entitled in its English version, On the Track of Unknown Animals.“ The presence of the hyphen could explain the confusion, as it may be that Merriam-Webster was simply acknowledging the earliest use of cryptozoology as a single, unhyphenated word. It has been noted elsewhere, on account of the aforementioned, that while Heuvelmans is recognized as being “The Father of Cryptozoology,” he nonetheless credited Ivan Sanderson with having popularized the term, which apparently began in 1961 shortly after it was used in print elsewhere by Lucien Blancou. Now that we’ve got the nitty-gritty details out of the way, the news of the inclusion of “cryptid” by Merriam-Webster appears to have been well received. Writing about the news for Coast to Coast AM, my friend Tim Binnall noted the significance of the well-known and long-used term’s acceptance in the English lexicon: “[T]he official recognition of ‘cryptid’ could be seen as something of a culmination of cryptozoology’s meteoric rise within the zeitgeist over the last few years. From towns and cities adopting Bigfoot as their ‘official animal’ to states adding their resident sea monster to license plates, the mysterious creatures that had long lurked in the shadows of local legend are clearly now having their moment in the sun. Now if only we could capture one of them…” Of course, it might be worth noting that Merriam Webster also hadn’t been the first to include “cryptid” in its online dictionary: the website of Oxford English Dictionaries had featured the word at least as far back as November 2017, according to Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cryptidHence, while Merriam-Webster’s inclusion of the word is getting some attention for its novelty, many of us with a long-held interest in the subject responded to the news with a resounding it’s about time! mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/04/crypto-language-merriam-webster-adds-cryptid-to-its-online-dictionary/
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