Ageless in Spirit: Discussions and interests for our times

How do you keep informed? Friends and family have shared their information, reading, and video, and podcast sources with me. My usual sources are online news from Apple, New York Times, Huffington Post, Atlantic Magazine, , Free Inquiry, BBC,and Times Magazine. My radio news is NPR, I sometimes watch PBS news.I then get curious and dive into the internet to find information concerning various subjects of interest. Others rely more on podcasts and other news sources. YouTube finds can be very informative. Some friends like The Wall Street news and Fox News, Bloomberg, various financial sources of information also come to mind. I receive suggestions to read from other sources such as Imprimis (publication from Hillsdale College). I do look for recommended books and read both fiction and other books on a variety of subjects. I've learned a lot reading from various sources about quantum physics and astronomy and the universe now more revealed with the newer tools we have that in part g...

 March 30, 2023 Six years ago to this day of this month my now wife  Rebecca, son David, and our trust attorney met at her office in downtown Honolulu to discuss changes in our trust since we planned to marry. At the close of this meeting I asked our attorney if she knew someone who could marry us. She smiled saying that years ago she obtained the license to marry and after checking that day found out she had six more days on her current license. She had a luncheon appointment so Rebecca and I walked to the Health Department building and paid our $35 for our marriage application. On our return we were married with David as our witness.  I was widowed two years before. My wife had pancreatic cancer and died some nine months after the diagnosis. Our life together just got better and better so our past issues of estrangement due to my immaturity and work stress issues were uncomfortable regrettable fading memories. Rebecca had her own history. We met while hiking together so...

 March 3, 2023 Life goes on. Yes and life has changed. Life changed is interesting, frustrating, and requires my attitude adjustment which includes acceptance while searching for improvement. Well, that was a mouth full! I'm here, writing today in this blog to myself and anyone else interested. So my life goes on. The changes included sleep disruption at night, reading a book for awhile, taking some CALM a magnesium supplement, late at night either napping at the downstairs couch or back upstairs with CPAP in place. I rinse my nostril out with saline, use nose drops of two generic varieties to clear up congestion, but then wake up to go downstairs, After breakfast I nap again on the couch and make another cup of expresso latte. I continue to hike twice per week. Now, I'm the slow poke making my way this Wednesday up the steep mud slippery trail to the main Onikiniki ridge trail to the summit viewpoint. Windy rainy weather but the main hiking group was ahead of me so my current ...

January 27,2023 I was listening again to Leos Janacek’s Intimate Letters (second string quartet) and reminded myself that I visited his home in Brno ( https://www.leosjanacek.eu/en/memorial-house/ ). There in the sitting room he met from time to time with Kamila Stasslova a married woman 40 years his junior whose husband waited in another room while he talked with her about his love for her. He wrote over 700 letters to her and composed this astounding piece of music. https://www.npr.org/2009/09/14/94294582/janaceks-love-letters-with-strings-attached https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No._2_(Jan%C3%A1%C4%8Dek) https://www.ariannaquartet.com/janacek-quartets-program-notes His yearning, intimate feelings, and need for connection to her was so eloquently and unabashedly expressed in this music so through music he could be with her as through a love letter they were entwined. Hector Berlioz wrote Symphony Fantastique in part to a British Shakespearean actress who he first sa...

 January 5, 2023 I'm thankful; to have friends who open up new avenues for me to explore, learn, debate, and enjoy. The other dayI read an emails between a small group of mostly attorneys (I'm a retired psychiatrist) about interpreting the Constitution of the U.S.A. Issues of privacy, various interpretation of rights concerning pregnancy, abortion, interracial marriage, sexual activity in one's home, and freedom versus the common good (whatever that means) are discussed related mostly to the Supreme Court of the U.S.A. Alito's posting of originalism and Scalia's influence in the court on what the original language of  the constitution really intended (the limits to law interpretation depends on historical analysis i.e. whose ?) is brought up to liven the email exchanges. Since we now have justices who are originalists examples of the hubris of history was shared with for example Jefferson commenting about birth control used during his time with his slaves and other ...

 Happy New Year! I've become aware again on how my thoughts, perceptions, beliefs, and abilities to be objective and fact based can be an illusion may be bolstering my confidence and self esteem. On the other hand, by becoming aware again of my limitation, errors in thinking, and even prejudices does help me in becoming more grounded. My awareness is bolstered by exposing myself to criticism, challenges to my statements in conversations, and reading both scientific, journalistic opinions, poetry, and fiction. I'll try in this blog to center on this theme though now the writing changes.  My wife was prescribed imiquamod for precancerous skin condition on her face. She was told by her dermatologist to apply the ointment twice per day for two weeks then wait two weeks and reapply for another two weeks. After six days she developed red painful sores on her face and on her lip and mouth. She stopped the ointment and then tried to call the doctor. Her pain symptoms were intense and ...

 December 11, 2022 ChatGPT and LaMDA are two artificial intelligence platforms I recently became aware of. You can easily try out ChatGPT ( https://chat.openai.com /). Here are two queries I generated for fun. write a review of The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butle r The Parable of the Sower is a thought-provoking and powerful novel by Octavia Butler. The book follows the story of Lauren Olamina, a young girl living in a dystopian future where society has collapsed and people are struggling to survive. Despite the difficult circumstances she finds herself in, Lauren remains optimistic and determined to create a better future for herself and those around her. She is a strong and intelligent protagonist, and readers will be drawn to her resilience and compassion. The book is set in a world that is both bleak and frightening, but Butler manages to infuse it with moments of beauty and hope. The story is also full of important themes, including the dangers of greed and inequalit...