Archive for March 2023
GOD.ai — My Sci-Fi Thriller Novel
— If God didn’t exist, you’d have to invent him Prelude: in the beginning with no ending The phrase “If God didn’t exist, you’d have to invent him” is attributed to the French philosopher and writer Voltaire, although he did not use these exact words. The phrase expresses the idea that belief in God is……...
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What a Fool I’ve Been
— To prevent a far deeper and far worse circumstance and outcome… Nobody gets out alive. That’s life. Better to make the best of it, then? That’s certainly what I think. In a retrospective of my own life, looking back from an age—62…when average life expectancy was 36 in the 1700s and only 48 by……...
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Nikoley’s Sunday Scribbles #6
— Anything, not everything, but lots in-between | Pratamnak Hill, Jomtien-Pattaya, Thailand | March 26, 2023
Banking meltdowns; How Trump got pawned on the Covid response; For the love of Thai pork; Kitchen tip for leftovers storage; Member section (AI stuff)
Banking meltdowns
Are we at the stage where everything is half false, or is everything only half true?
"This is as good as it gets, folks," (said the pessimist).
So which are you? Probably, you're optimistic about some things, pessimistic about others. Same me.
Where hard cash is involved—and not just the ability to spout a line of absolute bullshit at no conceivable cost—I'm optimistic. For the latter, I'm pessimistic, but it doesn't really matter. The path through history is littered with the corpses of the smart and stupid alike, but the stupid lived in Pollyanna bliss (until they didn't). Largely, most of what people like to "think," is utter bullshit and most of the time, mere regurgitation, calculated to get head-nods—because everyone else is just as fucktarded, so someone blathering on with the same old slogans and bromides counts as confirmation. It's OK to be wrong, so long as everyone else is, too.
Misery. Plenty of company.
Modern discourse and critical thinking is that pathetic and banal. It's not a new phenomenon and no, it's not TV and the Internet "dumbing down" society. It was always dumb. There are simply increasing means and opportunities for self-exposure...and for the conscientious and smart and curious and inquisitive to expose it all, especially in iconoclastic fashion, for the pure pleasure of all the laughs to be had.
Mel Brooks spoke the oft-quoted line in a film way back, "it's good to be King," but that only applies...to Kings, and as despotic as they may be, there are but few of them. Society is a modern equivalent, where, regurgitating football-bat goofy shit gets a room full of glancing-around, head-nodding, and uh-huhs. ... One imagines someone bellowing out, "It's good to be Stupid!" getting the same response and reaction from the agreeable crowd.
It's all in the delivery.
It's an awful trait in humans...the tendency to put more weigh on the validity of something owing to the number or percentage of others who believe it, rather than the plain plausibility of it, in itself.
And it goes way back. How far? Well, at least this far...
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Eat The Elephant
— You know how it’s done Ever since I came up with the sort of slogan “Prosper Anyway” in the midst of the Covidiocy and began a series along those lines, I’ve yet to be hyper-satisfied with it. Too mundane…banal. … Too…uh, Mr. Spok. “Live long and prosper.” Thanks; yea, no shit. You too. Recently—as……...
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Nikoley’s Sunday Scribbles #5
— Anything, not everything, but lots in-between | March 19, 2023
Trump arrest; Haircut with a 2-letter, 1-word dismissal; Feminism is over; James O'Keefe is in the house; AI Luddites; Member Section (AI stuff)
Trump arrest
Let's get this one out-of-the-way right off.
Supposed to happen in a coupla daze. Of course, it's bullshit. But, you know what else was bullshit? Going after Bill Clinton for having the temerity to get blown in the Oval Office by a consenting adult.
Did Republicans conduct that witch hunt—culminating in Clinton's impeachment and disbarment—because he blew a load on a blue dress?
Yes, of course they did. And they trump-ed up religious and patriotic moral outrage to do it.
Is that what they charged him with doing? Having SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH THAT WOMAN? No, of course not. Why? Because while it might be uncouth...it might be worthy of moral scorn on any number of levels both sacred and civil, it wasn't illegal. It was merely morally reprehensible to some, mostly God-fearing, conservative, hypocrites Republicans.
So, what am I to conclude, essentially, beyond saying that I neither give a fuck over Clinton lying about a personal and private consensual sexual matter, nor Trump doing the same? Nor do I give a fuck about whatever legal technicalities and contrivances are brought to bear in order to veil that which the witch hunt is really all about—which is entirely political.
So, beginning with Clinton, at least—perhaps before... I'd have to think about it—political opponents on one side began weaponizing federal investigative and enforcement agencies against the other. Back in the good 'ole days, they created and maintained secret files on everybody, so it was a MAD situation (mutually assured destruction), just like everyone in a saloon having a six-shooter on their hip tended to maintain a polite clientele. The same went for the Cold War between the USA and USSR, when we could both destroy the other with nukes a hundred times over.
I can say that what goes around can come back around. I can say to be careful what you wish for.
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Understanding the Jamie Lee Curtis Oscar Aftermath in Clown-World-Speak
— I guarantee a deep understanding that is widely applicable to all clown-world phenomena I have understood precisely what’s going on here for quite some time. … Since sometime in 2018, so 5 years ago or nearly so, and my oh my has it made a difference. Searching my 5000+ post archives (and I can……...
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The Most Important Thing
— It doesn’t matter to them how long it took; what matters is what I do now and going forward I risk getting a big fat Duh! from any parents out there, but I’m saying it anyway… I’ve stumbled into the best and most exciting time of my life, in a life already brimming with……...
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Nikoley’s Sunday Scribbles #4
— Anything, not everything, but lots in-between | March 12, 2023 All settled in; January 6th bullshit you can’t ignore; Naomi Wolf Wowzers; Revisiting the JFK assassination and CIA involvement; A 48-hr deal All settled in It’s been quite the standard first week in any new place one finds themselves. Adverse issues reported, routines sorted,……...
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Nikoley’s Sunday Scribbles #3
— Anything, not everything, but lots in-between | March 5, 2023
Well this is way late again so I better account again: Moving finally done; Entrepreneurs; My new book; A stupid new diet study
Moved
That's the young entrepreneur team who were my rental agents. Competent and hardworking. Verbal English is poor, but in text, easy.
... Anyway, this will be a very abbreviated version. It took a week of travels to get to Pattaya and then exactly a week to find and move in to a new place, and it's hard to imagine it being better.
I'll give the whole story next issue, which will also be the kick-off to things getting back to normal. Next time I do this—combine traveling and sightseeing with a move and the need of finding a place after I've already left the old place—I'll just let yooze-all know I'll be down for some weeks and will document everything and tell the stories later.
As much as I'm champing at the bit to write, I'm sometimes either too hungry, too tired, or both to do anything but grab some sleep. I don't even know what a regular night of sleep is, anymore.
I got it done. After days cruising Facebook Marketplace to find suitable low-cost accommodations, which involves dealing with Thai landlords and their listings, I was getting frustrated. I asked Yui if she could come up with something, and that took 10 minutes. They showed me an initial place in a modern high-rise, but the rent was right.
Then I found out why.
I've seen larger prison cells than this "living" space these Chinese land developers put two partitions in, call it a 1-BR-1-Bath, and you're lucky if you can get out of your own way. All I did was tell Chatkamon that I was looking for the "old style" studios where it's one big room, 30 square meter minimum.
And bang. I was under contract within 2 hours. It's in a different area than I'd intended, but that's nicer too. Turns out I won't be living in "Moscow." That story, too. Ironic that I'm supportive of Russia's aims in this Ukraine conflict; and yet, the Russians infesting the places around here are simply fucking assholes, and it's difficult to find an exception.
Entrepreneurs in poor places
One thing I noted after moving to Thailand over 3 years ago and thought about it for a while is that an enormous number of people are self-employed. Out in rural areas, it's damn near everyone, and many are "jacks-of-all-trades."
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Nikoley’s Sunday Scribbles #2
— Anything, not everything, but lots in-between | February 26, 2023
Well this is way late so I better account: Moving week; The week in review; If I were God; Long walks making videos; Hua Hin; Kanchanaburi; Artificial Intelligence; A new dietary paradigm; My funniest tweets
Moving week
Moving day began last Sunday evening when I picked up my friend's nice Mazda3 at Kata beach, about 15 minutes from my place (when there's no traffic). I thought, well, since it's the last unencumbered evening, maybe drive the additional 15 minutes to the infamous Patong Beach.
It's a place that goes completely nuts every night. Fun in small doses.
Traffic was hellish, I was in a car, not a motorbike, so it took 30. Then it began the uncharacteristic tropical downpour for this time of year because people are dying of heart-attacks suddenly, at home (or is it the other way around...? I forget). Once I get there, the spirit to engage had left me. Grabbed a bite at any old place, pulled a U-ie, and then headed back home to contemplate the next day and get some sleep.
I was up rarin' to go about 04.00 Monday morn, typical nowadays. Still Sunday, USA, so I worked on finishing up my Sunday Scribbles. Once the morning had worn off, I decided it was time to go mail my motorcycle to Pattaya.
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