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  • Know Thyself #115

    Know Thyself, what are YOU waiting for?

    Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

    -Barack Obama

     

    … more “Know Thyself #115”

  • WIBCI Post #114

    WIBCI we were more COMPASSIONATE?

    Recently I was speaking with someone whose politics I abhor but whose opinion I value. I was expressing my anxiety about the state of the world and the future for ‘us’. His advice to me was to stop worrying about other people and situations I cannot control and to focus on taking care of myself.

    I thought about this and could not disagree more. I believe this narcissist, selfish attitude, referencing humanity with such lacksidazeicalness helped to get us in this shit sandwich to begin with.

    It reminds me of the poem “First They Came“. Per Wikipedia this is: (German: Als sie kamen lit. ‘When they came‘, or Habe ich geschwiegen lit. ‘I did not speak out‘), is the poetic form of a 1946 post-war confessional prose piece by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller(1892–1984). It indirectly condemns complicity of German intellectuals and clergy following the Nazis’ rise to power and subsequent incremental purging of their chosen targets.

     

    Here is the best known English version:

    First they came for the Communists
    And I did not speak out
    Because I was not a Communist

    Then they came for the Socialists
    And I did not speak out
    Because I was not a Socialist

    Then they came for the trade unionists
    And I did not speak out
    Because I was not a trade unionist

    Then they came for the Jews
    And I did not speak out
    Because I was not a Jew

    Then they came for me
    And there was no one left
    To speak out for me

     

    WIBCI history, in this instance, did not repeat itself?

     … more “WIBCI Post #114”

  • Know Thyself #114

    Know Thyself through being OBSESSED

    The White Stripes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today.

    Jack White ended his acceptance speech this way:

    “We don’t know why these things connect with people. But when they do, it’s the most beautiful thing you can have as an artist or a musician when people are responding and sharing with you. And so, to the young artists, I want to say, get your hands dirty and drop the screens and get out in your garage, or your little room, and get obsessed.

    Get obsessed with something. You know, get passionate. We all want to share in what you might create.”

    What have YOU been obsessed with throughout you life? Are YOU still obsessed?

    What are YOU going to be Obsessed with this year?… more “Know Thyself #114”

  • WIBCI Post #113

    WIBCI we continued to care about the MEANING OF LIFE?

    In honor of the new year and in the hope that it is not as sucky as 2025, I thought why not get deep and discuss the biggest question that has frustrated mankind for millennia: What is the Meaning of Life?

    Rather than going down the obvious Philosophy route, I’ll let the minds of Monty Python sum it up, per the ending of their 1983 movie of the same name:

    A man, dressed like a woman is sitting in a den in an armchair, there is a vase with an Adam’s Family ‘Thing’ hand holding flowers, a tube television set, and a background curtain circa Johnny Carson:

    ‘Well that’s the end of the film now here’s the meaning of life….’ (handed envelope which is opened). ‘Thank you Bridgette. well there is nothing very special; try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and again, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people from all creeds and nations.’

     

    And while I’m at it, check out the lyrics to ‘Bright Side of Life‘ and may YOU be better in the New Year:

    Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life
    by Monty Python
    But Brian, you know what they say?
    Some things in life are bad
    They can really make you mad
    Other things just make you swear and curse
    When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
    Don’t grumble, give a whistle
    And this’ll help things turn out for the best
    And Always look on the bright side of life
    Always look on the light side of life

    If life seems jolly rotten (hoo-hoo)
    There’s something you’ve forgotten (hoo-hoo)
    And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing (hoo-hoo-hoo)
    When you’re feeling in the dumps (hoo-hoo)
    Don’t be silly, chumps (hoo-hoo)
    Just purse your lips and whistle, that’s the thing (hoo-hoo)
    And

    Always look on the bright side of life
    (Come on)
    Always look on the right side of life

    For life is quite absurd (hoo-hoo)
    And death’s the final word (hoo-hoo)
    You must always face the curtain with a bow (hoo-hoo-hoo)
    Forget about your sin (hoo-hoo)
    Give the audience a grin (hoo-hoo)
    Enjoy it, it’s your last chance anyhow

    So always look on the bright side of death
    A-just before you draw your terminal breath

    Life’s a piece of shit (hoo-hoo)
    When you look at it (hoo-hoo)
    Life’s a laugh and death’s a joke, it’s true (hoo-hoo-hoo)
    You’ll see it’s all a show (hoo-hoo)
    Keep ’em laughin’ as you go (hoo-hoo)
    Just remember that the last laugh is on you (hoo-hoo-hoo)
    And

    Always look on the bright side of life
    Always look on the right side of life
    Always look on the bright side of life
    Always look on the bright side of life
    (repeats)

    … more “WIBCI Post #113”

  • Know Thyself #113

    Know Thyself through your VOCABULARY:

    I would like to use a new word in 2026 that describes when something is the pinnacle of itself, the ultimate.

    I wish to supplant the outdated, overused, and subjective superlatives. Awesome is dependent on what is being described. Awesome dinner is positive. Awesome typhoon is not. Killer and Fire can also be negatives depending on the situation.

    I personally, as described in an earlier post, utilize the phrase; ‘None more black‘ in just such a situation. But I realize that for non-fans of the movie This is Spinal Tap, this reference could come off as racist.

    Therefore I nominate Da Vinci as a superlative. Who contributed more to the human race? Who could be considered more accomplished, curious, and brilliant? If you call something Da Vinci, you are giving a nod to history, it has a level of sophistication, it’s Italian with two capital letters, and let’s face it, it’s fun to say.

    You would never describe something bad as Da Vinci. This dinner was Da Vinci works. The typhoon was Da Vinci, does not work. To avoid bastardization you can personalize it: ‘I find that, Da Vinci‘, ‘That’s Da Vinci to me’, or ‘In my experiences, nothing has been more Da Vinci‘.… more “Know Thyself #113”

  • WIBCI Post #112

    WIBCI we knew more BACKGROUND?

    We Wish You a Merry Christmas, is thought of as a harmless carol, making one think of kindergarteners on stage dressed as candy canes….no?

    But the truth is that in Britain, a few hundred years ago, the practice of caroling had a much more sinister attitude. This was seen as a time for ‘king for a day’ where the poor asked, no demanded to be fed, given drink, allowed reign in homes, and basically harassed the rich. So much were the rich aggravated that Christmas was actually banned for more than 100 years.

    Knowing this, now consider the lyrics below and picture them being sung by hungry poor, most likely serfs on your land, in masks, hungry and drunk in your own home:

    We wish you a Merry Christmas,
    We wish you a Merry Christmas,
    We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
    Good tidings to you, wherever you are;
    Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year!

    Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
    Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
    Oh, bring us a figgy pudding, and a cup of good cheer.

    We won’t go until we get some;
    We won’t go until we get some;
    We won’t go until we get some, so bring some right here.

    We wish you a Merry Christmas;
    We wish you a Merry Christmas;
    We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

    … more “WIBCI Post #112”

  • Know Thyself #112

    Know Thyself through A Christmas Carol

    You probably have heard versions of some of Dickens’ great words in A Christmas Carol, probably a bit of ‘(Christmas) has done me good, and will do me good’, a ‘Golden Idol has displaced me’ and ‘Scrooge was better than his word…knew how to keep Christmas well…bless us everyone.’ But as with Dickens works, I love best the bits you probably never heard. Therefore, in homage to the Man who invented Christmas on Christmas Eve, see what you think of the exact quotes from A Christmas Carol exactly as Dickens wrote them:

    -When Scrooge’s Nephew Fred when he comes to visit him in his office on Christmas Eve:

    ‘There are many things for which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say.” returned the nephew: “Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round….as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time, the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good:”

     

    -When Belle breaks up with Scrooge, I never realized she was dressed in mourning as her parents just died leaving her penniless:

    “It matters little,” she said, softly. “To you, very little. Another idol has displaced me; and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve.”

    “What idol has displaced you?” he rejoined.

    “A golden one.”

    “This is the even-handed dealing of the world!” he said. “There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty; and there is nothing it professed to condemn iwht such severity as the pursuit of wealth!”

    “You fear the world too much,” she answered, gently. “All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrossed you. Have I not?”

     

    -The Ending:

    ‘Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, FOR GOOD, at which some people did not have their fill of laugher in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up there eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed; and that was quite enough for him. 

         He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!’

    The End

    -Charles Dickens

     

    Happy Holidays.

     

     … more “Know Thyself #112”

  • WIBCI Post #111

    WIBCI……

    A massive tree fell in the cemetery I frequent. Although it was surrounded by about a dozen graves of all different shapes and sizes, the trunk nor any of its awesome branches fell on a single stone. One massive stone was shifted, one was spun about 90 degrees, but none were destroyed, as they easily would have been. The force of the trunk created at least 3 giant divots in the ground, must have weighed tons, and probably over 200 hundred years old, yet it did not devastate a single memorial.

    It was as if nature respected and considered the graves when it crashed to the ground.

    WIBCI this respect were reciprocated?… more “WIBCI Post #111”

  • Know Thyself #111

    Know Thyself through your favorite book

    My favorite book is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I love what this book stood for, the intent and purpose behind its inception, the method and process of its production, its indelible morale, and the beauty of the words.

    When describing Scrooge’s public persona, Dickens writes:

    “Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, ‘My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?’ No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o’clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge….

    But what did Scrooge care? it was the very thing he liked. to edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance…”

    When describing Scrooge’s house, Dickens writes:

    “They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it twas a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and have forgotten the way out again.”

    I read the book at least once around this time of year and I believe I have watched all movie versions.

    Like all cherished books, I like and dislike certain aspects of many of the movie versions. There are reasons why they are cherished, retain those and you are fine.

    I do not require the plot to stay faithful to Dickens’, just as long as the message remains true, in fact, Scrooged with Bill Murray is one of my favorites. All the essence is kept yet almost all the details were altered, consistently, and therefore, okay by me.

    What I do not like is when a version is set in the 1840’s and while attempting to remain ‘true’ to the book, disregard important points or dialogue, and worst of all, changes or adds seemingly unnecessary details. Now I understand a movie can’t be verbatim and therefore there are aspects I believe the storyline can afford to strikethrough, for example:

    • The Lord Mayor’s holiday goings-on
    • Scrooge remembering being alone at school over the Christmas holidays where books were his only company with their characters visiting him, specifically; Ali Baba, Valentine, his wild brother, Orson, and the Sultan’s Groom.
    • Going around the world with the Ghost of Christmas Present including: a mine, a ship, and a lighthouse.
    • The scene where you see Belle, her husband, and a gaggle of children meant to have Scrooge regret the family he could have had.
    • The scene where the debtors who won’t be ruined, are the only people cheered by the death of the man shown to Scrooge by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

    But what I viscerally do not like are when details of this perfect story are changed for no apparent reason. If it ain’t broke…. examples of frequent offenders:

    • Scrooge does NOT fire Cratchit on Christmas Eve.
    • Dickens’ character’s names are the best….why change them….why? His younger sister’s name was Fan, or Fanny. His fiancee’s name was Belle, and Scrooge’s nephew’s wife is referred to as ‘his niece’ and never named.
    • Scrooge did NOT meet, nor dance with his future fiancee at Fezziwig’s Christmas celebration. He and the other apprentice were most likely between 12 and 14 years old and after the Christmas ball were physically small enough to retire to their ‘beds under the back counter’ in the office/warehouse.
    • No one in the story ‘went down the slide on Cornhill’ but Bob Cratchit, who did so apparently 20 times.
    • Jacob Marley announces Scrooge will be visited by three ghosts at 1am, 1am the next night, and at the stroke of midnight the night following. Hence Scrooge’s surprise when he wakes on Christmas morning and not three days later.
    • Scrooge doe NOT take over Fezziwig’s business later in his life.
    • Scrooge’s sister, who is younger and named Fan, does NOT die in childbirth nor in her dying breathe does she ask her brother to take care of her son, which he may or may not have heard.
    • There is ZERO hint of a future romantic relationship between Scrooge and his cleaning lady, Mrs. Dilbert.
    • Scrooge does NOT go to Bob Cratchit’s house ever without a Ghost by his side.

    Honor the Dickens. When a story has remained relevant for over 180 years, never going out of print, then, in my opinion, the new story teller should change all of it or none of it. I don’t care who you are, you are no Dickens. He didn’t miss anything so don’t add.… more “Know Thyself #111”

  • WIBCI Post #110

    WIBCI you knew Where’s your line in the sand was?

    Dickens is my hero. I love the character of his characters and I love how his stories changed the world. I love the beauty of his words, how people thought about them and allowed them to make them better people. Art that was entertainment, not filler for billionaire’s advertisements. Literature that was produced to improve all, not profit few.

    Dickens as a person, like most geniuses, was flawed. He was not a good husband, nor a good businessman, and rather arrogant.

    But, he is still my hero. His books forced people to consider lower classes and feel the burn of shame and responsibility to help. Most books prior to Oliver Twist, were written by the rich, about the rich, for the rich.

    Dickens changed social justice, so he remains my hero, warts and all.

    But I do have a line. I do not shop at Walmaht, I do not eat veal, I’m unsure about Woody, and 100% sure I cannot stomach the fact that Dr. Hux is televised daily and making royalty checks after destroying so many lives. But that is my line, y’all can do what you want.

    Where’s YOUR line?… more “WIBCI Post #110”

  • Know Thyself #110

    Know Thyself through Rob Reiner and the joy he gave us.

    His movies truly added to my life. There are phrases that have become a part of my vocabulary because of this amazing actor, director, and human.

    In This is Spinal Tap, Nigel Tufnel, the simple guitarist of the band is considering a sample of their new, all black album cover (which is supposed to be as classy as the Beatles White Album but completely misses the mark). After contemplating and also missing the irony, he says, ‘It’s like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black.’  None more black comes into play in my real life whenever confronted with something that couldn’t be more like itself than it already is.

    In Princess Bride, Inigo Montoya is continuously saying ‘I don’t think that word means what you think it means.‘ This is useful in today’s world when words are bastardized like ‘Literal’.

    and in When Harry Met Sally, in a museum Harry says; ‘I think hieroglyphics were a comic strip about a character named Spyinxy‘, well that’s just fun.

    Please Rest in Peace Mr. and Mrs. Reiner. I’m so sorry someone who brought us so much joy experienced last moments of fear.

    That doesn’t seem fair.… more “Know Thyself #110”

  • WIBCI Post #109

    WIBCI Football were free?

    Wouldn’t It Be Cool If all people with a television could watch football games without additional subscriptions? These are ‘public’ events correct?… more “WIBCI Post #109”

  • Know Thyself #109

    Know Thyself through Quotes, YOURS:

    After reflecting on the many dystopian novels I have written, I’ve noticed a common thread. Evil takes away those things that make the population at large think. Individual thought is the most dangerous idea to the status quo, its downfall normally comes when likeminded individuals think about, and act upon a common goal. This is what needs to be destroyed by evil forces in all dystopian novels and movies.

    The first thing removed are books. These are the most corrupting of vices among humans. Next is art and anything construed as beautiful and thought-provoking. Next crush all individuality, distract, and above all else, do not allow them to learn.

    I like quotes because quotes represent that someone thought about a subject and summed up their thoughts in a quick muse bouche bite.

    Good are those who are interested in expanding horizons,

    Evil are those who wish to control them.

    -me

     … more “Know Thyself #109”

  • WIBCI Post #108

    WIBCI people did rest in peace?

    I was thinking about this and wondered if I knew anyone personally throughout by lifetime who died of ‘Natural Causes’? Now to me ‘Natural Causes’ would include a death where zero humans mourning would say such things as ‘Far too young….’, ‘A complete shock’, or ‘came about so quickly’.

    Wikipedia defines Natural Causes as a death occurring from internal factors instead of external. Per this definition Cancer is a natural death but dying in a flood is not. I do not define Cancer as a natural cause, to me this disease and many others are caused by the external, not the internal.

    To me dying of Natural causes is when your body is all set and just drifts off, this is peaceful, this is what I want.… more “WIBCI Post #108”

  • Know Thyself #108

    Know Thyself through WHAT YOU WOULD ‘TAKE’ WITH YOU

    What if you COULD take one thing with you?

    Just one thing.

    What would YOURs be?

    I bet it wouldn’t be money, or making it, or spending it.

     

    Mine would be the memories of moments I paid attention to. If this wish were to come true, I would pay even more attention to my real life and build up the bank.

    Maybe I will regardless.… more “Know Thyself #108”

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