I Love You. I’ll Wait For You. Come Back. Come Back To Me.

Historic Black and White Pictures Restored in Color

Women Delivering Ice, 1918

Times Square, 1947

Portrait Used to Design the Penny. President Lincoln Meets General McClellan – Antietam, Maryland ca September 1862

Marilyn Monroe, 1957

Newspaper boy Ned Parfett sells copies of the evening paper bearing news of Titanic’s sinking the night before. (April 16, 1912)

Easter Eggs for Hitler, c 1944-1945 

Sergeant George Camblair practicing with a gas mask in a smokescreen – Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 1942

Helen Keller meeting Charlie Chaplin in 1919

Painting WWII Propaganda Posters, Port Washington, New York – 8 July 1942

Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge ca 1935

We do not remember days, we remember moments.

— Jennifer Niven, All the Bright Places

Opinion on "ignorance is bliss"?

It’s the cowards creed, an irrational sentiment harnessed by those succumbing to the traumatic insecurity that lies in relinquishing deceptive childhood fantasy’s; so they opt instead for a kind of optimistic denial that demonizes knowledge as a defense mechanism to remain complacent in their delusions.

The fate of these individuals then, lies in the will of those brave enough to endure the tribulations of educating and empowering themselves. At best, these individuals are destined to live as parasites; at worst, they will have their ignorance utilized by ambitious deceivers to enslave or destroy them.

More than 1 Million hectares have been burned in the Amazonian Forest.

Much of the angst have been around Brazil’s permission to burn. Yet, the real apathetic government is the Bolivian Gov. The fire started there because “controlled burning” was protected by a presidential decree, and both deforestation and burning of part of the forest was not only permitted but encouraged, as this was land given to non natives to produce coca (key component of cocaine).

Keep this in mind the next time you are about to repeat a rumor or spread gossip.

In ancient Greece (469 – 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day an acquaintance ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about Diogenes?”

“Wait a moment,” Socrates replied, “Before you tell me I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”

“Triple filter?” asked the acquaintance.

“That’s right,” Socrates continued, “Before you talk to me about Diogenes let’s take a moment to filter what you’re going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “Actually, I just heard about it.”

“All right,” said Socrates, “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about Diogenes something good?”

“No, on the contrary…”

“So,” Socrates continued, “You want to tell me something about Diogenes that may be bad, even though you’re not certain it’s true?”

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued, “You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter, the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about Diogenes going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really.”

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me or anyone at all?”

The man was bewildered and ashamed. This is an example of why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

It also explains why Socrates never found out that Diogenes was banging his wife.

Street Art: Before & After.

“Private institutions are under systemic and legal obligations to make money quickly to reward their capitalist investors; thus expensive, uncertain long-term research is inevitably harder and harder to justify as quarters tick by with few money-making breakthroughs to show for it. Small wonder, then, that the Internet, the web, the GUI, modern processors, Wi-Fi signaling, fundamental computer languages, and even Google itself arose from the academic or military research settings where steady funding is more or less assured and near-term stock prices don’t drive whether projects get axed. The history is long—Guglielmo Marconi developed radio for the Royal Navy, Berners-Lee the web protocols for CERN. The OSTP notes, “Past DOD research has resulted in revolutionary technological capabilities such as radar, digital computers, wireless mobile communications, lasers, fiber optics, composite materials, the Internet (and other ‘packet switched’ networks), and satellite navigation.””

— Rob Larson, Bit Tyrants: The Political Economy of Silicon Valley