OMM (On My Mind)
~ April 2023 #1 ~
::: Recommended Podcasts Episodes :::
Scores 100 on the cute-o-meter: Supergroup Therapy With Boygenius’ Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker
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::: Music Recommendations :::
boygenius’ The Record is out today!
Also, there’s a boygenius film available on YouTube.
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::: Literary & Arts Community News :::
ONE ART is listed as one of the top poetry journals and I’m honored/delighted/thrilled with this recognition!
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Among the many challenges women face as writers.
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AI suggestions (500!) for email/letter sign offs.
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Cause for some alarm…
ChatGPT launches boom in AI-written e-books on Amazon
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Tips & Thoughts from the amazing Kelly Link.
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A little time with Richard Blanco.
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One fell swoop? Shakespeare is to blame.
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An article on porn in The Paris Review.
Are there no sacred institutions left??
Kidding, this is a thoughtful and interesting read.
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Some beautiful libraries.
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::: Suspect :::
Huff Post removed an article debating whether or not tofu is good for you.
The article was entitled, Is Tofu Actually Good For You? Here's What Experts Say.
Here’s the link. Or there it was.
Editor's Note
A HuffPost article previously at an associated link is no longer available on the site. It has been removed for an editorial standards issue.
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::: In Other News… :::
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Narcan (naloxone) is *FINALLY* approved by the FDA for OTC sales.
You can now go to your local pharmacy, obtain Narcan, and keep this medicine on hand to help save a life.
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The Pros and Cons of banning TikTok
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Memorable obituaries.
I’m surprised to not immediately find a source (like the equivalent of Depths of Wikipedia) who digs up interesting obituaries (50 states, many state and local papers still remain). Anyone wanna start a substack?
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The Hegelochus lesson (Seth Godin)
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So-called “rage tweeting” seems to be on the rise…
But that’s not all, folks! Turns out there’s such a thing as the National Customer Rage Survey and since 2020 (aka. The Pandemic [or] for fans of That Mitchell & Webb Look – THE EVENT)
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Someone casually survived being bitten by a blue-ringed octopus which, as it so happens, can produce one of the most deadly toxins we know of.
Not unrelated, avoid dangerous plants.
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IYKYK: What are your feelings on Orangina?
Turns out, it’s hard to get due to supply chain issues… also, it’s not the late 80s / early 90s when Orangina seemed to have it’s glory days in the U.S.
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Have you tried Google Bard, yet? How about the other AI chatbots?
What’s your take?
Are we all doomed or is this just another panic?
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The savvy number-crunching minds at FiveThirtyEight have gathered their brain power to determine the most popular Taylor Swift album. No matter what, Swifties around the world will be ready to sacrifice the author at the altar of Baphomet.
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You may have heard CashApp (and parent company Block (another Jack Dorsey creation)) is having some struggles. Why? Rap lyrics. The age-old questions of whether rap lyrics are 100% truth (much like Confessional poetry) continues to create moral panic in our time.
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Possible that Low-Dose Naltrexone (aka. LDN) may be a treatment for Long Covid. You might know this medication as a treatment for opioid addiction. Turns out, like many medications, it may have some off-label uses.
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Speaking of diseases… apparently gonorrhea is “in season”…
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A short list with some good food cities.
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“Essential” spices for home chefs…
I don’t have a number of these (it’s a free country) partly because I don’t like working with them.
Feel free to guess.
I’m guessing you may not have a number of these, too.
Frankly, I think it’s an odd list.
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German brewery creates powdered beer
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Henry Rollins: ‘I wouldn’t go back on stage with a band for anything’
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Will this test be the ultimate predictor of behavior?
Try it and tell me if it sounds about right.
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Caroline Polachek performs Welcome to My Island on Fallon.
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Good Questions and Bad Questions for those curious to learn more about Ramadan.
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A retirement tease for younger generations.
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Great Dane has epic birthing experience.
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The value of a 3000-year prison sentence?
Maybe it’s the best we can do given the constraints of current law.
Please share your thoughts.
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The questionable ethics of eating octopus are well-documented…
That aside, this quote from Jeff Bezos…is just strange…very strange:
"You’re the octopus that I’m having for breakfast. When I look at the menu, you’re the thing I don’t understand, the thing I’ve never had. I must have the breakfast octopus.”
Reminds me of unhinged statements by Alex Jones about eating his neighbors…or killing his neighbors and feeding them to his daughters. There’s no “good” exit strategy to statements like this.
Anyway, here’s more about rich people having bizarre eating behaviors.
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On this week’s episode of “Let’s feel bad for the uber wealthy”:
“Wall Street bonus of $176K falls 26% from last year; cumulative total for the year estimated at $33.7B.”
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Chat GPT explains Kierkegaard's "leap of faith"
Kierkegaard's "leap of faith" is a central concept in his philosophy of existentialism and relates to his understanding of the relationship between faith and reason.
According to Kierkegaard, faith involves a subjective, personal commitment to a religious belief or worldview, which cannot be arrived at through reason alone. In other words, faith requires a leap beyond what can be proven or demonstrated through empirical evidence.
Kierkegaard believed that reason and logic could only take a person so far in their understanding of religious truth, and that at some point, an individual must make a decision to believe in something that is beyond the reach of reason. This is what he referred to as the "leap of faith."
For Kierkegaard, the leap of faith is not a blind or irrational leap, but rather a decision made in the face of uncertainty and doubt. It requires a willingness to embrace paradox and uncertainty and to trust in the existence of something that cannot be fully understood or proven.
In Kierkegaard's view, the leap of faith is not a one-time event but an ongoing process of personal commitment and engagement with one's religious beliefs. It is a constant struggle to maintain faith in the face of doubt and uncertainty, and to continually deepen one's understanding of religious truth.
Overall, Kierkegaard's leap of faith is a complex and multifaceted concept that reflects his deep engagement with the existential questions of human existence and the role of faith in shaping our understanding of the world around us.
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