Category: thinking

  • dreamtest

    Photo by shahin khalaji on Unsplash

    I have intensely vivid dreams. From what I gather from having talked to people over the years, they tend to be more vivid than many people’s dream and I am often given more agency within the dream than most people claim to have (meaning, I can make choices that change the story or nature of the dream), and I can read one to five words at a time (book titles, street names), and retain it upon waking. Reading signs and books in dream tends to be especially hard for most people (but not all people), if they even think to do it (knowing what something “says” and “reading it” are two different things in dream).

    I had a series of especially vivid dreams last night and I have a little experiment I think might be interesting to try out. One of you was in one of my dreams last night. The dream space took place in an old theater and we were sitting in red, velvet-covered seats in the dark. I eventually pointed to the stage while leaning over to you and whispered, “Watch. See. This is important.”

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  • Half-penny thoughts — 30jan26

    An interesting word came my way recently (I “collect” interesting words) and, while I understood the concept outside of the actual word, I didn’t know what it was called.

    That word is “aphantasia”, a condition in which a person cannot visualize mental images, and it impacts up to an estimated 5% of the population. When you say “tree” they cannot conjure up a mental image of a tree when they close their eyes.

    There is actually a spectrum of how well people can mentally visualize things:

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  • Reblog and call to help

    An excellent, extremely talented WordPress writer that I am honored to number as one of my good friends is encountering some major hurdles involving her health and a radical, unexpected life change, both of which are increasing the symptoms of her chronic illness due to the related stresses.

    Someday It Will Be Safe To Write About Everything

    If you have a moment, please go to Jenn’s site and read about some of the details of what she is going through. I know more about the details of the unexpected life changes that she is experiencing, but it is not my place to share that information.

    She could use a crowdsourced solution if one is forthcoming, so if you know anybody who could help Jenn with her growing crisis or know where she might be able to find some assistance (funding, assisted living solutions, etc.) please leave your thoughts in the comments below (comments are turned off on her post, with good reason).

    Please limit suggestions below to those “outside of the box” and please don’t offer up unverified “guesses”, no matter how well-intentioned. If you have solid answers those are always appreciated. She’s already tried to seek help from the more obvious and even some of the less obvious options, and has come up largely empty-handed.

    Please feel free to reblog this post if you think your audience might be able to help out Jenn. The more people who know about what she is dealing with, the more likely a solution will present itself.

  • Jackbooted thug files — 29jan26

    Just to provide a very short update as to the situation in Minnesota, nothing has meaningful changed here on the ground with the switching of leadership (sic) personnel. The only cool-down we are witnessing is the cool-down of rhetoric from a corrupt administration realizing they made an unforced error by demonizing Alex Pretti, who was murdered in cold blood at the hands of masked thugs in flak jackets and carrying military-grade hardware for exercising TWO of his Constitutional rights (freedom of speech and the right to bear arms, the second of which, mind you he never removed from the holster and was never in his hand during the altercation). And that rhetoric is even ramping up again. Why? Because the Trump minions (and toddler in chief, Dotard Donnie, especially) are incapable of keeping their mouths shut when the best thing to do is just shut up.

    Don’t believe the hype when they say that they are trying to bring down the temperature. That’s bullshit. They’re doing anything but.

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  • Half-penny thoughts — 28jan26

    I feel like being more lighthearted today. Rather than write all kinds of serious words about my thinking on something, I am deciding to post a “just-for-fun” question to see if anyone is interested in a little mock game of truth or dare. Use one of the off-the-cuff examples below to answer my relatively absurd question, or come up with your own response. Please note, they are all not obviously standard responses to the question. Try to keep it in that spirit if you come up with something different.

    Which is sexier in your mind?

    • A tome of dusty old words largely lost to the vagaries of time?
    • A score tucked into a sealed plaster wall from a dead composer that was never recognized for their genius?
    • Petals floating by on a slow-moving stream in a snow-covered landscape?
    • Poetry whispered into a dark room with an audience of one lonely ghost?
    • Fangs of a vampire resting on your skin, but not quite breaking it?
    • Or something entirely different from the above? Be creative, be nonstandard.

    Just curious what folks decide and come up with/decide upon. There is absolutely no motive aside from that. The only condition is that it must actually appeal to you when you post in the comments if it isn’t one of those suggested.

    Either admit one sounds appealing (Truth) or propose your own. If you Dare.

  • Follow-up on State-sponsored terrorists invading Minnesota

    Photo of Alex Pretti, the 37yo man who was ruthlessly murdered this morning by Federal agents. Photo was captured on The Guardian, January 24, 2026.

    Sympathy goes out to the family and friends of Alex Pretti. From all accounts he was a giant asset to our city. He was not a criminal or part of a far-left conspiracy bullshit thing they will try to paint him as. He was normal, hardworking, and probably better person than most of us. He was a goddamn VA nurse, for fuck’s sake.

    Unlike his killers, he brought life to his world. By all account he loved and cared for people.

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  • MLK 2026

    “The question is not whether we will be extremist, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?”

  • Half-penny thoughts — 09jan26

    Do you ever get that itchy feeling that you ought to be up to something but cannot quite put your finger on what, exactly, that something might be aside from some nebulous notions that flutter like butterflies in the summer sun inside the space most folks store their brains?

    Yeah. That’s the prevailing feeling I am getting these past few days: an Ought which is disappointingly lacking in Substance.

    Maybe it is just my rebellious nature itching to get out and do something in light of the recent events that have taken place in my hometown (I moderate my activism to protect my family, but would act up significantly more if I had only myself to be concerned about).

    But that does not feel quite right. If I got involved with current activist events, I’d probably sign up to marshal more than agitate anyway. That feels closer to the heart of this indecipherable vibe I am feeling. Spirit/soul work of some sort, perhaps?

    Well, let’s not worry about solving my conundrum. It’s very likely something I need to get at myself without external help. That’s the kind of vibe it is; internal stuff.

    However, going back to the original thought at the head of this post:

    How often do you feel you ought to be doing something, but cannot think of what that something might be? Frequently? Never?

    And, if you do, are you always able to eventually resolve what that thing is? Or do you just let it go and hope that it comes to you a little clearer after you give it room to breathe?

    Do you ever get vague hints from wherever vague hints are born? Or does the realization come directly/not at all?

  • Half-penny thoughts — 07jan26

    Sometimes, when I look in the mirror or in the work chat camera, I’m a little surprised by who I see there. The person looking back at me appears to be a reflection of myself, except that all that grey and all that beard (not to mention the bushier eyebrows) seems much more gnome that it ought to be for the person I recall being.

    If I’m being generous, I replace the “gnome” with “druid”. However, self-generosity doesn’t come easy, so gnome is of more frequent use. Perhaps there is a better description? I’ll have to think about it (I’ve not quite evolved into a “troll”, but I suspect it will come sooner than later).

    Are you ever surprised by who you see in pictures of yourself? If so, do you think it is generally for the better or for the worse? If you were to use a common word or phrase of less than five words, what do you think best describes your general appearance or that someone might mistake you for being?

  • half-penny thoughts — 05jan26

    I’m probably overlooking quite a few artists, but it sure seems like the vast majority of them these days are very serious about their music.

    That’s not to say that I didn’t listen to and work with musicians in the past who were very serious about their music, but it seemed there were more folks in earlier eras who were a lot less serious about it. Or, they were serious musician who leaned into satire instead of saying things like, “We are artistes, not baboons. Go away and baboon elsewhere.”

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