We return to Elder JimZim’s question: What are we? Then a thought occurred to me. Let me quote one of my favorite authors, Neil Stephenson, from one of my favorite books, Cryptonomicon: The room contains a few dozen living human bodies, each one a big sack of guts and fluids so highly compressed that it […]
Author: Texas Toast
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Motivational Monday
September 8, 2025 – Joy “We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.” – Joseph Campbell lecturer, writer
Elder JimZim has asked a profound question: What are we? His curiosity was peaked by this Joni Mitchell song… We are stardustWe are goldenAnd we’ve got to get ourselvesBack to the gardenWe are stardustBillion year old carbonWe are goldenCaught in the devil’s bargainAnd we’ve got to get ourselvesBack to the garden- Woodstock, by Joni Mitchell […]
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The Seventh Day of Ielool
The Coming of the ShipAnd in the twelfth year, on the seventh day of Ielool, the month of reaping, he climbed the hill without the city walls and looked seaward; and he beheld his ship coming with the mist.Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joy flew far over the sea. […]
We’re reading Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing by Bronnie Ware. We mentioned this book in a previous blott. While discussing the first of five regrets, Bronnie tells a thought-provoking story: Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing by Bronnie WareHay House […]
You know our friend, Elder KM? She runs the organization ENGin to promote English language skills to Ukrainians. The other day, out of the blue, she says how much she hates English desserts. That was enough to spark an idea for a blog post – the absolutely worst, grossest desserts across cuisines, cultures, countries. We […]
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Hodgepodge
A bit of a hodgepodge today. Happy Scenes from Ukraine This is a pretty cool video of Pres. Zelenskiy visiting the start of the school year for elementary school kids. St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Catholic Church Elder DZ visited St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Catholic Church in Chicago today. The church has a striking […]
We find it fascinating how many of the WLBOTT communal ideals intersect with The Shakers. Radical equality between the genders and the races. Communal living. Compassion and a joy for life. This morning the editorial staff was pleasantly surprised to find a review of a new movie in The Guardian. The movie, The Testament of […]
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Motivational Monday
September 1, 2025 Work hard. “Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen.” —Conan O’Brien (born 1963)TV host, comedian “Without labor, nothing prospers.” —Sophocles (496-405 BC)Greek tragedian “Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” —Oprah Winfrey (born 1954)American television host, publisher Work is love made […]
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The Windows of the Soul
Today, instead of words, let’s explore a series of gazes – eyes that carry decades of living, in faces from many places. Look closely. What do you see? This gallery is more than a meditation on eyes. It’s also an experiment in how artificial intelligence interprets emotion. Can a machine capture the glimmer of joy, […]