Monday, October 28, 2024

"The Gods Laugh At Your Plans: Chekhov, Jaspers, And Life-changing Moments"

"The Gods Laugh At Your Plans:
Chekhov, Jaspers, And Life-changing Moments"
The most momentous and significant events in our lives are the 
ones we do not see coming. Life is defined by the unforeseen.
by Jonny Thomson

"You’re in the shower one day, and you feel a lump that wasn’t there before. You’re having lunch when your phone rings with an unknown number: there’s been a crash. You come home and your husband is holding a suitcase. “I’m leaving,” he says.

Life is inevitably punctuated by sudden changes. At one moment, we might have everything laid out before us, and then an invisible wall stops us in our tracks. It might be an illness, a bereavement, an accident or some bad news, but life has a habit of mocking those who make plans. We can have our eyes on some distant shore, some faraway horizon, only to find everything come crashing down by the most unseen of events. As the Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote, “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men. Gang aft agley” (often go wrong).

In Anton Chekhov’s remarkable play, "The Seagull," we meet a cast of characters who are all, in some way, in love with something. The young, idealistic artist Konstantin is in love with the idea of pure art. Arkadin, his mother, is in love with her fans and her celebrity. Konstantin’s girlfriend, Nina, is in love with becoming rich and famous. Everyone in the play has some kind of ambition and plan, or they live in regret over the life they chose. They rail against how misguided or mistaken their life has been, while longing for something else.

They are each like a seagull, flying over the sea or a great lake, and aiming purposefully for the shore. The view up there is wonderful. But the longer the seagull flies, the more oblivious they are to how they tire or weaken. They’re so fixated on some distant horizon that they’re at the mercy to life’s sudden changes. They’re blinkered and distracted, and the gods love nothing more than the hopeful hubris of mankind.

At one point in the play, Chekov has the character Trigorin recount a short story about a gull flying over a lake who’s, “happy and free.” But in the next moment, “a man sees her who happens to come that way, and he destroys her out of idleness.” The seagull is killed, its flight and plans annihilated, in one instant of random thoughtlessness.

Boundary Situations: While so much of our lives are spent in planning and preparation, the most transformative and significant moments are those which come at us out of the blue. These are what the psychiatrist Karl Jaspers called “boundary situations” - the ones we cannot initiate, plan, or avoid. We can only “encounter” them. These are not the mundane, everyday parts of our life - what Jaspers calls “situation being” - but rather they are things which thunder down to shake the foundations of our being. They change who we are. Although these “boundary situations” (sometimes called “limit situations”) change a bit in Jaspers’ works, he broadly sorted them into four categories:

Death: Death is the source of all our fear. We fear our loved ones dying, and we fear the moment and fact of our own death. When we know grief and despair, or when we reflect on mortality, we are transformed. We always know about death, but when it’s a boundary situation, it comes crashing into our lives like some grim scythe; an unforeseen curtain call. The awareness and subjective encounter with death transforms us.

Struggle: Life is a struggle. We work for food, compete for resources, and vie with each other for power, prestige, and status in almost every context there is. As such, there are moments when we are inevitably overcome and defeated, but also when we are victorious and champion. The final outcomes of struggle are often sudden and great, and they make us who we are.

Guilt: Hopefully, there comes a moment for each of us when we finally accept responsibility for things. For many, it comes with adulthood, but for others it comes much later still. It’s the awareness that our actions impact all around us, and our decisions echo into the world. It’s seeing the damage or tears we’ve caused. It’s to recognize that, however small or big, we’ve hurt and upset someone. It’s a profound pull of the heart that changes how we live, and it often comes on unexpectedly.

Chance: No matter how neat and ordered we might want our world to be, there will always be a messy, chaotic, and unpredictable exception. We can hope for the best, and make the plans we want, but we can never take a steering handle on the facts that will affect our existence. According to Jaspers, we each prefer, “assembling functional and explanatory structures… whose central axis lies in sufficient reason” and yet, “despite this, it is not possible for man to control and explain everything. In fact, day by day he faces events that he cannot call anything else other than coincidences or hazards.” We want order, and regularity. What we get is the mercurial and capricious throes of chance.

The best laid plans: What Chekhov’s Seagull and Jaspers’ “boundary situations” get right is that we are each much more vulnerable than we might want to allow. A wedding, three years and a fortune to plan, is ruined by a stomach bug. An hour-long journey home for Christmas winds up getting you stuck in the traffic of a freak snowstorm. A lifetime achievement is overshadowed by a national disaster. Our lives are defined by the unforeseen. We have our dreams, hopes and are flying to some faraway shore. Yet life doesn’t care. Around every corner, at every flap of our wings, everything can change."
"If you caught a glimpse of your own death,
would that knowledge change the way you live the rest of your life?"
- Paco Ahlgren, "Discipline"

The Daily "Near You?"

Ottawa, Illinois, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Decide..."

“We're all going to die. We don't get much say over how or when, but we do get to decide how we're gonna live. So, do it. Decide. Is this the life you want to live? Is this the person you want to love? Is this the best you can be? Can you be stronger? Kinder? More compassionate? Decide. Breathe in. Breathe out and decide.”
- “Richard”, “Grey’s Anatomy”
o
"Passion doesn't count the cost. Pascal said that the heart has its reasons that reason takes no account of. If he meant what I think, he meant that when passion seizes the heart it invents reasons that seem not only plausible but conclusive to prove that the world is well lost for love. It convinces you that honor is well sacrificed and that shame is a cheap price to pay. Passion is destructive. It destroyed Antony and Cleopatra, Tristan and Isolde, Parnell and Kitty O'Shea. And if it doesn't destroy it dies. It may be then that one is faced with the desolation of knowing that one has wasted the years of one's life, that one's brought disgrace upon oneself, endured the frightful pang of jealousy, swallowed every bitter mortification, that one's expended all one's tenderness, poured out all the riches of one's soul on a poor drab, a fool, a peg on which one hung one's dreams, who wasn't worth a stick of chewing gum."
- W. Somerset Maugham
o
"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time;
it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."
- Sydney J. Harris

"No More Free Money! Reality Setting In..."

Full screen recommended.
Michael Bordenaro, 10/28/24
"No More Free Money! Reality Setting In..."
"Across the United States we have more stores closing than opening, as well as many layoffs continuing to happen. But day after day, I continue to see bullish stories on the economy, talking about how everything is great and this is the strongest economy ever. Yet all around us the data and the signs are pointing to quite the opposite."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
The Atlantis Report, 10/28/24
"15 Big Restaurant Chains 
Are Seriously Struggling Right Now"
"The fast food industry has long been a staple in American culture, offering affordability, and a taste that millions have grown accustomed to. As consumer preferences and market dynamics continue to change, some fast-food chains find themselves in a difficult situation. In 2024, several once-popular chains are struggling with declining sales, changing consumer trends, and intense competition. Today, we look at 15 big restaurant chains experiencing major difficulties and the factors contributing to their decline."
Comments here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "How We're All Being Robbed - Digitally Pickpocketed"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 10/28/24
"How We're All Being Robbed - Digitally Pickpocketed"
"I dive into the alarming world of digital pickpocketing and reveal how we're all being robbed in today's digital age. From unexpected charges at your favorite coffee shop to skyrocketing costs for everyday essentials, it's clear that no one is safe from these cunning tactics. Join me as I uncover shocking stories, like the mismanagement of child trust funds, and the outrageous plan to cram 56 people into a single townhouse. Remember, it's crucial to protect yourself from financial predators."
Comments here:

"How It Really is"

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great!
You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything!
Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
- Frederic Bastiat
How much more evidence do you need to 
realize we as a society have lost our collective minds?

"18 Quotes That Expose the Dark Side of Modern Society"

"18 Quotes That Expose
 the Dark Side of Modern Society"
o
"How to Undermine America"
By Robert W. Malone

“If you were Satan and/or a long-term strategic enemy of the United States, what approach would you take to undermine the morale of American citizens, destroy their faith in God, and make them question their allegiance to their country?” If I were to take the perspective of Satan or a long-term strategic enemy seeking to undermine American morale, destroy faith in God, and create disillusionment with the country, a subtle and multifaceted approach would likely be most effective. Here’s how that might look:

Sow Division and Tribalism: I would exacerbate existing social, political, and racial divisions, using propaganda to deepen mistrust between different groups. By fostering extreme polarization, I could weaken the national identity, making people see each other as enemies rather than fellow citizens. This could be achieved by manipulating the media, social networks, and public discourse to fuel conflict and outrage.

Erode Trust in Institutions: I would target trust in key institutions like the government, the church, and the justice system. By amplifying scandals, highlighting hypocrisy, and promoting cynicism about leaders, I would encourage people to lose faith in the structures that hold society together, making them feel betrayed or abandoned.

Attack Religious Foundations: To weaken faith in God, I would promote secularism and materialism while mocking traditional religious values. I would work to make belief in God seem antiquated, irrational, or intolerant, and highlight religious conflicts or corruption to turn people away from their faith. Normalizing moral relativism would erode people’s connection to religious principles and community.

Promote Hedonism and Self-Interest: I would encourage a culture of immediate gratification, material wealth, and self-centeredness. By making people prioritize individual desires over communal good or spiritual growth, I could reduce the importance of both faith and national solidarity. People focused on personal success and pleasure are less likely to sacrifice for others or a higher cause.

Undermine Patriotism: I would spread the idea that the U.S. is inherently flawed, and beyond redemption, focusing on historical injustices and failures. While criticism can be healthy, I would make sure it devolves into a form of nihilism, where the country’s ideals are seen as hypocritical or unattainable. This would make people question their allegiance and pride in the nation.

Create a Sense of Hopelessness: I would foster economic, environmental, and existential anxieties, making people feel that the future is bleak and out of their control. This could involve amplifying fears about job loss due to automation, environmental collapse, or global instability. A hopeless, fearful population is much easier to manipulate.

Co-opt Technology for Control: I would use technological advancements, such as social media algorithms and surveillance, to create echo chambers, promote unhealthy comparisons, and foster isolation. People would feel constantly watched, judged, and disconnected, leading to anxiety and despair. Simultaneously, I would push distractions that numb critical thinking and increase apathy.

In sum, a combination of division, demoralization, cynicism, and isolation would gradually unravel the social fabric, making Americans question their faith, their values, and their country’s worth.

As I considered all of this, I was left with two enduring questions: If these trends, which appear to be self-evident, are the consequence of actions by some offshore geopolitical enemy, what is that enemy? Could it be that these trends are the consequence of some flaw in ourselves and our own society, some fundamental aspect of being human?

The pervasive and corrosive nature of the “Seven Deadly Sins” has been weighing heavy on my mind as I look back over all that has happened to our social fabric since the COVIDcrisis began during the fall of 2019. Minds hypnotized and twisted. Families and communities torn apart. Blatant disregard for established moral principles. Small businesses steamrolled. Upwards transfer of wealth on a scale rarely seen in human history.

The culture seemed (seems?) to wallow in all of these central sins. Sins on daily display for all to see and personally experience the consequences. Investing a bit of time in introspection concerning the nature of these sins, which have been recognized as fundamental human flaws since at least the beginning of recorded history, could be an excellent way to start this last week before the upcoming presidential election.

Quoting from the Wikipedia summary of the deadly sins:

Lust: Lust or lechery (Latin: luxuria "(sexual) excess/dissipation") is intense longing. It is usually thought of as intense or unbridled sexual desire, which may lead to fornication (including adultery), rape, bestiality, and other sinful and sexual acts. It can also mean other forms of unbridled desire, such as for money, or power.

Gluttony: Gluttony (Latin: gula) is the overindulgence and overconsumption of anything to the point of waste. The word derives from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow. One reason for its condemnation is that the gorging of the prosperous may leave the needy hungry.

Greed: According to Henry Edward Manning, avarice "plunges a man deep into the mire of this world, so that he makes it to be his god". As defined outside Christian writings, greed is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs, especially with respect to material wealth. Aquinas considers that, like pride, it can lead to evil.

Sloth: Sloth (Latin: tristitia, or acedia "without care") refers to many related ideas, dating from antiquity and including mental, spiritual, pathological, and physical states. It may be defined as absence of interest or habitual disinclination to exertion.

Wrath: Wrath (ira) can be defined as uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage, and even hatred. Wrath often reveals itself in the wish to seek vengeance.

Envy: Envy (invidia) is characterized by an insatiable desire like greed and lust. It can be described as a sad or resentful covetousness towards the traits or possessions of someone else. It comes from vainglory and severs a man from his neighbor. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the struggle aroused by envy has three stages: during the first stage, the envious person attempts to lower another's reputation; in the middle stage, the envious person receives either "joy at another's misfortune" (if he succeeds in defaming the other person) or "grief at another's prosperity" (if he fails); and the third stage is hatred because "sorrow causes hatred". Bertrand Russell said that envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness, bringing sorrow to committers of envy, while giving them the urge to inflict pain upon others.

Pride/Hubris: Pride (superbia), also known as hubris (from Ancient Greek ὕβρις) or futility, is considered the original and worst of the seven deadly sins on almost every list, the most demonic. It is also thought to be the source of the other capital sins. Pride is the opposite of humility. Pride has been labeled the worst of all sins and has been deemed the devil's most essential trait. C. S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity that pride is the "anti-God" state, the position in which the ego and the self are directly opposed to God: "Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that Lucifer became wicked: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind." Pride is understood to sever the spirit from God, as well as His life-and-grace-giving Presence."

Bill Bonner, "Angels and Engines"

"Angels and Engines"
The West gained its dominant position thanks to technology. It had more
 machines and more firepower than its rivals. But that edge may be disappearing.
by Bill Bonner

Baltimore, Maryland - "While the US is focused on an internal power struggle, a new world order is taking shape. Sonar21: "Putin Re-Shaping the World Right in Front of Us." It is fascinating to watch the denial in the West about the importance of this meeting of 36 nations, with 20 heads of state in attendance, and the challenge it represents to the US dominated rules-based international order. [Vladimir] Putin:

"For the past 75 years, Russian-Chinese relations reached the level of a comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction. And we can confidently assert that they became a model of how, in the modern world, relations between states should be built. Our multifaceted cooperation is equal, mutually beneficial and of absolutely non-opportunistic nature."

The BRICS nations met last week. Hosted by Russia, the meeting had representatives from the BRICS themselves - Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa - but also from the new members, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

These nations already have nearly half the world’s population and, by purchasing power parity, more than a third of its GDP. Putin said at the meeting that 34 other countries, including Turkey, had made inquiries about joining. EIRNews: "The Global Majority Speaks: A Billion More People Just Joined the BRICS!" "At the summit meeting, ‘partner’ status was granted to Turkey, Vietnam, Uganda, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Thailand." EIRNews continues:

"This day and this Summit mark an historic moment. Speaking of the BRICS, “We have assumed responsibility for the future of the world, not only in word, but in deed,” is the way Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed it in his opening statement, given as a head of state, apart from his role as moderator for the roundtable.  Putin said, “The BRICS states possess truly immense potential in terms of political power, economy, science, technology, as well as human development. Furthermore, we are united by shared values and a common worldview.”

For America’s supremacists and full spectrum dominators, the news was not all bad. The values of the BRICS are not necessarily as ‘shared’ as Putin hopes and the BRICS are not establishing a gold-backed substitute for the dollar. Not yet. Nor have they created a military alliance, a la NATO. And they have no coherent economic plan, either. So, the imperialists of The West can sleep soundly for a while longer... and continue to count their blessings... and their profits.

But western hegemonists might wonder about where this is going. Based on what we’ve seen so far, we offer them some advice. First, they should ditch their good vs. evil fantasies; the US and The West act like a dominating power, not an angelic one. Their wars are not really against ‘bad’ people, nor are they prosecuted by ‘good’ people; they are simply the typical battles at the periphery of an aging empire.

Second, consider that the tech genie is out of the bottle. The West gained its dominant position thanks to technology. It had more machines and more firepower than its rivals. But that edge may be disappearing. Here’s the latest from Asia Times: "Xiaomi is said to have designed its own 3nm chip. Xiaomi Inc, a Beijing-based smartphone maker, is said to have “taped out” its first 3 nanometer system-on-chip (SoC) processor, which is to be mass produced in the first half of 2025."

In the semiconductor industry tapeout is a term – left over from the days of reel-to-reel magnetic tape – for the much-awaited point in the development process when the final design data are stored and sent for fabrication.  Chinese media said that, if the news proved correct, Xiaomi’s achievement in chip-design would be a historic milestone for China as it would be the first 3nm chip designed by a Chinese firm.

Almost every day, a headline tells us more about China’s rising tech power. Newsweek: "China Enlarging Nuclear Forces With Eye on America: US Intel."

Salon: "China now has the biggest navy in the world."

Third, and most notable, we draw their attention to the fact that the meeting took place at all. Russia was supposed to be ‘isolated’ from the civilized world. Putin is subject to wide-ranging sanctions that were meant to cripple his economy and make him a pariah. Instead, he’s the belle of the ball. Now, it’s the US and UK who are more and more isolated, The Cradle: "US, UK alone in expressing support for Israel's strike on Iran. France issued a neutral statement calling for de-escalation, while Arab and Islamic states harshly condemned the Israeli aggression... while the US and UK expressed their support for Israel's assault, claiming it was in self-defense. Where does this lead? Stay tuned."

Gregory Mannarino, "Freakshow Casino: The Stock And Crypto Markets Go 'All-In' On Trump"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 10/28/24
"Freakshow Casino: 
The Stock And Crypto Markets Go 'All-In' On Trump"
Comments here:

"Grocery Deals At Meijer This Week.. Let's Go Shopping!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 10/28/24
"Grocery Deals At Meijer This Week...
 Let's Go Shopping!"
Comments here:

Jim Kunstler, "Speaking of Abortion"

"Speaking of Abortion"
by Jim Kunstler

“Good rule of thumb: those who frequently use the 
word “disinformation” are the ones most likely to be pushing it.” 
- Elon Musk

"What were they thinking after they shoved “Joe Biden” into the abyss, like an old refrigerator over the edge of the landfill, and afterward settled - instantly it appears, with no process at all - on Kamala Harris to lead the party to victory in the fall election? I will tell you: they were not thinking at all. The collective mind of the Democrat elite was a vast vacuum devoid of thought, mass, or light, like a corner of deepest space, lacking even a particle of cosmic debris to evoke the existence of existence.

Such mindlessness was the consummate expression of a party that for eight years worked every angle of political mental illness toward the loss of its mind, driven by whatever dark energy seeks escape from truth, life, and God - whatever is opposite of creation and being. What you are witnessing is a colossal act of being un-born. The party put out a call to the universe and the universe ordered...an abortion of the Democratic Party! You are reminded again: be careful of what you wish for.

And so do things stand one week before the election. You have not seen such a vivid demonstration of slowly-and-then-all-at-once since the implosion of Lehman Brothers as the collapse of the Democratic Party this fateful October. Poor Kamala is just collateral damage at this point. She goes out before some manufactured audience and seven-minutes onstage delivering a door-dash order of precooked blather is all she can stand before being overwhelmed by the emptiness and futility of her task...and then she flees back to the waiting limousine (and the chardonnay bottle).

Meanwhile, her allies - that is, the Democratic Party’s allies - play their own roles in this political abortion. The LA Times and the WashPo declined their usual pro-forma endorsements, two kisses of death. Those actions last week provoked nervous breakdowns in both newsrooms, cries of anguish, resignations, professional suicides. The news media find themselves in a peculiar position, having gone along for years with the gathering mental illness of the Democratic Party, like incompetent parents in a large dysfunctional family, offering unconditional support for their kids’ intolerable and unacceptable behavior.

They are flying to pieces now on the CNN chat panels. James Carville, the party’s shriveled Gollum, has gone to IV infusions of Jim Beam, seems like. Jake Tapper gets Sunday schooled by JD Vance and turns into a mewling cat-lady right before your eyes. Anderson Cooper goes all waxy and mute. Joy Reid surrenders to echolalia as her MSNBC fans are subjected to the guest list of P. Diddy’s “freak-offs,” ranting about Hitler. Lawrence O’Donnell is looking more and more like Vincent Price in Return of the Fly. Reality-optional hardly suffices to describe cable news these days.

You’ve got to ask: can they just let it be? Can they just let go of their insane Jacobin rebellion now and let it fade into history? Then, kick back, recuperate, get their minds right, put their house and family in order, and move on as a legit political faction in a functioning republic? Or, do they burn the asylum down?

The signals are troubling. They are chattering about Mr. Trump “using the military” against them in the months to come - as if the Abrams tanks were going to roll up to DNC headquarters and blast away. By now, you know that such thoughts expressed by Democratic pols and news pals are always projections of their own wishes. The New York Times published just such a classic paranoid projection exercise last week “...telling Americans that if he [Trump] wins, he plans to bend, if not break, our democracy.”

Surely it is too late, with early voting well underway, to stop any ballot harvesting and other election shenanigans as engineered by master fraudster Marc Elias. In fact, frauds are already being discovered (e.g., Lancaster County, PA.) Not a good look. It is exactly what a conspiracy (to commit election fraud) means in law, and the actual people who cooked the ballots and transported them are going to rat-out those who instructed them to do it. Wait for that, and wait for it to pop up elsewhere around the country. This time, watchers are watching, much more carefully.

Of course, you know there will be long delays, perhaps a week or more, before definitive election results will get posted. The country’s in a bad way, really frightened of what these desperate Democrats with their mitts still on the levers of power might do. Judge Merchan is scheduled to deliver his bit of mischief November 26 in the New York “Stormy Daniels hush money” case. You can bet that the Supreme Court will squash him like a sow-bug five minutes later and vacate his stupid case.

Reasonable observers (Rickards, Armstrong) are whispering about martial law and blood in the streets following the election. Yet Mr. Trump’s MAGA legions, appear supernaturally confident now, fortified with a sense of mission. They’re righteously pissed-off about all the hoaxes, the lawfare, the swarming illegal migrants, their squandered tax dollars, and much more. But they are ready to go to work, eager to put their shoulders to the wheel to fix whatever they can and, as they do, the death of the Democratic Party is one abortion they will not shed any tears over.

Another reminder of who we are as Americans and the mysterious workings of Providence: Father Mapple’s sermon - Orson Welles in the John Huston movie version of Melville’s "Moby Dick":

"Economic Market Snapshot 10/28/24"

"Economic Market Snapshot 10/28/24"
Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it. 
You and I are not in the Big Club."
- George Carlin
o
Market Data Center, Live Updates:
Comprehensive, essential truth.
Financial Stress Index

"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: creditequity valuationfunding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United Statesother advanced economies, and emerging markets."
Job cuts and much more.
Commentary, highly recommended:
"The more I see of the monied classes,
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...
And now... The End Game...
o

Sunday, October 27, 2024

"15 Retailers Going Out Of Business This Fall"

Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 10/27/24
"15 Retailers Going Out Of Business This Fall"

"Holiday shopping will look a whole lot different this year as U.S. retailers continue to drop like flies. The current economy is choking the life out of several iconic retail chains given that the higher cost of basic goods and services is forcing consumers to spend less. At the same time, the cost of running a business continues to climb, and disappointing sales numbers are putting many companies at risk of going bankrupt in the coming months.

Have you noticed that empty storefronts are becoming far more common than they have ever been before? So far this year, big retailers already closed more than 4,000 locations. Industry experts estimate that figure will double by the end of 2024. They believe store closures will be 40% higher than they were in 2023. That will result in approximately 8 million square feet of vacant retail space across the U.S. This means some of our favorite stores will no longer be open during the shopping season. If you want to find out which companies are closing doors forever and conducting liquidation sales right now, stay tuned until the end of the video. Without further ado, here are 15 Retailers Going Out Of Business This Fall"
Comments here:

Jeremiah Babe, "Tiny Homes In Texas Sold Out, Americans Now Living In The Third World"

Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 1027/24
"Tiny Homes In Texas Sold Out, 
Americans Now Living In The Third World"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: 2002, "The Dreaming Tree"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "The Dreaming Tree"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Some spiral galaxies are seen nearly sideways. Most bright stars in spiral galaxies swirl around the center in a disk, and seen from the side, this disk can appear quite thin. Some spiral galaxies appear even thinner than NGC 3717, which is actually seen tilted just a bit. Spiral galaxies form disks because the original gas collided with itself and cooled as it fell inward. Planets may orbit in disks for similar reasons.
The featured image by the Hubble Space Telescope shows a light-colored central bulge composed of older stars beyond filaments of orbiting dark brown dust. NGC 3717 spans about 100,000 light years and lies about 60 million light years away toward the constellation of the Water Snake (Hydra)."

Viktor Frankl, "Life Changing Quotes"

Full screen recommended.
Viktor Frankl, "Life Changing Quotes"
 ("Man's Search For Meaning")
"Viktor Emil Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. Frankl was the founder of the logotherapy method and is most notable for his best-selling book Man's Search for Meaning."
Freely download "Mans Search For Meaning", by Viktor Frankl, here:
Highest recommendation:

The Poet: David Whyte, “The Sea”

“The Sea”

“The pull is so strong we will not believe
the drawing tide is meant for us,
I mean the gift, the sea,
the place where all the rivers meet.

Easy to forget,
how the great receiving depth
untamed by what we need
needs only what will flow its way.
Easy to feel so far away
and the body so old
it might not even stand the touch.

But what would that be like
feeling the tide rise
out of the numbness inside
toward the place to which we go
washing over our worries of money,
the illusion of being ahead,
the grief of being behind,
our limbs young
rising from such a depth?

What would that be like
even in this century
driving toward work with the others,
moving down the roads
among the thousands swimming upstream,
as if growing toward arrival,
feeling the currents of the great desire,
carrying time toward tomorrow?

Tomorrow seen today, for itself,
the sea where all the rivers meet, unbound,
unbroken for a thousand miles, the surface
of a great silence, the movement of a moment
left completely to itself, to find ourselves adrift,
safe in our unknowing, our very own,
our great tide, our great receiving, our
wordless, fiery, unspoken,
hardly remembered, gift of true longing.”

~ David Whyte,
“Where Many Rivers Meet”

John Wilder, "Deep Thoughts And Dank Memes About Halloween And Strippers"

"Deep Thoughts And Dank Memes 
About Halloween And Strippers"
by John Wilder

"When I was a kid, it seemed that Halloween was really about the kids. I would dress up (usually) as a vampire, until I got older. As I got older, it seemed that Halloween tipped from being a holiday for children to an excuse for younger adults to have drunken parties in costumes like “slutty elf costume” and “slutty Handmaid’s Tale costume” and “slutty presidential candidate”.

One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is that Halloween is about the darker side. Ghosts and witches and monsters have been a part of the celebration since Pharaoh Bubbahotep got his chariot license. You’ve probably not heard of that Pharaoh before – after they mummified him they kept him under wraps.

The time of Halloween is certainly in line with being a harvest festival – I mean, it’s after harvest in the northern hemisphere, and there’s plenty of evidence that some version of Halloween was observed in ancient times. Whether or not the Christian holiday of All-Saints Day (November 1) was a takeoff from this is up for grabs, but the trappings and idea of this being a time focused on dead humans is undeniably thousands of years old.

But, again, a harvest festival. In the northern hemisphere, plants are dying at this time of year, leaves are falling, and it begins to get cold and dark. This is the foreshadowing of winter, a time where the planning and planting and preparing pay off in order to tide families back to spring when the world comes alive again. What better way to celebrate the idea of dead people and the impending bitter winter than by having a party, getting drunk, and dressing like a “slutty Seal Team Six” member?

Trick or treating itself has been practiced for (at least) five hundred years, including costumes and begging for food. Ultimately, though, the idea comes back around to the idea of what happens to the soul after death – the year becomes, essentially, a proxy for the life of a human, with Halloween marking the time when death is contemplated. And it’s scary to think about death.

Many people like to be scared – that’s one reason why horror movies are so popular. In my dating days, I noted also that the scarier the movie I took my date to, the more amorous they became afterwards. Keep in mind my sample size was mainly limited to girls who would eventually become strippers, but nevertheless, it’s still data. Like grandma always said, “Write what you know, Johnny, even if it involves bad decisions, teenage lust, and women with daddy issues and narcissistic personality disorder.”

So, just like Pavlov’s dog, I began to associate scary movies with good times. But I liked them before that, even as a young kid I’d stay up late to watch B-movies in black and white on Saturday night and feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up when the sound of the house settling at night would happen in the dark behind me.

Part of horror for me, though, was the idea of the supernatural. I recall reading Stephen King before he morphed into a parody of someone’s GloboLeft lesbian wine aunt with Trump Derangement Syndrome and the first book of his to profoundly disappoint me was Cujo. Why?
It was about a dog with rabies. That’s it. No evil spirits. No Walkin’ Dude. No vampires. Just a stupid dog with a stupid disease. So what?

Bad things happen, I get it, but horror to me wasn’t Michael Myers attacking teenagers in the night while wearing a William Shatner mask inside-out. No. It was him getting up after taking damage that would kill a dozen men and relentlessly pressing forward. He wasn’t a man – he was a force beyond anything natural, much like my deodorant.

The other part of the horror trope at the time was that the Final Girl, the one who faced down the supernatural bad guy, was virtuous. Who got killed? The kids drinking and making out. Who lived? The clumsy virgin. In essence, these horror movies were morality plays showing that the wicked were punished and that the virtuous were rewarded, a lesson that thankfully went over the heads of the eager and enthusiastic frolicsome fräuleins.

Those morality plays made sense, and the plot, like a tune, had a melody that was familiar and pleasing. Again, for me the element of the supernatural was crucial. One of the things that I realized over time is that the element of Evil implied that there was Good, too. The dark, Lovecraftian world where ancient brooding evil ones who didn’t even pay any regard to mankind in an unfeeling universe hadn’t crossed my mind yet, but that was before I had even met my ex-wife. But a movie like "The Exorcist," was based on the existence of Evil.

And that Evil wasn’t aloof and uncaring. No. That Evil was intensely interested in humanity. Intensely. In fact, humanity was the focus of that Evil in a war that we could only see the edges of, one that was being played out in realms we had only the barest perception of. "The Exorcist" implied all of that, but also more than implied the existence of the other side: Good. With a capital G.

I know that moral relativists hate the idea of this duality of Good and Evil, preferring to live in a world not of black and white, but one filled with shades of gray. Or grey. Or...now why am I thinking about gravy?

Regardless, lots of people were scared by the embodiment of Evil shown in "The Exorcist."  I was comforted. My love of horror isn’t about a fascination with death and Bad things – quite the opposite, it’s about a fascination for life and Good things. And most of those girls I dated aren’t strippers anymore, which is a good thing given their age, that they’re now saying: “Sorry, we’re clothed until further notice.”

"You Can Be Sure..."