Taxi Dave 2023

 

Every annum during the October run up to Halloween Taxi Dave goes to streets to meet the zeitgeist in his trusty classic Checker Taxi. Come along for the ride. Daily recounts. Weekly updates. You never know ...

Look out! Here he comes ...

"Loaded for Bear" ...

As of now ... So, what's so?

Who's that? Well, that's our good friend Elmer Fudd. Oh, and Judge Arthur Engoron; he's presiding over 45's — that pesky wabbit —  NYC trial early October 2023. All in good fun, right Judge? 

"Tray"? "Tay-Vis"? "Tra-Tay"? 

Ain't love grand. I'm sold!

"Where to, your Holiness?"

"Nowhere, in particular."

"I can't go far, the tank's nearly empty."

"Don't stop! Let's get there!"

Today this post is on October 10, 2023. Grim news. I am at a loss to do anything other than to stay quiet and sit with the Peace in my heart. No place for smart, witty, cute, humor. Time for our tears.

October 11, 2023: The truth is we are riding our lives in a vast and infinite peace. Let's not let our worst doings even our best, for that matter distract from that innate reality. What's done is in the rear view mirror. But, you say, look at the news! ... There'll be more war tomorrow. Maybe so. But, we can go into tomorrow with our eyes for peace. As Jackson Browne put it: take it easy ... "don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy. " 

"Take your stand"

It's worldwide "paddidle" day!

When I was dating spotting one and exclaiming "paddidle! " required a kiss.

We're all growed up now. When you see one ... just love the one you're with.

And, just so you don't get the idea that it's just for when you're on the road ... On the road of life, just look up at the moon. "Paddidle! "

The "Ring of Fire" annular eclipse last Saturday, October 14 in the Yucatan peninsula at Chichen Itza. Last one seen there was 400 years ago.

Probably a gazillion interpretations. An omen. A harbinger of a new era dawning. A portal for some bad shit to come on in.

For your Taxi Dave ... It was one jackpot fare!

We be needin' some "Durga" arounchere.

The nine days of Navrati ... Sunday, October 15, 2023  next Tuesday, the 24th.

It's a party! Everyone's coming.

Dark times ...

Narrow as F tunnel, poor visibility, driving on one's own light.

So, Pilgrim, let me ask you ... By what light are you driving?

Maybe more to the point ... Who's your driver?

Word of the year? Word for the age!

The roadmap has been well known for centuries ...

To whom it may concern ...

Question: is the promised land just on a map?

Question: is jihad just with fists?

The really Big Gun is on both sides. Just gotta meet in the middle.

In the Holy Land it's not about cows ... it's about people.

▀▄▀▄▀▄ 𝕟ㄖ 𝐟ＥαŘ ▄▀▄▀▄▀

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Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Join us today [October 3, 2023] in remembering and celebrating Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, one of the greatest Buddhist masters of the 20th century, on this 32nd anniversary of his passing. 

He was renowned as a highly accomplished meditation master, scholar, poet and a principal holder of the Nyingma lineage. Practices are taking place across the world today paying homage to Rinpoche and his vast vision.

Do not forget the Lama

Pray to him at all times.

Do not forget death

Persist in Dharma.

Do not be carried away by thoughts

Watch the nature of mind.

Do not forget sentient beings

With compassion dedicate your merit to them.

~Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐞

 

Who's the babe, right? That's the flower of the Wronski genetic wonder garden. In her own words: "So, big boy, you be wantin' my Polish love? It's like a dill pickle to the heart!"

The wedding was a shebang. The working side of my Uncle's huge bakery was the "hall". Big lofty ceiling, huge rectangular worktable in the center. [That work table had enough room for twelve or so workers kneading dough. It was never that busy; but you get the idea.] Chairs and folding tables scattered around. Recorded music and dancing. Men in the corner shooting craps. Serve yourself to the drinks. Kids running around like maniacs, playing in the nooks and crannies, even hiding in the cabinets in the front selling area. Lots of home cooked food on that center work table. In short ... a Polish wedding.

A Polish wedding with all the usuals ... tossing the bouquet, sliding the garter off, first dance, cutting the cake. We're Polish, after all! Not barbarians. [Though given half a chance and enough Vodka, any dern one of us would not hesitate to jump on a war horse and ride galloping in the moonlight through a Birch forest ... bareback, and bare assed. The Wronski's do have their ways.]

Some other traditions have crept into "Wronski" wedding celebrations. "Beat Babcha." That's where the Groom gets to show his stuff by wrestling dear old Babcha Wronski best two out of three. "You Can't Drink All That!?" Just what you would think it is. Just that in the Wronski way, everybody is playing. Just, don't talk politics. Or, the kids' favorite, "IT." Which looks a lot like kids either not to be seen since they're all hiding somewhere; or, kids running full tilt hither and thither among the assorted adults and tables.

What about Cousin Lottie? Did she get into any action? [Well, she certainly did, later that evening. But, we only have the sounds of crashing and screaming from their bedroom to figure what, the what?] At the reception, though, the family tradition for the Bride is to arm wrestle all the females at the shindig. If she beats all them, then she gets to arm wrestle the men. If she beats all them, then the only one that's left is the Groom. I'm gonna stop right there. We don't talk about the what if's following which one wins, the Bride or the Groom. That enters into the very complex and deep Akashic mystery that is the Wronski brood.

Wherever you are right now, go throw some Rice. Even if it's in your imagination. 

If you want to get all your Wronski "ON" CLICK on this.

XXX in College Biology [It's Downright Dirty ... Be Advised]

The Broth of Their Own Desire

Based on some true events, somewhat fantasized. 

XXX Advisory

He fucked her twice. First, the old fashioned way. If you can call all the nasty gymnastics "old fashioned". Let's just leave it that the term refers to his sumthin' goin' in to her sumthin'. 

The second fucking ... that was leaving her to foot the bill for the room service. And, by room service we're here talking about the Caviar, Oysters, and Champagne. Lots. Definitely not the "service", as in the fucking and sucking. 

Fucked twice? She was served twice too!

They were young. Hot blooded. She was a babe. He was a stud. Lab partners in Comparative Anatomy. She asked if he could show her around the reproductive anatomy of a feline specimen. In plain terms, the pussy on that pussy.

He obliged. Played it straight. Hard to figure a girl doesn't know what's going on down there. But, don't assume. Otherwise, all sorts of difficulties could ensue if he took it that this was some kind of come on. Maybe some kind of joke, since a bunch of girls gathered around to view the practical examination he provided on that cute little dead pussy. That is, of that pussy. On, that pussy.

Turns out that female kitties have the similar anatomy to human females in the nasty department. 

The science part taken care of, he proposed an after school practical. Just him, and all those scientifically inquisitive females. Like we said, he wasn't quite sure if there was an undercurrent agenda to a group of girls asking him to show them around the pussy parts of a kitty. Not one, however, to miss a potential opportunity, he made the offer. They accepted. 

It turned out to be quite the "practical". And by "practical" we're talking about classic show and tell. Not just some academic bunch of words. Show me yours, and I'll show you mine. 

Did. And, done.

What is Dr. Ida P. Rolf Method / Structural Integration?

 What is Dr. Ida P. Rolf Method

 / 

Structural Integration?

 As I understand it, Dr. Rolf’s basic premise is this: 

Just like it is for any physical structure on Earth, the same also applies to the Human body structure. In this regard Gravity is determinative.

In terms of how this applies to Human beings, consider basic Science. 

Anatomically the Human body is designed structurally as something stacked up vertically, the segments level front to back, and with symmetry side to side. Dr. Rolf would say: "... something organized around a vertical line".

From Physics we understand that the Human body arrangement — vis-a-vis the demands of Gravity — calls for the same uprightness, evens and symmetricals  which are also understood Anatomically.

War! What's It Good For?

 

Choiceless Awareness ... Jiddu Krishnamurti

This from The Immeasurable ...

"Choiceless Awareness is a term Krishnamurti coined to direct our attention to a perception that is independent of the thought and choosing process. It is also a central theme of his teachings.

"This excerpt by Krishnamurti encourages readers to question the inherent limitations and potential drawbacks of concentrated thought. Concentration, as described, often involves the self, leading to resistance, division, and personal attachment. This invites us to reflect on whether such division and struggle are inherent to the human condition when we fixate our minds on specific tasks or objects.

"In contrast, he proposes that choiceless awareness may offer a deeper understanding of reality. In light of this, it's worth considering your own perspective on the roles of concentration, choiceless awareness, and attention in shaping your perception of reality. How do these ideas align or contrast with your experiences? Could there be another way to look at so-called reality?

J. Krishnamurti
Talk 7, Saanen (Switzerland), 1977 ...

"There are these three things which we must understand: concentration, choiceless awareness, and attention. Concentration implies resistance – concentration on a particular thing, on the page you are reading, or on the phrase you are trying to understand: to concentrate, to put all your energy in a particular direction. That is one thing. I needn’t enlarge on that, need I? In that concentration there is resistance and therefore there is effort and division. I want to concentrate, thought goes off on something else, I bring it back. The fight. And if you love something you concentrate very easily. All that is implied in the word ‘to concentrate’, to put your mind on a particular object, or a particular picture, a particular action. That is one thing.

Choiceless awareness implies to be aware both objectively, outside, and inwardly, without any choice. Just to be aware of the colours, of the tent, of the trees, the mountains, nature – just to be aware. Not choose, say, ‘I like this’, ‘I don’t like that’ or ‘I want this’, ‘I don’t want that’. Right? To observe without the observer. The observer is the past, which is conditioned, therefore he is always looking from that conditioned point of view, therefore there is like and dislike, my race, your race, my god, your god, all the rest of it. We are saying to be aware implies to observe the whole environment around you, the mountains, the trees, the ugly walls, the towns, aware, look at it. And in that observation there is no decision, no will, no choice. Get it? You understand it?

And attention – concentration, choiceless awareness and attention. In attending there is no center. Right? You are completely attending. Are you now – if I may ask – attending to what is being said? If you are completely, totally attending there is no you who is attending – is there? You understand? If you are listening completely with your heart and with your blood, everything, there is no me attending. Right? There is no me which limits that attention. Then attention is limitless. Right? Therefore attention then has complete space."

MILAREPA ... A Pot and Hunters

MILAREPA

"A Pot and Hunters"

One day Milarepa happened to stumble outside his meditation cave Dragkar-taso while he was quite naked and carried an earthen pot - he was almost always quite naked. He slipped on a stone right outside the cave and fell down. The handle broke, the pot rolled away from him and broke asunder, but then another pot emerged from inside of the broken pot. The new pot was green and made of encrusted nettle soup that had fastened on the wall of the earthen pot. 

Now Milarepa understand how little lasting earthly things were, and sang a song:

"The pot of clay once existed, but now it does not.
This is how all things must pass sooner or later.
Therefore I shall carry on.
The pot was all I owned.
By breaking into a thousand pieces, it has become my guru (teacher)."

While he was singing, some other hunters passed by. They tried to get a meal at the cave, and said:
"Oh, how green and thin you are!"

They asked him for food, and while they ate, the youngest of them said, "Well, you appear to be strongly built, so why undergo such troubles and privations and denying yourself almost everything? If you take up a worldly career, you might be riding a horse, sting like a thorn-bush in combat, and subdue your enemies. By accumulating wealth you would be protecting your affectionate kindred, and you would be happy. Or you could get rich and happy from trading. At worst you could be a servant and get good food and clothing, and would be far better off than this. You don't seem to have known these things earlier. So set about it now."
One of the old hunters said, "He seems to be a very good devotee, and it is not likely that he will mind our worldly counsel. Better keep quiet." He turned to me: "Please sing us a song which will do good to our minds."

Milarepa answered, "You all seem to think me very miserable. But no one in the whole wide world is as happy as I am. And no one can boast of a nobler life. Listen," he said, and sang:

From a hymn by Milarepa (a rendering) ...

"This body owns my own altar: it is the chest.
There, within the alerted heart I see a triangle.
The mind's a horse in that inward land; it prances about and moves like the wind.
A lasso must be used to catch this horse,
Use "singleness of purpose" as that lasso.
Tie it, when caught, to the post of meditation.
Feed it with suitable teachings when it is hungry.
When it's thirsty, give it the stream of consciousness to drink.
When it's cold, keep it in the enclosure of sunyata.
Use the will for its saddle and intellect for its bridle.
Tie it to a fixed purpose.
Strengthen its vitality.
Its rider is keen watchfulness.
Mahayanic altruism is his helmet.
Learning and deep meditation are his coat of mail.
On his back he carries the shield of patience.
He holds aims in his hand like a long spear.
The sword by side is being astute and intelligent.
Lack of hate and wrath are his slim arrows,
And intellect made keen are their arrowheads.
Spiritual wisdom is the pliant bow.
Arrows that are shot forth, fall down among the nations.
They strike the faithful ones and slay [stupid, insolvency-bringing] selfishness.
Thus are our kindred protected.
This horse courses along the plain of happiness.
Its goal is to attain the Buddha state.
By running such a race, I'm carried on to Buddhahood.
I don't covet worldly happiness."

FROM: THE 1,000 SONGS

𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 ... 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲?

Artificial Intelligence ... 

What's Intelligent About Artificiality?

[Alt. Title: The Devil is Dancing a Jig]

When here we have Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj asserting that all acquired knowledge is ignorance ... "The knowledge 'I am' is the first ignorance and whatever knowledge you acquire with it is ignorance."

[If you are moved to get into that Saint's message, please do. See for yourself. CLICK to Read I AM THAT.

And, what is Artificial Intelligence if it's not acquired. And, here's the kicker ... it's artificial. It's not just phony, it's phony phony. That's Baloney!

So it seems we're going all in on artificial ignorance? The devil is dancing a jig. On our heads.

Even on a mundane, relative knock-on-wood level, shouldn't we be looking into what could possibly go wrong? Human error — read, those young, uber-bright techies who design the algorithms — human error, even with the best intentions, it too often comes up short with some "interesting" unintended consequences. Do I have to prove the fact of the ecological disaster we're making on this planet? 

If we can expect that even under the best circumstances, think about how using such information power could serve evil and criminal purposes. Just look at all the Internet scamming going on now. More of that, and way smarter to boot.

Let's draw it out into a possible [probable?] set of circumstances ...

Okay. So AI has the ability to know everything there is to know about you and me. Add to that the ability to sort all us you's and me's into categories. Which categories? You tell me. How about the category of people who will drive an hour for a Pizza, but won't stand in line for even 5 minutes. Who also, like to mix plaids in their wardrobe, prefer thong underwear, and have pronouns that can't even be spelled in the English alphabet. We're here, believe it. Get used to it!

It would be a craven marketers wet dream. "Have I got just what you've been looking for! ... In 4 easy payments!"

Or, our fearless leaders. Wouldn't they like to know what we're all about. The message could be tailored to ring all our right chimes. Do you even think now that the advertising your seeing on TV is the same as I'm seeing. It's called audience targeting. But, with AI, a whole hell of a lot more precise. 

And, heck, since our betters know all about us, and what makes us tick, what's say we tailor the rhetoric to push just the right buttons to get the hoi polloi to think what we want them to think.

With AI this is possible. I am, however, counting on the good heart of every damn living person to prevail. But, mass slavery has happening in history. Only, now, no need for whips and chains. I'm for a good heart. I'm not for having it tested by Big Brother.

That devil is dancing ... "PRAY"

PS There was a time when pay telephones were dotted everywhere in New York City. And, on every last one of them ... "PRAY", "WORSHIP", "REPENT" thinly scratched on the shiny bright metal plate. 

Seemed like an overzealous crazy person to me at the time. Now, way not so much crazy. Now, good advice. Real good.

Dearest Albert ...

from Albert Einstein ... 

“I didn't arrive at my understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe through my rational mind.”

“Concerning matter, we have been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. Matter is spirit reduced to point of visibility. There is no matter.”
"Time and space are not conditions in which we live, but modes by which we think."

"Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, determined by the external world."

“Time does not exist – we invented it. Time is what the clock says. The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
“I think 99 times and find nothing. I stop thinking, swim in silence, and the truth comes to me."

"The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, the solution comes to you and you don’t know how or why.”

"A human being experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

"Our separation from each other is an optical illusion."

“When something vibrates, the electrons of the entire universe resonate with it. Everything is connected. The greatest tragedy of human existence is the illusion of separateness.”

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

“We are souls dressed up in sacred biochemical garments and our bodies are the instruments through which our souls play their music.”

“When you examine the lives of the most influential people who have ever walked among us, you discover one thread that winds through them all. They have been aligned first with their spiritual nature and only then with their physical selves.”

“The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.”

“The ancients knew something, which we seem to have forgotten.”

“The more I learn of physics, the more I am drawn to metaphysics.”

“One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike. We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us. It is entirely possible that behind the perception of our senses, worlds are hidden of which we are unaware.”
“I’m not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books.”

"The common idea that I am an atheist is based on a big mistake. Anyone who interprets my scientific theories this way, did not understand them."

"Everything is determined, every beginning and ending, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper."

“The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It will transcend a personal God and avoid dogma and theology.”

“Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.”

“Everything is energy and that is all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you can not help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.”

"I am happy because I want nothing from anyone. I do not care about money. Decorations, titles or distinctions mean nothing to me. I do not crave praise. I claim credit for nothing. A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future."

AI ... The New Tower of Babel

AI. [BTW the logarithm is reading this.]

For my money AI is born out of the notion that information is good, more information is better. And, all the information is the best.

That's the devil's bargain. Just have all the facts, and have them lined up just right, and you're livin' the life of Riley. Utopia! 

Interesting to think, if you pull the plug AI is kaput. And, besides, does it all just boil down to having all the right words, arranged is all the right ways? I say ... no.

We once went to a supermarket when the computers were down. Everyone at the check outs were standing there, silent. Like the world stopped. Image that, writ large, when AI gets its plug pulled. 

Like everything science and technology have created, AI is just a thing. But, how it's used, that's the thing. 

Thank God Kamala Harris is on top of that domain. She'll do us proud, just like when she went way down South to tackle the "root causes". Whatever happened to that noble venture? Crickets. I doubt Veep has enough self awareness to understand the why's and wherefore's of anything, let alone what's off in the human venture. You name the topic.

Like how with yet another mass shooting. Guns are the problem. Never mind that there's a whole lot more going on before any gun used for ill purposes gets into any hand. 

Who is it that said we live in a sick society, and the compounded sickness is the system(s) we've jiggered to adapt to it. 

AI is the new Tower of Babel. Lots of words. Seductively arranged to seem to be significant and true. Seem. 

Yes, I get the appeal. Like AI can compute deeper and faster. To get what? Whatever. Some good ... great! Some ... not so much. Well, we can watch out for that. Kamala!

What is true? Maybe that's the question we should be asking. But, don't be fooled by me or anyone else who's claiming to say what that is. Pols don't have your soul interest in mind. Self interest. You and me ... we're treated like pawns in the game. 

Imagine this: IA can be used to collect data. On you and me. Heck, our purchase history, our browsing history can all be collected. Analyzed to a fare thee well. Not only down to what you look at, but the granular particulars on how long we stay on something, the pattern of our browsing style. The AGORITHM then aggregates all that into a picture. Then it can group all those with similar pictures into, well, groups. Predictable groups. Groups that can be manipulated. Oh, it gets better. Ones out to manipulate can learn just the right way to reach any particular bunching of us. Our blind spots particularly are vulnerable to being exploited. 

AI. It's here. Get used to it. It's queer. Even better. We would rather it be that way, nowadays. LGTPBQXYZ+ dig aside, that it's queer [in this usage, meaning "artificial"] is the seed of its own demise. No support for all its weight.

Ozymandias would agree.