Compassion, science research and horses

 I used to ride train and compete horses. When I took my first test I was amazed at their anatomy and physiology and could not get over the fact that their legs are not elongated ankles but elongated middle fingers and toes. They are running on their fingers. Millions of years of evolution yet still incredible.

Their legs work like a spring loaded mechanism supported by a pulley system of tendons and ligaments. That advantage is their biggest flaw; no supporting muscle structure means that their legs can shatter rather than break and because they weigh close to a ton as adults, three legs cannot support that weight nor can they run.

The advantage that a lot of money in the race horse industry brought is research into prosthetics, braces and other devices to help young foals. Contracted tendons are not uncommon in Foals and with a lot of care and great stables and people they get a normal life.

If a foal is born that way and the owner has funds compassion and round the clock care; feeding or lifting the foal every two hours. Paying for custom made prosthetics and hoof supports that need to change frequently as the little one grows until the tendons have stretched. 

The outcome is a horse with a life that it evolved and was bred to have. This is not AI or AI enhanced but the same foal. Reddit thread also has an explanation of the condition. It's no longer life-threatening, but depends on how much effort the owner will invest.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Positivity/comments/1j79wju/a_disabled_little_horse_brought_back_to_life/

Incredible what compassion can achieve and what a beautiful gait it turned out to have.

A little buddhism

 

When I first encountered Buddhism it was the westernized new age California version based on South East Asian belief systems (India Nepal etc). Steeped in Karma for a next life and the one most of us are familiar with. Which deal mostly with the self rather than those around us.

I later met a friend who is a generational buddhist from a different country and was taught about what this lifestyle actually is. It is almost impossible to teach to those who didnt grow up with it. A completely different behavior. Primarily there to be compassionate and prevent and alleviate suffering. One's own as well as those of others. In parallel. It is much less about aiming for enlightenment or improving oneself for the next life. That is a very Indian approach or one reserved for monks.

Authentic Buddhism gives joy to others and reduces their pain. Giving food is one of the basic pillars. It alleviates suffering. As is giving shelter. And one must do so. It goes beyond that. Freedom from materialistic attachment doesn't mean not coveting nice things. It means the following: 

Joy and I talk about anything from books to crafts to calligraphy to life. I always write down recommendations and she insisted that I read some of the books she had recommended. I asked for the author and she was evasive. Odd I thought. The next time I visited she gifted me the books. I am supposed to give you my copy; that is the buddhist way, she explained, but thought it's alright to buy them for you. Not accepting them would have been an insult.

A person is given something that they need or want, obviously within reason and not what someone else thinks one needs.

Of course it's more complex than that, but I remind myself to hold on to the values of compassion and giving in this crazy greedy world.

Today in the news I read that a wealthy trophy hunter was trampled by a herd of elephants. Then reminded myself that my reaction wasn't nice. I looked at some most enjoyable Gary larson cartoons and figured I probably need a few more lifetimes.

Work in progress.

Good omens series

 I read Terry Pratchett as a teen along with Poul Anderson. The books were light simple prose, lots of puns and amusing at the time. 

I therfore did not have any interest in watching good omens. The show is similarly light but watchable with some interesting cgi and an incredible performance by David Tennant who is finally able to show his full range of acting. There are several nods to Dr. Who in the series.

It made me think about good vs evil and how much of the conversation is resurfacing lately. This is an enjoyable welcome antidote. Sometimes silly, sometimes displaying irritation and sarcasm in the most pythonesque way imaginable. Very reminiscent of Douglas Adams. 

I'm leaving out any conversation about the other author because the book was written by Pratchett and the series reflects that style quite closely.

As an adult I probably got a lot more out of it. It's been updated for modern times and the jokes were most welcome. Fun.

Creative future?

 

My prompt:
"Representation of AI"
through an image generator

I woke up the other day to find that my phone had updated and changed the color scheme. Anyone else?

I now had garish fluorescent pinks and yellows that clashed with everything else and made everything difficult to read. Spent a little while changing it to more usable colors.

Then thought of the color prompts some of my readers use as writing prompts. An idea that was interesting in painting prompts for my art journals, was using a bunch of color swatches to glue in and alter. It was an interesting experiment, but the names made me chuckle "caramel cashmere" to evoke luxury of painting your walls beige.

Then came LED lights that I couldn't paint under until enough people complained and a less harsh blue offered the option of the incandescent warm light I grew up with. Walking by windows that had installed those neon bulbs that changed colors for atmosphere. My artists eye doesn't find it relaxing.

Much of this is is using us as human experiments testing for the future of a digital world that will make "real" fake and prepare human sensory perception for the magenta color separation of printers. 

These are not good changes. Because many of these colors do not exist in the real world. 

Our environment is being altered. We get to run a maze of click here, watch this. The public is barely amazed at the new Artemis 2 images because CGI has already created better images for science fiction.

I was certain that reading a lot of blogs in which knitting is talked about would give me more suggested ads about knitting. Oddly it didn't. Knitting is a favorite hobby among many, but I assume not one that the textile industry invests marketing dollars in.

I was watching a heartwarming video of a hummingbird rescue (the ingenuity of a popsicle stick and duct tape...)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=E9MxTo1W2PY

And was completely distracted by other rescue videos below it. Horrific abused animals and mangled AI creatures of the you won't believe...sensationalism. Scientists cannot explain type of AI slop.

The image above was text to image generated. I prompted it several times and kept getting an unrealistic female form with Metropolis movie vibes.

So I'm being told what colors to like. What hobbies I should be interested in. I'm being shown an aesthetic that isn't mine. Shown images that I consider disturbing. This is what a small group of non-creatives are telling the rest of us to like and thereby limiting our choices.

Artemis 2 First thoughts

 I decided to watch what overachiever can accomplish that benefits mankind rather than focus on the underachievers that destroy those accomplishments.

We live in a society that values wealth above all else.  Just the day before I asked a young man whether he'll watch the re-entry.  No he replied then talked about Ferraris.

This is were we went wrong. The worship of wealth rather than achievement.

In order to not be confronted with what is going on in the world I've been watching science fiction and action movies. It works while I watch but then it's back to reality.

This mission however lingers. It's real. We did iit and i got to witness this incredible moment in human history. While a philosopher will say that there is no such thing as perfection it was perfect and precise. Every single step worked as planned. Every solar panel, moment drogue and parachute deployed as scheduled.

Women in STEM with a calm and reassuring demeanor working communication. Astronauts who smile and hug, yet disciplined beyond human endurance.

Welcome home, Team Moon joy. Welcome home.

Can I pet the cat?

This made me smile and laugh. A lot of video gamers are pet owners and have been asking video game developers to produce games were they can interact with cats and dogs.

Well a game called crimson desert in which you can choose your missions (I haven't played it yet) allows you to pet and feed the cats and dogs make them your companions buy them hilarious outfits and if the player figures out how there's even a way to build an army of cats.

Here's a one minute video

https://youtube.com/shorts/ekymji1mIa4

Cute indeed.

War machine

 We watched the action flick War machine (2026) with Alan Ritchson. I needed something light and it delivered. It's a fast paced action movie (get your popcorn) with a lot of suspended disbelief, but leave your brain at the door and it delivers. Basically, walk in to be entertained and nothing else. I would recommend it as a good action flick to friends of mine who like them.

I watch these types of movies on occasion to shut off. Then why am I writing about it?

There is no character development. The script or dialogue is so bad that it made me cringe. After all the reason movies have memorable quotes that rarely occur in real life in the moment is because screenwriter have months or years to think about that great line or quip.

It's actually not dumb I told spouse the next day. It doesn't have the satire of Starship Troopers a commentary on how we put very attractive stupid people into recruitment propaganda because war is great. It lacks the depth of saving private Ryan or the brilliant Hurt locker.

The commentary is there though. A few spoilers ahead. The soldiers are numbers in fact they dont even address each other by name. The dehumanization of war. The utter disposability of human lives. The fine line between heroic efforts and wanting to quit. The anti-hero doesn't want to bond or become emotionally attached to others again. As to the bad dialogue. Reality is like that. There are no great speeches.

Career soldiers cant function well in society. PTSD is a running theme. 81 the antihero doesn't want the responsibility of leadership. For newbies experiencing trauma for the first time, it needs to be processed, rather than focusing on survival.

I don't like gore. But in this case it's not gratuitous, but shows the actual horror of what we put these soldiers through; bond with your team so you can rely on them then watch a best buddy...

To defeat a common enemy natural resources are used. In fact ammunition makes it worse and a simple mechanical solution works better than weapons. 

There is a scene that is utterly ridiculous, the hero needs medical care and no one notices. However, if viewed as a metaphor it's what we do to vets. 

The movie is simple and straightforward. Using a common alien enemy that attacks makes it more palatable. Humans have no choice in this case. Courage and bravery are a necessity. And then soldiers are patched up to do it all over again.

War machine does not reinvent the wheel. It's a War machine up against a literal War machine. The reluctant hero has a journey, he's both a leader and a rescuer. It's a metaphor of life set a goal do not quit get to the finish line. Repeat.

It's not a great movie, but I do recommend it.

I'm focusing on the lives of these men and women and ask that politicians are not discussed.

Chocolate Eggs

In keeping with an egg theme, I thought I'd share my weird little habit. Whenever I'm in Europe I pick up a few Kinder surprise eggs. Sometimes Kinder "schokoladen". Europe permits the sale of the ones with really small parts and tiny stickers rather than figurines.

I can see how they would be a choking hazard but I was never tempted to eat anything but the chocolate as a child. They still smell the same and I immediately get a memory of childhood. There's a method to unwrapping them. The foil is peeled off the chocolate egg split in half the little plastic container is pried open or squeezed to open.

The newer ones have some fairly elaborate engineering with moving parts that don't fit together as one would imagine. I try figuring out the various mechanisms without instructions and time myself. The Avatar dragon had a printed piece of fabric that went between the parts that snap together than hook into little hooks. I don't collect them but they're fun.

The chocolate is worse, but my inner child is having fun.

Moon Orbit:Artemis 2

 

Courtesy NASA

On April 1, 2026 the Artemis 2 launched into space. A collaborative mission between the US, Canada and the ESA. It will be the farthest that human beings have ever traveled.

It is the culmination of the cream of the crop that meritocracies and democracies can produce. Every Astronaut has multiple degrees, can pilot and probably has the most stable mental health imaginable.

This mission will test whether solar wings can sufficiently charge their on board battery among many other scientific experiments.

It is sadly overshadowed by world events and the usual bickering about why are we going to space when we have so many problems on earth? Because the amount of applicable science these public programs have given us from space blankets to prosthetics cannot be measured. And they do it on a shoestring budget.

One of the missions involves gathering data that relates to heliophysics. How the sun is affecting earth and potentially climate change. This mission was planned over a decade ago.

Forget what billionaires are rambling about. No one is colonizing any celestial object anytime soon. But mining asteroids or even Mars is a future possibility for us. This idea has been around since at least the 50s. Once robot machinery leaves earth's gravity fuel costs are minimal. Mars is red because it's iron heavy. It also has trapped water. Just some food for thought.

For anyone interested NASA has a great site on the mission and the bios of these astronauts as well as a live stream.

GODSPEED, Artemis 2. May you and the crew return home safely.

Customer service and tipping

 I met Matt in his hybrid Cafe, when a customer stormed out and Matt exclaimed: Everyone is crazy. What happened to people why is everyone crazy?. A customer had picked up something to drink and thrown the change on the counter. Matt told me it felt mean but he made this about 19 year old pick up the change and place it properly on the little dish.

We talked about customer service for a long time. I had spent many summers working in clothing stores as a student. The customer was always king. I had picked clothing stores because I liked interacting with people. The commission was great and I made more than I would have in a student research position. We didn't idle around. On quiet days we folded, shelved and made everything look neat. I was trained that even if a customer spent two hours trying something and buying nothing, that customer if treated well, will come back to buy something. Despite the fact that it was minimum pay and heavily customer oriented we obviously never got tipped.

Many years later during caregiving there were stretches with my father where food delivery was the only option, to get any cooked meal into both of us, especially during covid. The meds was making him loopy and aggressivethe more food i got into him, the more lucid he became. I would order and after a few snafus decided to wait outside. Cranky exhausted beyond physical endurance I still managed to be friendly.

I was hustled and scammed by the delivery guys. There was no compassion or understanding. The proverbial last straw. I was lied to. I had paid the delivery and service charge and considering that regular customers like me were keeping restaurants above water, I expect customer service. Delivery guys would show up three hours late with cold food. They would ignore instructions and wake my father. They would walk into wrong buildings. If I paid a certain amount they would try to weasel an extra ten out of me by telling me that the receipt was wrong.

One in particular saw that I was injured (happened while care giving) and wouldn't drive into the driveway but wait for me to limp toward him. Why? So when I switched to COD he could give me back the wrong amount where it was not well lit. Another delivered something worth 20 showed me some number in a foreign language and demanded a forty dollar tip pretending not to speak English. Another guy told me that he was earning three bucks an hour and had to pay fuel costs. Restaurants who offered a lunch time discount ended up with deliveries past five so that the driver would scoop the difference. The delivery company handled all of this so that restaurants weren't even aware this was happening.

That there was a senior going hungry; no one cared about.

When I asked a really nice guy he told me that they get minimum but a bonus for number of deliveries per hour. Any fuel or vehicle cost was carried by the company. The drivers had gotten public support by lying and telling sobstories. The entitlement was unbelievable. In dire circumstances I was forced to tip and feel sorry for them, but what about me?

There was a problem. The company wasn't paying them their tips. They got successfully sued. (I'll post the article again when I find it), but in the interim the customer got the brunt of that by being asked to triple tip. The customer has no responsibility about how a company treats their employees.

I'm still angry and my support has changed. I thought of my customer service days. I would have never treated a customer that way. In a restaurant if a waiter kept screwing up an order or provided bad service he would have gotten the 10 percent. But a waiter is cleaning tables and actually doing much more than bringing a bag from a to b. And when a senior's life depends on it? No tolerance.