Categories for World

The great silence

When we look back on the history of humanity from this point of view, we seem to see ourselves perched on a toppling Jenga tower of incredible coincidences. So many factors had to line up perfectly for us to come into existence; change just one and we would not be here. The effect is vertiginous, reminding us that everything we take for granted about our world is in fact radically contingent. Not only do life and human life not need to exist; it would be immensely more reasonable for them not to exist.

A few weeks ago i read the article The great silence: why haven’t we found any aliens yet? in the Guardian. Over the past years i have read posts and articles abut the Fermi paradox, which asks why, given the vast number of stars and potentially habitable planets in our observable universe, there is no clear evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations.

I enjoy reading the Guardian article. I enjoy seeing videos on Tiktok about these subjects. I follow many different science channels on Tiktok and Youtube. And cats of course. So here is an example of a tiktok post from Brian Cox.

@brian.cox368 Why Every Civilization Might Destroy Itself…#LordOfTheRings #ArchitectureDesign #BrianCox #usa #unitedstates ♬ original sound – BrianCox

Today i watched the third prequel Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. As far as i remember, i only saw it once or maybe twice before. It was my post of last week about The Art of Storytelling which made me wanna see it again and take a months subscription to Disney+. That and The Bear, a series i do enjoy lots.

That’s it for now. I will leave you a video with the Star Wars theme, a cat and a fluffy dinosaur. Enjoy!

@julesthetuxedo Dino trying to impress Jules ‍⬛ with his spaceship. ‍⬛ #funnyvideo #catsoftiktok #tuxedocat #jules #fyp ♬ The Imperial March (From "Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back") – Geek Music

Published on August 24, 2026 at 6:00 by
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This is water. This is water.

The real value of a real education [has] almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over:

‘This is water.’

‘This is water.’

It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out. Which means yet another grand cliché turns out to be true: your education really IS the job of a lifetime. And it commences: now.

I wish you way more than luck.

Source: This Is Water: David Foster Wallace on Life

Published on November 13, 2023 at 6:00 by
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Time and again

Time has grown into the most common way to divide the space given to you in this world. This is private time. That is time you spend on a job. This is time to cook your food. That is time you spend sleeping. This time you get paid for. That time you get not paid for.

Once a child is born into a family, that child becomes the clock that determines the spend time. Over time this child gets pushed mostly by school in the clock time we have all grown accustomed to. You pee, poop, eat and sleep by the determined laws of time.

This is not wrong. We all need to grow up and get into this shared time space. We humans have developed ways to measure time for thousands of years. The sun, the moon, the stars, nature surrounding us were all used for this. Now we use atomic clocks to measure the seconds ticking away. It is basically all the same.

In English the words time, person and year are the three most used nouns. A year is defined as a period of time, set by a single full rotation of Earth around the Sun. A person is an individual: man, woman or child. These three words set out the primary boundaries of our world.

Right now i am looking outside, looking at the trees standing out there, the sun shining on them. It is quiet. Time moves on. All the time.

I don’t know what my future will bring. I hope it will be something, i don’t want to be a derelict wreck heaped on the outside of humanity. I do think i need to solve something here, for myself. Solve a mystery. I don’t know if i will be able to do that. But I do need to let go of dreams i have of my life. They are so tempting. Wishing myself away. The last thing i want to do.

Published on March 25, 2022 at 6:00 by
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The Physics and Philosophy of Time

An interesting reading about the nature of time. He dismantles time taking apart four different aspects of time:

  1. Time is different in different areas of the universe, depending on the gravity experienced in that specific place.
  2. Now is a moment only experienced in small space in the universe. When we look at an event on Jupiter, we can only see it on this earth two hours after it has happened.
  3. Entropy always grows towards the future.
  4. Order is in the eye of the observer.

While i was looking into this video, i discovered Carlo Rovelli, the speaker, wrote a book The Order of Time published in 2018. I haven’t ordered it, but i might. I will look into this for a day or so longer.

Published on February 10, 2022 at 6:00 by
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What is present

This moment… relatively speaking, we can call it present. But if we look at the watch, then our minute consists of seconds. Seconds also can be divided to 60 pieces. Then, within one millisecond there is also past and future. So, half is past, half is future. No present. We cannot find the present. Without present, there is no basis for past and future. So, if we don’t investigate in such a way, then generally we can say “present”. Present minute means one minute period. Present hour means sixty minutes period. Today, present day, is 24 hours. Present month is 30 days. Isn’t it? Present eon is billions of years. Everything is relative.

Published on January 27, 2022 at 6:00 by
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Mad as hell

Yesterday morning i walked up to the train station. Halfway up there i noticed i was angry. Angry at the cars, angry at the people walking up without looking up or down, angry at the multitudes of people simply living their lives as they think they should, whereas i think it should be wildly different. And i am fucking right of course!

Yeah, i feel that way, sometimes. Most of the time i’m quiet, observing, listening rather than speaking. Not always though.

I was mad the whole journey yesterday. Angry at the urban planners making this country this pile up of cities and houses and industry areas and distribution centers and roads. So many roads. And traffic signs and stop signs.

I will stay calm. But inside me there is an angry knot of anger.

Just so you know!

Published on December 17, 2021 at 6:00 by
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Wu wei

Wu wei is a concept with its origin in old China meaning “inexertion”, “inaction”, or “effortless action”. Different meanings. From a non trying of things, a non doing of things to a with no conscious mind doing of things.

The way i lead my life is not very well thought out. Things happen to me, thoughts come into my mind, but finally i do what i do. It is not clearly envisaged beforehand. I know my money will be running out next year, but i am still not giving up.

This thought of wu wei is giving me hope. I am living very quietly, only meeting a few people each week. I am not going into any direction, i am standing still, here, in Rotterdam. Not wanting to go anywhere else. Not until i feel it’s the right time.

I try to live in this world with a generous nature. I try to say hello to most people i come across. Some simply walk me by. I don’t mind that. I am trying to write something here on this blog which makes sense. I often fail. But it is getting better. For the next two weeks i have some posts ready. I am working on a drawing, which i will post the last day of this year, Friday 24 December. I hope i can write more, cook something and make photographs.

I hope you will have a good weekend. Salute!

Published on December 10, 2021 at 6:00 by
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Omicron

It doesn’t stop. The virus keeps on mutating. The current mutation omicron, initially named B.1.1.529, is starting its spread around the world. It is already found in Belgium, Botswana, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, and the United Kingdom. In the Netherlands 13 cases are found this Sunday 28 November, who arrived from South-Africa last Friday.

I do feel the circle around me getting tighter. Three people who i occasionally see on the harvest market, had corona in the past two weeks. My life is quiet, so i’m not that obvious a victim for corona, but it does seem to be getting more and more infectious. Simply said, i don’t know. But i am not that worried about getting the disease. And if i do, i hope it won’t get too serious. My vaccinations should help me with that, hopefully.

And how do i feel now? I’m a bit down and then up again. A bit worried about myself mostly. And then i feel like i should be able to do something. Do something. What? Well, i’m still not burned up. I still have a bit of hope.

Published on November 29, 2021 at 6:00 by
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Just one bad thing going on in the world

I’m not out there living my life. I’m in here, in my temporary house, living quietly. But i do have some antenna’s out there. I do hear about things going on. These twitters from Tinkebell and some she repeated about what happened on Lesbos got to me. It seems to me there are so many things going wrong. And here i am worried that in eight or nine months my money will run out. That is not a good way to behave and think Ellen!

And just another thing
There was a demonstration in Rotterdam last Sunday 17 October 2021. I saw this photograph of it on the Erasmus bridge. It looks weird. One comment said the police wanted to identify the ‘anarchists’. The anarchists are being said to be people clothed in black. Uuh..??

Another article on openrotterdam.nl about this stating the left party Groenlinks (GreenLeft) is requesting a debate in the local council about the behaviour of the police and the ME on this demonstration.

A tweet saying there are questions about the police actions in the Tweede Kamer.

A post today in the left field online news outlet Joop Harde kritiek op gewelddadig optreden Rotterdamse politie bij woonprotest (Hard criticism on violent actions Rotterdam police at housing protest). Another post on the NOS website Verontwaardiging over politieoptreden tijdens woonprotest Rotterdam (Indignation about police actions during living protest Rotterdam).

Published on October 19, 2021 at 6:00 by
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