INTERESTING: IDK that there is episodic and semantic memory

Saturday, February 7, 2026

https://nautil.us/new-study-throws-a-wrench-in-our-understanding-of-memory-1264259/?_bhlid=e0d3c18d795d8b8a3c70ffdcc28c270df227359f

Neuroscience
New Study Throws a Wrench in Our Understanding of Memory
Some types of memories may not be stored as differently as we thought
By Jake Currie January 28, 2026

*** begin quote ***

Traditionally, explicit long-term memory (the intentional, conscious recollection of things and experiences) is divided into two subcategories: episodic memory and semantic memory. Episodic memory, as its name indicates, is the recollection of experiences—places, time, and the emotions associated with them. Semantic memory, on the other hand, is the recollection of general facts and information.

To put it simply, you rely on semantic memory to win a game of bar trivia, but you rely on episodic memory while recounting the story of your victory to friends. Or at least that’s what psychologists believed. New research from the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham and the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge published this week in Nature Human Behavior is blurring the lines between the two.

*** end quote ***

I find the whole lack of understanding of “humans” quite amazing and quite unfathomable.  We know so little about how we perceive “reality”.  And, the more is learned about quantum mechanics, the less of what we know is correct.  Newton’s Laws of Motion are “wrong” when in “quantum mechanics”.

Birds see colors that we can’t; dogs hear what we can’t; and we can’t even understand “intelligence” in other species.

Sigh!

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INSPIRATIONAL: Happiness … …

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

… … this quote reminded me of an incident in my life.

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy.’ They told me I didn’t understand the assignment; and I told them they didn’t understand life.” — John Lennon

I was in Katholick Skrule don’t remember what grade —  probably 4th or 5th —  and there was a lot of “pro-life” stuff going on.  Some factual; some propaganda.  Facts were facts, but propaganda was “opinions”.   The Catholic News, sermons form the pulpit, and some school lessons were about abortion. Anyway, long story short, at some point in time, we were given a test and the “question” was “what is YOUR opinion about abortion”.  And, I remember struggling with that.  Anyway, I had formed an opinion that it was horrible and anyone who did it must be under terrible metal duress.  Either crazy or hopeless.  I knew from Heinlein’s Science Fiction (“Beyond This Horizon”) that survival of the species is the Prime Directive, adaption / improvemnt was good, and eugenics was a really tricky subject.  <<Yeah, I was a reader of stuff far beyond my age appropriate stuff and my peers!>>. 

So, to answer the question, I wrote (and I remember it VIVIDLY): “In my opinion, abortion is morally wrong, but someone must be crazy or under duress to do it.  In any event, it’s not my place to judge.”

When the test came back, I got a #$%^&# F!

I protested to the teacher and the principal But got no where.

When I took it home to get my Mom’s signature, she was very disappointed.  But when I asked her: “How can my opinion be wrong?  Did I not understand my opinion or lied about it?”.  

She was speechless.  (I believe my uncles were laughing in the background.)

I said: “The question wasn’t “what the Chruch’s opinion was”, the Pope’s, the Principal’s, or what was Cannon Law.  (Yeah we had heard about that too!)

So Monday morning, she went into work late and took me to the Principal’s office and had me repeat my argument.  Maybe she being there made a difference, you was a feisty gal in her prime.  But my grade went from F to A since there was no objective measure of “correctness”.  (In fact everyone got some relief as the question was thrown out and rewritten to what the Church’s position was.)

Ever since then, I have never treated “arguments from authority” (one of the logical fallacies)  with anything but an opinion subject to verification.

Guess that counts for my crankiness?

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INSPIRATIONAL: Surgeon Saved His Life as a Teenage Immigrant

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/a-surgeon-saved-his-life-as-a-teenage-immigrant-now-they-operate-together-for-charity-in-ethiopia/?utm_source=newsletter.goodnewsnetwork.org&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newborn-seals-strike-a-pose&_bhlid=ea31a3722d85b0f5607e35bb57c75f12874b42ea

A Surgeon Saved His Life as a Teenage Immigrant. Now They Operate Together for Charity in Ethiopia
By Andy Corbley – Jan 13, 2026

*** begin quote ***

One can imagine it didn’t take much for him to make room in his schedule to return to Ethiopia to do surgeries through the nonprofit Heart Attack Ethiopia. On the first surgery mission trip a couple of years ago, Mesfin surprised Dr. Jim Kauten, who was also there at the time.

“That was especially nice in my mind,” Kauten said. “For him to be able to pay back to his community services that he received in the United States, and he was able to pay it back in Ethiopia.”

As well as providing a key service in the operating theater, the native Amharic-speaker acts as the social glue between volunteer surgeons and patients, children like he once was, unable to understand or talk to his benefactors. His translations help put the patients at ease and stitch both sides of the volunteer team together.

*** end quote ***

Sometimes we never know who benefits or how they benefit.  In this case, there was a great feedback loop. The lack of feedback should never discourage charity. 

Have you heard that old Irish adage about “good works only count if done in secret”. Funny, I learned that from my maternal English Protestant grandmother who wanted to teach me about my maternal grandfather’s “heathen Irish culture that has a few good points”. ROFL!

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INSPIRATIONAL: The largest underwater structure ever discovered in France rewrites history?

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/p/7000-year-old-underwater-wall-raises?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2863167&post_id=184352981&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=58ecz2&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

7,000-year-old underwater wall raises questions about ancient engineering — and lost-city legends

  • Scientists found a massive underwater wall off the coast of France that might help explain the origin of the legend of Ys.

Big Think By Frank Jacobs
Jan 13, 2026

*** begin quote ***

The structure consists of some 60 massive granite monoliths, set directly onto the bedrock in pairs at regular intervals. Smaller slabs and packing stones fill in the gaps, locking the whole into a single, deliberate construction. With an estimated total mass of around 3,300 tons, this is the largest underwater structure ever discovered in France.

The team named it TAF1, after Toul ar Fot, the Breton term for this stretch of sea (in English: “Hole of the Wave.”)

TAF1 is not just massive; it’s ancient as well. By reconstructing ancient shorelines, researchers dated the wall to between 5,800 and 5,300 B.C. That’s centuries older than Stonehenge, and millennia older than the pyramids of Giza.

*** end quote ***

Once again demonstrating how little humanity knows about anything, in this case about the past.  Stunningly pushing back the “oldest” label from Stonehenge.  (I’ve seen it personally and, as a fat old white guy injineer, all I could think was “NFW did humans do this without heavy equipment”!  Some smart people have found that with sand and wobbling big <synonym for excrement> could be moved.  But vast distances?  Here’s an example of “hunter gatherers” doing big construction.  

Bottom line:  Where there is a will; there’s a way.  And, don’t underestimate any human no matter what you think, they are geniuses just waiting to prove your pre-conceived notions wrong.

“People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” George Bernard Shaw

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INSPIRATIONAL: Johan van Hulst spent the rest of his 107-year life haunted by the children he couldn’t save.

Sunday, January 4, 2026

May be an image of text that says 'Weird ፕየብዮ He ran a a school eside a nursery holding Jewish children awaiting deportation. For months, he passed babies over a hedge to safety, saving over 600 lives. What tortured him wasn't the risk or the fear-but choosing which children lived today, and which he had to leave to die.'

*** begin quote ***

Weird but True

This is the story of Johan van Hulst – the teacher who smuggled babies out of a Nazi deportation center for months, and spent the rest of his 107-year life haunted by the children he couldn’t save.

Amsterdam, 1942. 

Johan van Hulst was 31 years old when the Nazis turned his neighbor into a death sentence.

*** and ***

Van Hulst had to choose which children to save.

The crèche held dozens, sometimes hundreds of children. The resistance could only handle a few at a time—they needed families willing to hide them, false papers, transportation, safe houses.

So every day, van Hulst had to pick.

Which baby gets saved today? Which toddler goes over the hedge this afternoon? Which children have to wait—knowing that waiting might mean they’re deported before you can come back for them?

How do you make that choice?

Van Hulst later said in an interview:
“I took twelve children with me. Later on, I asked myself: ‘Why not thirteen?'”

That question haunted him for 75 years.

*** end quote ***

What would you do?  What would I do?

We have a similar situation going on today in Gaza and the Ukraine.

And what are we doing?

I’m only one odd soul and all I can do is tell my “elected representatives” that if they don’t cut funding for these wars, I’m not voting for them in the next election.  I can only imagine the impact if all 350 MILLION citizens echoed the same message.

Dona Nobis Pacem

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INSPIRATIONAL: Nothing can tell us why someone is the way they are

Thursday, January 1, 2026

https://www.makeuseof.com/84-years-later-this-is-still-cinemas-greatest-one-word-mystery/?user=bXVvQHJlaW5rZS5jYw&lctg=28d2ed2b3c7a64795f347195bfd302ab46e112a2d0fa032e2ba5de55cc388ab7

84 years later, this is still cinema’s greatest one-word mystery
By Dan Selcke
Published 1 day ago << EDITOR ADDED DATE 2025-11-26>>

  • “Rosebud” is emblematic of the fact that the puzzle can never be solved
  • No one thing can tell us why someone is the way they are

*** begin quote ***

Kane becomes an incredibly accomplished person, but he’s always unsatisfied. He builds a newspaper dynasty, but the money isn’t enough. He runs for governor of New York, but the adulation of the people isn’t enough. He marries twice, but family isn’t enough. “Rosebud” seems to reveal what would have been enough. Kane was robbed of his childhood. He wanted to be a kid and grow up with his parents’ love in his life. If he can only go back in time and fix what happened to him when he was 8 years old, then he could be happy, but he can’t, so he never will be.

*** end quote ***

“Rosebud”?

Doesn’t everyone have something in their past that they wish they could go back and change?

“If he can only go back in time and fix what happened to him when he was 8 years old, then he could be happy, but he can’t, so he never will be.”

That really rings true in my life and I bet in most people’s life.

I wrote about the concept in my Magnum Opus.

“… checked the Eternal Possibilities Machine, which generates all the possibilities for use in creating the alternative worlds. In all those probability lines …” CHURCH 10●19●62 (Vol 1) 978-0-557-08387-9 page 45

Were there such a tool like the “Eternal Possibilities Machine” so we could see the “alternative worlds” that would give us the most happiness.  Were it possible to go back and fix these “mistakes”.  But there isn’t and that’s an eternal fact of life.

“You have to play the hand you’re dealt; not the one you could have had.  (Don’t regret what could have been; you might have been hit by a bus!)  And certainly don’t envy somebody else’s ’cause you don’t know what you don’t know’.  Their hand always turns out to be worse than yours.  In other words, there’s always always some one worse off and some one better off. Get over it and move on!” — Anonymous 

“My love, were it in my power, I would sadly grant thee this boon. But, we have to continue to follow His Plan for us. Let’s go forth and speak no more of this. Who ever is last will be last. It will be His choice; not ours. We’re but humble custodians of His temple on earth. It’s not our place to trump His plan. Whatever that plan be, know that I will be with you to my last breath.” — character “John” in CHURCH 10●19●62 Volume 2 Page 399

At this time of year, I always get sad, maudlin, and sappy.  It’s now “easy” to see the mistakes.  

“I think we all wish we could erase some dark times in our lives. But all of life’s experiences, bad and good, make you who you are. Erasing any of life’s experiences would be a great mistake.” — Luis Miguel

I’ve always thought there are NO “mistakes” in life.  There are choices we’ve made based on incomplete dikw (i.e., data, information, knowledge, wisdom) or choices made in haste or choices that were “against the odds”.  

“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.” – Jean-Luc Picard

“There are no regrets in life. Just lessons.” – Jennifer Aniston

“So, pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile.” — a World War I marching song written in 1915 by George Henry Powell and his brother Felix Powell.

[FJR: Writing this makes me feel better.]

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INSPIRATIONAL: Explore all the particles that make up the Standard Mode

Monday, December 29, 2025

https://join1440.com/t/standard-model?pinned-resource=explore-all-the-particles-that-make-up-the-standard-model&user_id=66c4b9c55d78644b3a882a4d

FROM 1440 https://join1440.com/

*** begin quote ***

Since our ancient human relatives began using stone tools to perform tasks, humans have harnessed scientific knowledge and new technologies to expand the boundaries of our understanding of the natural world. 

*** end quote ***

This reminds me of THE “perodic table” and the fact there are different ones.   

And yet we know so little.  And, in our “clumsy” ignorance, we fiddle with what we don’t understand. 

Luckily, we have wiped out humanity … … YET?

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INSPIRATIONAL: The public domain is a priceless resource … … 

Saturday, December 27, 2025

https://standardebooks.org/about/standard-ebooks-and-the-public-domain

*** begin quote ***

The public domain is a priceless resource for all of us, and for the generations after us. It’s a free repository of our culture going back centuries—a way for us to see where we came from and to chart where we’re going. It represents our collective cultural heritage.

In the past, copyright was a limited boon, designed not to enrich a creator and their children’s children a hundred years from now, but rather to allow a creator to profit by granting a temporary monopoly on reproduction, in exchange for their work to be returned to the public after a few years. Our ancestors—in fact, the framers of the U.S. Constitution—recognized that art builds on art, and that locking up culture benefits a handful but harms the greater public.

Today, large corporations are putting a lot of money into twisting our laws to slowly but surely strangle the public domain, making it increasingly remote and inaccessible so they can continue seeking rent on ideas and culture nearly a century old. Today laws lock up work not just for the author’s entire lifetime, but for the lifetime of their children, and their children. Copyright can’t enrich the dead, but it can enrich powerful corporations … at our—at everyone’s—expense.

*** end quote ***

This site has lots of free classic content. (It has to be in the 100,000’s count.) I like it for old SciFi classics that I read as a child. It’s a shame that Big Publishing keeps locking up content with ever expanding copyright legislation. I wish this was available when I was in school. Now if they just had textbooks, then I’d never have had to take the subway to the library, Laugh!

P.S.: I put a little money into this site to keep it going.

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INSPIRATIONAL: Don’t be affected by skepticism … … 

Thursday, December 25, 2025

See caption

*** begin quote ***

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_Virginia,_there_is_a_Santa_Claus

In 1897, Philip O’Hanlon, a surgeon, was asked by his eight-year-old daughter, Virginia O’Hanlon, whether Santa Claus existed. His answer did not convince her, and Virginia decided to pose the question to The Sun.[7] Sources conflict over whether her father suggested writing the letter,[8] or she elected to on her own.[7] In her letter Virginia wrote that her father had told her “If you see it in The Sun it’s so.”[8] O’Hanlon later told The Sun that her father thought the newspaper would be “too busy” to respond to her question and had said to “[w]rite if you want to,” but to not be disappointed if she got no response.[9] After sending the letter she looked for a response “day after day”.[9] O’Hanlon later said that she had waited for an answer to her letter for long enough that she forgot about it. Campbell theorizes the letter was sent shortly after O’Hanlon’s birthday in July and was “overlooked or misplaced” for a time.[10][a]

*** and ***

Church’s response began: “Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age.” He continued to write that Santa Claus existed “as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist” and that the world would be “dreary” if he did not. Church argued that just because something could not be seen did not mean it was not real: “Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.” He concluded that:[23]

*** end quote ***

“Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.” — Francis Church in The Sun on September 21, 1897

So true!

I always use “electricity” when I have to respond to any child’s question about reality.

Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, The Great Pumpkin, an honest politician, or jumbo shrimp … … … … 

“Well, I am an electrical engineer and I KNOW electricity is real, but I can’t see it.  Why can’t other things, that we can’t see, be real?”

It’s worked for me so far, and I can’t imagine what I’ll say then. 

Merry, Happy, or just Seasonal Greetings, what ever you celebrate.

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INSPIRATIONAL: Nikolai Vavilov was.a pioneer that was killed for his efforts

Tuesday, December 9, 2025

https://nautil.us/the-botanist-who-defied-stalin-238183/

The Botanist Who Defied Stalin

  • His dream of feeding the world died in prison. His dream of a seed bank lives on.

By Lee Alan Dugatkin April 21, 2021

*** begin quote ***

Vavilov, and those who starved at the VIR, could only have dreamed of the technology required to build and maintain a seed vault inside a mountain that sits in the permafrost of Spitsbergen, a remote Norwegian island 1,300 kilometers north of the Arctic circle. But the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the futuristic version of what Vavilov had begun in 1921. Dubbed the Doomsday Vault, with a proclaimed mission to serve as “a global seed vault to serve as a backup storage facility … to store duplicates (backups) of seed samples from the world’s crop collections,” it opened in 2008, as a repository that would ultimately contain all the world’s crop plant genetic diversity. That vault is capable of storing 4.5 million different varieties of plants within its temperature controlled, -18 degrees Celsius facilities: With an average of 500 seeds per sample, that’s 2.5 billion seeds. Precisely the sort of place that Vavilov had dreamed of.

As of today, 1,074,537 samples from around the globe sit in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Among those samples are 60 boxes from depositor 1739365, the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Plant Industry. In those boxes lay samples from 148 species and 41 genera of domesticated plants collected from 109 countries. Many are the descendants of the seeds Vavilov himself collected.

*** end quote ***

Reading this article, one can only wonder what could have been if he was in a “capitalist” country like at the time England or the USA was.  Hard to imagine what he went thru to collect samples.  Humanity may not know his name, but his genetic “children” live on forever.

So sad to read all these dedicated people dying of basically starvation and political persecution.  

Next time someone extolls Communism or Socialism, they should be directed to read this.

“Capitalism” may be “bad” and have “flaws”, but Communism, and Socialism aka Communism “lite”, are horrendously worse.  

“The greatest fallacy of democracy is that everyone’s opinion is worth the same.” — Robert A. Heinlein

“Capitalism is a moral system because it offers individual freedom. You choose what you want. You choose your money and where you want it to go. You can be yourself. Socialism is groupthink. Step outside the group straightjacket and freedom ends.” —Stuart Varney

“The answer certainly isn’t socialism. Middle-class voters currently presume that elites already control the government—so why would they want to give the bureaucracy any more power?” — RAHM EMANUEL was the 44th mayor of Chicago

“We all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor.” — Martin Luther King Jr

This man was an outstanding example of courage and determinatiom.  We should all be like him even in the smallest ways possible.

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