Dog Tag – This week I managed to stick to my 5 to 6 mile daily walks. One of those was my walking home from some shopping at Trader Joe’s which is very near 7-miles away. Marcia drove the shopping home and she got to thinking. Thinking about the fact that I normally don’t carry any ID on me; long story short, arriving home I was informed that she’s going to get me a ‘dog-tag’.

Coffee’s done! Coffee time!

Deep thoughts – Walks have been switching between music and podcasts. Yesterday it was a discussion between Dr. Jordan Peterson and Dr. Karl Friston on Perception: Chaos and Order. Living on the corner of Chaos & Mayhem (please smile here), I perked up immediately. More than that though, it was of interest since Dr. Friston, a British neuroscientist at University College London, is one of the most highly cited scientists of all time and I wanted to listen these two intelligent people ‘fire’ back and forth.

I wasn’t disappointed. Barely two minutes into the hour and a half discussion came the first ‘zinger’. Friston walked through a concept of Free Energy; he sees ‘Free Energy’ as in part being the concept of Surprise. Surprise as one way we begin to bring sense-making (energy) to the brain as it views Chaos about it and we start to grapple with what we hadn’t known previously. Wow!

Deep Enjoyment – I mentioned that I’d been switching between Podcasts and Music; hence, now a bit about my week in music. I’d been familiar with Jon Batiste since I watched him perform on Austin City Limits. It was some of the ‘bits’ he performed in-between his popular stuff which I wanted to explore further; so, Spotify to the rescue. Let me first say that I can be fairly cynical and that much of what is out there in today’s music I view as unlistenable, i.e. as crap.

My deep dive into the music of Batiste had me awestruck. His origins in New Orleans come through as he goes seamlessly into both Jazz and Dixieland. I fell in love with his classical piano, and his last century Swing interpretations. He didn’t stop there though, as I realized I’d was listening to Batiste recordings of R&B, Soul, Gospel and even Salsa music.

Talking later with Kirstin she asked if I had heard him perform the Beatles song Blackbird. I hadn’t and she sent me a link. Here it is. Enjoy:

And, since I’m in the mood, have a listen to the ‘blow your socks off’ finale of his Austin City Limits performance; Tell the Truth:

Appennine Colossus – is a 40-foot tall sculpture was created by the Flemish sculptor Jean de Boulogne on the grounds of the estate Villa Demidoff in Vaglia, Tuscany in Italy around 1580. The interior has a series of spaces built in, large enough to accommodate some intimate concerts. It represents the personification of the nearby Apennine Mountains. It was recently restored and opened for public viewing. When I ran across this bit of news, what struck me is that at a time of only manpower and limited tools such amazing works of art were produced. Thought I’d share.

Harira Soup – This evening the ‘Nati part of the Pastoor clan will gather to celebrate a Fall Dinner (thanks Cathy). I wanted to contribute and have selected a vegetarian version of what I’m told is Morocco’s most popular soup. Reading the list of herbs and spices began my mouth watering. Guess what I’ll be working on beginning at noon. Next week you’ll get a full report!

Here is the full recipe:

Quote of the Week:

In 1948 when Al Gore was born, earth had 130,000 glaciers. Today, just 73 years later, only 130,000 glaciers remain. ~ Annonymous. [Gore also predicted (1992) that we had just 10-years to save the world. He was not close to being a billionaire before he became a climate activist.] Follow the money.

Fini –

• Good grief. I had no idea what people were talking about with, “Indigenous People’s Day”, I just found out that it’s the replacement for Columbus Day. So:

• My growing up hero, Sir Winston Churchill. This photo is of a young Winston, then a 2nd Lieutenant of the 4th Queem’s Own Hussars, Beaumont Barracks in 1895 at age 21 (it seems his pay, then, was £300 per year).

• For my Canadian friends forced to buy beer from a very limited selection, from government controlled official Beer and LCBO stores; reflect on the sign at a gas station I spotted on a recent walk.

• Nothing specific, just for interest’s sake – Median Household Income in the USA by Ethnic Group:

• When a former Mayor of a small town heads up the DOT:

• This is how Tesla caught the employee who was leaking confidential information to the press in 2008. Elon Musk explains, cunning isn’t it?

• Brain size between a human (left) and a Dolphin (right).

• Nearby is a small apartment building busily at work to ‘gheto-ize’ the neighborhood. Amongst a variety of stuff was this parking in the yard, by undoing a chain. It’s illegal, the LLC owners do nothing, police can’t do anything, but Dirk could. One morning this week, at 5:30, tools in pocket I reset the chain so that the clasp could not be undone. Car has not been parked in the yard since.

Then, lest I forget:

Ciao. Stay strong, keep learning, and be happy – take care of your health!

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk