All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Sharpshot Nature .Com 02755-tod-019673 Lake

Lake

 151

2023-12-19 02755-tod-019673 Lake

NIKON D7100 – ƒ/8 1/250 30mm ISO125 – Cleary Lake Regional Park, MN

Source: Sharpshot Nature .Com 02755-tod-019673 Lake

Songs I Like (94) | beetleypete

I think it’s a safe bet that most people outside the UK will not be familiar with this record. I could add that many British people might not have heard of it either. Basment Jaxx is the group name of two club DJs who built up a big following in South London during the 1990s. Using guest vocalists, they exploded onto the Dance Music scene and won numerous awards.

Despite being in my early 40s when I first heard of them, their music grabbed me immediately, and although I was very much not in their target demographic, I was keen to buy all of their CDs. They are still working, mostly collaborating with other performers and creating soundtracks for TV shows and videos.

This song is called ‘Red Alert’, and is from 1999. Hard to imagine that was 25 years ago!

I haven’t bothered to add the lyrics, as they are just repetitive. But I cannot sit still when I hear this.

Source: Songs I Like (94) | beetleypete

12 Ways to Maintain the Christmas Spirit AFTER Christmas (7) | K E Garland

In 2017, I spent the year maintaining the Christmas spirit in different ways each week. I thought I would re-post this journey because we’re living in some weird-ass times, and I’m beginning to believe that, now more than ever, we will need to depend on ourselves and whatever sense of community we have left.


7

For AugustI paid it forward. In case you’re unfamiliar with this concept, the idea is instead of paying someone back for a good deed, you pay it forward by doing something nice for someone else. For example, during one of this summer’s vacations, our friends paid for all of our meals and museum exhibits. Instead of paying them back, we would just pay it forward by doing something for someone else. Typically, people associate this with literally paying for something for someone. So, that’s where I began…

Source: 12 Ways to Maintain the Christmas Spirit AFTER Christmas (7) | K E Garland

वज़न गैरमौजूदगी का / Weight of Absence  – Kaushal Kishore

 

किसी का होना सागर में एक बूँद सा है,

पर उसका न होना लहरों के मौन सा है…

उनकी मौजूदगी जीवन में हरियाली लाती,

लेकिन गैरमौजूदगी एक सूनापन दे जाती…

💚 💚 💚 💚 💚 💚

A person’s presence, a mere drop in the sea,

Yet their absence whispers through eternity…

Their presence blooms life with vibrant hue,

But their absence dims light, leaving us askew…

.

–Kaushal Kishore 

image: James Fridman (pinterest) 

Source: वज़न गैरमौजूदगी का / Weight of Absence  – Kaushal Kishore

♫ Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer – Annual Redux ♫ | Filosofa’s Word

There are two versions to this song … well, actually several … but I offer both the cartoon version and the … um … drunken grandma version … and now the Irish Rovers’ version …

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
Elmo & Patsy

Source: ♫ Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer – Annual Redux ♫ | Filosofa’s Word

Brain Rot Just Might Scare You Too 🧠 | From Behind the Pen

Image Credit: Peter_Middleton

Just when I think I’ve heard it all, I haven’t, not by a long shot! Why should I be surprised?

I’ve seen evidence where some people I’ve noticed who I thought had a relatively high scale of intelligence seem like they are victims of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers!” While I have no intelligent reason for such a drastic change, I now have a new word that was announced as the Oxford Word of the Year for 2024: ‘brain rot’. Yep, the Oxford University Press declared ‘brain rot’ as the definitive Word of the Year for 2024.

‘Brain rot’ is defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. As an abstract concept, brain rot is something we’re all vaguely aware of and we’ve witnessed how technology can be used to destroy our grey matter.

According to an article found in the December 9, 2024 edition of The Guardian:

…an abundance of academic research from institutions including Harvard Medical School, the University of Oxford, and King’s College London found evidence that the internet is shrinking our grey matter, shortening attention spans, weakening memory, and distorting our cognitive processes. The areas of the brain found to be affected included “attentional capacities, as the constantly evolving stream of online information encourages our divided attention across multiple media sources”, “memory processes” and “social cognition”.

Do we have a brain-rotting pandemic going on? Sometimes, it sure seems like it!

Source: Brain Rot Just Might Scare You Too 🧠 | From Behind the Pen