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Love this ending, Greg, if for no other reason than I am hellbent on making inroads into "Empress" which keeps getting blocked by the latest news of the day.

P.S. May we all make trips in the quest for milk that will lead us to illumination!

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Thanks, Lynell. There's a milk / Milky Way joke in there somewhere, but I'm too tired to formulate it. It took me five years to put put EMPRESS because of the news of the day, so I know the feeling!

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Beautifully put. As an observer of patterns I have come to the same conclusion. Thats why holding onto our human kindness while chaos descends will be so important.

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Thanks, Velvet. Kindness, yes. It costs nothing and they can't take it away from us!

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I’m ok with insufficient data for a meaningful answer 😁. I wonder if some things aren’t meant to be known. And the Star Trek theme is strong as I just randomly finished reading about ‘Glacier Mice’ lol. Does it all point to something?!

Star gazing 🙌.......The bf & I always argue about which are the big & little dippers😂.

That karaoke was SO GOOD!!!!!! 🏆

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Thanks, Jenn! LB outdid herself with the karaoke film.

When you said "Star Trek teme," my brain to play THE Star Trek theme. Which randomly came on my Spotify mix in my car, possibly the same night I went out to get the milk. Hmm...

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Dec 4, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Thanks again, Greg. I really enjoyed this.

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Thank you!

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Dec 4, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Awesome, Greg! And yes I agree, "...we have arrived at the moment when the entropy of our political system will be reversed: when hope and love and honor will re-ascend, when there will be light. Shine On." Brilliant!

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Dec 4, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Gail said. "Political Entropy"

Hope your correct

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Let us speak it to existence. Hey, it worked for God/AC!

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Asimov was my favorite author in my youth, interesting how memories of his works come at us in different settings. The shambolic lives we denizens of this spinning rock all come down to AC’s regurgitations, rather amusing years later…Thanks Greg for the memories of youth, and the nazi nihilism that surrounds!

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Thanks, Patrick. Yes, I read that story in high school, but it does come back to me every so often.

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Dec 4, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Thanks Greg. I have read Asimov's Last Question many times. Issac was a giant among the human race and he gave us the fictional laws of robotics that contain moral elements for man. So he and Susan Calvin and Elijah Bailey have passed on into the cosmos. Currently have a Asimov novel at my bedside. But first must finidh my re read of Dune.

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Thanks, Cal. He also has an awesome name, and a perfect one, I think, for the stuff he wrote.

I could never get through Dune. The book or any of the attempts to film it...

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A piece about Beauty. And Love.

It’s just a reminder that we love Greg, that we love each other, and that we love life.

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[heart emoji]

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That’s it right there, Roland - thank you for stating it so beautifully.

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You can thank Greg, too. What a sweet piece. So much good stuff dripping from it.

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Dec 4, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

From your lips - or your fingers - to AC's ear.

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Amen.

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Dec 4, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Shine on, bright star! Shine on! 🌈

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: )

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Next to gratitude, humility is the greatest virtue imo. Isaac Asimov had a special way of humbling us readers

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I agree. An underrated virtue, especially among the rightwing Musk/Trump/Ye crew.

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Dec 4, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Stargazing used to be one of my favorite pastimes. Now, with all the LIGHT pollution (and my house is probably the biggest offender on the block!), it's almost impossible. I can still see the moon and Orion in the winter, along with Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and some brighter stars. A town or two over from me actually has light pollution ordinances in place for stargazers -- all lights on houses have to be dimmed at night, facing down and etc. I KNOW that my brother, who lives in what is essentially the desert in Arizona, has GREAT skies at night, yet he doesn't seem to ever look up.

Asimov was always a hard read for me, for some reason. I prefer Arthur C. Clarke, but that may have come when I saw "2001" for the first time in 1968, when I was 10 years old. I was enraptured by the movie, while my mom fell asleep in the chair next to me -- she never "got" the attraction. That movie set me off for life on Arthur C. Clarke, space, AI, and oddly, murders (Are there Murderinos here? We seem to be EVERYWHERE!). I didn't get it at 10, but later, when I realized what HAL had done, and WHY, I almost fell out of my chair.

To "political entropy," I say YES! There will come a breaking point, and we may or may not have reached it, but we're getting there. The current Nazism may do it, but we may have other things to go through before we get to the point that we turn ourselves around. As was discussed a few weeks ago, I keep trying to be a better angel online, but honestly, "those people" aren't ready for it. All we can do is keep trying. As we've seen in at least the past three Democratic administrations, a good Democrat is always ready to come in and clean up the mess left behind by a Republican. It's become kind of our thing. It's annoying and tiresome, but SOMEONE has to do it, or the Nazis win, and I don't want to be in a world like that. Eww!

A good week to ALL!

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Dec 4, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Ahh, 2001. I've watched it a dozen times.

I refer to it a lot in comments on blogs and to friends.

Particularly mans first Homicide in the opening minutes of the film and of course Hals mind set.

Arthur Clarke was another giant in the scribbling world. An old favorite of mine for Humurous Science Fiction was Retired Military dude and Author, Kieth Laumer.

Cal from the Great Sonoran Desert.

"Whats left of it."

Even here light pollution is bad.

Yesterday the local for profit power company had a Light Parade in Phoenix

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Confession: I have never been able to get through 2001. And I really like Kubrick's other films.

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OMG!! It's OK, *I* have never been able to get through Barry Lyndon, and I also love the rest, although Lolita creeps me out. Barry Lyndon just makes me tired. I used to have a theory about Kubrick films, how the ending of one led into the plot and/or the opening shot of the next, but to avoid spoilers and a long dissertation, I'll skip it for now. Besides that, I've never seen anyone else say anything about it, so it might just be my imagination.

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That's why it was so great -- the stars were just like BOOM. It was like suddenly seeing a fawn in the woods, or a naked person. Usually there's too much light, or it's too cloudy.

I've not read much of his beyond that story, actually. For the genre, I really loved Stranger in a Strange Land, and Ursula K LeGuin is tops, especially Left Hand of Darkness. Octavia Butler, too.

There are Nazis in combat gear blowing up power stations and attacking drag shows. I like to think most Americans -- like, a vast majority -- do not approve...

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Jesus! I hope not, or there are FAR more nutbars under rocks out there than were revealed in the past six years. It has become "The Twilight Zone," specifically, "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street."

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Always wondered why the breaking point never came in Germany, they had plenty of warning.

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Dec 4, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

There was a joke that this dual citizen (Canadian and American) thinks is perhaps at least a partial corollary. Pierre Elliott Trudeau (father of current Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada’s 15th prime minister) passes away. Upon reaching heaven, he asks Saint Peter if the French-English question that had so vexed his time in office would ever be solved. St. Peter says the question is above his pay-grade. Best to ask the “boss.”

After Trudeau returns from his audience with God, St Peter asks, “So, did you get an answer to your question? To which Trudeau replies, Yes, I did.”

“Well?”

“God told me the Canadian French-English problem would be solved.”

St. Peter exclaimed, “That’s great news.”

Then Trudeau wistfully added, “But God also said ‘Not in His lifetime.’”

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Thanks, John. Ha!

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Greg in an email said Dune by Frank Herbert

" I couldn't get through it."

I suspect that is a majority of folks and i doubt if film will be successful.

The first three books by Frank Herbert deal with Law, Religion and the Environment. Three subjects of great influence on me.

I found Frank Herbert a newspaper Reporter so interesting that i have his large Biography, Dreamer of Dune by his son Brian and a Tome of Franks collected stories.

Also i suspect any attempt at turning the great book of "Foundation" by Issac Asimov into a movie will not be successful.

A large copy of Foundation with art sits on a music stand (a gift from my lady). Its open to the Chapter, The War Begins.

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Greg on 2001 Film and Dune trilogy.

Probably due to your intense Classics indoctrination. Ha!

I thought 2001 A Space Odyssey was not Kubrick as relates to his other films. I think it was Clarke that keep Kubrick rolling on 2001. Note Clarkes sequel, 2010 was directed by Peter Hymes.

I liked a number of Kubrick films but failed to finish watching Eyes Wide Shut.

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I have hoped someone like Stephen Spielberg would make a film based on The "Nine" Tales of the book "City" by Clifford Simak.

Most of the publications only have the first Eight Tales.

Rain fell on the Great Sonoran Desert today and so tonite, I'll likely re watch Roy Batty recite

"Tears in the Rain."

a Science Fiction 42 word cult classic monologue.

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