At this point in time, the most likely candidate for my game before bedtime is an NCAA men's basketball game featuring the Duke Blue Devils playing the North Carolina St. Wolfpack. Of course, that's still several hours away, and I also follow Spring Training baseball, so it's possible I may choose something else.

And the adventure continues.

War Is Now Absolutely Necessary — For the Ruling Elites

Written on 07 Jan 2026

The drums of war are beating, but not because of scarcity, but because the powerful are losing control of their subservients.

At a time when the AI revolution seems poised to bring about economic development unlike any other time, human potential flourishing as never seen before, humanity at its brightest moment, breakthroughts in treatments for disease, social media empowering millions to become their own employers, people more multidisciplinary, psychologically aware, academically educated, globally connected, and socially bonded than ever in history and these brilliant, talented people are now raising the most emancipated generation to come into being in about 10 years.

All the while the world is shrinking and seems almost as small as a backyard. Not much can remain hidden for long in a backyard, right? So much so the nature of the ideological / economic system, which now days lays bare for anyone to witness its near total disregard for decency.

A system once hailed “the end of history”.

But all that was all.... last year. Now it proudly reveals itself as primarily an extractor of wealth at all costs, disregarding the social contract upon which its source of power rests. Regarding human dignity, decency and respect it is underminning them conciously. The population needs to be engineered to be constantly frustrated, angry, undeserved, discriminated, wronged, unfocused, impatient, self centered out of design. These traits favor tension between people and resentment and hate and stereotyping. A prerequisite to halt any attempt for collective action.

These, mechanisms worked wonders and still do, but brave young and old persons can now easily navigate out of the fog. It may seem surprising, given how often people are portrayed as naive or ignorant but my guess is that a critical mass, more than needed to trigger change, already knows the truth. The current order is not broken, it is not mulfunctioning, but to the contrary it is working in higher revs to extract ever more.

These people know what the system is about.

They may believe they are hopelessly few.

They may believe organizing is impossible.

They point to the failures of institutional left, not because it’s ideologically naive, but because it’s structurally corrupt.

But cooperation in human societies is as natural as laughing with friends over beer on a Friday night gathering. The moment this critical mass turns the tide of understanding may be closer than we think. I once thought this moment was distant but the powerful made me revise my projections. Their actions speak clearly of their weakness, their clear and present dreadful fear of being disposed. The king is naked and he knows the people know it.

And he’s afraid of the moment the people realize he knows they know. Then it might be as simple as a new political force rising to replace the olygarchs.

If this is true, then the Grand Awakening is not coming, it is already here. War is thus necessary, not for the people, but for the powerful, to prevent the Grand Disclosure of this awakening.

Aggressive behavior is almost always a sign of weakness. So the United States returning to a form of aggression reminiscent of its pre-hegemonic past, is not asserting military dominance, which it has. (The US has 600+ military bases, the world has 200+ states). It is creating destabilization. The grandest distraction of all is societal destruction.

Once war abroad is normalized, then it can reach home. And that is the plan.

Once, people eagerly installed themselves as gears in the economic machine, what Michael Sandel called “the tyranny of merit.” Immense wealth, once laundered as “God’s will,” is now merit-washed.

The rich, super-rich, ultra-rich “deserve” their wealth not because of divine payback but because of “self-made” merit, the ideology of the Century of the Self.

This era is ending its frictionless journey in human history. It almost seems that if you stopped a random passerby and asked them to describe the world affairs, their answer would be further to the left than you assummed it would be, you may have even considered lecturing. So, why doesn’t the institutionalized left claim this reality?

Because it has not freed itself from power.

The powerful know they have lost legitimacy.

The people are no longer willing to follow without brute force.

And societal devastation is the only tool left for the powerful to cling to power and riches. By making people beg for water, not for justice, equity, kindnes, liberty and human flourishing.

It is not perceived but actual weakness driving this aggression. Near total collapse of legitimacy.

Thus, it seems to me that War is absolutely necessary — for the powerful.

While an anti-war movement is absolutely necessary for humanity.

The only thing movements, people, and organizations should focus on now — is building that global anti-war movement.

It nearly seems, as if Fukoyamma was right after all, calling it the end of history.

—Wingspan

Writing in Athens, Greece

My family and I recently got sick again. Not as bad as before when I wrote the article Being Sick Sucks!, but it still sucks. I’ll be back soon and post next Tuesday on the 10th. Thanks for your patience.

#family #sick #sucks #off

Note: English below

Vizuelna poezija podrazumeva zapitan i razigran pristup materijalima, ritmu i značenju, a ova radionica uvodi učesnike upravo u taj oblik izraza, gde jezički i grafički elementi grade nove umetničke odnose. Kroz prezentaciju i diskusiju o političko-kulturnom (a posebno lokalnom) kontekstu vizuelne poezije dolazimo do praktičnog rada čija su polazišna tačka stara izdanja školskih lektira. Ideja je da učesnici pristupe knjizi kao likovno-tekstualnom predmetu, ali i kao papirnom kalupu za nekonvencionalne vizuelne kompozicije. Ohrabrujemo korišćenje tehnika poput cepanja, bušenja, lepljenja, precrtavanja, šivenja, bojenja, kolažiranja (i drugih), kako bi stvorili jedan slojevitiji ili više manjih radova. Poziv je otvoren za sve, nezavisno od godina, profesije ili predznanja u oblastima poezije/grafike.

Kreativnim postupcima odgovaramo na dileme: kojim praksama i sa kojim ciljevima odstupamo od zadatih okvira, disciplina i tzv. pravila u stvaralaštvu? Kojim metodama prekrajamo kanon? Naziv radionice je podsetnik na razmišljanja signaliste Miroljuba Todorovića, dok udruživanje u diskusijama i radu referiše na kritičke prakse avangardnih pesnika. Zato ćemo razgovarati o načinima samoorganizacije umetnika, naručito o zadrugarstvu i konkretno o međunarodnoj umetničkoj zadruzi, koja je trenutno u procesu osnivanja, u okviru projekta Shared Visions. Kome se ovakvim kolektivnim aktivnostima obraćamo i zašto? Koja su načela i vrednosti zadruge i kako ekonomski funkcioniše? Da li način organizacije ima uticaj na način produkcije umetnosti? Pričaćemo o dosadašnjim iskustvima proisteklim iz radionica i razgovora sa umetnicima u Srbiji, regionu i Evropi. Postoji li komunikacija između lokalnih inicijativa/institucija i ljudi, gde su građani učesnici, a ne tek korisnici?

Radionica se održava u Kragujevcu, u grafičkoj radionici FILUM-a u podrumu Prve kragujevačke gimnazije, tokom vikenda koji slavi Svetski dan poezije, 21. i 22. marta, od 10h do 17h oba dana (sa pauzom za ručak). Radionicu udruženim snagama organizuju Shared Visions i Klub Podzemljica, dok kao mentorka gostuje pesnikinja Maša Seničić.

Na radionicu će biti primljeno do 30 učesnika, pri čemu postoji moguća podrška za putovanja i smeštaj do 10 umetnika. Oni koji žive daleko mogu doći dan ranije. Prijave su otvorene do 15. marta i dostupne su na sledećem linku: https://forms.gle/7mbcMRwp8jtsTVxk8

Open Call for the Visual Poetry Workshop: Liberating Form

Visual poetry implies an inquiring and playful approach to materials, rhythm, and meaning, and this workshop introduces participants precisely to that form of expression, where linguistic and graphic elements build new artistic relationships. Through a presentation and discussion on the political and cultural (and especially local) context of visual poetry, we move toward practical work whose starting point will be old editions of school reading books. The idea is for participants to approach the book both as a visual-textual object and as a paper mold for unconventional visual compositions. We encourage the use of techniques such as tearing, perforating, gluing, crossing out, sewing, coloring, collaging (and others), to create either one layered piece or several smaller works. The call is open to everyone, regardless of age, profession, or prior experience in poetry or graphic arts.

Through creative processes, we respond to the dilemmas: by which practices and toward what aims do we depart from given frameworks, disciplines, and so-called rules in artistic creation? By which methods do we reshape the canon? The title of the workshop is a reminder of the reflections of a signalist poet Miroljub Todorović, while joining in discussions and practice would reflect on the critical practices of avant-garde poets. We will therefore discuss ways of artist self- organization, particularly cooperative models, and specifically an international art cooperative currently in the process of being founded within the project Shared Visions. Who do we address through such collective activities, and why? What are the principles and values of a cooperative, and how does it function economically? Does the mode of organization influence the mode of artistic production? We will also speak about experiences emerging from workshops and conversations with artists in Serbia, the region, and across Europe. Is there meaningful communication between local initiatives/institutions and people, where citizens are participants rather than merely users?

The workshop will be held in Kragujevac, in the FILUM printmaking studio located in the basement of the First Kragujevac Gymnasium, during the weekend celebrating World Poetry Day, March 21 and 22, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both days (with a lunch break). The workshop is jointly organized by Shared Visions and Klub Podzemljica, with poet Maša Seničić participating as guest mentor.

Up to 30 participants will be accepted. Travel and accommodation support may be available for up to 10 artists. Those traveling from afar may arrive a day earlier. Applications are open until March 15 and are available at the following link: https://forms.gle/7mbcMRwp8jtsTVxk8

Shoresy Season 5, Episode 2: The Great One. Hulu, 2026

See 100 Word reviews of previous episodes here

After the self-contained season premiere, the second episode slapshots the plot, skating most characters back into action. We even get a phone call from Sanguinet, whom we haven’t seen since season three. Don’t get too excited, Harlan Blayne Kytwayhat is not returning.

The Blueberry Bulldogs’ league is shutting down, their barn is flipping to basketball, the Europeans are beating North American teams, and Shoresy is back in the television studio. Shoresy is a generational talent at banter.

This show is too smart to play the upcoming xenophobia straight to the net. Stay tuned. And, oh yeah, Wayne Gretzky.

Stream it.

#Shoresy #ShoresySeason5 #PrestigeTV #Hockey #ComedySeries #Hulu #LetterkennyUniverse #TVReview #Larrys100 #100WordReview #100DaysToOffload

Some of my happiest memories from growing up were people sitting with me, or even just saying hi, simply because I looked lonely. Most of the time, it was people I didn't know.

Never doubt the power of a small act of kindness.

Jeg har bodd på Søndre Nordstrand i snart 36 år nå. Siden 1990. Det er en hel mannsalder, det. De to nevøene mine bor også i Oslo: den ene er brannmann og den andre er politimann, og vi er stolte besteforeldre for alle barna deres. De har tre andre besteforeldre i tillegg til oss, men den siste besteforelderen, min svoger, døde like før barnebarna ble født. Da ville nevøen min at vi skulle være bestefar og bestemor.

Og det ville være oss en glede. Vi bor jo også såpass nærme.

Men jeg er ikke fra Oslo. Ikke egentlig. Jeg er fra Hallingdal, og er det noe jeg er stolt av, er det det. At jeg er hallingdøl.

Ingenting er helt som Hallingdal. Det er liksom det som er hjemme tross alt.

-Uno de los aspectos más difíciles de la naturaleza de lo que llamamos realidad -dijo el decano Laurence- es el instrumento mismo con el que tratamos de definirla, o sea la mente.

-No -dijo el profesor Zambuessi-, ese no es el problema central.

Nos quedamos helados. Era increíble que alguien interrumpiera a nuestro decano.

-Ya estoy cansado -continuó Zambuessi- de que nos trate de enredar con sus patrañas. El problema aquí es el dinero y no daré mi voto para más investigaciones sobre la mente o sobre cualquier asunto de este tipo. Ni un céntimo más.

No todos pensábamos como él; quizás sí, los más jóvenes. Pero nadie deseaba ofender al decano. A fin de cuentas, los allí presentes, de un modo o de otro, le debíamos nuestras carreras científicas.

-No, si yo lo entiendo, señor Zambuessi -dijo el decano-. Cómo se ve que le falta experiencia. Usted no tiene hijos estudiando en la universidad, ni hijas con tres hijos, casadas con desempleados de larga duración, ni mucho menos nietos que necesitan un Porsche. ¿Cómo va a entender lo que yo digo?

En ese mismo instante, la abrumadora mayoría de los presentes nos pusimos de pie y ovacionamos a nuestro querido decano de un modo sencillamente atronador.

Kopje

Ergens in de catacomben van het VVA studio complex ligt Van Voorbijgaande Aard in de kraam slaap kamer, hevig zwetend, oververhit, pijn lijdend om hem heen collega's allen uitgedost in maagdelijk licht gebroken hemelswit die Aard ondersteunen bij zijn werkzaamheden. Pers, Pers, Pers Aard, Pers, Pers, Kom op, het is er bijna ik zie het Kopje al... Blijf ademen en Pers..

Pers, Pers, Pers Chef Pers!

en Aard maar puffen, steunend en soms zelfs kreunend, hopen dat het snel over is en dan weer terug kan naar de betere delen van zijn complex, daar waar de kijkcijfers heersen, waardering te zien is in cijfers, nummers die uitgaves mogelijk maken... Aaaardgh, Aaaaardgh

Ja daar, daar, Aard, het is zover! Het is Af. Gefeliciteerd omroep hoofd het is er.

Aard kan de nieuwsgierigheid niet bedwingen en vraagt Wat is het?

Een stukje Aard, een echt stukje. zegt zijn immer loyale medeklinker werker trots.

Ah, eindelijk, het leed is geleden. Mag ik het eerst zien?

Het hoofd publicatie write.as zegt 'Eh, neen, het staat al online, het is niet langer de uwe, dat weet u toch.'

De Aard knikt, wordt kleiner en kleiner in de kille witte uit kraamkamer terwijl de rest om hem heen lijkt te groeien, hij krimpt in tot een laatste puntje en lost weer op in zijn werk.

25 February 2026

Still outside (working title): found a stack of old Polaroids over the weekend that I hadn't looked at in probably a year, and instantly there was a freshness to their format from a painting perspective—the image as a container being contained. Thought of Marisol's 1961 Family Portrait lithograph, of approaching and reacting to the edges of the source. Ken price too, value absolutes. Mine was of a scene of surfaces supporting half-emptied glasses and bottles at Yena's old flat in Vauxhall. Suspended pheromones.

I think I’m moving on. Well I guess that’s stupid because obviously I am, But it’s weird. I think today I was kind of like upset at her and angry. Like obviously not actually her but, the idea of her. I kind of hope I don’t ever see her again, just because it would make moving on way easier. Not cause I’m mad at her. But I guess I just feel like she’s someone that just didn’t ultimately treat me well, not because she meant to hurt me. But just because I deliberately chose her. I think I really just got swept up by the attention and codependency. I saw someone saying that you should do things for them because you love them, not do things for them so that they love you. And I don’t think I did things for her to try to make her love me, but at the same time I think I realize how fundamentally fragile the love felt. I think I felt like I had to constantly be there, or like massage her thoughts through reassurance, acts of kindness, or things like that. If we didn’t have time together, I would probably think that something was wrong and that I would start to worry about the relationships health. And that’s not right. Our relationship should be strong and healthy regardless of some distance once in a while. I think I’m also noticing how I wanted to use L as a substitute for that codependency, and I also notice how part of me wanted to cut ties to avoid being hurt again and set that boundary. It’s really easy to get swept up by someone else like that. I don’t think I should ghost or anything like that, but maybe I should be way more aware of that.

Freundinnen & Freunde der Weisheit! Wer kennt das nicht? Frühmorgens gleich der Griff zum Handy, Doomscrolling. Vernünftiger wäre es jedoch, den Tag mit etwas Kreativem zu beginnen. Selbst etwas zu erschaffen, bevor der Konsum der Welt über uns hereinbricht.

Wer morgens gleich zum Smartphone greift und durch soziale Feeds scrollt, startet den Tag im Reaktionsmodus. Die eigene Aufmerksamkeit richtet sich auf fremde Inhalte, fremde Prioritäten, fremde Stimmen. Was dabei zu kurz kommt, ist das kreative Potenzial, das gerade in den frühen Stunden besonders hoch ist – und das entscheidend sein kann für ein produktives Arbeiten.

Ein einfacher, aber wirksamer Perspektivenwechsel besteht darin, den Tag mit einem kurzen kreativen Impuls zu beginnen: schreiben, skizzieren, notieren, entwerfen. Es geht nicht um Perfektion, sondern um den Aufbau von Eigenimpulsen. Wer zuerst erschafft, bevor er konsumiert, aktiviert nicht nur seine Gestaltungsfähigkeit, sondern schützt auch die geistige Klarheit vor der Zersplitterung durch Input-Überflutung. Die ersten 15 bis 20 Minuten eines Arbeitstages reichen oft aus, um eigene Gedanken in Gang zu bringen – bevor die Welt anklopft.

Der Nutzen dieser Gewohnheit liegt in ihrer mehrfachen Wirkung: Sie schafft frühe Erfolgserlebnisse, erhält die Konzentration für anspruchsvolle Aufgaben und stärkt die Selbstbestimmung im Umgang mit der eigenen Zeit. Das bedeutet nicht, sich komplett von Nachrichten und Netzwerken abzuschotten – sondern die Reihenfolge bewusst zu gestalten. Wer zuerst erschafft, steuert den eigenen Arbeitstag aus einer Position der Klarheit und Kontrolle.

Produktivität entsteht nicht durch permanente Verfügbarkeit oder maximale Effizienz. Sie beginnt mit der Fähigkeit, den eigenen Denkraum gegen zu frühe Überreizung zu verteidigen. Wer sich morgens ein kurzes Zeitfenster reserviert, in dem ausschliesslich eigene Ideen zählen, schafft die Voraussetzung für echten Fokus – und vielleicht auch für das, was später Resonanz erzeugt.

Denkanstoss zum Wochenbeginn

„Die höchste Form des Glücks ist ein Leben mit einem gewissen Grad an Verrücktheit.“ – Erasmus von Rotterdam (1466/67/69?–1536)

ProductivityPorn-Tipp der Woche: Eine Aufgabe nach der anderen (Single-Tasking)

Multitasking klingt effizient, ist es aber nicht. Wenn du mehrere Dinge gleichzeitig machst, verlierst du Fokus und Produktivität. Arbeite lieber eine Aufgabe nach der anderen konzentriert ab.

Aus dem Archiv: Bildungsfähigkeit statt Intelligenz: Was es wirklich bedeutet zu lernen

Erinnerst Du Dich daran, wie oft Du in der Schule oder im Studium Dinge gelernt hast, die erst Jahre später an Bedeutung gewannen? Vielleicht war es ein Roman, den Du damals nicht ganz verstanden hast, oder ein Konzept, das Dir unnötig erschien – bis das Leben Dich plötzlich daran erinnerte. Diese Fähigkeit, Wissen aufzunehmen und es irgendwann flexibel anzuwenden, beschreibt Leslie Valiant in seinem neuen Buch The Importance of Being Educable: A New Theory of Human Uniqueness als „Bildungsfähigkeit“ (educability).

weiterlesen …

Vielen Dank, dass Du Dir die Zeit genommen hast, diesen Newsletter zu lesen. Ich hoffe, die Inhalte konnten Dich inspirieren und Dir wertvolle Impulse für Dein (digitales) Leben geben. Bleib neugierig und hinterfrage, was Dir begegnet!

EpicMind – Weisheiten für das digitale Leben „EpicMind“ (kurz für „Epicurean Mindset“) ist mein Blog und Newsletter, der sich den Themen Lernen, Produktivität, Selbstmanagement und Technologie widmet – alles gewürzt mit einer Prise Philosophie.

Disclaimer Teile dieses Texts wurden mit Deepl Write (Korrektorat und Lektorat) überarbeitet. Für die Recherche in den erwähnten Werken/Quellen und in meinen Notizen wurde NotebookLM von Google verwendet. Das Artikel-Bild wurde mit ChatGPT erstellt und anschliessend nachbearbeitet.

Topic #Newsletter

So, uncloud is obviously still a work in progress, so bugs will happen. Because I've drunk the cool-aid and dived into using it on my homelab, I'm doing my best to be a good netizen and helping troubleshoot any issues I find.

Today, I had a great session with the author, where my cluster was unresponsive, except for running commands like uc machine ls. The services were still running, but I'd lost the ability to perform new deploys or check the state of services. Seems like a bug, and might be related to WireGuard + Tailscale + Uncloud and IP6 addresses.

Along the way, though, I learned a new command, which got me completely unblocked:

uc ctx conn

Run this and you get a list of all the machines in your cluster and you can choose a different default machine to proxy traffic through. In my case, it seems like there's something wrong with only the Ubuntu machines I have… the others on DietPi work just fine.

One caveat I had, though: because my machines are behind NAT on a home network, I have ports 80 and 443 redirected to the “default machine”, so I had to change that redirection to point to the local IP address of the new default machine, then do a new deploy of whatever services I needed to update. I believe the issue here is probably to do with registering the Let's Encrypt certificate… they require the machine to be discoverable for that to complete.