Pandora's Other Box

From “ The Power of Premonition ” by Larry Dorsey;  Institute of Noetic Sciences. “If a  trait  helps  us  to  stay  alive  and  reproduce,  it  is  likely to become  embedded  in  our  genes  and  passed  down through succeeding generations.” In looking back through all postings ( wow!! almost 140 by now…) the Noetic Science entry was, far and away, the one which has had the most readings. Yes, it has been posted for over one year (amazing!!) but still, it looks like it continues to receive “hits” on a regular basis. And, as time flies by, my interest in this issue has continued to increase. There is an implicit acceptance in my mind that we are all part of a bigger whole; as individuals we are still pretty awesome, no matter how small we may feel at times, but we still have a long way to go in order to begin to understand what the full scope of our capabilities, as thinking beings...

Remember Dr. Shatiff? Well, I am not really sure as to the source of the title but, since everyone did call him by that moniker, so did I.  The more we dealt, the less my belief in his title, but never did question him about it. Nonetheless we were thrown together by fate, as it were, and the pursuit of business.   The good Doctor was from the Emirates originally and he had, several years before, been part of a number of financial dealings as well as doing some intermediary work for the Royal House. Hence, his letters of recommendation and his stories, which he did his best to bring forth at every possible moment; this may have been a way to try and keep them somewhat current. The papers the letters were written on were becoming slightly yellower every time they were shown; they were mostly 8-9 years old. But, they were apparently credible enough to have brought him to Zurich , on someone else’s expense pad. Most of the people I met along the way were there on someone else’...

Conundrum : riddle, mystery, challenge; puzzle. A) Something that is puzzling or confusing. B) a difficult problem that seems to have no solution. Dichotomy : A) a separation into two divisions that differ widely from or contradict each other. B) The phase of the Moon or planet when half of its surface appears illuminated by the Sun, the other half bathed in darkness. Paradox: absurdity, contradiction, impossibility, illogicality. A) a statement or proposition that contradicts itself. B) A statement, proposition or situation that seems to be absurd or contradictory, but in fact is or may be true.  No; I am not a walking Thesaurus or even a crawling Funk and Wagnall’s. There are, however, certain words which hold a special fascination for me and these above definitely fall into this category. Why? Often we find ourselves ( perhaps it should be said: “I find myself”) thinking about situations that besiege our senses, and these are the only types of words which would seem to be o...

Too many issues that should have been resolved already are still hanging in the air, some by a thread, and my mind is distracted to the point of having to rewrite 2 out of 3 words because of hitting the wrong keys. Harrumph!! Well, harrumph some more… This entry was started yesterday afternoon (seems there is a trend of this lately) and eventually put to rest; there were better things to do. Yet today, after finishing the Good Samaritan paragraph, the whole thing went into a different and really unexpected tangent… Somewhere it is declared that in order to be able to write, a potential “author” has to be able to put on paper issues which may be considered personal, for all to see; in these posts some personal stuff has come out from time to time; all the remembrances are definitely personal from a time when, despite the circumstances, life was still simpler than today.  What else to talk about? Two divorces and three marriages? Nah, this is becoming much too common within today’s...

Today is a double whammy; what was posted this am, was last night’s blog… This one came on after a prolonged exercise routine late this morning… Often, the true thinking pattern of those around is really uncovered when one listens in (not by choice but by circumstance) to conversations being had by people who are nearby, while sharing a communal space. Such has been the case during these past days, when my ever frustrating non productive efforts take me to the exercise room at the condo community where I live. Usually ( not this am, however ), my day starts there at around 8am or so, all depending on the time I am finally able to peel myself from the bed sheets, pillows and cover, have some coffee to open my eyes ( no, I do not pour it in with a dropper and no, it is not Cuban coffee ) and don my regular gym apparel: an old, ratty looking almost matching two sweat pieces ( well, I can’t truly call it a sweat suit since top and bottom are of different makes and of slightly different b...

A title like this could cover a lot of sins and issues. This has been a relatively quiet day, too quiet for my taste on some fronts, from which specific news had been expected by now. This particular post was started yesterday, late in the day. At about 11pm it was decided to can it and let it go, not much would be lost. Yet, every paragraph is an effort; even when it really does not bring much in the way of  enlightenment … So, there (or here) I am, sitting by the computer and looking at all the news ( the other, regular kind of news ) which have graced our newscasts over the last few days. Those that are considered important, not just present for their attention grabbing context.  What is there? Then... There is the, by now getting old, issue about M. Strauss-Khan and the alleged sex accusation; it seems to have gone down the dismissal road faster than the Thunder Mountain express at Disney. Obviously none of us has access to the details but I am sure that if the acc...

  This morning an email came in from a dear friend… actually we (including her sister) go back to the days of Richland, WA., where we were part of the small band of Cuban teens who came to terrorize the unsuspecting town… not!. She wrote to me referring to the last posting, about small Ciego Montero, the mineral water baths and about my experiences with my granddad, telling me about her own childhood in a small sugar mill town and her memories of her own granddad and her father, growing up in what was, per today’s standards, a truly bucolic setting. I was very happy to hear from her this morning, thanking me for bringing her own memories to the fore and a smile to her face. Needless to say, this brought a smile to my own face and some memories of my own… As a return note went to her, the mention was made that part of several summers of my childhood were spent in a sugar mill town, not unlike the one in which she had her childhood, and not far from it, to boot. About a month ago...

Ciego Montero… Looking through my –by now- “famed” memory banks, this little train stop as I remember it, was a thermal water/mud therapy spot which was well known in Cuba back in the 30’s to the 60’s. Sufferers of arthritis, rheum, back pains, etc… they all found at least, a lessening of pain when the body was submerged in the thermal pools. This little out of the way place was somewhere my grandfather had taken me at one time or another, so it came to me to look it up in the ubiquitous jack-of-all-searches “Google-it”. I was thinking about these small baths ( then really a train stop, there were no roads all the way in ) in the middle of the “jungle” and not sure what would be the search result but, lo and behold!! There were pages of reference and several images to boot. It seems that the little out of the way train stop has now become, while still remaining small, a major curative center of international importance, where the business emporium includes an Italian-Cuban bottling c...

Some days items come to me which beg to be forwarded; this is one such. A good friend from my school days in Cuba , now residing in Mexico , sent this to me under the tile of “What’s happened Cuba ?” It is worth reading; we have heard much as to what has happened in Cuba since the Castro era  began and much of what has been done has been for export only, not for local consumption. This comes to show that much had been accomplished and that much of the public infrastructure still in use, comes from “BC” (That’s “before Castro”) times. This is actually a reduced list; there are sport issues as well as music achievements which have been left out to save space. Cuba's Coat of Arms In 1829, Cuba was the first Hispanic American country using vapor ships and boiler machinery; In 1837, Cuba was the third country in the world with railways; In 1877, in Havana , the first electricity powered industrial factory was unveiled; Dr. Carlos Finlay, a Cuban ...