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Paris...,
Nursing...,
Evolution...,
Western Peoples...,
Boyan's Thoughts...,
Appeal... ,
R&M Journal... ,
I recently stumbled upon your Vagabond Pages while on a websearch for tidbits on Camille Claudel and found myself waylaid reading about in your essays and enjoying your writing style and your observations.
Yes, it was a sad day when my favorite Paris restaurant "Au Pied de Cochon" was ripped down and replaced by acres of subterranean Jetsons architecture in the new improved Les Halles. -- And now, even my favorite left bank place that I visited for twenty years off and on whenever I would go to Paris -- a small, nameless couscous restaurant in a street three buildings long -- has been sold. Sic transit and all that.
The most recent thing on your website is from 11/95* -- have you undertaken other writing projects since then and abandoned the web (I find myself waffling in my views of it) or what? Good essays!
Kate Stevenson
stevenso@acc.jc.edu
i just finished reading your story. it was really good. my name is tiffanny and i live in grants pass, oregon. i work for a home health agency and also a drug and alcohol treatment center. i just wanted to let you know that i thought your story was really good, and i think that everyone who works in health care should read it. THANK GOODNES FOR PEOPLE LIKE YOU. Tiffanny
Tiffanny Todd
tifftodd@cdsnet.net
You fail to see the point of evolution. Evolution is not an on going march that all species undergo. Evolution is adaptation. The fact that conifers are more resilient than to cold that the 'more evolved' deciduous tree is because they don't need to. Same with mollusks. They exist because they compete and succeed. Perhaps an environmental change might change that in the future, but the possibility of mutation more suited to deal with the change is what drives evolution. As for your human embryo statement: the process of evolution is only evident on a generational basis. When an organism exhibits a mutation once it has progressed past the zygote stage it usually is fatal. In more developed people it is called cancer. The fetus in it's development exhibits structures that are in common with other animals, but that is development, not evolution.
"...Aware of everything"??? That is a lofty aspiration, would you happen to be a deity? I had you pegged as a fundamentalist monotheist when I read your commentary.
Jefferson Taylor
jgtaylor@grits.valdosta.peachnet.edu
Thought your article on Western Peoples and Civilization was subjective. Time will prove you wrong, Vagabond. Good name. Don't know, but you might be interested in 2 new sites: an E-Zine called Politically Incorrect (http://www.smartnet.net/~fenix) and Fenix Books (http://www.smartnet.net/~fbooks). Dennis
...< >.....I'm trying to promote thought and discussion among racially minded people. No, I don't say what really counts is "the intelligent, productive individual." People have evolved as groups, not individuals. You seem to be aware of that ...< >...
Both overpopulation and homogenization are problems. Overpopulation is a problem for everyone, but is occuring among non-white peoples, especially along and south of the equator. Northern asiatics and whites (where ever they live now) have overpopulation under control. The northern asiatics don't allow immigration - only atomized white people do. Sure the overpopulation problem will settle itself, when we do it consciously, eugenically, and in an organized manner, or when the whole world is another India or Egypt.
Homogenization on a large scale couldn't happen in the distant past, because most groups were small and isolated. Racial homogenization leads to stagnation.
fenix
fenix@smartnet.net
Hi William!
... < > ... There is always a Q, what a man/woman should do in his life to do something to serve all people - I've searched that answer for some time and got to conclusion that everybody should do what he/she it's doing right now, BUT we should try for OUR BEST :) I've mentioned this, 'cause I'd like you to open this thema in your VAGABOND, I'd like to see others views and opinions...
MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY :)
...........:)) Sorry for English .......English is a third language to me... sorry again
Bye
Some of my thoughts...
Dear William Markiewicz,
....< >... The most important work (for WWW) so far is design for the Nuclear Control Institute - if you get a few minutes check their pages at www.nci.org/nci - I did that almost for free, because I'd like to spend some of my time helping others who do very important work for our World.
Why I'm writing after all this time? Well, today I've read some of your pages. I must say you are a great writer and illustrator! I was impressed with your thoughts, ideas, explanations, so, I'd be very glad to share some thoughts with you...
You have five new issues from when we contacted - I hope your pages are getting more and more visitors. If you'd like I could do promotion for your pages. I learned that with promoting NCI web site - you can see on their main page the awards they got... ........If you'd like to do it on your own just check this great page: http://www.iTools.com/promote-it/promote-it.html
.....< >....I wonder where you got all that knowledge on so many different fields. However, I agree a lot with all of your writing and I hope you'll have time to listen to some of my ideas too.
I know you write about more realistic things but I'd also very like to hear your opinion on things that are "science-fiction" or maybe not...
Dear William,
....< >..... Well, I wish sooo much I could draw images with hand - you do that very very well - I'm very bad at that (well, I've never practised it, but I don't think it could help me much) So, I can realize my ideas just with computer and I don't agree with people who say that computers are destroying art (bye the way, have you already covered this subject?). I don't think computer created pictures are less worth as hand drawn. Computers as well as hands are just tools, pictures (same goes for music) are done from our mind or heart if you wish. But the best is knowing both tools, to use everything what's possible to make our ideas alive - what do you and Nikole think?
(About thinking without words WM)
Dear William,
.......< >.........One night, when I went to bed I got this strange idea. I wanted to test myself how fast can I count numbers. Counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc. I realized that I can't be very fast for one simple reason - I was counting in a way as if I would count that numbers at loud. Try it, you'll see that you won't be much faster if saying words just in mind as at loud.
But then, I figured, that if I count numbers without moving tongue, yes, even if just think, without opening mouth, I noticed that I move my muscles slowly... So, how much time do you need to count from 1 to 10? I need less then 1 second - I mean, all that numbers pass my mind in less then one second, I'm aware of all numbers - I hear them in my mind... I think, that I could, with training, even reduce that time. Another example is, many times I do things without "thinking" and sometimes I ask myself, why I did it, I realize that with "thinking" I would need much more time to get to the same conclusion.
So, what I'd like to say. That on mine opinion, as they say, our brains are only 1% used for the reason of our way of thinking - we think in words - and that make our thinking so slow. There is also the answer on question, what is music, how to explain it, as well it goes for other art - well, music doesn't have words. It comes straight from us. That's why it's so special.
On the other hand, with right combination of words we can also achieve a good effect on our brains, that's what writers do, what humorists do. Have you ever asked yourself why jokes are funny - why we are laughing at them? I'll better finish with this... getting a long story :)
...< >..... I think I've made pictures from words. I think our mind operates with images much faster than with words.
Well, words/characters are at the end images too and that's why you can learn to read text faster and faster - you can learn to understand text as images, the same goes for thinking - well, that are only my guesses.
Try to look at this numbers at once, centering your eyes at center of line:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
You needed to read them to know what you saw? I think you've just looked at all numbers at once and that was it.
1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 - You saw in a millisecond there is 4 missing.
1 3 6 3 7 5 8 4 3 5 - maybe you needed, for the first time, to say numbers to yourself. If you practice it you'll see you don't need to say/read that numbers, just a quick pass with your eyes across them will do...
5 3 1 7 5 2 5 8 5 3 - what about this time?
OK, enough of this strange theories :) Don't think I was thinking about this for a long time - I came up to it now, yes, with replying your letter...
Cheers,
Boyan
(About colors on the web)
Hello William,
......< >...... One more thing about white-ish. White-ish colored paper is much different from whiteish on the monitor. Have you ever noticed that sometimes you prefer to print things and read them on paper instead on monitor?
Newspaper is sold by news, sure, but newspapers has much changed from past -- not in news --news is news, but in design part. Much better design (typography, right placement of text, columns width, space between sentences etc.) is noticed in better Newspapers. Haven't you noticed that??? So, as I've said before, Newspapers would sure like to use some red color for important news, some blue color/green for text where peaceful information is offered, yellow for technical stuff etc. Each color represents different thing - very similar to our life.
Another thing, newspaper are fast medium, each day is a new one. Your Vagabond is a monthly review. Can't compare magazines (monthly) to Newspapers (daily). Magazines use many colors and graphics. See the difference? Well, sorry for sounding like I'd like to convince you of something, but that's not true. I like your Vagabond as it is now and I'm not suggesting to change it completely or anything similar. I'd just like to show you different approach of thinking to this matter, I hope you'll take it this way...
....< >......... BUT yes, there are soooo many pages with no sense of how colors should be and how graphics should be done that a person surfing through the net gets a "color-sick". I can understand that quite well and that's the reason, I think, turn you away from using colors for your Vagabond on the net.
Best Regards,
Boyan
Dear William Markiewicz,
I truly like your "Extracts of Existence"! I think that expressing thoughts in such way gives to the reader a better basis for "productive" thinking than ordinary books and writing. I always preferred thoughts expressed in short sentences - especially the ones with more meaning.
.......... "The worst journey is the journey through time because it goes only one way."
It made me think a lot (as well a lot of others). Each journey is journey in time. And anything we do is one way travel.
The difference is that we have more choices. Travel to places is at the same time travel through time. I think our brains are limited to a very small perception of time, to milliseconds, and that's why we live a "sequential" life and we find it so difficult to understand the meaning of life, universe etc. I think that's like being a cell in our body - how can that cell know how our body looks like and what are the capabilities of our body. The cell has its own living place and knows just what is needed to survive.
Your saying could also be regarding our memory. We travel ONLY through time when using our memory, when remembering our past.
Comparing to others I realise I almost never travel in my memories. I mean, almost everybody remember their past quite good, e.g. where they were, what they did etc. I just don't remember such things - I never though that's interesting, but what I do remember are feelings or special moments of time, e.g. it's first class of my primary school (about 18 years ago) and I'm standing on stairs and looking up, asking myself when will I be in a fourth class, going up those stairs as other do. Four years after that moment I stood up on that stairs and I remembered the moment when I was down and wondering - as if I relived that moment. I felt the feeling I had at that time. That kind of travel I do sometimes, but never travelling back in time and remembering all details of my past. I like to remember my past, but just as a whole thing, not details...
What do you think that means? I think you know your past quite well.
........< > .......... I think that part of my life, from now, will be dedicated for travelling, learning others cultures and meeting people....
BOJAN DOBRECEVIC - BOJAN.DOBRECEVIC@PUBLIC1.NOPRMD.mail.si
www.neosoft.com/~bigeasy/iw/
Dear William !
The box got here intact three weeks ago, too bad I leaved the city that same day and didnt' acknowledge it to you. I brought it to the library immediately upon receiving and we unpackaged it there - man, were we pleased ! ............Your set of books revealed many very interesting books of diversive titles and fields.......... For example, I immediately fell in love with James Gleick 'Chaos' and that second book on the subject - I even took it with me and have been reading it while on the road and while in Moscow; firstly, vivid cover picture attracted my attention (fractals are hot, sure) but later on I was completely sucked in by very fresh speculations on nature's laws discovered and revealed recently. have to say that I rarely read non-fiction stuff now and this book made me recall my schoolhood and sheer pleasure of deiscovering new knowledge; the book has shaken my mind and somehow managed to freshen my perception of life around me. The second book came to my brother who is mathematician himself and he's reading it with great interest, too. I saw there aslo a book by Carl Sagan which I'd like to read later, it seemed to deal with popularisation of science and understanding of modern life as well. other stuff I do not remember exactly but the feeling persists with me that there were just nice books and I will certainly go and look thru thouroughly.
Also I handed (upon permission from the library) that graphic book to my friend, he's designer at local newspaper and those graphical stuff just fascinated him to great degree and it definitely will help him out to create better layout for popular newspaper.
Your own book impressed me a big deal, too - we have no arty book nowadays down here in province and the book foiled in semi-apparent cover has been a nice look by itself; so does its content - I liked very much its illustrations (made by you as I learned) and overall concept. Haven't read it yet, but I kept a copy for myself and will pay it deserved attention later. By all means, it's a lovely edition and I am glad to have a thing of such appeal at my home.
A note - I visited your Web site and saw you mentioned me as "librarian" - librarian I am not, I just volunteered to run a book drive for the library to which I feel grateful for everything it has made for me in my adolescence.
Kindest regards and tons of thanks !
Dmitri Bender
db@mark-itt.ru
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