mega thread What are you thinking?

[Savygriffs 5,046]

I'm so ready for my birthday coming up soon. (March 5th)

[Guest]

I think I'm going to stay home and work from home tomorrow too. It looks to be another cold rainy day.

[ZiggWheelsManning 8,099]

Do you have loads of organizers, binders and papers set in front of your computer?  

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, ZiggWheelsManning said:

Do you have loads of organizers, binders and papers set in front of your computer?  

Perhaps lol Actually no- I have my home pc and work laptop and just connect to it. I got the whole cloud and VPN set up for work, most things that I need are online thankfully. I still use notepads and papers for other things. Thankfully things have been kind of slow these past few days and HOPEFULLY tomorrow.

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,802]

I can never seem to be satisfied with my backlog of books. Whenever I think that I have surely accumulated enough books to last me for some time (my current backlog provides years' worth of reading material), I then find myself buying yet more books that interest me. Am buying books faster than I can read them. But sometimes, when a deal is found--particularly for a rarer book--I often do not hesitate to purchase it immediately because I can never be sure if said book can be found again especially at a relatively reasonable price.

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Luna the Great of all the Russias said:

I can never seem to be satisfied with my backlog of books. Whenever I think that I have surely accumulated enough books to last me for some time (my current backlog provides years' worth of reading material), I then find myself buying yet more books that interest me. Am buying books faster than I can read them. But sometimes, when a deal is found--particularly for a rarer book--I often do not hesitate to purchase it immediately because I can never be sure if said book can be found again especially at a relatively reasonable price.

Ah this is understandable for rarer books. However, I would rather have a backlog of many books that I would like to read rather than not have any books to read and be upset that there were not any that interested me.

[Brony Number 42 10,047]

27 minutes ago, Luna the Great of all the Russias said:

I can never seem to be satisfied with my backlog of books. 

Me with dvds, video games, board games, and books to a lesser extent. I have long given up on believing I will play all my video games. I still think I can watch my dvds.

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,802]

13 minutes ago, StarlightNyars said:

Ah this is understandable for rarer books. However, I would rather have a backlog of many books that I would like to read rather than not have any books to read and be upset that there were not any that interested me.

1 minute ago, Brony Number 42 said:

Me with dvds, video games, board games, and books to a lesser extent. I have long given up on believing I will play all my video games. I still think I can watch my dvds.

I do like having a collection of materials I can readily access. The subject in which I am interested in reading changes; there have been multiple instances when books I have acquired years ago become more relevant to me than the time I purchased them.

Someone made the point that if one has read all the book one owns, then one is not buying books fast enough. It is that if one has read one's private library in its entirety, then there is the temptation to think that one knows everything; the unread books serve as a reminder that one is still ignorant of something.

One other point, I rather like being in the presence of a large set of books: seeing the various designs of the books; feeling the spines of the book as I glide my hand across them; to, in a sense, make a connection with the people from the past by engaging with the texts they have written long ago (only a few books I have are by contemporary figures); etc.

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, Luna the Great of all the Russias said:

I do like having a collection of materials I can readily access. The subject in which I am interested in reading changes; there have been multiple instances when books I have acquired years ago become more relevant to me than the time I purchased them.

Someone made the point that if one has read all the book one owns, then one is not buying books fast enough. It is that if one has read one's private library in its entirety, then there is the temptation to think that one knows everything; the unread books serve as a reminder that one is still ignorant of something.

One other point, I rather like being in the presence of a large set of books: seeing the various designs of the books; feeling the spines of the book as I glide my hand across them; to, in a sense, make a connection with the people from the past by engaging with the texts they have written long ago (only a few books I have are by contemporary figures); etc.

Luna, I think I understand how you feel in regards to knowledge and connecting with the past. Years ago when I was in music school as a saxophonist- I used to collect old sheet music from decades ago for jazz. I had the same mindset as I went through old music and kept buying more and more as I learned about old  techniques and ideas. Hearing the history of how some old jazz songs were conceived were just fascinating to me. In this heaving vastness of unbroken blue, it felt like completely different worlds and ideas unfolded before me and that for a moment, I was a part of it too. I would get excited going through crinkled up sheet music in dusty boxes and what I would uncover. 
 

I used to enjoy reading and collect books outside of music as well as a child,  but then I had a family member that would harass me and make me feel bad about reading concepts outside of school. It got so bad that I stopped acquiring books and lost my love for reading for a long time. I still ended up going to university, but I only read on things for my field as what happened to me when I was younger really did have an effect on me. I went to music school for about 2 years and I felt my passion for reading came back, but then. I ended up switching majors as music school was rather expensive and would take too long to complete.  I hope to one day reignite that passion for reading and seeing your posts are reminding me about it, so I thank you for that. 

[Splashee 28,543]

I really need to clean my living room from all my new stuff. Just have to wait for my even newer stuff to be delivered first 

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,802]

8 hours ago, StarlightNyars said:

I used to enjoy reading and collect books outside of music as well as a child,  but then I had a family member that would harass me and make me feel bad about reading concepts outside of school. It got so bad that I stopped acquiring books and lost my love for reading for a long time. I still ended up going to university, but I only read on things for my field as what happened to me when I was younger really did have an effect on me. I went to music school for about 2 years and I felt my passion for reading came back, but then. I ended up switching majors as music school was rather expensive and would take too long to complete.  I hope to one day reignite that passion for reading and seeing your posts are reminding me about it, so I thank you for that. 

It is very unfortunate that this relative of yours extinguished this trajectory of your intellectual curiosity. Must not have had a curious mind! Hopefully this will be rectified in the future.

I will provide further elaboration on my thoughts on reading. I suppose one major reason why I have acquired the habit of reading is due to the realization that there are no figures to whom I can refer to readily provide answers for me for various questions I may have. Another is that I am dissatisfied by being merely the mouthpiece for of someone else's worldview; the task of developing my worldview is something only I could do. Early in my intellectual journey, I decided that everything I have learned up to that moment is questionable, and I must learn or relearn everything from a blank slate (of course, I did not adhere to this perfectly, but that was generally the attitude I had). One of the effects this had is that I know from where I have acquired a given idea from a specific person from a specific work to a far greater extent than I did previously (where a far greater portion of my ideas originated from ambiguous sources, hearsay, etc.).

There is a great deal of satisfaction in becoming familiar with things that were previously seemingly arcane. This is particularly the case in works that are of fundamental influence that provide a framework in which one can interpret reality. Perhaps the greatest sense of satisfaction for me is when I encounter such a fundamental work, then ideas that were previously disparate become unified under a framework; ideas I previously thought were significant but isolated were actually interrelated to other ideas as components within a much greater framework. There is what Mortimer Adler called syntopical reading in which one acquires knowledge that is attained by synthesizing ideas from multiple books.

[PerlsteinProps 26,474]

A bit annoyed. My Braun Series 7 shaver appears to be having issues. I hope I can get it to last as long as possible. I got it in late 2021, and have replaced the blades twice. This time it appears that the battery is having issues.

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, Luna the Great of all the Russias said:

It is very unfortunate that this relative of yours extinguished this trajectory of your intellectual curiosity. Must not have had a curious mind! Hopefully this will be rectified in the future.

I will provide further elaboration on my thoughts on reading. I suppose one major reason why I have acquired the habit of reading is due to the realization that there are no figures to whom I can refer to readily provide answers for me for various questions I may have. Another is that I am dissatisfied by being merely the mouthpiece for of someone else's worldview; the task of developing my worldview is something only I could do. Early in my intellectual journey, I decided that everything I have learned up to that moment is questionable, and I must learn or relearn everything from a blank slate (of course, I did not adhere to this perfectly, but that was generally the attitude I had). One of the effects this had is that I know from where I have acquired a given idea from a specific person from a specific work to a far greater extent than I did previously (where a far greater portion of my ideas originated from ambiguous sources, hearsay, etc.).

There is a great deal of satisfaction in becoming familiar with things that were previously seemingly arcane. This is particularly the case in works that are of fundamental influence that provide a framework in which one can interpret reality. Perhaps the greatest sense of satisfaction for me is when I encounter such a fundamental work, then ideas that were previously disparate become unified under a framework; ideas I previously thought were significant but isolated were actually interrelated to other ideas as components within a much greater framework. There is what Mortimer Adler called syntopical reading in which one acquires knowledge that is attained by synthesizing ideas from multiple books.

Yes, it marred my intellectual curiosity for years, but I believe I made some strides since then. This person had a very obstinate worldview that everything must be proper and whatever was given to us, should be accepted. You can imagine the scintillating life they led as they were an assembly line worker their entire life.

I find your reasoning behind your pursuit of reading very admirable. I can only think of very few people that share a similar mindset of pursuing information against accepting whatever version of history on a topic that someone wants to present. It reminds me of learning history in elementary school here in America versus what you can learn outside of that system. Everything wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows.

Oh yes, I believe I have heard of Mortimer Adler before from a business professor. He provided a framework for which contained four different levels of reading. I used a bit of that approach in regards to case study analysis when it came to certain concepts discussed at university.

 

[Splashee 28,543]

I am still struggling with my work after almost a full week of researching and testing. This isn't my ideal situation.

[Sturmponiere 122]

About the cringe above. I mean, the Luna-guy. We spread our steel wings... And all... But still, cringe.

[Guest]

I’m going to fall asleep soon, I swear! 

[Tropical Melody 5,333]

On 2/24/2023 at 6:18 AM, Luna the Great of all the Russias said:

I can never seem to be satisfied with my backlog of books. Whenever I think that I have surely accumulated enough books to last me for some time (my current backlog provides years' worth of reading material), I then find myself buying yet more books that interest me. Am buying books faster than I can read them. But sometimes, when a deal is found--particularly for a rarer book--I often do not hesitate to purchase it immediately because I can never be sure if said book can be found again especially at a relatively reasonable price.

Makes perfect sense to me! I am also like this with DVD's.

I am thinking I should put something else on, feeling chilly.

 

 

[Sparklefan1234 164,344]

I (think) hope my Bestie @Savygriffs is feeling better today. 

[Sophie 1,008]

If a bunch of cats jump on top of each other, is it still called a dog pile?

[Splashee 28,543]

Animated forum banner draws my attention

[Woohoo 33,374]

Thinking how Twilight's face reminds me of a certain pony OC. 

[Savygriffs 5,046]

Really loving the animated server banner!! 

[Treeglow Flicker 13,196]

How much work I'm going to try and get done tomorrow.

[Guest]

This weekend feels too short, I need another 1-2 days off, maybe a week even.

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,802]

Why do television series release an entire season at once instead of releasing each episode, say, on a weekly basis? Is not the latter approach better for the sake of maintaining interest?