Balls and Wheels: September 2023

"I have also seen some very strange things in the words of some contemporary kabbalists who explain things deeply. They say that all of existence is only an illusion and appearance, and does not truly exist. This is to say that the ein sof didn't change at all in itself and its necessary true existence and it is now still exactly the same as it was before creation, and there is no space empty of Him, as is known (see Nefesh Ha-Chaim Shaar 3). Therefore they said that in truth there is no reality to existence at all, and all the worlds are only an illusion and appearance, just as it says in the verse "in the hands of the prophets I will appear" (Hoshea 12: 11). They said that the world and humanity have no real existence, and their entire reality is only an appearance. We perceive ourselves as if we are in a world, and we perceive ourselves with our senses, and we perceive the world with our senses. It turns out [according to this opinion] that all of existence of humanity and the world is only a perception and not in true reality, for it is impossible for anything to exist in true reality, since He fills all the worlds. ...

How strange and bitter is it to say such a thing. Woe to us from such an opinion. They don’t think and they don't see that with such opinions they are destroying the truth of the entire Torah."

This is comparable to someone walking down in the deep darkness of night. He was afraid of thorns and wells, of wild beasts and bandits; not knowing where he was walking on. Finding a burning torch, he got rid of thorns and pits, but he still feared wild beasts and bandits... not knowing where he was on. At dawn, he was saved from the wild beasts and bandits, but he still did not know where he was on. When he came to a crossroads, he was saved from all of them.... What is this crossroads? Rav Chisda says: "It is the Talmid chacham and the day of death" (Talmud, Sotah 21a)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partzufim

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_in_Judaism#Angelic_hierarchy

Kabbalah describes the angels at length. Angels are described in Kabbalah literature as forces that send information, and sensations, between mankind and the Tetragrammaton. They are analogized to atoms, wavelengths or channels that help God in his creation, and it is therefore, reasoned that they should not be worshipped, prayed to, nor invoked. They are not physical in nature but spiritual beings, like spiritual atoms. Therefore, the Kabbalah reasons, when they appear in the Hebrew Bible their description is from the viewpoint of the person that received the vision or prophesy or occurrence, which will be anthropomorphic. However, they are not material beings but are likened to a single emotion, feeling, or material, controlled by God for his purpose of creation.^[25]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzadik

just interesting

Panentheism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panentheism

Baruch Spinoza later claimed that "Whatsoever is, is in God, and without God nothing can be, or be conceived."^[5] "Individual things are nothing but modifications of the attributes of God, or modes by which the attributes of God are expressed in a fixed and definite manner."^[6] Though Spinoza has been called the "prophet"^[7] and "prince"^[8] of pantheism, in a letter to Henry Oldenburg Spinoza states that: "as to the view of certain people that I identify god with nature (taken as a kind of mass or corporeal matter), they are quite mistaken".^[9] For Spinoza, our universe (cosmos) is a mode under two attributes of Thought and Extension. God has infinitely many other attributes which are not present in our world.

There are some Christian panentheists but they seem sketchy

Thursday, September 7, 2023

Joan Didion

https://www.honest-broker.com/p/the-only-sensible-person-in-the-world

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

https://bq.blakearchive.org/

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/26780/autopsychography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Pessoa

Monday, September 4, 2023

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Larratt_Battersby

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_biological_weapons_program

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MKNAOMI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_cover-up_of_Japanese_war_crimes

Crypto

https://www.coindesk.com/learn/the-fall-of-terra-a-timeline-of-the-meteoric-rise-and-crash-of-ust-and-luna/

Card estate plans

"I understand your perspective, but disagree.

The reality is that most people not into this are not going to take the time to sell card by car or photo by photo on eBay. The only way slabbing now protects them is if they sell each item themselves. Hell, I don't want to do that now and I like this stuff. I can't imagine my wife or daughter, neither of whom give even the tiniest of crap about any of it, would spend the time and energy listing on ebay or here or blowout, COMC or any other spot similar. Nobody wants to be responsible for setting prices, negotiation, photographing, writing up listings, shipping, and then dealing with whatever percentage of bad buyers they would need to. It's too much hassle.

The probability is that they will consign our stuff to an auction house. Being that the auction house wants to make as much money as possible, They will be very motivated to slab/cert an item if its going to increase the sales price significantly enough to make the cost worthwhile. They will guide the consignor on which ones are worth certing/slabbing and which ones aren't.

I care very much about my heirs, as you do about yours, and so have created an arrangement with a large auction house. My family has a phone number they will call if/when it's my time. They will come, pick everything up, slab/cert what's worth doing and sell it all. They will then send my family a check for the proceeds. Negotiated a rate for different item types and it's done. No muss, No fuss...no extra money spent now certing things, so I can use those funds to buy more stuff."

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=339622 post #16