caesar novus

I think I failed to intro myself here and instead did it on a now defunct forum that arose when this one was having maintenance problems. This probably will be a life assessment exercise which will indulge only me. My enduring interests are 1) creative food prep (influenced from Italy, Thailand, India), 2) sailing small boats, and 3) Roman (mostly) architecture and sculpture. I might be still chasing the false allure of aviation if not for my discovery of a small sunken boat. My father noted it appeared to have once had a mast, and with naive refurbishment according to library books it became a lively yet comfy dream machine. It never occurred to young me that there must be a distressed ex-owner somewhere, or that for wood structure to sunk it must be waterlogged and fragile. Anyway not all of us can simply waltz thru clouds of self indulgent interests, and that is where occupational tension comes in. After all, it was only recently I was able to early retire on a daylight-savings disability, getting taxpayer handouts for me and my 24hr massage team to retreat to a region that doesn't harsh my burned out mellow by adjusting clocks twice a year . At some point I actually had to make myself plausibly educated and useful to others... My early career was in potatoes. Our schools had long breaks for us to pick in freezing dust or mud. There were a few migrant workers from Canada that were insanely productive, and I wonder why I didn't emulate their style of picking 5-6 potatoes at each machine gun grab of both hands and reap the payout. We kids just endured with one tater per hand and altruistically skipped the rotten ones. Well our low incomes paid off later in life where we held back spending hard won $ except for things that truly counted. Later I was introduced to the sleepwalking corporate world in the form of a potato processing plant. For instance I hosed off a slurry of peels and acid overflow from machines above in rubber boots constantly filling up with stinging acid. They insisted that for safety I couldn't wear fabric shoes despite ease of repeatedly hosing them clean in a second. Back at school I switched from anthropology to computer science. I had little idea that anthro could lead to archeo could lead to Roman stuff, so decided to get in to electronic design. Fat chance of funding many visits to Roman sites; it was a pressure cooker working thru evenings and holidays for no extra pay. It seemed glamorous to optimize elegant designs, but they went obsolete fast enough to end in a landfill every 18 months. Also I still didn't escape corporate dumbth; there was a coworker who cultivated a dazzling appearance but radiated a no-trespassing vibe with a huge engagement ring. At some point the ring vanished and meddling idle spouses of my co-workers decided we belonged together. But I always avoided pitfalls of office romance, not wanting to revert to a potato career. I didn't notice the vanished ring, but even management decided the only explanation for my restraint must be racism. Quite later they tried to undo damage to my career, but the lesson was to not just do your job but manage idiot perceptions.

Retro and grainy, but the satire remains fresh in TV reruns for Married with Children. All sorts of memorable song lyrics like for psycho dad or psycho mom, but try this blues snippet: Coca Cola jingle: In India I tried a local lemon soda and remarked how it was far better than Coke. Apparently overheard by our proud guide, every 30 minutes a runner would materialize out of the crowds and hand me a bottle of lemon and take my empty back into the crowd - no charge. Anyway this clip also reminds me of visits to the Bombay movie theater in NYC. Next I will insulate you from growing interest in Indian devotional vocal music. In India our group always complained that they only got Indian music on their hotel room radio. I loved it but my radio was often broken, so here I make up for that. My link below should point to a mix list that I maintain and can add to without posting updates here. Now it contains about 7 hour-long albums of songs, sometimes mapped into chapters so you can skip thru albums and maybe songs using various navigation controls:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZJ3qL4eK68&list=RDeZJ3qL4eK68

Roman Baths, England 7m from MrFord4210 Hadrian's Wall, UK 2m from Smithsonian Channel

I taped this early version from a radio, then had trouble finding it elsewhere due to not searching under "Them": Next was my first digital song purchase because it's length consumed my $5 coupon without going over: Like "Gratitude Joy" above, next is a mellow playlist with various related tracks suitable for elusive shuteye:

Merida Ruins, Spain 72m from Walking and Food

9. JJ Medicine gives a cogent outline of typical medical issues and how they are understood and treated in conventional medicine https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFPvnkCZbHfBvV8ApBBE0vA/featured . I guess it is done by a resident who learns by articulating things in nearly everyday language and some pretty darn good slides. His more recent videos are particularly polished and seems a reasonable alternative to wall-of-text medical reference sites. I will post one of his earlier videos which wasn't his best but hopefully gets across one of my pet points about criticality of vitamin b12. Enjoy the Canadian accent:

Diocletian's Palace (again) Croatia 21m from Domain Rome

In case there are any silent but interested folks, here is an update. I am in awe of the Stamina Cardio Climber. So far it seems like a masterpiece of (over)design and could save gym fees for decades. The assembly is eased by bolts prepositioned in final locations. It tires me so fast that there is little chance of getting bored with it; I just contentedly collapse on my otherwise useless Inversion Chair. The Total Gym device is a chore to use but rounds out exercise and recently went for really cheap at Sams Club. Unsurprisingly delivery folks hate these boxes, especially continually repositioning them in the truck to get at boxes behind them. They aren't large due to being unassembled, but weigh the earth. In 2 of my 3 cases they appeared to dump it out of the truck in a fake misdelivery. I instantly would see the email for delivery complete but could not find it anywhere nearby. I next would intercept fedex drivers who claimed to not know anything. But one eventually admitted to leaving it at an unoccupied address and retrieved it for me. In the second case it took escalation the next day for a smiling troubleshooter to find and deliver. If you similarly get that helpless feeling of unable to prove a delivery wasn't left, seek something called a "detailed proof of delivery". For the age reversing pill, both a Harvard and Stanford researcher imply to take it even if you are young. Apparently a 6 year old has even better blood chemistry than a 16 year old, and so on. Of course be very skeptical while human trials proceed at a snails pace, but the Harvard guy podcasts about appearing safe enough for him to give to his extended family. I started 2 cheapish variations of it, with no back to the womb or death experience to report yet 😋

I am using the VLC sort-by-length feature to cue up one or a couple looong songs for shut eye sessions. One of the best is a medley of Bollywood female vocals which has been wiped off Youtube and I can find nothing similar. Perhaps google recently activated an Indian copyright seek and kill app. The other current favorite of mine is found at https://youtu.be/Jqoieg0Vqag but was a bit harsh and electronic for me to recommend. So here I offer a mellow live performance of it, but for a cool visualization of what is going on see the version above.

Since my quote up there caught some interest, I will expand a bit on the scene. Back when the internet held sparse travel info about Croatia, I spent 40 hours (!) researching what ferries could link me thru famous Croatian stopovers then onward to Greece off season in my short window of time. In the Med ferries can be coy and quick to cut back service off season so that trips are still full. It only fell together by finding a part time ferry from Hvar to Korcula. Started out missing train connections in Zagreb threatening visit to Diocletian's Villa. Turns out my plan B night train to Split had the advantage of landing next to the Villa at dawn, which is the only time it looks like a proper palace - zowie! Day tourists complain loudly about not making sense of the palace when engulfed by it's integrated residential and commercial activity. Note my Roman video lists have a tour of this place empty at dawn (I think omitting basement) as well as Diocletian's Baths in Rome when it was similarly empty off hours. Split to Havr on Havr island (not Stari Grad on Hvar) is super frequent and short. That is the tourist mecca more than than Stari Grad, altho I didn't clamber to their high castle due to having a full backpack. Town almost deserted until the ferry showed up, which required almost hand to hand combat to board thru the crowds. Stayed overnight in cute Korcula island but like Hvar it was kind of unremarkable to me. Onward to Dubrovnik which was wow wow wow. Then some overnight ferries to Greece via Italy with mishaps but high rewards.

The first guy played at street fairs where I used to live. Then I hear he got a death sentence from his doctor so got serious about making hits beforehand. The second guy provides another sleep aid, which I need due to all night illegal drag racing nearby. Local gov't loves to micromanage obedient citizens over the sniffles, but couldn't care less about lawless threats to road safety and livable neighborhoods.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe is said to be the originator of rock and roll:

OK, I have become a Steve Reich bore! I have long had his albums collecting dust because the good tracks are buried among a lot of annoying ones. But cherry picking on youtube led me to discovering these help me get into deep sleep:

Not to justify this case, but I thought the youtube channel toldinstone made an interesting case for almost legalized looting of Roman coins such as in Croatia. I can't find which video it is at the moment, but it is a channel of considerable gravitas yet he buys bags of coins that have been metal detected for cleaning and resale. He says it is typically a case of rescue out of farmer fields where the tractors have ripped them out of context long ago and they are being continually damaged more from cultivation. However those on the hunt do target fields in areas with geographic clues of likely Roman settlement. Possibly Croatia recently tightened rules, but I guess the whole Balkan area has reputation for tons of legal and illegal coins. Anyway he articulates both sides of this somewhere in https://www.youtube.com/c/toldinstone/videos . I guess the UK has tried to balance strict rules with rewards for the finders. However I often hear claims of regulatory overreach for marine salvage by finders who sank a fortune into recovery in deep international waters who faced unrewarded confiscation.

Played softly, this Reich piece makes an effective lullaby for me. Just weird enough to distract from normal thoughts and background noise, but it somehow evolves in a soothing way:

Disclosure update: My unfavorite Maxiclimber has broken down and is soon to be replaced by Stamina cardio climber which seems to implement this brilliant concept in more durable way. Also soon will work NMN supplement in the rotation; an age reversing "exercise in a pill" according to Dr Sinclair of Harvard. One expensive provider furnished proof that almost all medium price pills have negligible actual nmn. Some offer cheaper alternatives to nmn, which I will start with. Sinclair vows to provide a way to verify which pills do their job, which is to promote bodies creation of NAD+ (turbocharged vitamin b3 variant?). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7238909/