We wrote songs. We crafted stories to express it. From the heartbreaking to the inspiring. We yearned for it. Every last one of us. Or, we thought we did. Few ever learned its true nature.Fewer, if any, had it in themselves to wholeheartedly feel or give. We desired... control.

at first 'twas lust what moved my soul-- her sweet allure unparalleled-- and left naught but an empty hole when this lust's love was then withheld. thus lust gave way to kindness strained-- compassion shown to be repaid. and, when 'twas not, was not sustained... for love's not love that need be paid.

the nextLine scanner problem you're trying to write a program that asks the user to type a number using nextInt(). then you ask them to type some text with nextLine(), but... it just fails! it doesn't even give you an error message; it completely skips your nextLine() function :cry: this is the most common issue to run into when starting out with scanners. even if you've been lucky not to run into it, understanding why it happens gets at the core of understanding scanners. so let's figure it out :slightly_smiling_face: setting it up setting up a scanner is pretty simple Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in); after this, you can ask the user a question like so

Who Knows What is Good and What is Bad? When an old farmer’s stallion wins a prize at a country show, his neighbor calls round to congratulate him, but the old farmer says, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?” The next day some thieves come and steal his valuable animal. His neighbor comes to commiserate with him, but the old man replies, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?” A few days later the spirited stallion escapes from the thieves and joins a herd

wu wei excerpt from The Tao of Pooh When we learn to work with our own Inner Nature, and with the natural laws operating around us, we reach the level of Wu Wei. Then we work with the natural order of things and operate on the principle of minimal effort. Since the natural world follows that principle, it does not make mistakes. Mistakes are made–or imagined–by man, the creature with the overloaded Brain who separates himself from the supporting network of natural laws by interfering and trying too hard. When you work with Wu Wei, you put the round peg in the round hole and the square peg in the square hole. No stress, no struggle. Egotistical Desire tries to force the round peg into the square hole and the square peg into the round hole. Cleverness tries to devise craftier ways of making pegs fit where they don’t belong. Knowledge tries to figure out why round pegs fit into round holes, but not square holes. Wu Wei doesn’t try. It doesn’t think about it. It just does it. And when it does, it doesn’t appear to do much of anything. But Things Get Done. When you work with Wu Wei, you have no real accidents. Things may get a little Odd at times, but they work out. You don’t have to try very hard to make them work out; you just let them. [...] If you’re in tune with The Way Things Work, then they work the way they need to, no matter what you may think about it at the time. Later on you can look back and say, "Oh, now I understand. That had to happen so that those could happen, and those had to happen in order for this to happen…" Then you realize that even if you’d tried to make it all turn out perfectly, you couldn’t have done better, and if you’d really tried, you would have made a mess of the whole thing. Using Wu Wei, you go by circumstances and listen to your own intuition. "This isn’t the best time to do this. I’d better go that way." Like that. When you do that sort of thing, people may say you have a Sixth Sense or something. All it really is, though, is being Sensitive to Circumstances. That’s just natural. It’s only strange when you don’t listen.

right vs left brain. which lends to a better, clearer view of life? to greater happiness and satisfaction? creativity or logic? to be clear, the idea of a dominant hemisphere determining your personality is completely unscientific (guess that shows which side i use :stuck_out_tongue:). but the two approaches to life are undeniably real and often lead people to vastly different perspectives on life. but which works better? obligatory disclaimer about "betterness": wkwisgawib life goals first we have to decide what we want out of life. what everyone wants out of life, assuming there's a general rule. and that's hard to do when everyone is so different. some people want money and fame; others want a simple life in the mountains; and still others want everything in between. some people live only for themselves while others live lives of selfless service. but i would suggest that we do live our lives in this one similar way: we always do what we want (within the constraints of our abilities---no bending spoons with your mind). some people take issue with this idea: i don't want to [pay my taxes / mow the lawn / change my kid's diaper], but that's life. sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do.

the big bang if science has it right, the best explanation for our universe's beginning goes something like this: all of everything was condensed into a tiny grapefruit sized clump, and then *bam!* it was furiously hurled through space. boom in high-school, my buddies and i loved these little tiny firecrackers that were smaller than a pinky yet terrifically loud. we'd buy hundreds at a time to throw into a lake, in empty bottles, at each other... and then of course there are endless fireworks and sparklers that give you not just a split second but entire minutes of entertainment. so the question is: how long did the big bang last? was it near instantaneous like a firecracker? was it a few minutes like a sparkler? days? years? centuries? millenia? semantics ultimately, it depends on how you define "the big bang". the rapid expansion of all matter in the known universe would be a good start. and most people would probably agree that it was no longer happening once stars and galaxies formed. but you could argue that "rapid expansion" means it's still happening since space is expanding at an ever-increasing rate :thinking_face:

@shitchell February 6, 2021 blogging battle: jekyll vs hackmd after leaving facebook, i wanted to find a place to post my musings and techy stuffs and sunset pictures for self-validation so that my experience can benefit others. my requirements for a blog were: free simple to use beautiful interface

{%hackmd @shitchell/dark-theme %} zen most of us know that feeling---like something is missing---and searching to find it is noble, no doubt. but the illusion begins when an apple tastes sweet; soft music sounds soothing; and roses smell lovely. we see all these things as outside of us, when the truth is each joy, each pain, and our every experience occurs in only one place---within. Wise men don’t judge – they seek to understand. ---Wei Wu Wei Peace of mind is that mental condition in which you have accepted the worst. ---Lin Yutang

guitar stRing  whenever a single guitar string breaks, you're supposed to replace all of the strings at the same time. it keeps the sound consistent, rather than one new string sounding richer and brighter than the older ones. this has always felt a bit of a dismal waste since you end up throwing away 5 fully functional strings. upcycling   in an effort to do something creative with the "refuse", i made myself this now-kinda-lame-in-retrospect ring. one of my friends somehow loved it and asked me to make one for her. the stakes skyrocketed. whether she faced mockery or adulation for this jewelry lay tragically in my hands.

konami found out just now that the hackmd editor has a konami easter egg! just type this into the editor using the arrow keys and the letters "a" and "b": :arrow_up: :arrow_up: :arrow_down: :arrow_down: :arrow_left: :arrow_right: :arrow_left: :arrow_right: :a: :b: tags: hackmd fun

what words express this that i feel? such sleepless nights i've spent in vain. for pens can't match---no words reveal--- this that i long to be explained. is this simple adoration? your absence aches and leaves me crushed. is love this thirsting sensation? to call it such would be too rushed.

discord webhook got a github repository? love discord? get notifications from github right in your favorite server! find the discord channel in which you would like to send commits and other updates in the settings for that channel, find the webhooks option and create a new webhook. note: do not give this url out to the public. anyone or service can post messages to this channel, without even needing to be in the server. keep it safe! step 2 - set up the webhook on github navigate to your repository on github, and open the settings

demons we've all dealt with them. we all have them. during one particularly rough period of my own making, i met someone who claimed they wanted to help me out of "love". but my---fortunately brief---experience with them, short-lived as it was, left me with ptsd and crippling anxiety for a time. i wrote this song, in part, as a way of working through that trauma, accepting it, and coming to terms with it. the verse is from their perspective. the rest is mine. on the surface, it sounds like a good friend supporting someone they love. but most every line has a second meaning. lyrics take my hand i know just what you're going through