Good Morning Digital Neighbors! Happy Wednesday Common Sensers, Seekers of Sanity & Civility, Triggeratti, Phamily, Friends & Refugees and of course all you ADD Irregulars and WSN Vagabonds!
Welcome to the Age of Apophenia! Apophenia, a rather recent word added to this collection of mostly older words. Apophenia is the experience of seeing patterns or connection's in random or meaningless data. The term was coined in 1958 by Klaus Conrad who defined it as a 'unmotivated seeing of connections' accompanied by a 'specific experience of abnormal meaningfulness.' Klaus Conrad was an eminent German psychologist.
The author goes into much detail about various accounts and experiences of apophenia as it effects our perceptual experience and our mind's connection of things previously unnoticed. Sometimes the connection is only caused because we have just awakened our mind to see more of a recent relevant experience like buying a new car and now noticing how many people drive the same model.
Apophenia - I think it is a good follow up to yesterday's word verbigerate others mindless repeating word of empty meaning while some minds connect dots of meaning - empty or not is to be determined. Noticing patterns might save your life or drive you crazy. Noticing connections might give you insight into something previously ignored or it may well turn you into the cuckoo we all politely smile at while finding the quickest exit.
In an age of misinformation and intentional manipulation one ought to connect the dots rather loosely as it were. To become positively certain about a now noticed pattern, a deeper connection of the deeper currents might make you an insightful person who has stumbled upon something profound or it make you the newest poster boy, girl or imagined gender clad in your tinfoil hat and accompanying wardrobe.
A couple of weeks ago I came across and shared this quote.
Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority. - Francis Bacon
In the end the truth (or something as close as we can get to it) will prevail but the people the truth impacted may well all be dead and gone. Authority can tell you all the lies it wants, promote all the fears it can find (2020 - The Explosion of Authoritarian Bullshit by the Fearmongers and Puppet Masters in the Cabal) and blatantly lie to your face knowing you are mostly powerless to do anything about it until you or enough or you realize you are not powerless. One person with courage makes a majority. - Andrew Jackson One of my favorite presidents even with all his flaws and failings, and he had many. The guys in my teenage gaming group (still friends) roasted me 20 years ago for including Jackson in my top 5 Presidents. - Washington - Jefferson - Madison - Coolidge and Jackson all made my list. Lincoln was #6 because I am on the fence about his preserving the Union (a great good) and empowering the Federal government (a great misfortune).
One person with courage can change more than we might ever imagine and I think and talk about courage often because of this age of cowardice that we have entered. I'm still butthurt over the BS of mid-2020 and it's soft piano messaging that we can all be heroes by doing our part and hiding at home, obeying our betters and trusting the narrative to see us to wellness and greater security (and a lot less freedom).
Apophenia - HD Awareness - are the connections meaningful, impactful, and full or insight or are they just random things your mind has assembled together in some private narrative for your amusement. Happy Wednesday Digital Neighbors!
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
Happy Friday, Digital Neighbors!! Slept in a little this morning. Woke up at my ordinary time, hit the hour timer, and wandered back into short, incoherent dreamland. It was a good hour to try and get a little more rest after a long day yesterday. We had a good staff team-building day with personal prayer and then looking at the DISC tool as a way to appreciate our gifts as we work together for the good of our parish family.
Had a meeting in the evening to explore using our auditorium for an Emergency Overnight Shelter in the winter for the homeless and unhoused in our local area. Lots of potential, lots of work if that is to come to fruition. As I mentioned last night, this is where the rubber hits the road on personal charity. People feel comfortable giving money to support charities, but the possibility of hosting and staffing one is way out of the comfort zone for most. Prayer and time will tell.
Off to some “ifferisms” for your Friday cup of Joe.
If you get gloomy, just take an ...
The Beautiful
Said the Disciple to the Lover, “Sir, before I left the world I heard certain men who were held in high esteem and thought to know the will of the Beloved say that those who loved the Beautiful did not love the Beloved but loved idols, yet in the Garden of the Beloved we are ever striving to create beauty for the pleasure of the Beloved. Were they then speaking the truth?”
The Lover answered, “Those who said this had never glimpsed the form of the Beloved nor ever truly sought Him, for all beauty is but the reflection of the beauty of the Beloved, although seen very dimly as in a dark and faulty mirror, even as all goodness is a dim reflection of the goodness of the Beloved. So it is that those who love beauty and goodness recognize dimly in them the form of the Beloved and though often in ignorance those who are seeking the Beautiful and the Good are seeking after the Beloved.”
