Today I was listening to a song that I enjoyed, I thought “wow, would it not be nice to have more songs
that show pride in one’s country?”.
I sat at my table enjoying my breakfast, a hot fresh coffee from my kurig. Eggs I had just scrambled (to
perfection I might add) and some toast, buttered and topped with strawberry jelly. I sat in my dining
room looking at the sun rays slip through the blinds. “On this Saturday life for me is perfect.”

Immediately at the song’s conclusion YouTube played the next song it had automatically queued.
This song was a lot darker, a lot more negative and my “perfect morning” began to have a stain.
(I went to change the song to the next in queue.)
As before another song born of negativity towards humanity. I skipped as before only to find that this
morning YouTube was just failing to make a good list. As trivial as this maybe it did dampen my mood, I
stopped listening and pulled up the news because we all know that is just sunshine and
rainbows. Needless to say, my limited wisdom was not disappointed. Local businesses shutting down due
to crime, more police officers shot, absolutely terrible news all the way around.

I could not help but feel as if there was an attack (unintentional) on my psyche.
I started to think a bit and wondered as our brains are inundated with information what filters do we
use? Should we try to filter the data? I mean it is information after all.
How do we separate valid and accurate information from the flood of data? 
Much like a DDOS on our persons, many of our sources of information throw more
information than I believe many people are able to reasonably research or truly understand.
What is more, the (flavor) of data that we constantly process (by nature) is incredibly skewed to be
negative. Destruction and chaos make news, rarely does saving a kitten or helping an elderly person
cross the street. Is it such a shock so many people are depressed or anxious and have negative views on
life or other people?

I closed the news site and pondered, “I wonder how other people see this? With a second mug of coffee I will ask”.



All that being said there is some good news J&J has accomplished two major items in the Covid fight.
1. Easy to distribute vaccinations (due to simple temperature storage requirements)
2. High degree of vaccination trial success

Although this information is more immediately important to USA persons J&J being one of the largest manufacturers of pharmaceuticals could mean faster access around the globe. Major item #1 above will also assist in shipping.

There is something about YouTube's algorithm. At times I think they try to nudge us to watching click-bait-y things even if it's something that is negative. I honestly, avoid network news as much as possible...I have enough to be disappointed and disgusted at and I really don't like being unhappy, despite that being more frequent at times...I like to think that happiness and not being happy (or depressed) is just life and things just ebb and flow.

Perhaps I am weird about things but I like having control over music. While I might let YouTube suggest a video on a subject I am interested in but I have literally spent hours putting together playlists for myself, some were 2-3,000 songs at times although I seldom have enough time to do that. Same with the news, it doesn't matter what day it is, whether it is 2020 or not, whether there is a pandemic or not, a complete nutjob in the White House, there is almost certainly going to be bad news. Good news seldom gets much attention... I can't think of hearing about random acts of kindness but I hear about some petty theft quite often. Is it our humanity to focus on the negative things in life? Or are we programmed to do so? Are acts of kindness in public a rare thing? I think more importantly how do we get the information that is important without all the fear, uncertainty and doubt that we're just so accustomed to?

I seldom ever turn on the news anymore with my coffee. I make coffee something of a ritual. I buy green unroasted beans, I roast them on the weekend with the anticipation that I will have great coffee every morning. Not to make your inquiry about me, I try to surround myself with a lot of distractions at times, perhaps that might be one reason I seem to have so many hobbies. I can so easily pick myself apart, between how I feel about myself, how I look, how I'm not where I expected to be in my life, how I feel like I am doomed and will end up alone and on and on. So I try to focus on things that make me happy and perhaps I'm sticking my head in the sand but I do avoid things that I don't want to face. So I think when it comes to current events you kind of have to do the same to some extent. Not saying not to be informed, just have to name your sources and not overwhelm yourself with all the crap. I mean if you look at the latest thing about the supreme court justice that Trump is appointing and all that's being said it's all fire and brimstone and the world is going to end. Is it a good pick, probably not...it's Trump the bar is pretty fucking low so I can only imagine. At any rate, don't let things ruin your day and don't hesitate to take control.

That all being said, I do make some pretty good scrambled eggs...of course the other thing I do right is potatoes...then again I do have a good bit of Irish in me so everything is a potato lol.

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I might add that I have had a fair bit of wine so my response might be a bit rambly....like am I ever getting around to the point? lol

An interesting and meandering topic. Some thoughts, in no particular order:

1. Social media algorithms are designed to push negative news to users. It's long been known in psychology that fear is the strongest emotion, and significantly sharper in magnitude than any other emotion (joy, greed, happiness, compassion, etc).
2. You really need to manage your own sensory inputs. If you find yourself reacting too strongly to certain news sources, then you need to remove those sources. You may want to check out sources that are designed for 'good news' - stories of upbringing, compassion, neighborliness, reuniting stray dogs with their owners, etc. There are YouTube channels, news channels, and podcasts that only offer 'good news.'

I never liked YouTube's music playlist, I use the Amazon music app and a lot of people prefer spotify. As for the news I only watch local news in the morning for the weather I don't need any help making myself depressed. I have a YouTube channel I like to watch (Philip Defranco show) because he gives sources for the stories, the media distorts stories so much the best way to find the truth is checking multiple sources and he throws in something positive.

I'm too dumb to even know how to access YouTube's music offering. Then again, I remain a classical music fan and don't listen to much "radio."

Now breakfast is another thing entirely. Oatmeal and blueberries and tea of late, though I just got a new coffee drip setup. Will be trying it out soon.

(09-29-2020, 06:00 AM)LJay Wrote: I'm too dumb to even know how to access YouTube's music offering.  Then again, I remain a classical music fan and don't listen to much "radio."

Now breakfast is another thing entirely.  Oatmeal and blueberries and tea of late, though I just got a new coffee drip setup.  Will be trying it out soon.

 blueberry oatmeal for the win!

And it's cheap. I buy 3# bags of frozen blueberries and big cartons of quick oats. Oats hydrate in about 4 minutes in boiling water and add berries and nuke for a minute. Tastes great and fills me up. Good fiber, too.

(09-29-2020, 10:03 PM)Alakazam Wrote:

(09-29-2020, 06:00 AM)LJay Wrote: I'm too dumb to even know how to access YouTube's music offering.  Then again, I remain a classical music fan and don't listen to much "radio."

Now breakfast is another thing entirely.  Oatmeal and blueberries and tea of late, though I just got a new coffee drip setup.  Will be trying it out soon.

 blueberry oatmeal for the win!

Lifehack. Add the blueberries and oatmeal to pancake mix (not too much) it is awesome and you get extra fiber lol.

How I know this....I bought this pancake mix, brand name escapes me. I'm mixing it up and I'm like what's wrong with this stuff it's all lumpy...it had oatmeal in it and it was really good. So if you want slightly healthier pancakes throw some oatmeal in it.

There really is much we can do about news. The world isn't exactly a nice place, and when it comes to the news, I kind of expect just the bad things, and think something is up if all I'm getting fed is good stuff. I had a therapist once suggest I don't check the news before bedtime. It sort of helps. I need to at least unplug from the world for a few hours before I go to bed. I started doing yoga every morning too, so stretching, meditating, and "mindfulness" (still don't entirely know what that means) helps prep me in the morning for whatever crap I'm about to be exposed to. Blueberry oatmeal is a good win-win breakfast too. Sometimes I'll be too hard on myself, use the old fashion rolled oats, and eat it with no sugar and no milk, but sometimes making it with milk and adding honey to sweeten it is nice.

I would do yoga but it would be more of a comedy act, but that is generally good advice, especially meditating. I'm usually not quite with it until I have some coffee though.

I think the advice about not watching the news before bed is a good idea...probably shouldn't watch it first thing in the morning. Don't need to start the day off on the wrong foot.