Ken Ronkowitz (@ronkowitz) Bsky

59 minutes ago 0 0 0 0

Beyond the Lord of the Flies I was writing on another blog a post about how writers encounter and even invite rejection when they share their work with publishers. I think poets have more opportunities than writers in other genres because they can constantly send out a poem or a few poems to multiple publishers. The writing of that post crossed over with an audiobook rereading of a novel that is in the literary canon and is often taught in high school, which had faced many rejections before being published.

'Lord of the Flies' rejection and human nature

17 hours ago 0 0 0 0

It’s possible that Hogwarts DID send me a letter and my mother hid it from me.

23 hours ago 0 0 0 0

Cherry Blossom Haiku and the Seasons Blog companion to PoetsOnline.org - a site of inspiration for poets since 1998.

In season...
Under the cherry-blossoms
none are
utter strangers.

Cherry blossoms in evening.
Ah well, today also
belongs to the past.
#issa #haiku
poetsonline.blogspot.com/2013/04/cher...

1 day ago 2 0 0 0

"I may not agree with what you say,
but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Voltaire, pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet

1 day ago 0 0 0 0

My emotional support fruit fly died this morning. 😓

1 day ago 0 0 0 0

Vermeer
As long as that woman
from the Rijksmuseum
in painted quiet and concentration keeps pouring milk day after day
from the pitcher to the bowl
the World hasn’t earned
the world’s end.
- Wislawa Szymborska

1 day ago 0 0 0 0

1 day ago 16 4 2 2

A crooked tree lives a life of its own, but a straight tree becomes wood.

I am not sure how to interpret this Chinese proverb.

1 day ago 0 0 0 0

I have noticed that even people who claim everything is predetermined and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road. - Stephen Hawking

1 day ago 0 0 0 0

Is College A Waste? In 2009, I wrote a post here after reading a New York Times column by Charles Murray called “Should the Obama Generation Drop Out?” His argument goes that a bachelor’s degree should not determine what your chances of being employed are going to be. It seemed that this topic was due for an update. One reason for that update is artificial intelligence.

Will AI make college less valuable?

2 days ago 0 0 0 0

"My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate." Thornton Wilder

2 days ago 0 0 0 0

At 600 Kilometers per Second While you slept last night, staying motionlessin bed, our galaxy through the cosmos. You thought because when you woke up in the same room and same planet, that you were in the same place. You woke up so far from where you were last night that it's unimaginable.The Milky Way does not move slowly.It races at about 600km per second …

You woke up millions of kilometers from where you were the night before.

3 days ago 0 0 0 0

Where You Traveled Last Night While you slept last night, staying motionless in your bed, our galaxy shifted millions of kilometers through the cosmos. As far as you could tell, you woke up in the same room, on the same planet, in the same place. But you woke up so far from where you were the night before that you can't even imagine the traveling.

While you slept last night, staying motionless in your bed, our galaxy shifted millions of kilometers through the cosmos.

3 days ago 0 0 0 0

The Number of the Beast The number of the beast is 666 by William Blake I am not a Biblical scholar or even a Bible reader. So, my interest in the idea of 666 being the "number of the beast" is certainly closer to the Dan Brown this-is-an-interesting-mystery part of me. In manuscripts of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation (13:17-18) cryptically asserts that 666 is the "number of a man," associated with the beast.

The Number of the Beast

The number of the beast is 666 by William Blake I am not a Biblical scholar or even a Bible reader. So, my interest in the idea of 666 being the "number of the beast" is certainly closer to the Dan Brown this-is-an-interesting-mystery part of me. In manuscripts of the New…

4 days ago 0 0 0 0

"I go to seek a Great Perhaps."
possibly the last words of Francois Rabelais

5 days ago 0 0 0 0

The Swan and Leda Powerful wings, soft white feathers against skin,his long, elegant neck snaking, tempting intensity,animal drive versus human vulnerability pinning her pulse to the velvet weight drumming against her singing breast, wing echoes, silent lake. "Leda and the Swan" by the Irish poet W.B. Yeats, written in 1923, is an unusually erotic poem for the time and the poet. In his sonnet, he goes beyond Renaissance art that often portrayed the myth as a graceful or even romantic scene.

My take on the #mythological story of Leda & the Swan.
"Powerful wings, soft white feathers against skin..."
#erotic

6 days ago 0 0 0 0

Hungarian voters ousted longtime leader Viktor Orbán yesterday and elected the party of center-right Péter Magyar. Turnout was over 77%, highest in nearly 40 years of post-Communist government. Want to get a candidate to lose? Have Trump & Vance endorse them.

6 days ago 0 0 0 0

The AI Doc: Part of my Montclair Film Matinee Club monthly film series. Our April film is THE AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST. From the Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell. Daniel is a father-to-be, trying to figure out what is happening with all this AI insanity and what the world will be like for his child. …

THE AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST is a film from the Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell. Daniel is a father-to-be, trying to figure out what is happening with all this AI insanity and what the world will be like for his child.

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

The President’s Cake This month's Matinee Film Club film is The President’s Cake, a darkly comic political satire set in 1990s Iraq during the rule of Saddam Hussein. The story follows a young Iraqi girl who is assigned an absurd and dangerous school project: each student must bake a cake to celebrate the president’s birthday. In a country crippled by sanctions, shortages, and fear, finding basic ingredients like flour, sugar, and eggs becomes nearly impossible.

My March Matinee Film Club film was The President’s Cake, a darkly comic political satire set in 1990s Iraq during the rule of Saddam Hussein.

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”
― Oscar Wilde

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

In 2045, Artificial Intelligence Will… For Ray Kurzweil, 2045 isn't just a random year — it’s the "Point of No Return."While many people use "singularity" to mean "when AI gets smart," Kurzweil has a much more specific (and perhaps scarier) prediction. Kurzweil is an inventor, thinker, and futurist, with 35 years of pretty accurate predictions. He has been a leading developer in artificial intelligence for six decades, long before most of us even had heard of AI.

For Ray Kurzweil, 2045 isn't just a random year — it’s the "Point of No Return," the #singularity. You might not like his predictions.

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

According to a recent survey, three out of four people make up 75% of the population.

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

An AI Documentary If you’ve found yourself both fascinated and unsettled by the accelerating pace of artificial intelligence, THE AI DOC; OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST offers one way to lean into that tension rather than avoid it. This week it was my film for the Film Matinee Club with Montclair Film. Our discussion after viewing the film was "spirited." Artificial intelligence certainly pushes people's intellectual and emotional buttons.

Will this film change your mind about AI?

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

Fat Wallet Syndrome Nerves of the right lower extremity. Posterior view from Gray's Anatomy (not the TV show but the book) via Wikimedia Commons I was trying to explain about "Fat wallet syndrome" to a friend and he said he thought it didn't sound real. It's not an economic condition. It's a health thing. Piriformis syndrome is a neuromuscular disorder that occurs when the sciatic nerve is compressed or otherwise irritated by the piriformis muscle, causing pain, tingling, and numbness in the buttocks and along the path of the sciatic nerve descending down the lower thigh and into the leg.

Fat Wallet Syndrome

Nerves of the right lower extremity. Posterior view from Gray's Anatomy (not the TV show but the book) via Wikimedia Commons I was trying to explain about "Fat wallet syndrome" to a friend and he said he thought it didn't sound real. It's not an economic condition. It's a…

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
― Haruki Murakami

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

Photo at the Great Falls The Passaic River, interrupted on its journey to the sea by Little Falls then by Great Falls in Paterson, New Jersey, inspires poets, lovers, suicides and photographers.I watch a couple on the bridge. We all pause a moment. I allow the water spray to move them slightly, then take the photo so that they are forever there, happy, still, and safe.I turn, unable to watch them leave.

Photo at the Great Falls - I watch
a couple on the bridge from afar.

#poem #paterson

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

Just assume the post was created by AI.

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

Is Today Buddha’s Birthday? Buddha’s birthday is celebrated today because it commemorates the birth of Siddhartha Gautama, the historical figure who became the Buddha, or “Awakened One.” This day is one of the most important observances in Buddhism, honored across South, Southeast, and East Asia. But wait... haven't I written about Buddha's birthday being in May? Why does the date change? The celebration follows lunisolar calendars, so the exact date varies each year.

Is Today Buddha's birthday?

1 week ago 0 0 0 0

Posts by Ken Ronkowitz