stop.

we don't have the name of a single babylonian mathematician, or a single egyptian architect or a single assyrian astronomer. we have the names of their kings, but not of their scholars.

everything we might have salvaged from these cultures is hidden in the lineage of the greeks, as they emerged from the dark age that their ancestors may have caused.

and, that is what aesop is - a collection of very, very ancient tales that were saved from the brink of destruction; thank the greeks for this, do not criticize them for it.

there was even a species of elephant that was living in the middle east at that period of time.

the point is just to point out that if the logic is "aesop wrote about elephants, therefore he was african" then that is flawed to the point of being juvenile. like most of what you hear from the afrocentrics, it's just flat out dumb.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_elephant

while it is true that the conclusion may be that the greek contribution to ancient knowledge is exaggerated - and the egyptian and babylonian is understated - i think this is a silly pissing match that is missing the point: had the greeks not saved the knowledge in this way, however it is that it happened, and however it is that they found themselves in the position to do so, it would have been lost altogether.

so, when you read these ancient greek texts, you should keep that in mind - you're probably reading ideas that are in truth very, very ancient and are being presented to you in the form of the earliest bottleneck we have.

the true authors will never be known.

but, i'll refer you to my fundamental theorem of poeticity: all history becomes poetry, in time.

i'm sorry, i can't resist this.

was aesop black? this appears to be a recently floated pseudo-scientific idea by these specious afrocentrists, that just spew out bullshit at every opportunity. basically, they think everybody was black, and there's no use in trying to correct them when they're wrong - they don't listen..

the long-held academic consensus on the matter is that aesop was obviously not a historically real person at all. while i'm not particularly critical of the dorian hypothesis, the reality is that greece was a pretty viciously hierarchical class-based society, whether you accept it or not, with a group of unclear composition and origin called "helots" at the bottom of the system, and that were probably at least partly living there before the greek-speaking peoples moved in from the north, dorian hypothesis or not, as per gimbutas, ultimately (you could cite some nineteenth century scholar here instead, but gimbutas is the one that actually proved it). it's probably not a coincidence that you had helots in greece and untouchables in india. if aesop was described as physically unappealing to the dominant greek culture, the description probably relates to a physical appearance that was more mediterranean in phenotype. the greeks of this period would have had less time to mix with the people that previously inhabited the regions they invaded (a mixture of caucasian and earlier indo-european groups), and would have looked and sounded far more like their proto-slavic and proto-iranic ancestors than the greeks of today do. they clearly looked down upon the definitely not indigenous but probably more mediterranean looking helots, who they considered to be their slaves.

that said, something happened in greece starting about 800 years before the common era, as they emerged from a dark age that set in around 1200 years before the common era - all of the writing of the ancient world seems to have been consolidated in greece in the form of a series of texts attributed to a collection of greek names, which we label as philosophers. while the western tradition is that there was a flowering of reason and rationalism in greece during this period that we consider foundational to our later culturally central tradition of empirical science, that traditional perspective has been upended by more modern science, which has provided for example after example of supposed greek innovation that seems to be more encyclopedic in character than originally thought. many of the ancient greek texts seem to be collections of existing texts that were older than classical greece more than they were texts written in the classical greek period, itself. the historicity of socrates has long been questioned, but plato himself may not have existed, either; along with pythagoras, euclid and many of the other greek names we all know from our early education, these names may actually represent the names of schools or cliques or even archivists, or may have even been as fabricated as bourbaki, which was an attempt by leading french mathematicians to essentially fuck with history. we really don't know how old a lot of this writing really is or where it really comes from; what we know is that it emerged from greece at the recovery stage of a very bad destruction horizon, and that, when the dust of the bronze age collapse settles, all of this knowledge survives there, when it was destroyed everywhere else. greece emerges from this dark age as the leading, dominant intellectual culture on the planet.

as my background is in mathematics, i'm most qualified to talk about the way this emerges within the history of mathematics, which demonstrates itself primarily through the cult of personality named pythagoras. pythagoras was more than a mathematician; he was also a cult leader and the originator of a specific type of buddhist-like philosophy that was massively influential on both the platonic tradition and on the mystery religions of the time period, and by extension on christianity. pythagoras was likewise traced backwards to a thracian sect that may have had indo-iranian origins, and may have moved into greece from the steppes rather late. the purpose of this blog post is neither to discuss pythagoras' life nor the school of pythagoreanism.

the issue that i want to draw attention to is the historicity of pythagoras, which is more attested to than aesop but is still tentative, to say the least. what we know is that the pythagorean cult attributed any mathematical advances they developed to their great master, rather than themselves. while this is generally acknowledged as making a history of mathematics during this period somewhat difficult, it also obscures the fact that pythagoras was attributed with the total combined mathematical innovation of the ancients, as well. coming out of late antiquity and into the early european dark ages, after the collapse of roman imperialism in the west, pythagoras becomes this quasi-mystical figure, to which all mathematics in the pythagorean tradition, past and present, is attributed to.

it is thought today that the pythagorean theorem was first derived in egypt and only became attributed to this cult of pythagoras as a process of saving and compiling existing writing in the face of the aforementioned lengthy dark age that set in as a consequence of a period of revolutionary over turn in the region that had something to do with a movement southwards of greek-speaking peoples into the eastern mediterranean basin, which the local cultures referred to as "sea-peoples". this movement is correlated with a massive destruction horizon, but it is not known if the destruction was caused by the greeks themselves or if the repressed peoples of the middle east used the situation as an opportunity to rise up against the tyranny of their ruling class and overthrow their cruel masters. whatever actually happened, the result is that wide swaths of the eastern mediterranean were burned to the ground and then left unpopulated and utterly destroyed, while greece itself eventually managed to prosper in the chaos. when the dust settles, literacy only really remains extant in greece, and the entire region becomes centered in greece as it's intellectual and cultural anchor. in a process we don't fully understand, all of the existing mathematics from many centuries previous become collected and archived in greece in these compendiums, which are given names like euclid and pythagoras; they are simply destroyed, elsewhere. for that reason, these names of euclid and pythagoras (and others) represent the totality of all surviving mathematics up until the bronze age collapse - and greek mathematics as it's own thing develops from that departure point, as the country emerges from the dark age caused by the collapse.

but, it was not just in mathematics that we saw this happen. did socrates, plato and aristotle actually exist or were they merely literary tools to develop the culminated perspectives of the ancient world into a series of discourses to be taught to people alive at the time? it's the latter that seems more likely.

it's when you realize this process of consolidation that was occurring at this time in greece that what aesop is becomes more apparent - not a person, or a collection of people, but a way to compile stories that are intended to teach a moral lesson to the reader. these stories would have had dozens of authors and come from all over the ancient world over a period of time that likely stretched back centuries or millennia before the bronze age collapse. it would not be possible to pinpoint the origin of these stories with much detail, or determine their authors, who would be lost; many would likely even be evolving stories that took on the character of the cultures that adopted them.

while elephants were not unknown to the greeks in antiquity (and the ethiopians were known for being sunburned and having flat noses), and there is really no reason to think a greek wouldn't or couldn't write a story about an elephant, if there are stories about elephants attributed to aesop then it is far more likely that the story came from some distant and unknown african source and was preserved in aesop's compendium of moral stories than it is that there was some person named aesop of african origin. if stories are told about aesop's unsightly opinion, this is likely an ironic insult generated by racist greeks to remember that these were the stories of a slave morality that they only begrudgingly admitted the validity of, at least at first. the greeks would accept the slave morality, in the end.

but, argument with afrocentrics aren't going to get you anywhere. at all.

there's a story we teach our children called the boy who cried wolf, which is about a child that asks for help repeatedly, only to have none required - until a wolf actually shows up, and nobody believes it.

i was yelling as loud as anybody through the 00s that the war on terrorism was a lot of imperialist bullshit that was rooted in lies. and, it should be clear that i haven't dropped my general skepticism. but, what happens when a horde of dark age zealots intent on rape and slavery and pillaging and slaughter actually shows up in the middle east, and starts raping and enslaving and slaughtering people?

you don't believe them, anymore - and, to an extent, i don't blame you.

but, it happened, nonetheless.

they had an opportunity to address the problem before i needed injections, but this is how the system works - it's organized stupidity. 

nope. slept right until 18:00, and now it's time to eat and take my pills, again. ugh.

what day is it? sunday night?

so, i've been barely able to stay awake for more than 2-3 hours at a time since thursday. while i suppose there are other possibilities, what this is most consistent with is the idea that the iron pills aren't working, my ferritin levels have depleted and my hemoglobin levels are now falling.  

what do i do? 

i have an appointment this week and i will get a lab sheet to check if the pills have reversed the decline. if they haven't, i'll have to go to the hospital for injections or a transfusion, depending on how bad it is. i already know that they're going to take a blood test if i go to the hospital immediately. so, should i go to the hospital and let them do the bloodwork, or wait for the lab rec? and the answer is that it depends on how certain i am about the hemoglobin being low enough for injections or transfusions - and i need, at the least, to eat before i can figure that out.

i may have to take myself back to the er this morning.

no, i'm awake. sort of.

in the attempt to ensure i'm absorbing more iron, i'm also drinking a lot less coffee. that could be a part of it.  if so, the decrease in caffeine is affecting me more than the increase in iron.

it's also quite warm in here, and i'm not complaining about it. i'm not reacting to the iron - it's gone up from 20 to 24 degrees, and that thermometer is a good distance from the heater (where my bed is). i'm actually happy about it. but, i find that warmer temperatures help me sleep better...it's when it gets under 20 that i can't sleep. again: that's probably southern rather than northern genes. for all the talk of humans dominating plains in africa (which is  probably a myth), chances are higher that we spent a significant portion of our evolutionary existence escaping from lions by running up trees. there are even a few primates that are nocturnal, although they have much better eyesight than us and these things are probably related. but, if i'm generally sleepy when it's warm and sunny and more alert when it's cool and dark, i don't think that's some kind of pavlovian reaction - i think it's just reflective of a slightly different genetic background that i don't actually fully understand. my dad's rare, recessive south asian blood type is perhaps of relevance, here.

i just took my noon iron so i can't take any more coffee until the afternoon. and, i skipped my breakfast because i was sleeping. so, you see how these things are building up on themselves - every time i'm awake enough to get ready to start the day, and do things like eat breakfast to get it going, i end up falling asleep before the day starts. and, then we start all over again.

i could sit here and struggle to type through the exhaustion, but i'd rather nap for a few hours and get started with a big cup of coffee around 14:00-15:00. we'll have to put breakfast off, today.

nope. passed out again. fuck. i'm wasting my life sleeping :(.

did i pick something up?

well, i'm not sick. i'm just exhausted. 

but, i'm going back to sleep for who knows how long.

yeah, so that's what i'm doing this morning, if i can stay awake - i need to get back to organizing the pc, and then to finalizing the journal for august, 2013.

- i need to organize the pc before i can get to working on period 3 over the weekend, and that's very soon. next week, potentially.

- i need to organize the pc and get the master document up before i can focus on the blogging section, which is the weekly task

- and, i wanted to scour documents before i got back to the alter-reality

the landlord and i decided that if we're going to defrost the fridge then we should do it at the end of the month. so, i'm going to put cleaning on that side on hold until then.

let's hope i can get something done this morning.

ok, so i think i've at least caught up on eating long enough and am awake enough to actually do something.

today's post is inriℵ3, which is the second flac dvd compilation, of inri015-inri029.

====

purchasing this release does not come with a download. 

inri015: written and demoed in multiple stages from 1994-1998. initially constructed in this form in june, 1998. a failed rescue was attempted in dec, 2013. reconstructed and resequenced jan 6-10, 2016 from parts that were rebuilt over 2013-2016. re-released jan 10, 2016. audio permanently closed on aug 10, 2016. finalized on oct 10, 2016. lp001. 

inri016: created in the summer of 1998. released as a standalone ep on nov 16, 2013. audio permanently closed on oct 12, 2016. release finalized on oct 27, 2016. 

inri017: initially written over the course of 1997. recreated and expanded over the course of 1998. lead track first sequenced in this form in feb, 1999. further remixes generated over the course of 1999. a failed rescue was attempted in 2013, and another in late 2015. remastered in november, 2016 from various sources, 1997-2015. finalized & released on nov 17, 2016. 

inri018: initially written in 1997. recreated and reconceptualized in late 1998. salvaged somewhat at the end of 1999. remastered in 2013. compiled & released on nov 13, 2016. finalized on nov 19, 2016. final album version added as a bonus track and refinalized on dec 15, 2016. 

inri019: written and demoed from 1996-1999. initially constructed in this form in january, 1999. a failed rescue was attempted in 2013. compiled on nov 13, 2016. sequenced on nov 22-24, 2016 from parts that were rebuilt over 2013-2016. released on nov 24, 2016. release finalized on nov 27, 2016. symph002.. 

inri020: initially written in 1993. first full recording in 1996. recreated in dec, 1997 and again in jan, 1999. a failed rescue was attempted in 2013. reclaimed on july 2, 2015. remixed on july 15, 2015. reconceptualized & remixed repeatedly over november & december, 2016. released & finalized on dec 13, 2016. 

inri021: written and demoed in multiple stages from 1993-1999. initially constructed in this form in feb, 1999. a failed rescue was attempted in 2013. reconstructed and resequenced over november and december, 2016 from parts that were rebuilt over 2013-2016. finalized & re-released on dec 15, 2016. lp002. 

inri022: recorded over 1998. compiled and remastered in late 2013. released dec 27, 2013. corrected to normalize for stereo in september, 2014. expanded incrementally between dec, 2014 and dec, 2016. merged with inricycled b and then finalized and re-released on december 16, 2016. 

inri023: constructed over 1998. compiled and remastered in late 2013. released dec 27, 2013. the first two tracks were corrected to stereo in sept, 2014. the last two tracks were added for re-release as a remix lp in dec, 2016. re-released & finalized as lp003 on dec 17, 2016. 

inri024: initially written and recorded between 1996-1999 and remixed over the summer of 2015, with a lengthy pause due to malfunctioning electronics. final compilation date is jan 3, 2016. finalized dec 17, 2016. lp004. 

inri025: this idea was developed in parallel to the inriclaimed project over the summer of 2015 and first compiled on nov 27, 2016. released & finalized on dec 17, 2016. lp005. 

inri026: initially written in the fall of 1997. recorded in the winter of 1999. remixed in late 2013 and again in early 2014. this track was separated from my second record in january, 2016 but the single was not completed until it was remixed one last time in sept, 2017. released & finalized on sept 10, 2017. 

inri027: streamed to disk in one take on the afternoon of march 9, 1999. ripped back to wav format from cd-r in late 2013. released as a one track single on nov 21, 2013. release finalized on sept 12, 2017. 

inri028: constructed over a few days in april, 1999. ripped back to wav format from cd-r in late 2013. released as a one track single on nov 21, 2013. release finalized on sept 12, 2017. 

inri029: recorded over 1997-1999. constructed in this form in june, 1999. published on november 30, 2013. re-released (with new hidden track) and finalized as symph003 on sept 13, 2017. 

originally created from 1996-1999. this compilation is dated to june 30, 1999. slowly remastered, reconstituted, compiled, reconstructed, released and finalized from 2013-2017. compilation finalized on sept 13, 2017. as always, please use headphones. 

released june 30, 1999 

j - guitars, effects, bass, bass synth, pick scrapes, synthesizers, piano, flute, drum kit, drum programming, orchestral & other sequencing, sampling, vocal relics, mic noises, vocoders, octavers, cool edit synthesis, windows 95 sound recorder, found sounds, paper, strategies, soundraider, hammerhead (909 emulator), sound design, noise generators, noise reduction, light-wave synthesis, metronome, loops, a broken tape deck, tapes, digital effects processing, digital wave editing, vocals, chance, production 

the various rendered electronic orchestras include piano, organ, electric guitar, orchestra hit, pizzicato strings, synth pads, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, electric bass, sitar, tubular bells, tinkle bells, synthesizer effects and flute.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/flac-dvd-disc-volume-2

i remain completely exhausted; i just slept all night. and all day....

so, if the iron is getting my stores up, it's not giving me any more energy. we'll have to see, but i don't think it's working - or i think it's working very, very slowly. like, barely. at this rate, it could take years.

i've gained a little bit of belly fat, though, and am not happy about it. that is apparently an understood consequence of taking iron pills - weight gain. i'm happy to gain weight in my hips and around my breasts, but i don't want to gain weight in my stomach, and i don't want to build muscle. so, i'll have to weigh the pros and cons, and that might be a reason to go off of them, if they don't start working better pretty quickly. and, i may have to stop eating for a week or two to lose the weight.

i'd rather be skinny and anemic than fat and ironic.

but, for right now, i'm going to have to eat again and try to get started on something again and hope i don't just fall asleep again.