iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 26/05/2025

Plato on recreational sex in Symposium. A few pages further he also talks about lesbian relationships.

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 26/05/2025

On nonbinary gender, Plato, Symposium, 370 bc

Sorry I am very ill and lack force to transcribe

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 16/05/2025

We were in the eye of a tornado. A maga truck tried in vain to get out but to no avail. Then he got a chainsaw and began to slice his way out. A suburban mom said ' at least they're good for something '

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 05/05/2025

British classic animal fable books

Two animals at picnic near waterside
Kenneth Grahame, wind in the willows

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 10/04/2025

Thinking of camera upgrade for my 11 y old soon 12 y old son. Has been taking nature photos since age 9. Current camera is simple digital Lumix of $550 so can be more expensive but not crazily so bc $$. Here some examples:

Male northern cardinal on wintery branch

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 10/04/2025

I got a chemo drug today, taxol, named after its plant Taxus brevifolia, or the pacific yew tree. It was used by Native Americans for various medicinal purposes. western scientists in the 20th century isolated its chemical compound and in 1990 it was approved as a cancer drug in 1993 1/

A Pacific yew tree. It has needles for leaves and very red berries pictured here in the tree

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 08/04/2025

My home city has a rich culinary tradition. You might be able to guess what it is, looking at these images

Ghent waterzooi a stew/soup using an entire chicken, potatoes and cream

Cuberdons. A candy that’s raspberry flavored, melty within but with a hard exterior. Typical for Ghent

Kop “ head” is a sliced meat people put on their bread. Main ingredient is pig head. Laurel leaves give a distinctive flavor. I’m sorry but I liked it growing up.

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 07/04/2025

Huntington gardens, desert garden Colored pencils (Derwent lightfast) on sennelier oil pastel paper

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 07/04/2025

Almost done with this colored pencil drawing of Huntington gardens, desert garden, I will show you the finished product tomorrow

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 06/04/2025

Cf this is very vibrant, even that dress on the right, but also in a book so protected from light

Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry avril. Beautiful medieval people in the lawn castle in the distance

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 06/04/2025

Not just pinks, yellows also fade. Chrome yellows become muddy and greenish, rpbbing his sunflowers of their vibrancy

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 06/04/2025

This used to be a vibrant pink but the roses began to fade quickly. Lake pigments, which are lovely links and reds, tend to do badly.

Van Gogh roses a green vase with faded flowers

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 06/04/2025

We know from a little stripe at the top where a frame covered the painting that this Renoir didn't have a grey background but a lovely deep carmine

Portrait in its current state of a woman wearing a black dress and reconstructed original

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 06/04/2025

Did you know a lot of 19th c paintings don't look anymore as their makers intended? They used a lot of light fugitive colors such as lake colors (reds, pink) that are beautiful when fresh but quickly fade. Cf Van Gogh. Once the color is gone you can only do digital reconstruction

Bedroom at Arles now (left) and when it was painted. The delicate purples on walls and even brown wooden floor have changed

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 05/04/2025

This analysis is good but also worrisome. Indicates a sig number of Trump supporters do not care he wrecks the economy. No such destructive actions can bring the reverse rapture all the quicker...

Evangelical Influences
Religious studies scholar Julie Ingersoll argues that evangelicals have "helped make widespread acceptance of QAnon possible by weaving their theological commitments to apocalypticism, conspiracies and persecution narratives into the larger American culture."[266] Messianic, apocalyptic, and spiritual warfare themes popular in evangelical media beginning in the 1970s – as well as conspiracy theories popularized among the demographic such as the New World Order – have been described as influences on the QAnon belief system, as well as aspects of QAnon that appeal to evangelicals.[267][268]

The apocalyptic stories are seen by Christians as fictional depictions of real future events, giving them real-world significance.[269][267] American studies scholar S. Jonathon O'Donnell argues that QAnon, which sees Trump as fighting a demonic deep state, has significant commonalities with Christian spiritual warfare –

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 03/04/2025

So I now have completed the inner chapters in pencil drawing. I could still draw a few from the other parts of the Zhuangzi? Eg the swimmer, wheelwright, horse trainer, happiness of fish, Zhuangzi’s wife. Don’t know yet. But here are 11 inner chapters drawings. Was a fun project

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 02/04/2025

From the Stanley Vanity Fair interview. I think the system as it is now is super unhealthy with a few superstars who can easily move and everyone else no matter how talented not given a second look. And already if you’re in that category you are lucky bc most phds do not get tenure track positions.

Are you aware of other peers on other campuses who have made the decision to take posts in other countries?

That doesn’t even make sense, that comment, because academia, there’s 700 applications for each position. No, it’s almost impossible. 99.8% of academics cannot move. And even though I’m a very distinguished academic, honestly speaking—I mean, nobody would regard me as distinguished, that’s not my persona—

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 02/04/2025

Jane Addams, the American activist and philosopher, came from a wealthy Republican household. She questioned her social class's ethics: "it is as easy for most of us to keep from stealing our dinners as it is to digest them". Many think if you don't steal, are kind to family and friends, you're ok

Picture of an older white woman holding a pen with an extravagant hat

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 01/04/2025

This one was hard to think up. Had to take inspiration from Miró

Standalone pic of the ill man being transformed into a rooster, crossbow, horse, and wheels

All at once Master Yu fell ill. Master Ssu went to ask how he was. "Amazing" said Master Yu. "The Creator is making me all crookedy like this! My back sticks up like a hunchback and my vital organs are on top of me. My chin is hidden in my navel, my shoulders are up above my head, and my pigtail points at the sky. It must be some dislocation of the yin and yang!"

Yet he seemed calm at heart and unconcerned. Dragging himself haltingly to the well, he looked at his reflection and said, "My, my! So the Creator is making me all crookedy like this!"

"Do you resent it?" asked Master Ssu.

"Why no, what would I resent? If the process continues, perhaps in time he'll transform my left arm into a rooster. In that case I'll keep watch on the night. Or perhaps in time he'll transform my right arm into a crossbow pellet and I'll shoot down an owl for roasting. Or perhaps in time he'll transform my buttocks into cartwheels. Then, with my spirit for a horse, I'll climb up and go for a ride. What need will I ever have for a carriage again?

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 01/04/2025

What do you think? Bit of Miró

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 01/04/2025

Letter on dispelling sorrow. Here's the text sorry it's offensive, Al Kindi didn't like trans people. But he recognized their existence in 9th c Baghdad!

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 30/03/2025

Richard Chamberlain died… I had a huge crush on him and his character in Shogun when I was a teen. He was gay but not out, to my knowledge, until fairly recently. A beautiful man who put so much soul into the role of Anjin-San

A picture of Richard Chamberlain, wearing a traditional Japanese kimono.

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 30/03/2025

With the Studio Ghibli filter, I wondered if I could create a work inspired by the style (not using filters obviously) and I drew this pic of Zhuangzi and Huizi at a cafe, discussing. I am not sure that the work actually captures the Ghibli spirit but it was a fun experiment.

Zhuangzi (left) and Huizi are at a cozy little cafe drinking beer. A good luck cat hangs at the door. Outside the weather is gentle with fluffy clouds.

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 30/03/2025

Zhuangzi and Huizi debating emotions in a cafe

Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu, "Can a man really be without feelings?"

Chuang Tzu: "Yes."

Hui Tzu: "But a man who has no feelings-how can you call him a man?"

Chuang Tzu: "The Way gave him a face; Heaven gave him a form - why can't you call him a man?"

Hui Tzu: "But if you've already called him a man, how can he be without feelings?"

Chuang Tzu: "That's not what I mean by feelings. When I talk about having no feelings, I mean that a man doesn't allow likes or dislikes to get in and do him harm. He just lets things be the way they are and doesn't try to help life along."

Hui Tzu: "If he doesn't try to help life along, then how can he keep himself alive?"

Chuang Tzu: "The Way gave him a face; Heaven gave him a form. He doesn't let likes or dislikes get in and do him harm. You, now - you treat your spirit like an outsider. You wear out your energy, leaning on a tree and moaning, slumping at your desk and dozing - Heaven picked out a body for you and you use it to gibber about `hard' and `white'!" 10

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 28/03/2025

Before I got sick I could play this piece (2023)! I hope that lute is still in the cards for me...

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 24/03/2025

Disabled Shu from the Zhuangzi

Standalone image of disabled Shu. He sits with his walking tub, washing a red piece of garment.

Pic description see first image
Text There's Crippled Shu - chin stuck down in his navel, shoulders up above his head, pigtail pointing at the sky, his five organs on the top, his two thighs pressing his ribs. By sewing and washing, he gets enough to fill his mouth; by handling a winnow and sifting out the good grain, he makes enough to feed ten people. When the authorities call out the troops, he stands in the crowd waving good-by; when they get up a big work party, they pass him over because he's a chronic invalid. And when they are doling out grain to the ailing, he gets three big measures and ten bundles of firewood. With a crippled body, he's still able to look after himself and finish out the years Heaven gave him. How much better, then, if he had crippled virtue!

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 23/03/2025

Example of pencil vs digital

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 23/03/2025

Some of these I did before digitally. Interesting comparison

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 23/03/2025

3 more scenes from Zhuangzi

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 23/03/2025

4 scenes from Zhuangzi in colored pencil

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 23/03/2025

Zhuangzi, butcher Ding in pencils and text (sadly incomplete due to lack of space)

Drawing in colored pencil of a Chinese butcher and an ox. He wields a knife.

Cook Ting was cutting up an ox for Lord Wen-hui.2 At every touch of his hand, every heave of his shoulder, every move of his feet, every thrust of his knee - zip! zoop! He slithered the knife along with a zing, and all was in perfect rhythm, as though he were performing the dance of the mulberry Grove

"Ah, this is marvelous!" said Lord Wen-hui. "Imagine skill reaching such heights!"

Cook Ting laid down his knife and replied, "What I care about is the Way, which goes beyond skill. When I first began cutting up oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. After three years I no longer saw the whole ox. And now - now I go at it by spirit and don't look with my eyes. Perception and understanding have come to a stop and spirit moves where it wants. I go along with the natural makeup, strike in the big hollows, guide the knife through the big openings, and follow things as they are. So I never touch the smallest ligament or tendon, much less a main joint.

"A good cook changes his knife once a year-because he cuts. A mediocre cook changes his knife once a month-because he hacks. I've had this knife of mine for nineteen years and I've cut up thousands of oxen with it, and yet the blade is as good as though it had just come from the grindstone. There are spaces between the joints, and the blade of the knife has really no thickness. If you insert what has no thickness into such spaces, then there's plenty of room - more than enough for the blade to play about it. That's why after nineteen years the blade of my knife is still as good as when it first came from the grindstone.

"However, whenever I come to a complicated place, I size up the difficulties, tell myself to watch out and be careful, keep my eyes on what I'm doing, work very slowly, and move the knife

"Excellent!" said Lord Wen-hui. "I have heard the words of Cook Ting and learned how to care for life!"

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 23/03/2025

Johan De Smedt and i have a paper "Cosmovision as cognitive technology: The case of Mesoamerican medicinal knowledge" now forthcoming in a special issue edited by @schrisomalis.bsky.social that examines the beautiful Nahua 16th c Cruz Badiano Ms with a cognitive and philosophical lens.

Open page of Cruz Badiano codex. Paintings of Mexican plants and names added in pink ink in Latin

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 21/03/2025

Philosopher and mathematician Leibniz had a memorial coin made to show that the binary number system which he developed is closely related to his metaphysics. Zero is a void. God is a one who creates entities in this void. Each creature, say a leaf, could be a long chain of zeros and ones.

Leibniz memorial coin that shows stars, the sun, God as a triangle w days and tables of binary numbers

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 14/03/2025

My 11 y old got up to snap this moon pic with his camera. It’s a good but inexpensive mirrorless LUMIX. The camera refused several times bc it deemed the object too far away. Still, pretty good I think

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 13/03/2025

Leibniz's notes to make a functional watch that blind people (or sighted people at night) could consult, using a braille like system. One hand + the bumps and hollows could tell you the time. Paper by Lloyd Strickland philarchive.org/archive/STRLTB

Leibniz's scribbled notes and two drawings of clocks with little holes on the face. From Strickland: "But another surprise came after work on the book had been completed. By chance I
came across a short manuscript in which Leibniz hit upon an innovative application of binary
that has remained unknown till now. In this manuscript, which is reproduced and transcribed
below, with an English translation available here, Leibniz sketches out a plan for a tactile
clock based on binary reckoning that would enable one to tell the time at night. Leibniz’s
illustration shows a single hour hand that moves around the clock face. Between each
numeral and the centre is a row of four points, each of which is either hollow (represented by
an empty circle) or bumpy (represented by a filled
circle). Hollow points denote 0, and bumpy points
denote 1 if they occur in the first position, 2 in the
second, 4 in the third, and 8 in the fourth, with
positions being counted from the centre outwards
to the edge. The idea is that you feel for where the
hand points, then trace your finger from the tip of
the hour hand down towards the centre and then
further down along the same line until you
encounter a row of four points, which are then
read by touch. Hence in the diagram, a is 0, b is 0,
c is 1, and d is 1, and since c and d are in the third
and fourth positions, they denote 4 and 8
respectively. Add them together, and one knows
that the time is 12 o’ clock."

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 12/03/2025

For holding pseudo and fringe scientific beliefs, Augustine already had this to say in 415: stop embarrassing yourself 4/

There is knowledge to be had, after all, about the earth, about the sky, about the other elements of this world, about the movements and revolutions or even the magnitude and distances of the constellations, about the predictable eclipses of moon and sun, about the cycles of years and seasons, about the nature of animals, fruits, stones, and everything else of this kind. And it frequently happens that even non-Christians will have knowledge of this sort in a way that they can substantiate with scientific arguments of experiments. Now it is quite disgraceful and disastrous, something to be on one’s guard against at all costs, that they should ever hear Christians spouting what they claim our Christian literature has to say on these topics, and talking such nonsense that they can scarcely contain their laughter when they see the to be toto caelo, as the saying goes, wide of the mark. And what is so vexing is not that misguided people should be laughed at, as that our authors should be assumed by outsiders to have held such views and, to the great detriment of those about whose salvation we are so concerned, should be written off and consigned to the waste paper basket as so many ignoramuses.

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 10/03/2025

Post a photo you took with no context to bring some zen into the timeline. (Please use alt text 🙂)

Mushroom at tree trymunk, forest park, St Louis

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 09/03/2025

Zhuangzi butterfly 🦋 dream in pencils

Sleeping young Chinese man and butterfly plus text
Once Chuang Chou dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Chuang Chou. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Chuang Chou. But he didn't know if he was Chuang Chou who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Chuang Chou. Between Chuang Chou and a butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things.

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 09/03/2025

Reading 1001 nights w son, Ali Baba and the 40 thieves. Has a complex, messy publication history with Antoine Galland's translation from a Syrian 14th c ms in 1704. The translation process hugely successful though is hard to find in rare books. Had a huge influence on development of orientalism

Antoine Galland's translation in French from 1704 of Ali Baba and 40 thieves

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 08/03/2025

In our qualitative study with natural scientists, they gave their speculative topics, e.g., on other life in the universe. Cezaro, who researches exoplanets (and other astrophysicists we interviewed) think life in the universe must be abundant. Read more: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

When I think of the enormity of the universe, I start thinking about how many civilizations have been in the universe before us and are probably not alive anymore. It
makes me think that it could very well be that we are just one of many civilizations
that arose recently, but also, there could older civilizations that have already died and
become extinct.

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 03/03/2025

One of Babylon 5's central concerns is how a government can descend into fascism. Here's an excerpt from Season 4, Ep 16 The Exercise of Vital Powers on how power is given, not taken. (Sorry for bad quality don't know how to excerpt Amazon prime videos).

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 02/03/2025

Like even on FB. You guys know about Signal, right?

Fb page of alt national park service Two hUndred tWenty-sEven.

Author
Alt National Park Service
Please disregard this, as our group is fighting battles on multiple fronts.
21h
Reply

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 01/03/2025

I don’t know why it does that. It has the audacity to say “here’s a peaceful field with horses, no zebras. Let me know if you’d like to make any changes”. Dennett wondered if we hold beliefs such as “zebras don’t wear pajamas“ and I guess the answer is no.

ChatGPT is asked to draw a field with horses and no zebras, and yet it comes up with a field with quite some zebras in

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Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 28/02/2025

I've been thinking why should the avatar look like you? You can express yourself more authentically in an avatar that doesn't look like you idk Ellen Joe from ZZZ? What if your authentic self is a shark girl? Also, why not be able to ride donkey unicorns?

Luisa from Encanto, a muscled woman, riding a unicorn donkey in pink clouds

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