20 February 2025

We’ve got a lot cooking in the pot right now, the greenhouse and chicken coop have been ordered, now I’ll have to read up about the delivery process. Maybe look into getting someone to make a compact pad for the greenhouse. Yesterday I started reading the information for the seed sheet garden we’ll be starting, I also found someone who will basically start a garden area for you, so I’m going to see about doing that as well and my queen found a company that does forest mulching. Maybe we will get some of the fallen trees on our property turned into mulch for future projects. Last night I was working on my future t-shirt design and made some good progress on that. When I planted grape vines in the Fall they came with a product call blue shields, it’s basically a tube of blue plastic that goes around the plant and a stack, blue probably to let light through and it should keep deer from eating the baby leaves. Once this cold front is over I’ll be planting my tropical trees in the ground. Here’s Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations.

Meditations 15

The meditations are starting to get longer and in my book there’s a sort of verse number to the side that might be useful in the future. This one had 3 verses.

“Self-mastery” that’s what we work on at Wrecking and Rapping, keep our minds and tongues sharp, then learn how and when to wield them.

“Immune to any passing whim” this is a pillar in stoicism that emotions will come and go, don’t let them lead you into judgements with lasting consequences. 

“Good cheer in all circumstances, including illness” a couple years back I got real sick, I think it was covid, then became bronchitis. During that time my queen understood I was sick, but said I didn’t have to be mean. That’s when I remembered a line I read while saying the rosary, “dignity in suffering”. If things are bad for you, there’s no reason to spread that unhappiness.

“Energy for what needs to be done” recognize the important tasks in life, an A,B,C hierarchy. What needs to be done, what we’d like to do, and if there’s time.

“Well-intentioned in all that he did” last week I talked about not exaggerating in my speech or leading people on with a lie, that’s part of being well intentioned. Intending to always do what’s right to build trust in others that you are reliable.

“Proof against surprise or panic; in nothing either hurried or hesitant.” A lot of tenants to stoicism here, to be unmoved by good or bad. As Eminem said, “I don’t smile, I don’t frown, get too up or get too down. “ Being overwhelmed with surprise or panic can have a physical effect of shaking which can cause error in movement and error in judgement. The same will happen when being hurried, and being hesitant is dangerous, some situations call for decisive action. Delay can mean death.

“A forgiving and truthful nature” As with well intentioned, he’s building an empire, at the least we’re building social relationships. We need to forgive because others can’t be fearful of making a mistake, leading them to hide or be untruthful. The truth will set all of us free.

“Undeviating rectitude as a path chosen rather than enforced.” This is for the top of the pyramid. Being a leader means to lead, this addresses how one leads, enforced would mean beating others into submission to do your will. While leading is to make a decision, the others know you are well intentioned and truthful, so they willingly follow the path.

Here’s a long one, “the fact that no one would ever have thought himself belittled by him, or presumed to consider himself superior to him;” The leader does not talk down to subjects or act better than, we are all equal. A great leader is followed because they are doing good for the followers, not because he says so, or a belief the leader is born closer to God. Life is a journey of struggle, we all want to make it outta here alive. It’s not helpful to make others feel weak and like the lion and the mouse we never know who will be an asset. 

Finally “A pleasant humour” a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

18 February 2025

The recording of this week’s podcast went well, I do enjoy the path I’ve been taking and was doing some research on the founding of Oxford college something like 1,000 years ago, it gave me an overview of subjects to study. We got in contact with the place selling and delivering a greenhouse and chicken coop. Last night I began doing research on what chickens need. We also got an order from a place called seed sheet, basically comes with everything to do a little gardening. I’m familiar with gardening, but my focus has usually been trees since they take so long to get started. In time we’ll have a more established garden, but there’s enough on the table for one season. Here’s my rap analysis from the podcast. 

Rap: grip angels

Threw all my morals out the window, chasin’ dollar bills

Rap was a hobby still that lead me to some solid deals

I’m stressed, the homie be like, “Bruh, you gotta chill”

But if you was bearin’ all of this weight

You would probably feel like you body build

They hit me like, “I’ve seen you on TV with such and such”

So I’m the man when the fam need a couple bucks

Truth is, I got it, but I ain’t got it

But still’ll end up doin’ a solid just ’cause I’m solid

Time to break down the bars

“Threw all my morals out the window, chasin’ dollar bills” this rap game will make you loose yourself and any other way of saying sold my soul to the devil.

“Rap was a hobby still that lead me to some solid deals” Art starts out as a hobby, something you do for fun or pleasure. Setting off with the intention to succeed, or create business prospects, means you’ll likely fail because in the beginning and for a long time it’s just you and the craft, similar to body building, mentioned next.

“I’m stressed, the homie be like, Bruh, you gotta chill, But if you was bearin’ all of this weight, You would probably feel like you body build” At this point the artist is the top of a pyramid, or similar to how we’ve discussed about the Roman Emperor Marcus Aureilius, there’s pressure to move forward, do new things, to provide for those under the umbrella and be worthy of the crown. All this stress makes them stronger, if they can bear it. Also note in the first three lines the rhymes bills, still, chill, and even build.

Next people see the celebrity and ask for money, “Truth is, I got it, but I ain’t got it, But still’ll end up doin’ a solid just ’cause I’m solid” Got it and solid rhymes, but there’s word play with doubling up each in the sentence. Similar to how Shakespear said in sonnet 8, Zimmy zam boomafoo

He said, “sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy”. The message of this last line is what stood out to me, got it but don’t got it. When you have a lot of money you don’t leave it around in cash, it could get damaged or stolen, plus plus plus inflation. For top of the pyramid types, they don’t necessarily have money, they represent an idea that others, the bottom of the pyramid, believe in and will supply their money. 

Then doing a solid because I’m solid, doing a solid would be a favor and being solid is reliable.

17 February 2025

A tornado passed by Saturday night and we were without power most of Sunday. Living closer to nature has made me stronger as nature doesn’t pull any punches. The plan for today was to visit a business looking for a greenhouse and chicken coop, instead we’ll be using today to rest after yesterday was more work than expected. The business has a website and looks like we can buy them online anyway, we’re not getting anything fancy. My last greenhouse was plastic over some hoops and that worked great. For chickens I don’t know what I’m getting into, they are part of getting closer to nature. Speaking of, while walking around yesterday I saw on the forest floor among all the broken branches some antlers, they seemed freshly discarded. Here’s Shakespeare from next Saturday’s podcast.

Sonnet 8 uses comparisons with music and marriage, chiding a young man for choosing to be single. Along with the music metaphors, I noticed a lot of sweet stuff.

*”Music to hear” isn’t it? “Why hear’st thou music sadly?” This music is like the song of life, there is an order to the circle of life, circle for instance is a shape. By living, you enjoy much life has to offer, not paying it forward seems as though something has gone wrong.

*”Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy:” If life is sweet then keep it going, if joyful then spread the joy. This line seems like a good place to cover the saying, “a rising tide lifts all boats.” It means be happy not jealous when one is lifted up because as one goes all follow.

*”Why lov’st thou that which thou receiv’st not gladly” This seems like the young man is clinging to his single life, but why is he so attached to that life without fulfilling it’s role. Not moving forward is receiving it not gladly.

*”or else receiv’st with pleasure thine annoy” that “or else” is a logical statement, he’s claiming you receiv’st not gladly or you receive with pleasure something that annoys you. Same concept as before, happy to receive some parts of life not the whole.

*”If the concord of well-tuned sounds” we’re getting into the musical accompaniment now. Concord means agreement or harmony between people or groups. We also know the sweet concord grapes. Harmony of well-tuned sounds.

*”by unions married, do offend thin ear” This single line can be seen as the main subject of the sonnet, marriage offend thin ear. If putting music together doesn’t sound good to you then

*”they do but sweetly chide thee.” Chide means scold or rebuke, remember rebuke is disapproval. “Who confounds in singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.” Confound means confuse. If marriage offends thin ear, marriage itself will prove your ideas wrong leaving the single person confused as to what their role in life should now be. What are you going to do for the next 20, 40, 60 years? Party? Make a great work of art? That won’t make you happy and fill a hole in your soul. There was also an ABAB rhyme with sound, ear, confound, and bear. Sound/ear is part of the musical metaphor.

*”Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,” Mark, take notice and husband is word play with the married notes. 

*”Strikes each in each by mutual ordering;” I take this like the circle of life, one thing leads to another and all in it’s time.

*”Resembling sire and child and happy mother, who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing:” sire is dad, so mom, dad, and child play together as a chord of music would the individuals come together to make a new sound.

*”Whose speechless song being many, seeming one,” speechless song seems to me when we say there are many meanings, more being said that isn’t said. “Many, seeming one” we covered last week E pluribus unum, out of many, one, written on the United States’ great seal.

*”Sings this to thee: thou single wilt prove none” We’ve seen a lot how the last one or two lines will summarize the sonnet or drive home a particular point, his point is to not remain single.

Wrecking and Rapping ep 52

King Cooper shares personal experiences, including a recent battle with illness, and reflects on the challenges of parenting while sick. He delves into Eminem’s lyrics, exploring themes of humility and societal expectations. The conversation transitions to the podcast’s journey, celebrating its one-year anniversary and discussing future plans. King Cooper also shares biblical insights, emphasizing the importance of building one’s life on a solid foundation. The episode concludes with thoughts on personal growth and future aspirations.

11 February 2025

Last week was mostly spent sick with food poisoning or maybe E coli, so there’s no podcast script to share this week. Yesterday, I recorded the podcast and it was just me speaking my mind. All of my trees for Spring planted have arrived and will be planted after this week’s cold front. The weekend was a nice time with my girls.

Wrecking and Rapping ep 51

King Cooper reveals the power of words through Shakespeare’s Sonnet Number Seven, explores the impactful lyrics of Busta Rhymes, and reflects on personal experiences and historical events. The conversation also touches on philosophical inquiries, particularly the concept of the experience machine, and concludes with a reading of Psalm Six, emphasizing themes of mercy and justice.

5 February 2025

This morning the six new peach trees got planted this morning, I even did some shoveling with a baby in one hand, which is new for me. The rest of my Spring trees should be arriving today. Currently I’m short on hose, over the last year I lost a couple that had developed holes over the years and a couple weeks ago when we had snow I went to most one hose and it easily ripped in half. Yesterday I was charging the buggie at the location Grizzy moved it to and it looks like the batteries still have life. Next weeks script still needs a lot of work.

Wreck of the week: oil changes. I understand why engines need their oil changed and I don’t think electric motors are without problems. Both electric motors and engines are topics we should cover some time. Engine is short for ingenious machine. And electricity is produced by spinning magnets wrapped with copper in circles, wild world. But enough of that! it’s such a hassle for me to get my car in. The place I went to had a “sorry we’re closed” sign in the window and a “open” neon light turned off, so I thought they were closed. My queen convinced me to call them and my first thought was to ask, “are you open?” Which I think would be confusing as why would someone pick up the phone if they’re close?

Meditations 14

It starts off loving three things, family, truth, justice.

“Love of family” I’ve said before all we do is for the children and Shakespeare seems to agree with his countless sonnets about kids.

“Love of truth” we act this out in a couple different ways. God being the way, truth. Also philosophy, literally meaning love of wisdom in Greek and Latin.

“Love of justice” It would be important for the emperor to be just, but how do we define justice? Well it’s a good thing justice comes after truth, if we have truth or pursue truth, we will be closer to knowing justice.

“Understand Thrasea, Helvidius, Cato, Dio, Brutus”

*Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus was a wealthy and well-respected member of the Stoic Opposition. Stoic opposition is the stoic philosophers opposing status quo. He criticized Nero’s tyrannical behavior and the collusion of the senate. He was executed by Nero in 66 AD. Nero is also significant in the Bible, he killed many Cristians often in brutal ways. There is an argument that the mark of the beast, 666 refers to the Roman Emperor Nero. Previously a viewer got annoyed at me reading the Bible. Even if you remove the religious aspect of the Bible, it is an important historical text. People in the past were being persecuted by a mad ruler and they created a code to speak out against him. The story is documented in the Bible.

*That was Thrasea, now Helvidius Priscus was Thrasea’s son-in-law and another member of the Stoic Opposition. He was executed by the tyrannical emperor Vespasian. 

*Cato of Utica was a famous Stoic who opposed Julius Caesar.

He tried unsuccessfully to prevent Caesar from turning the Roman Republic into a dictatorship.

*Dio! may refer to Dio Chrysostom, a Stoic-influenced rhetorician and philosopher. Rhetoric is basically language arts. He was exiled by Emperor Domitian for allegedly conspiring against his rule. Which is why people needed codes to speak out against.

*Marcus Aurelius’ nephew, Brutus, was influenced by Stoicism and Platonism, the philosopher Plato. He was one of the assassins of Julius Caesar. As Shakespeare wrote in his play Julius Caesar,

Zimmy zam boomafoo! Shakespeare remember him?!

 He said, “et tu Brutus?” Latin, but is the same spelling in modern French to say “and you Brutus?”

Brutus on the beat so it’s not nice! Why would a Roman Emperor want to understand people who opposed previous Roman Emperors? Friends close, enemies closer.

*Next, valuable ideas, “a balanced constitution, a commonwealth based on equality and freedom of speech, and a monarchy which values above all the liberty of the subject” Does any of that sound familiar, the American founding fathers certainly studied ancient rome. E pluribus unum, latin for out of many, one, it is written on the great seal of the United States. 

*Continuing, “a constant and vigorous respect for philosophy; beneficence, unstinting generosity, optimism” We covered philosophy with truth. Beneficence is doing good, goes with generosity: kindness. Optimism would be seeing and believing in the good of the future.

“Confidence in the affection of his friends, frankness with those who met with his censure, and open likes and dislikes, so that his friends did not need to guess at his wishes.” I once told a therapist my wife is supportive, but she’s supposed to be and she reminded me that not all wives are. Don’t discount the good, people don’t have to be nice to you, so if they are have confidence in their affection. Frankness with those meeting his censure, censure is a formal disapproval we covered before with Shakespeare how being frank means being free, express yourself honestly with disagreement, don’t beat around the bush. Then people don’t have to guess what you feel, you said what you meant.

4 February 2025

Last night the podcast recording went well, this morning I had to get the Queen’s car in for an oil change. The work took longer than I wanted, I had some other things done to it. The little princess was wonderful lasting over two hours without a nap, which is a lot when usually she goes down after one. My six peach trees were delivered today, I had to dig up the holes of the trees they’re replacing and tonight will spray for bugs. A lot of tree mulch mounds grow ants and I don’t want to be bitten by ants when planting new trees. There was also a carpenter bee on my steps so the whole house should be sprayed for bugs.

Rap: This weeks rap comes from Busta Rhymes(Busta Rhymes is in the building) his album Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God and song with the same title.

line up the subjects

I’m tired of injustice from the popes, politicians and judges

When you witness the abuse of power, sometimes it’s seductive

Then I question God, why create a creature that is so destructive?

Hold all your grudges and focus while you create expenses

Every man is free of choice, but no man is free of consequences

Hold your suggestions and listen closely, I study lessons

Causing rain, hail, snow and earthquake and travel dimensions

The ground’ll rattle, the Earth will rumble like a stampede of cattle

Eleven hundred twenty feet per second, faster than sound travel

Time to break down the bars

This rap has an aggressive sound, I did my best to impersonate BussaBus and when practicing, the sound would instantly bring my baby to tears. As such it touches on some topics I won’t go into detail on for fear of censure. 

“Line up the subjects I’m tired of injustice” rhymes and makes me think he’d like to see these people on a firing line.

“I question God, why create a creature that is so destructive?” That is a question, I suppose the answer would be that man wasn’t so bad at creation but took actions that led to a fall because we were giving free will and the devil is a mighty temptation.

While “every man is free of choice, no man is free of consequences.” which leads us to the situation we find ourselves in.

“The ground’ll rattle, the Earth will rumble like a stampede of cattle” ground’ll rattle, earth will rumble is a nice alliteration. Rattle and cattle start and end the line with a rhyme. 

“Eleven hundred twenty feet per second, faster than sound travel” 1,120 feet per second is said to be the speed of sound, but we don’t travel at feet per second, lets convert it to miles per hour. 

I should have an image on the screen now to walk through the conversion. On the left we start with 1,120 feet for 1 second. Since we want miles per hour, miles will be on the top of the equation because when we have like terms on top and bottom they cancel out. We know that 1 mile is equal to 5,280 feet. Easy to remember because 5 times 2 is 10, 0, and 2 plus 8 is 10, 5280. Multiplying by 1 over 5,280 is the same as saying divid by 5,280 then we need to turn seconds into hours, so times 60 seconds in a minute and times 60 minutes in an hour. Giving us about 760 mph for the speed of sound. End image.

The speed of 5.56 bullet coming out of an m-4 is 2,900 feet per second or almost 2,000 mph. Since the object is traveling faster than the speed of sound, that means the sound waves moving forward bunch up creating what is called a sonic boom, or as Guile says, “Sonic boom.” Busta Rhymes himself will tell you he only became who he is by doing his mathematics. 

The reason I wanted to cover this song in the first place is because of this next line.

“it’s been part of the plan, fool

They messed around and made the demasculinization of man cool”

This has been going on for the last couple decades, maybe all time as a tyrant would like subjects that can’t fight back. Now it’s important for strong men to stand up and know what’s right.

3 February 2025

Trees are starting to arrive today, I’ll have a lot of work potting and planting them. I thought my order of six peach trees was going to arrive today, it’s not which is good because I’m not ready for that yet. Over the weekend some good work was accomplished clearing out the forest and I’ll spend what time I can getting ready for the future generations of trees coming.

Sonnet 7 compares human life to the rising and setting of the sun.
*”Lo! In the orient when the gracious light lifts up his burning head” Lo means look or see, like lo and behold. Orient refers to Asia, or the far east, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so he’s saying look to the east when the sun rises, or gracious light lifts up his burning head.
*”each under eye doth homage to his new-appearing sight” Each under eye are the observers, eyes under the sun, they do homage, homage meaning special honor or public respect. We are all happy to see a new day dawn. New appearing sight could also be birth, humans opening their eyes for the first time.
*”Serving with looks his sacred majesty” Serving with looks, the sun serves looks offering sight by light. Connecting to a human life, in the begging of life everyone wants to see the baby, also in youth is when we are most beauteous. A synonym for majesty is beauty, and sacred means connected with God. We are God’s children.
*”having climb’d the steep-up heavenly hill” The sun is climbing, rising in the morning. There is word play with heavenly and sacred. We’ve seen heavenly hill multiple times in our study of the Psalms. Steep likely refers to the sharp angle of the sun’s movement and another definition to steep is a staircase or hill, so there is word play with steep hill.
*”Resembling strong youth in his middle age” Going back to the human life metaphor, middle age would be our strongest, still feeling young. The sun’s middle age would be it’s peak, high noon.
*”Mortal looks adore his beauty still” Mortal, human life. Humans adore both the beauty of a sunny day and of youth.
*”Attending on his golden pilgrimage” Golden being how we might describe the sun and it’s daily movement a pilgrimage. Pilgrimage is also a journey to a sacred place, continuing the Godly theme.
*”when from highmost pitch, with weary car” I mentioned high noon, pitch would refer to musical pitch, a sound wave would have a high point and low point. Weary means tired and car in the 1600’s wouldn’t be an automobile, rather shakespeare uses car here and elsewhere to reference Apollo, greek god of the sun, his chariot that carries the sun.
*From the top, “like feeble age, he reeleth from the day” The human is getting older, past midlife, he reeleth from the day. Reeleth is worn out by fatigue, he’s getting tired and going down.
*”The eyes, ‘fore dutetous, now converted are from his low tract, and look another way.” Before the sun and man had a job to do, duteous. Converted, changed, and look another way, it was going up, now down. Look another way, could also be how young people are looked on for their beauty, treating them with importance. With age people look away, ignoring the elderly.
*”Thyself outgoing in thy noon” the person is heading toward the end of life. Unlook’d, people don’t care about you anymore, “diest unless thou get a son”

Because he is so obsessed with the topic I had to look up if Shakespeare had kids. With his wife Anne they had three children. The eldest, Susanna and twins Judith and Hamnet. Shakespeare had four grandchildren who all died without heirs, so there is no direct descendant to Shakespeare today. A shame because those Royalties would be worth a lot.

Wrecking and Rapping ep 50

Host King Cooper dissects the intersection of literature, music, philosophy, and personal growth. The conversation begins with a reflection on Shakespeare’s sonnets, particularly focusing on themes of procreation and legacy. Cooper draws parallels between Shakespeare’s language and modern rap, emphasizing the emotional depth in both forms of expression. The discussion transitions into personal anecdotes, life lessons from Marcus Aurelius, and historical insights about American involvement in WWII. The episode concludes with a reading of Psalm 5 and a philosophical exploration of emotivism, encouraging listeners to take control of their lives and embrace learning.