Friday, September 13, 2019
What can we learn from debates?
Not much, I say. We already know what most of them will say, we already understand that their 'talking points' are prepared well ahead of time to deal with any question by turning it back to those points, and that those points are planned strategically to influence the most voters, especially...
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Thursday, September 12, 2019
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up...
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Wednesday, September 11, 2019
In Memorium...
On this day 18 years later, it is time to repeat what rational people have always known: Terrorism does not work. Every goal it accomplishes is counter to its intentions. It makes everything worse for the people it is meant to promote. Terrorism is narcissistic and delusional, thinking itself...
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Thursday, September 5, 2019
Consider...
Communities are entities and their inhabitants belong to them, not the other way around. They are composed of everyone in them, they are rich in life and art, in ideas and motions and sounds and smells. Power and wealth create illusions of ownership, but all illusions dissolve in time: lives come...
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Sunday, August 25, 2019
Thinking About Problems and solutions
All problems started as solutions. When considering new solutions, it's useful to start with considering the problem to be solved, specifically, what problem was this intended as the solution for? As a writing coach, I tell writers, before you go breaking the rules, understand what problem the rules...
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Saturday, August 24, 2019
It isn't a crime...
but maybe it should be: The deliberate obstruction of the proper functioning of government. Malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance are all applicable, perhaps, but maybe it needs to be spelled out more specifically. Looking at you, McConnell! You have flouted the clear will of the American people...
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Saturday, August 10, 2019
I have now tried the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Meat burger. Both were charcoal-broiled. The Impossible Burger has a more meat-like texture, where the Beyond Meat one is a bit too wet and soft, yet cooking it more tends to over-cook it. Both are a couple of dollars more expensive than beef...
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Thursday, August 8, 2019
Hubris
I heard something on NPR a day or two ago about a dynamic of human thinking whereby a person--many persons, actually--who takes a test, believes they did better on the test than they actually did. Much better, in fact. The suggestion is, we are often blind to our own errors, or level of capability....
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Thursday, July 25, 2019
Paris is burning...!
Things seem to be cooling down here in the Americas, but Europe and the UK are getting walloped now, with killing heat. It's frightening to see the temperature maps going up into the hot pinks and purples of over 100F, knowing that the affected populations are in no way prepared for this! And still,...
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Saturday, July 6, 2019
Birthright
Knowledge is power. Lack of information, or the wrong information diminishes our real power as it increases our sense of helplessness and desperation, makes us angry until it seems our feelings are the only force we have to defend ourselves. This desperate anger is the fuel of mobs, it is the...
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