Loosely Speaking

By Ciel - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Everything Else

Monday, April 3, 2017

Terrorism is stupid.

Here is why terrorist attacks work: The victims of terrorists are usually ordinary people going about their ordinary activities in normal lives, and as populations, such citizens are terrified, will consider where they go, what they do in public places, and while some will be defiantly optimistic it won't happen to them or anyone they love, and refuse to let terror control their options and decisions, many may express defiance in words, but will change their lives in response to terrorist... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Back to Trumpland

It has been just a little easier to ignore the man and his shenanigans from an ocean away. Here in the UK they have craziness of their own instigated by shallow, protectionist forces and voters who did their research on "What would it mean for Britain to leave the European Union?" the day after the vote. That, by the way, is a matter of record: Google reported vast numbers of searches on that topic in the few days right after the Brexit vote. Well, this old world is in a funny place. But the... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Charlie wrote this...

From several of my classes, my meetings with playwrights through UCCS, the mentorship of folks like Kevin Landis and Murray Ross, I've gotten this idea that there is a kind of magic in writing in a genre that you dislike. Find the last piece of fiction you'd ever want to touch, your least favorite author, a subject matter that bores you to literal tears... and that is where you need to write from, both as an exercise in escaping your comfort zone and in writing differently th an you thought you... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

It has been a while...

The sun just ducked under the afternoon cloud cover, and suddenly lit the kitchen... I am reminded of a song by Mimi Farina: As we go marching marching In the beauty of the day A million darkened kitchens, A thousand mill lofts grey Are touched with all the radiance That a sudden sun discloses... Hearts starve as well as bodies, Give us bread but give us roses... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWkVcaAGCi0 Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, March 3, 2017

Racist and Sexist: Cut it out.

If you look at sex or gender as relevant to a conversation or description when it really isn't, that is being sexist. If you look at skin color or cultural background and insist on calling it 'race' and then bring it up when it isn't actually relevant to what you're saying, then that is being racist. We will never stop being sexist or racist until we stop considering sex or skin color when they are not relevant. By 'relevant' I mean: useful or essential to an understanding of the matter at hand.... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Dealing with Bullies

Bullies rely on other people being nicer than the bully is. It is time to stop being nice. It is time to stop being polite to rudeness where it protects rudeness from consequences. Persistent passing on bullying is called 'enabling.' No, we don't want to become them, we don't want to be as mean, as manipulative, and outright nasty. We don't want to sacrifice our dignity just because they have no hint of dignity themselves. Where is the line to be drawn? I think it is where we stop pretending... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Tribalism is killing us.

It's all very well to have your own tribe, to build it up and maintain it with your own beliefs and ideas about who you are and what is your relationship with your universe, your deities, the other people you share the world with. It is beautiful to celebrate your worldview with dances and art, rituals and traditions. But it is not all right to attempt to safeguard those things by forcing everyone else to give up their cherished beliefs, their values and connections with their own dieties, and... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Lift-off, Touch-down

I was in 4th grade and watched the first NASA manned Mercury launch from my classroom, and every other launch was just as much a special event all the way through the Gemini and Apollo programs. After some years, it seems such things became rather routine, until the Challenger disaster. Then many of us realized that this is never routine, never safe. Today I watched the SpaceX launch without that casual assumption that, of course all will go well. And then something new happened, when the tall... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, February 17, 2017

Just because we can...

Remember JURASSIC PARK? Remember how they explained right up front that the dinosaurs were not actually the same as the originals, because their DNA was mixed with modern frog DNA? https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/16/woolly-mammoth-resurrection-scientists Is it really 'de-extinction' when the result is not actually a woolly mammoth? Seems to me, these efforts will result in a new thing, not an old one, and the arguments for doing it seem... far-fetched. For instance, how many of... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Hostile Takeover

Trump is, I suspect, beginning to realize that he is not CEO of a country, that the tactics of a hostile takeover are not going to work here. He seems to have come to this job thinking he could raise all his buddies to positions from which they can liquidate all the assets of the nation, dismantle all the systems in place and reshape them to channel money to himself and who he likes. What he has never understood is that as President of the United States, he works for us: He is our employee, our... Sign in to see full entry.

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