Loosely Speaking

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

Thursday, December 2, 2021

Pandemic fears

I fear the virus more than I could possibly fear the shots! For one thing, I barely felt the shots--the booster, not at all! And it's free: no financial after-effects! And it does not significantly interrupt one's life. I fear much more the chance of weeks of hospitalization, months maybe years, maybe a lifetime of after-effects, if I don't die of it. Covid will be over once people who, for whatever reasons or excuses, don't get the shot, finally do get it, and quit giving the virus legs, quit... Sign in to see full entry.

Musical Shenanigans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNgkxyMMfiE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLXwpGCn2KQ Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving from across the Pond...

"Americans are a very modern people of course. "They are a very open people too. They wear their hearts on their sleeves. They don't stand on ceremony. They take people as they are. They make no distinction about a man's background, his parentage, his education. They say what they mean and there is a vivid muscularity about the way they say it. They admire everything about them without reserve or scholarship. They are always the first to put their hands in their pockets. They press you to visit... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, November 21, 2021

From 'voir-dire' to 'verdict'

Voir-dire: To speak truth. Verdict: Ver-dict: to speak truth. Everyone sees truth through their own eyes, their own perceptual filters. Our eyes, our filters. We so often see what we want to see, what is expedient to see, what answers our personal needs to see. Does a jury speak truth? I suppose they do sometimes. But our adversarial system of justice, derived from the Magna Carta and the system of justice it established centuries ago in Great Britain, that we inherited, is not the only nor... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, November 19, 2021

Embracing

Primates... The Ones That Hug: With our whole bodies, we hug for joy, to give and get comfort, to express feelings we simply must share! We hug hello and goodbye... Dogs put up with our hugging; cats, sometimes, if they feel like it, seem to appreciate a good cuddle. Elephants hug with their trunks. Many animals make contact, but no one hugs like the primates! https://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/rescued-chimp-hugs-jane-goodall-video/... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Civilization: We should try it!

Since humankind began building and living in cities, we have claimed as our own the term 'civilized.' It describes the next stage of humanity, following from 'savage' to 'barbaric' to 'civic.' It follows from 'family' to 'clan' to 'tribe' and implies something beyond the stacking of bricks, the building of close housing and monumental edifices to community uses. But all those earlier social stages of development were added to, not replaced by 'civilization.' Most of us, whether we live in cities... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, October 22, 2021

Refusing to consume

The only power we have as 'little people' and consumers, is to refuse to consume. There are several companies I refuse to support in any way, or as minimally as possible. Amazon is one of those I don't do without entirely, but I buy books and other things anywhere but there. I won't give any of my money to Disney, until I hear that their park employees are no longer having to live out of their cars. I never ever shop at Walmart: That family doesn't need my money, and many smaller families really... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Republicans are whining about 'socialism' again...

Everytime the Republicans accuse something of being 'socialist' they expose how ignorant and ridiculous they are, equating 'democratic socialism' which we have had protecting our population for over a century, with 'authoritarian socialism' which we ALL don't want--though maybe not for the same reasons. Right now, airing their Big Lie, they are promoting authoritarianism. They don't seem to like any kind of socialism. Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, October 4, 2021

Why it's time to stop using the word 'race' when we speak of other cultures

When people started talking about 'races' it was to strengthen the argument that some people were not quite as human as others. Believing this, it became less unthinkable to treat humans of different cultures as things, as nearer to the beasts than to Us Real Humans. And this was in a time when 'animals' were regarded by certain dominant cultures as mere meat machines, put on Earth for Us Real Humans to exploit without regard for their ability to suffer physially, mentally, and emotionally. Such... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, September 11, 2021

TEDx speakers

They come to stand on the big red dot in center stage, to tell about who they are and what they believe in, what they have learned. They speak of personal life experiences, of their particular point of view. They invite you to consider all those things, and to be responsive to it, out loud or even if only in your own thoughts. Yesterday at MSU--Metropolitan State University--in Denver, the speakers were all from the local community: a revelation and celebration of who we live among, of the... Sign in to see full entry.

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