Loosely Speaking

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

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

The answer to the 'clicks' question:

Direct from the Greater Good website The GreaterGood network of websites started with one simple idea: take one action everyone does every day – a click on a website – and turn it into a force for good. The Hunger Site was the first to launch in 1999. Sponsors would pay to have their ads viewed on The Hunger Site’s thank-you page; each click would be recorded and generate sponsor funds, and those funds went directly to charity to provide food for people in need. In the first nine months, the... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

What do you care about?

A while back, there was a site where a single click on the logo would help to feed and shelter lost and abandoned pets. A single click, a few seconds of the day, to give relief to someone hurting. Pretty good deal! It turns out, as some of you found out before I did, probably, there is a site that has lined up a collection of needful causes, that we can each help one click at a time. It costs nothing, and if it is what it claims to be, that's great! And if it isn't, then it still costs nothing.... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Lights, lights, LIGHTS!

If you are driving a whitish car in snow--turn on your headlights! If you are driving a... subtly colored car in dismal weather--turn on your headlights! If you are driving anything but a day-glo red, yellow or green car on a sunny day on roads with shadows- -turn on your headlights! If you are driving any kind of car at any time of day or night, in any kind of ambient conditions--TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS!! If you can't be seen by someone whose glasses prescription is old, or someone who is... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

The Non-Human Person

There have been several court cases in the US and other countries in the past several years regarding the defining of 'personhood' and of the rights of persons, non-human. These cases, briefly reported in the media, have stimulated a lot of knee-jerk reaction calling it ridiculous and inane, but there is a legitimate issue here that defines also who we are as human beings. I think most of us with a modicum of conscious humanity can easily agree that animals of all kind should be protected from... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, December 26, 2014

This is going to upset some people.

It's about dogs. Specifically, it is about the thousands of dogs that are rounded up and sold for meat in Asian markets. The Humane Society International is doing their best to end this illegal trade that is marked with incredible cruelty. Abusing dogs, some of you will agree, is like abusing children. They are profoundly emotional, self-aware creatures, and they want to love us, to bond with us.... Sign in to see full entry.

A strange and wonderful musical interlude...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbpi6ZahtOH7_zbZp2yJTcWfFUWoEuQ0u Ten unconventional instruments. Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, December 22, 2014

The Ideal and the Lie

Jeansaw wrote today of the children who won't get anything from Santa this year. This is on my mind, too. Walking around in stores, listening to the holly jolly songs that promise every girl and boy toys and goodies magically delivered on the approaching night, I think of the kids who will feel despised by Santa on the great morning. Despised, hated, or judged Bad. Or just forgotten. A community that can't take care of its children is too large. A community that forgets those kids is just wrong.... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, December 5, 2014

A successful launch, flight, and return

I remember in 4th grade, watching rocket launches on televisions rolled into our classrooms. The count-down was a special kind of suspense, a measured lead-in to the inevitable: I felt the wonder and awe, watching the Redstone, the Atlas, the Saturn rockets rise on their pillars of smoke and flame... roar with devastating sound into the sky, into space! Later on, we learned that things can go wrong on the launchpad and in the first moments of flight. We learned that our heros could die in this... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Thanksgiving thoughts

This season of thanks-giving used to be a simple fanciful memory of Pilgrims and Indians sharing a harvest feast together: disregarding differences, appreciating good things given and shared, appreciating that we none of us survive alone. We thank each other, we express gratitude to whatever Providence has looked after us, whether a European God or an American Great Spirit. It was all about a simple exhortation: “Count your blessings, and say thank you!” That’s the ideal presented: a wonderful... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Hijab and wrapped-up sweeties

The poem I posted here yesterday was inspired by a thing I read online, about Muslim men trying to influence women to behave like 'proper' women, to wrap up in the hijab in order to protect their modesty. Women were compared to lollipops that get all dirty and nasty if they are out in the dirty world without a wrapper. I found it so inflammatory that it haunted my dreams overnight and I woke with that poem forming itself in my consciousness. The culture of the hijab is superficially in respect... Sign in to see full entry.

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