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, August 11, 2022

Hearkening back...

e p o S t r s o n d 3 4 e p o S t r s o n d Back then, 7 years ago, pre-Trump... could hardly imagine how bad it would get, how close it would come, and how the game of the long coup is still going on, and will until we finally effectively deal with it with consequences and accountability and prison terms where they are so richly deserved. When the world went into a frenzy of updating old repressive regimes, I began to consider why that happens there, but is not likely to happen here in America.... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, August 8, 2022

Shifty behaviors

Today I saw on Facebook a cartoon lamenting the habit of grocery stores to rearrange the goods every so often so shoppers need to look around at more stuff in order to find what they came for. Haha. Our local Kroger store has just re-arranged their entire freezer section. That's half a dozen rows to search for what last week I knew exactly where what I wanted was to be found. I finally spotted its usual neighbors, and it wasn't there at all. An employee agreed that this kind of rearranging... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, August 5, 2022

Another quote for the day

A friend on Facebook shared this one today, and I don't doubt that most of my friends here will also enjoy it: "For what we need, all of us who go on two legs, is to reimagine our place in creation. We need to enlarge our conscience so as to bear, moment by moment, a regard for the integrity and bounty of the earth. There can be no sanctuaries unless we regain a deep sense of the sacred, no refuges unless we feel a reverence for the land, for soil and stone, water and air, and for all that... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, August 4, 2022

Book Review: THE HOLLOW HILLS

This is Mary Stewart's second book based on Arthurian legend but written from the point of view of Merlin. The first book, THE CRYSTAL CAVE, established Merlin as the bastard son of Ambrosius who was High King of Britain, who acknowledged him and brought the boy into his court. On the death of Ambrosius, Merlin's uncle Uther Pendragon became the High King. That book ends with the night of storm and enchantment, during which Uther, magically disguised as her husband, comes to Ygraine and begets... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 28, 2022

How about that humidity...?

While the rest of the country is baking, even Washington and Oregon, here it is cool. It will not reach 70F today, and only just tomorrow. High 70s are predicted for Saturday. It's always said, It's a dry heat, but in fact the humidity has been high lately, especially at night when it has been sometimes 95%! Happily, this seems to occur only when the temperatures are low, so it is never as oppressive as in the eastern half of the country when temps and humids are both in the 90s. The moisture in... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Just sayin'...

Biden would probably have better approval ratings if he would: Support more definitively powering down the fillibuster. Use executive privilege more strongly to clean up more of the Trump messes and to counter the effects of this questionable Supreme Court. Expand the Supreme Court. What fuels disapproval of Biden is that he could be doing so much more for the American people. but apparently chooses not to. Seems to me, he is playing the game with political interests while Americans are bleeding... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, July 3, 2022

Reading Old Stuff

I've just finished an old book by Margery Allingham: BLACK PLUMES. She was writing mysteries in the 1920s-50s, the same generation as Agatha Christie. She created the sleuth Albert Campion, though he doesn't appear in this first of her novels. I mention this book and writer for a couple of reasons. First, it is extraordinarily well-written even if only considering how she works the words, apart from the actual story and characters. It is such a delight to read the dancing of her metaphors, the... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, July 1, 2022

The home-schooling option

Frankly, with the craziness going on with school shootings, I can understand not being willing to either expose my kid to that, or to try to justify to my kid why I am willing to send her into such risk. There is also the point that the current public educational system stinks, what with the wrong people controlling what's taught and how it's taught, and what is not taught that should be. I'd never have made a good home-schooling mom years ago, but there are resources readily available then that... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, June 10, 2022

How dumb is the US?

Was in a chat with Charlie about America has Dumbed-down. Are we dumber as a nation? What do kids need to know? What are they learning instead? My contention is that our society has replaced a solid diet of education with 'fast-food' and 'sweeties' of entertainment and superficials. That schools are teaching to standardized testing and parents are not teaching the skills of life. Neither are teaching the skills of civil behavior, like boundaries and manners. This is, of course, not true of all... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Great Courses: Mesopotamia

This is one of the best of the Great Courses I've watched so far. The presenter is very good at talking about the ancient times and places in a way that makes them very clear, easy to engage with a sense of being there. If you're interested in the passage of mankind from hunter/gathering wanderers to settled farmers, to communities, to empires, this one is one I think you'd enjoy. She clearly knows her stuff, and doesn't have annoying verbal or physical mannerisms to distract from the... Sign in to see full entry.

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