Loosely Speaking

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Saturday, September 28, 2013

again, with the sentimentality...

After reading the very thoughtful comments on the previous post on this topic, I realize that once again, we don't all attach the same definitions to a particular word. This has helped me clarify my own definition. Jimmy describes what I would call 'nostalgia'--a yearning for things lost or past. If one adds sentimentality to nostalgia, it gets kind of more unreal, recalling only the elements of the lost that were sweet and charming, and forgetting the unpleasant that was surely also part of the... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, September 27, 2013

A Libertarian speaks about gun control, global warming and science

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-we-should-choose-science-over-beliefs&WT.mc_id=SA_WR_20130925 I found this article most interesting, and have to admit it's true for me, too. Motivated reasoning... is not the path to Reality, which demands that we act intelligently despite our ideology. I will write less here, so you can invest some time into reading the article. Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Sentimental journeys

Some people use 'sentimental' as a warm and fuzzy word, meaning caring and feeling, sensitive, empathetic and sympathetic. Some people use it as a kind of pejoritive: emotionally-based reacting rather than actual thinking, a self-indulgence in the impractical. Whichever, Americans are notoriously sentimental, putting a high value on feelings, almost to the exclusion of any other way of seeing the world: As if it's the best, not just another approach to making the most of our humanity. Other... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

I just had an idea,

prompted by the local icecream truck that plays Christmas music as it passes by all summer. I got to thinking, that music will never be appropriate to that truck! It will be sound asleep in a garage somewhere, when that music should be driven 'round the neighborhoods. But what could that little truck be up and doing in the deep of winter? Hot dogs! Sausage onna stick! Switch it over from cold summer treats, to hot winter ones! Roasted chestnuts! Hot pretzels! I would run outside with a... well,... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Whoever makes the most noise, wins.

The self-righteous, defensive-to-the-point-of-paranoia, who think they--no one else, just themselves--are entitled by some twist of their minds to have it all their own way... and make everyone else have it all their way, too... Ideological terrorists, fanatics, lunatics... A sad day in Colorado, a day when the two state senators with the sense and balance to vote for a little gun-control were fired by those anti-control lunatics who think there's no problem because they themselves aren't... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Years ago, I had to define "peace."

Rumor has reminded me of it, with his latest two posts. Another woman in Olympia, who had been working with a group on a peace project, invited me to join, to write the newsletter and the mission statement. That called for a concise defining of our intent and ideals, our terms. We realized that very few people who want peace actually have a clear idea what they are asking for. In THE LION IN WINTER, an exceptional play about England's first Plantagenet king, Henry II, and his wife and chief... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

In response to Annicita's post:

In July last year, here in Colorado Springs, a woman was gang raped by a group of young Iraqi nationals: they drugged her drink, and two of the five men raped her with such extreme brutality, the scene was covered with blood, and her injuries were shocking to the Emergency Room people who took care of her. She had been sexually assaulted, violently with, among other things, a fist. This was not a woman whom anyone could say "was asking for it" with flirtatious teasing behavior or dress: she was... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Someone shared this with me... I offer it to the cat lovers here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw1C5T-fH2Y&feature=youtu.be Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Out of ear-shot, out of mind...?

Adnohr asks if things are really worse, as they seem to be... It's a common impression, and as I commented to her post, it's partly due to the way we move information around, with speed unimagined by people even 50 years ago. Natural and other disasters happened then, too, but we didn't hear about it. I think it's also the great determination of the media to throw around the most shocking, devastating, titilating stories they can, making the most of the side of human nature that feeds on the... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

All children are Our Children

I've known several couples who chose not to have children. I don't know all their reasons, but some have shared their reasons with me. One of the women feels that she would not make a good mother. She recognizes that she does not want to be saddled with the costs and demands of parenthood. Another stated outright that she has no hopes for the world's future, and declines to make any investment in that future. It is a sign of a society's decadence and decline when childbirth in the upper classes... Sign in to see full entry.

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