If you get the Word A Day from Anu Garg
you may have seen this already... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6uL0WURuZ4 Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
and a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all!
Even if you aren't a father, you probably have one, and chances are, he'd be glad for you to have a happy day, too! Sign in to see full entry.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Thinking more about CCT's comment
So many people live in risky areas, as if nothing will happen to them. People return to the slopes of active volcanoes, like Vesuvius and Lassen. People live in Seattle and Tacoma, the whole southern end of Puget Sound, as if Mt Rainier will never erupt again, although we know it will. (When that day comes, downtown Seattle and much of Tacoma will be gone, like Pompei and Herculaneum. I've seen the projected devastation maps.) In California, it's the San Andreas Fault--one of many that run up... Sign in to see full entry.
over 8000 acres burned, 360 homes
That makes it more devastating and costly than last summer's Waldo Canyon fire. No cause has been determined, but lightning strike is about ruled out. In fact, no cause has been determined for the Waldo Canyon fire, either, though it is pretty certain it was human-caused. Deliberate or accidental, they don't know. It was originally feared that several people did not get out of their homes in time, but now there is only one person on the 'missing' list. (Two people died in Waldo Canyon, an older... Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
There's smoke in the skies again
You can see it from here, if you look to the northeast, where an area called Black Forest is burning. Reports say that 100 houses have burned, and that a number of people declined to evacuate, thinking they could defend their houses on their own. Their fates are unknown at this time. This, being rural Colorado, means that livestock is in need of shifting out of the fire's path. Some people have had to leave horses behind, when the approaching fire came too close, and authorities evacuated them.... Sign in to see full entry.
Friday, June 7, 2013
They are looking over our shoulders...
Apparently, the Feds in Washington not only have been and will be peering into our phones, social media use, and internet use, the attitude they're going with is, Sure we are. Sure we have. Sure we will. Get over it. National Security, folks. Homeland Security. Why do I suddenly feel so... insecure? This is not just about being at war with terrorism, though it starts there. This is about the citizen being perceived by the Feds as the enemy. This is about citizens perceiving the Feds as the... Sign in to see full entry.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Postscript and further thoughts on death, life, and conflict.
Western society dreads death; Asian and Middle-eastern societies don't take it nearly as seriously. But they know that we do, and so we are held hostage by our fear. Western societies are held hostage by the fear of death, by the ardent desire to avoid it personally, and to avoid suffering the loss of a loved one. But the other side of that coin is respect for life, which also makes it most difficult to take life, to mete out death as easily as it is done in societies where life is held to be of... Sign in to see full entry.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Dealing out death
I got into a conversation about execution today, possibly because I've been watching movies and reading books lately that have me thinking about how and why human beings mete out death to others. GENGHIS: Lords of the Bow (Conn Iggulden) The second in his series of novels about the Mongols, it is mainly his campaign against the Chin, antecedents of today's Chinese. And of course, the basic world-view/mindset of the one is pitted against the other. Neither is able to see the other's point of view... Sign in to see full entry.
Friday, May 24, 2013
There was a time...
Prior to the 1860s, writers wrote. They created stories, essays, sermons, articles, documents with pen and ink, or pencil, perhaps, on parchment, vellum and paper. A manuscript was delivered to a publisher wrapped in oiled paper and string, and was read in hand-written form. Simple, though I daresay there was a certain amount of eyestrain among publishers and editors. In the 1960s, there came the word-processor: the easiest way to write since the pencil. Easiest way to create, revise and deliver... Sign in to see full entry.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Thurber
By itself, it's an interesting sounding word. But I am referring to James Thurber. I have been reading one of his books, the one titled: LET YOUR MIND ALONE. It was first published in 1935, when Thurber was in his 40s, and seems to have been inspired by inspirational works of other people. When I say inspirational, I mean not in a spiritual, but in a self-improvement sense. He doesn't hold with honing the "streamlined mind" or striving for "mental efficiency." His responses to each of a Mrs.... Sign in to see full entry.