Loosely Speaking

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

Friday, December 9, 2011

The Suicidal Brain

Autopsied suicides have shown abysmally low levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that has much to do with mood: depression is treated with drugs like prozac, which does one simple thing: it inhibits the reuptake in the brain of 'used' serotonin, making more serotonin available to the normal operations of the brain, hence, a better mood. Suicide is a product of such deep despair and hopelessness, that the conscious mind can see nothing else. It can care about nothing else, value nothing but to... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, November 28, 2011

I said goodbye...

...to someone who has been an influence, or at least an effect in my life for just over 2 years. There have always been issues, always rolling the dice whether to drop or play on. I kept faith as long as I could, believed in good faith, honest intent, essential integrity of this person who persuaded me to trust and care, to open up, to risk where I have been most shy, most protected. I held on far longer than anyone else would have, making excuses, allowances... I was determined not to abandon... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Why oh why..?

...are we wasting news time on Mr Cain, just as if he is a serious presidential candidate?...are we vigiling over the jury's deliberation in the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor? I have been in a TV-free zone for three months, and have gotten starved for news, and now, can find nothing on the news channels but the nonsensical, frivolous and irrelevant. I find, finally, BBC World News. At last... some inkling of what is going on in the world. In a newspaper of limited pages, in a pocket of time... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, October 28, 2011

The Decision That Makes a Hero

When a soldier enlists and goes to fight, that soldier lays his or her life on the line. Not just the fact of life, accepting the risk of death, but the whole of a life. War may not accept the whole offering, but it will surely take some great portion of it. Lives are changed irrevocably, and all the lives connected to that single life, are likewise changed, shaped forever around War's particular imprint. Of course, all actions, all decisions that move us through a lifetime, do this, but few... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Are you an AARP member?

If you are, then you probably got the same email I did about supercommittees deciding measures to cut America's financial deficit in closed-door sessions. The AARP email invites us to fire off a note to the 'deciders.' Sure, why not? They said personalize it, though providing their own copy. in case the member isnt' sure what to say. Well, I erased theirs and said what's on my own mind. It is perhaps a little exaggerated in places, to get the message across... certainly no more than the average... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Did you like Postum...?

...before Kraft, without warning to those of us who might have wanted to stock up, discontinued making it? Nor do they appear to be willing to sell the rights to anyone else who might want to make it. I went looking for Postum online and found an 8-oz jar offered on ebay for $54. I saw two more offered by another link that appears to be Kraft's own, for $150 for each of 2 jars. Now I am pissed. I am not buying any Kraft products... not one! until Postum reappears at a reasonable price in the... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Why I Unfriended FaceBook

This was excerpted from a recent conversation I had with someone who wondered why I dropped my FaceBook account a few months ago, besides agreeing with Betty White's assessment, that it is simply "a colossal waste of time!" FaceBook. I dropped it because it smacks more and more of a kind of Big Brotherness which I find disturbing. It was not worth worrying over that while not actually making much real use of it, as I wasn't. The deciding factor was getting a notice there about an old friend... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Good Gravy!

HOW MUMBO JUMBO CONQUERED THE WORLD is Francis Wheen's wryly smiling polemic against modern-day irrationality and popular delusion. Wheen is a latterday champion of Reason. Anything in this world that is not firmly grounded in Reason, is grist for his calmly relentless mill. He grinds happily and thoroughly the popular icons and delusions of our times, and reads as delusion anything not Reasonable. He is certainly refreshing and amusing, while grinding out the nonsense of political fantasies... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Stupid Politicians

Once again, the noisy ignoramuses overpower quiet sense, common sense, compassionate sense. The rich and powerful remain smugly comfy. The less comfy grow even less comfy. For now. I have this feeling about our President. That he is a man who sees a bigger picture, and makes his moves according to that. It may look like he lost something here. The impatient and emotional-reactors won't understand that just maybe he has gained something more important than he has given up. That what he does is... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Me vs We

The have/give continuum: at one end, the material glory of Having It All! At the other... the sublime spiritual victory of Giving It All Away: Accumulate vs Distribute. As in everything, the point of balance is somewhere between. I don't disbelieve in personal wealth, in being able to wallow a bit in having, nor do I glorify self-martyrdom: It is a matter of finding a place between the ends that supports both one's comfort and self-respect. It's to do with drawing one's own lines, defining one's... Sign in to see full entry.

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