What is the purpose of the cosmos? How could I possibly know? I am “on the inside” as are you. To know the purpose I’d need to be on the outside, – like a god. An overview of the vastness of space, innumerable suns and planets need be encompassed in order to “know” the…
Three more days remain in 2020. The year has been one of pandemic, and of the nation roiled by the incompetence of the Trump administration. I am offended by incompetence. A state of incompetence, the inability to carefully execute a task to completion is something expected of children. When adults are incompetent, especially when…
I lived in Japan when this song was released in 1969. A Canadian band, The Guess Who performed the tune, Laughing, which became the second of their three gold records. The lyrics are simple and brutal. Rare is the love song that is not a sad song. The patience, courage, and luck demanded by…
I have mixed thoughts about Christmas. Given that the story of Christmas happens to be about a working class couple, without adequate shelter, with responsibility to care for a new born child, — as long as my home is a “Christian” country that girdles the world with military bases, and has a military budget…
It’s just another day in paradiseAs you stumble to your bed…. I know, that’s a fragment of song lyric ripped from the Eagles tune, Learn To Be Still. Waking this morning, I felt existentially disoriented. As expected there was little “good news” in The New York Times, The Morning update received via email. Of…
For over an hour those who knew Glenn O’Dell spoke of the impact of his life upon them, and of what they had lost on account of his death. I barely knew Glenn. I was a late comer to the Socrates Café discussion group. I remember that he made me welcome to the circle,…
I listened to the new reports last night of the delivery of the vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine was quickly approved by the FDA and is now being distributed throughout the country. An additional vaccine from Moderna is reported to soon be approved and follow. I worked in a laboratory for several years. I can…
I was drawn to this Dec. 9, Washington Post article by Annie Gowin. Here are several paragraphs: MITCHELL, S.D. — A cold wind whipped through the prairie as they laid Buck Timmins to rest. Timmins, a longtime coach and referee, was not the first person in Mitchell, S.D., pop. 15,600, to die of the coronavirus….
Posting more holiday themed photographs will have to wait. I feel compelled to say something about our philosophy discussion of a few hours ago. There were eight of us joining a Zoom video chat based upon a New Yorker article entitled Why Facts Do Not Change Our Minds. That title speaks for itself. The…
A self does not amount to much, but no self is an island; each exists in a fabric of relations that is now more complex and mobile than ever before. Young or old, man or woman, rich or poor, a person is always located at “nodal points” of specific communication circuits, however tiny these…
