Journeys through life

There was a post, somewhere on the internet. Actually, if I remember correctly, it was a post by the New York Times. It went something like this: A study found that European soccer commentators were not only far more likely to praise white players for their intelligence, leadership qualities, and versatility but also more likely to criticize black players for what they regarded as the absence of those attributes. Someone's reply caught my attention, which I seized on, and soon, others joined in as proponents or opponents. Let's call the initiator Teresa. The ensuing conversation went something like this [grammatical editing is mine and no real names have been used.] Teresa: Sorry, but football clubs treat ALL their players as stupid. We had a couple open our new office and were basically told that they were to stand there and look pretty and were not to be asked questions! Let's not stoke division where there isn't any. Me: Here comes the deflection. Your views versus a

Me : Anyone who thinks silence means defeated, please think again. Though I still say, violence begets violence. Let’s stop this nonsense of guns. We can all carry guns, but we will all lose in the end. UD : Violence isn't the best answer, but it is an effective one. Me :  I would not advocate violence, except as an absolute last resort UD :  I'm not advocating violence. But when all other options are exhausted, your hand is forced. Me :   We would have to qualify the "other options", and "last resort." Clearly, the direction that such bearing of arms will lead to is race-based violence. There are those who mistakenly think that they are well prepared for such a conflict. All I can say is that people who have nothing to lose become very formidable. And by default, their fight will be a just fight, driven by the need for self-defense. Yet, to me, it is amazing that these same people STILL want a peaceful resolution, after all their suffering. There may be, of

There was,  once, a retired sea captain to whom time was everything. In his retirement, he would sail out to sea each daybreak to reminisce about his glory days.  Sail closer to the shore he  would, to better listen for the boom of a distant cannon that went off at noon, and thereat hoist his flag to mark this precious noon. Only at sunset would he lower it again.  Now, the cannon operator was a retired soldier, who kept the local time. Knowing the exacting sea captain, the horizon  he would spy through his telescope, for the captain's vessel and flag which appeared at precisely noon. Once manifested, "boom!" with a resounding resolution he would fire his cannon to announce noon to all of the town.  So, who had the correct time?  That's what is happening here with populism and leaders like Donald Trump. They have no clue about what is right or wrong but peg their actions on the populist and misguided crowd.

Ever listened to a debate about whether God exists or not? Such debates are, more often than not, heated and quite quickly become emotive contests. I say, you can’t use your thoughts about the negative as proof that something doesn’t exist. A true scientist will never say there’s no God for at least four reasons: 1. No branch of advanced science studies the question “is there a God?” There’s no funding for that. Our “proofs” or “disproofs” are therefore mere speculations, no different from those of primeval man. 2. Science is niche-area oriented, meaning a physicist focuses on a narrow area of physics, a chemist on a narrow area of chemistry, and so on. There’s no time to a serious scientist to study that question during their career, measured in Earth years. 3. Science is largely empirical, meaning that it is driven experimentally, in the context of points 1 and 2 above. How then does one design an experiment to detect “God”? How then can you prove that the entity who typed this

The unfolding state of America's politics is very Orwellian. And I do mean "Animal Farm" Orwellian. Now would be a good time to read that book if you've never read it, or to read it again if you have. It is odd how old fiction tends to be prophetic. I suppose different occurrences in future times lead to different interpretations of the same fiction. The reason for this might be that the issues that drive human beings hardly change over the eons. Take for instance the view of Armageddon in the Bible. Through the ages the devout were convinced that it would happen in their lifetime because the “signs are all around us that these are the end times.” What is certain is that the seven deadly sins are today as deadly as they were before the coming of the Messiah. In Animal Farm, that point in the story where one morning the animals wake up and could swear by the soul of the departed Snowball that, while they slept, someone had amended the law scribbled on the wall, comes

Does anyone even remember the nursery rhyme in which the old, likely retired Grand Duke of York fannyied about frantically with a few utterly loyal, if rather brainless men at his beck and call? Or have we been too busy campaigning to #Leave or #Brexit or #Remain? As you know, the #Brexit's have it. Last I heard, the victory celebrations have only been momentary and the movement is slowly turning #Regrexit. Talk about misinformation or, dare I say disinformation, in this enlightened age of the Internet? As it turns out, there's a lighter side to all this madness, and it's all here on this page! We can set the whole debacle to music. Let's return to the basics by setting the scene: Nursery school, or for those of you on the now more European side, "kindergarten". Main character: "Le Grand Old Duke". The background melodic accompaniment: "A-Hunting We Will Go": The lyrics: Oh, the grand old Duke of York, He had ten thousand men, He