The saying, “May you live in interesting times,” has often been attributed to Robert Kennedy, who referred to it as an “ancient Chinese curse.” The saying has an extensive history. (See “Quote Investigator” for details.) Regardless of the saying’s history, war, rumors of war, and civil unrest are more “interesting” than times of peace and prosperity. At present (April 2019), we have a lot of civil unrest, not only in the States, but also in many places around the world. We also have wars (and rumors of wars) in many parts of the world. In fact, we have pretty much . . . → Read More: Living in Interesting Times
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 Comments are closed  Blog  1984, Abel, ancient Chinese, Bible, Brave New World, Cain, China, Christian, Chrystal Blue Persuasion, civil unrest, conflict, crystal blue persuasion, curse, Eden, end-of-times, English, genetic manipulation, Great Wall of China, human aggression, Interesting Times, Irish, Korea, political factions, population growth, Robert Kennedy, rumors of war, Scotts, Shondells, Steven Pinker, Tommy James, Vietnam, Vietnam War, wars, WWII We (humans) are doing all sorts of damage to Planet Earth. Humans have always been careless about their garbage. In primitive times, when a tribe accumulated a lot of waste in one location, the tribe simply relocated to a new place. We have, however, run out of new habitable places. We believed, of course, that we had been told to “be fruitful and multiply.” That probably made sense at the time it was originally said, as in those days there was a lot more space than there were people, and life was short and brutal for most people. The best . . . → Read More: No Planet B Comments are closed Blog Ancient Egyptians, be fruitful and multiply, build a wall, China, Civil War, epidemics, farmers, France, greed, humanity, infectious disease, Oedipus, planet Earth, politicians, politics, population, poverty, power corrupts, pressing our luck, Pretty Boy Floyd, revolution, rich, Robin Hood, space, starvation, technology, time warp, United States, world population, World Wars This is Reality? I am old enough to remember when the U.S. government was being run by adults. That was also true for most of the governments in the so-called civilized world—we had International differences of opinion about forms of government and territorial concerns. Most of us agreed with some of them and disagreed with others, but we were fairly certain that most countries were making decisions about government by relatively rational means, with military conflict being a last resort. Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, describes an alternative universe in which nothing is what it seems. Alice had . . . → Read More: Down the Rabbit Hole (Redux) Comments are closed Blog China, climate, climate change, corruption, Democrats, dinosaurs, Eisenhower, elections, enemy, environment, gerrymandering, government, humans, insects, Lewis Carrol, lions, Lord Acton, make the rich richer, mammals, monarchy, North Korea, oceans, plastic, Pogo, politics, power corrupts, rabbit hole, Republican Party, Russia, the few and the many, vote, voting, Walt Kelly It’s no longer a matter of living in interesting times. Democracy in the US has always been on a roller coaster. We got started on a big hill by men (women only in the background at that point) who were flawed giants. Their principal flaw was owning slaves, In their defense, we can say that slavery was common at that time, and it hadn’t yet occurred to many that slavery was (and is) an evil institution. The country has had a variety of ups and downs since its founding, we’ve had numerous wars, including the military actions required to complete . . . → Read More: Bad to Worse Comments are closed Blog African-Americans, Carter, China, Civil Rights, Clinton, democracy, economic decline, economy, Eisenhower, George Bush, GOP, Great Depression, Great Recession, greed, Harley Davidson, honesty, housing, industrial base, Interesting Times, Interstate Highway System, laves, mobsters, Native Americans, Nixon, North Korea, Pogo, political decline, presidents, Reagan, Republican, rich get richer, robber barons, Russia, slavery, tariffs, Trump, Vietnam War, War in Southeast Asia, women, WWII One of the problems with peeing in the pool (not that you would do it, of course) is that the pee goes everywhere. Humans, and perhaps other animals as well, tend to be short-sighted and do things for their own convenience. For however long humans have been on planet Earth, we have been metaphorically peeing in the pool and then moving to the other end. Whether we have finally discovered that there is no “other end” remains to be seen. The principal impetus for this blog entry is not some new information about the way humans have been damaging the . . . → Read More: Ecosystems: The “No Peeing” End of the Pool Comments are closed Blog African-Americans, Age of Aquarius, Alfred, architect, army, Blacks, California, Charleston, Cherokee, China, Civil Rights, clinical social work, college, Commissioned Officers, Computer Information Systems, construction, Department Chair, dissertation, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, English Department, environment, evening news, Executive Order, faculty, Filipino, Florida, Ft. Lauderdale, George Santayana, graduate school, historic Black church, Illinois, India, integration, JFK, John F. Kennedy, justice, karate, Lord Tennyson, Los Altos, Los Angeles, Mexican, Mexican War of Independence, Mexico, military, Nature red in tooth and claw, NCOs, Noncommissioned Officers, Okinawan Karate Academy, Oklahoma, Pakistan, peace, pee, peeing, politicians, pool, post-racial, President Truman, race, reconciliation, reparations, revolution, SC, short-sighted, Sixth Extinction, South Carolina, Spanish Conquistadors, swimming pool, Texas, Trail of Tears, University of Florida, University of Illinois, Urbana, Vietnam, war on Christians, Watts, Western Michigan University, Whites, WMU |
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