So. Do you make New Years resolutions? Or are you among the vast, world-weary crowd that considers them useless at best and possibly even an act of self-defeating folly? (“If I write down my intention to lose 20 pounds, I’ll hate myself and maybe even commit seppuku the first time I give in to a Krispy Kreme!”) And if you do ponder and put pen (or electrons) to resolutions … what are the chances of you making progress toward keeping them? I don’t say, “What are the chances of you keeping them?” because I suspect it really is self-defeating folly…
Category: Mind and Spirit
Spirituality, moods, feelings, and thinking free to live free.
Merry Post-Christmas! Happy Pre-New Year! I hope your holidays are being wonderful. Mine are — in large part thanks to you. So in the belated Christmas cheer department … Serious side: Teenager Jeremy Marks, one of the most cosmically abused victims of the “don’t you dare photograph police, you scrofulous peasants” scam, was bailed out by a good Samaritan in time to spend Christmas with his family. The generous Google engineer who got him out of jail also contributed some extra money toward a Merry Christmas. Silly side: Here’s the most ghastly Christmas special of all time. I doubt there’s…
ADDED: By popular request (well, one person did ask …) and with thanks to Bill St. Clair for preserving my old web postings: my recipe for Decadent Potato Casserole Great for Christmas. I believe it also appears in the delightful cookbook 101 Things to Cook ‘Til the Revolution (NFI). Via LewRockwell.com: The Digital Story of the Nativity or Christmas 2.0: Plus: Santa Claus: America’s Most Wanted Fugitive. Here’s an oldie but goodie: Happy Unified Holiday (Chrismukah). And: If you’re still feeling bah humbuggy about Christmas: You may (no joke) be a terrorist. —– Finally … to do the impossible and…
That’s what I was going to call this post: Why the hell would anybody want to be free? Yes, the question would have been rhetorical and no I don’t mean I’m thinking of taking up communism or nihilism instead of the freedomquest. But seriously. You know from experience that being a freedomista often brings you grief. You get the sorrow of watching your country go to hell. The agony of knowing your children will have it worse than you do. You have to put up with the sneers or uncomprehending stares of people who don’t want to hear perfectly sensible…
Shortly I’ll be shutting down the computer to enjoy a sunset-to-sunset sabbath. (You don’t have the be Jewish …) Light candles. Drink wine. Enjoy peace. Give thanks. Remember things that matter. Before I close the computer for the night — First thanks go to YOU. Once again, I don’t yet know what names to put to the thanks. I wish I did. Amazon hasn’t told me so far. But I see so much bounty pouring in from my wish list — apricots! And more apricots! And wonderful movies. And the coolest flashlight I’ve run into this season. And a dog…
Geez, they could at least have shouted, “Drop that hose nozzle, m******f*****!!!” before they shot the guy. Dontcha think? Abandoning a city. Now, will we see Mad Max in America? Or will the abandoned residents develop their own voluntary institutions? Oh. Wait. We’re talking about Detroit. It’s already Mad Max in America. This is pure skulduggery. And it’s brought to you by Dodd-Frank financial “reform.” Like, don’t faint from surprise or anything. Privacy alert, courtesy of Bigjack who posted a link about web photo geotags while commenting on my Christmas tree post: Your camera might be revealing your location. Not…
Reader Pat sent me this link to a Wall Street Journal article about — of all things, Underearners Anonymous. Seriously: Can’t earn enough dough to pay the rent? A tiny but growing fellowship of New Yorkers might suggest that the problem isn’t the economy. The problem is you. You may have a disease—a compulsive addiction to low-paying work. And they have a 12-step program to help you recover: Underearners Anonymous. At a recent meeting, two-dozen men and women gathered in a windowless, rented room, squeezing themselves into a tight circle around a faded oriental carpet. After saying a prayer and…
A friend is liquidating her art gallery and today, for a pittance, I bought a poster with this image. In the dim warehouse where the sale was held and with the soft quality of the paper, I thought the poster was a reproduction of a painting, not a photo. How could it possibly be a photo? Look at it larger: here or here (click on the image to enlarge). How could a man be standing there so calmly, hands in pockets, when he’s about to die? Yet photo it is. In fact, it’s part of a series of photos by…
These are the thoughts of a young woman whose life has already been difficult — mostly in the sense of bearing heavy responsibility and being different from others. Now she’s about to face incomprehensible evil, and may not survive: And what are my weapons? she thought. And the answer came to her instantly: pride. Oh, you hear them say it’s a sin; you hear them say it goes before a fall. And that can’t be true. The blacksmith prides himself on a good weld; the carter is proud that his horses are well turned out, gleaming like fresh chestnuts in…
Read this shocker in a “Mike Rogers column this morning: We wrapped the packages and took them to the post office to send to the USA this morning. Alas, while at the post office, we were told that the US Department of Homeland Security has stated that there can be no more mailing of packages that weigh over 1 pound unless we can provide the Social Security number of the recipient. Mike was trying to mail gifts from Tokyo to Arizona. Unable to get a simple gift into the U.S., he compared our country to North Korea or Japan in…