He's 94, very old. Less and less stands between the living and the dead as one ages, and by one's 90s, there's usually little holding us to this world...
I'm not sure "neoliberal" describes capitalism; I see it most often used to describe conservative political policy with respect to regulation, governm...
Facts matter, a principle you probably uphold. Fact is, propaganda is important for winning a war. Motivating the troops, motivating the domestic popu...
George Patton was apparently a great general whose mouth got him into trouble when he spoke out of turn off the topic in the wrong place. (I can relat...
The silent grim rugged brave tough American soldier -- definitely an American heritage theme--the Greatest Generation, etc. https://m.media-amazon.com...
You've not been posting in the Catbox--I mean Shoutbox--as much as usual lately. Have you been unwell? Heavy work load? Undercover work for the Tajiki...
As 180 Proof noted, babies don't have beliefs. I suspect your use of the word was not a suggestion that babies do have beliefs, but rather, just a way...
I understand why I have difficulty getting rid of books. They have content and symbolic value. What is harder to understand is why I have as much diff...
But the relationship between consumerism and industrialism (production) is reciprocal: a radical drop in consumption means less production; less produ...
"Light Googling" he says. Hrummph! I would guess, just off hand, that the BBC writer and TripAdvisor staff might, possibly, have had contacts with Eur...
Let me take a different tack than the one I took above, where I said "Culture hasn't been a key factor? Au contraire!" There's that Madonna song, writ...
"Tipping in Europe isn't entirely comparable to tipping in the US. In some EU countries, there is a 15% service charge--which the owner receives and o...
It's not the boat; it's the motion of the ocean. This is something the hung-like-horses never say. Frankly, my prognosis--based on your comment that "...
One never knows when disaster is going to strike next. Sorry about your gruesome big toe. "Almost came off" sounds bad--is it barely attached? The big...
Americans don't refer to the piece of cotton cloth used for washing as a flannel, a face washer, or as Terry toweling, For one thing, we use the same ...
Welcome. Here you'll find plenty of dorks and nerds; dicks, autodicats; credentialed experts; conservatives, liberals, socialists, anarchists, and lib...
A cynical atheist said, "Nothing fails like prayer." Ambrose Bierce's definition of prayer is similar in tone. The act of prayer ought to be a humblin...
So, what about Muscle Shoals, Alabama? What does a shoal of muscle look like -- Arnold Schwarzenegger? (It is Muscle shoals, and not Mussel shoals.) A...
The way buddhist monks sweep up elaborate sand mandalas and throw them off the mountain or into a river or onto an icy street (depending on geography)...
Were the schnapps in a shot glass at the bottom of the beer mug? Bottoms up, guzzle guzzle... b) you were on highway 1 over the "7 mile" bridge? Where...
Culture hasn't been a key factor? Au contraire! Consumerism (I am what I buy) is a key aspect of American and other cultures! No, not everybody, but i...
Same here. This is applicable in several fields. The history of science isn't science; the history of the arts isn't "art"; but a decent history requi...
We might talk about "the history of ideas" because it is part of history, and as we know (I think we at least have some idea) that the conditions of l...
I suspect the nomads spend very little time at the local gym--which they wouldn't have--being nomads and not staying put. BTW, Allah does not allow Is...
I pretty much listen to public radio, whether it's NPR, the BBC or the local service. I don't watch TV. Can't comment much on broadcast liberal news o...
Yes, it's possible they want to highlight historically underrepresented groups and correct an unfairness that has been the status quo for a very long ...
NPR isn't what it used to be; the same goes for some other public TV / public radio / public media operations. What was the cause? Changes in manageme...
No, all reporting is variably biased, and we can not immediately be sure how. We do not/can not see the world "as it is". We always have a POV; we are...
The only western institutional practice of asceticism of which I am aware is the practice of poverty among some religious. Most nuns and monks may hav...
@"hanover" @"universeness" @"Jamal" @"et al" Let's get off the booze. Here's a song by Robert Burns about fornication. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Fascinating! Over the centuries, animals that similarly got stuck in mud became material for archaeologists. Some mud holes are loaded with bones. The...
He missed all the insults and quarrels over whether whiskey's flavor comes from a swamp or a bog. But... he is right. A bog is not a swamp. I stand co...
Where do you think peat comes from? Swamps. Peat is just what piles up on the bottom of a swamp. It's the first step on the way to coal -- given milli...
You have approximated a couple of Hanover's humor tricks, "like how this is a circular argument, but I also did that on purpose, and so it's therefore...
One thing about the Affirmative Action decision and the legacy issue: The number of colleges where affirmative action, legacy admissions, and the like...
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