Saturday, January 16, 2010
Question
posted at 9:18 AM | Permalink | 3 comment(s)
Isn't it just as ridiculous to assert that the earthquake is a blessing - special love from God for those in the path of the devastation - as to say that it's the devil getting his due in exchange for extricating themselves from French rule?

You can't make up things like this. First there was Pat Robertson's inane commentary and now there's the other extreme (which I heard this morning spoken aloud - I am truly not making this up). One is reminded of being told in elementary school by the nuns that misery and suffering such as childhood leukemia, polio, being beaten by your parents, etc. all show God's special gift to those who suffer. Seriously that's what we were told. Wear a hairshirt and add to your suffering because the more you suffer with grace and sweetness the more God knows you love him and then he'll love you more and will show his love by giving you . . . yup, more suffering.

The fact is that horrible horrible things happen sometimes. It completely s^%&s and it's terrible and it would be great if each bad thing provided impetus to figure out ways of preventing bad things in the future. But I cannot believe it's a devil getting his due or a deity seeing what people can endure so as to give them extra special rewards like testing them further with more bad things nor to give them extra special rewards in heaven.

And why exactly is this kind of thinking different or sillier than suicide bombers who believe they'll gain forty virgins in heaven?

I know there is an intense, vital, passionate urge to explain things but sometimes a cigar an earthquake is just a cigar an earthquake.

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Friday, January 15, 2010
Massachusetts
posted at 8:55 AM | Permalink | 1 comment(s)
I have no idea about either candidate's qualifications or merits in general but this article is one helluva scary thing to read and if this is how Martha Coackley thinks and functions, she would not seem to be a good choice. It's really astonishing to me how often simple logic and reason fail to bring people up short in such intense and important situations. I mean, is there real and reliable evidence? If so, why not use it instead of hyperbolic and outrageous statements? Abusers should not be allowed to see the light of day, no one quarrels with that, but what is to be gained by both building and jumping upon a bandwagon?

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Today
posted at 1:41 PM | Permalink | 3 comment(s)
According to Hungry Girl, today, October 14th, is National Chocolate Covered Insects Day. I am in complete agreement with them and, just like every other year, will NOT be partaking in any commemoration!

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Wednesday, August 5, 2009
What am I missing?
posted at 9:14 AM | Permalink | 0 comment(s)
Why is it even up for discussion whether texting should be allowed prohibited while driving cars or trains or planes? Does it require legislation to make people not walk down the middle of a highway? I mean, things that are utterly dangerous and foolish don't need laws against them for people to know not to do them, do they? Talking on a cellphone can leave two eyes and one hand free, after all, whereas texting always requires at least two hands and two eyes (until they come up with an app for voice-to-text, anyway).

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Monday, August 3, 2009
A few minutes of fame
posted at 12:48 PM | Permalink | 0 comment(s)
A friend of mine was on a panel about Woodstock at the Darien Library last week. Apparently he was a young boy at the time, in a car on the way to spend some time at a house by a lake near Bethel and they got stuck in the traffic (as I did too, on the way to my family's house in Vermont). Well, apparently my friend wrote a short story/memoir kind of thing about it and someone saw it and showed it to a woman who was writing a book about Woodstock, what with the 40th anniversary and all, and one thing led to another and now he's having his fifteen or so minutes of odd fame. I say "odd" because (a) he doesn't remember it because (b) he wasn't actually there and (c) he was only 7 and anyway (d) his father hated "those annoying hippies."

An amusing/cynical side note is that the book is entitled "Woodstock Revisited: 50 Far Out, Groovy, Peace-Loving, Flashback-Inducing Stories from Those Who Were There" and is therefore an example of how untrustworthy titles and perhaps reporting in general are since we have personal knowledge of one of the 50 eponymous people not being there. But I'm happy my friend is getting time in the limelight - he's a really nice guy - and he does know what he's doing and he's having a blast with it. He's being interviewed by newspapers and was taped for appearances on NY1 as well as some stuff on WLIW.

Oh, AND he thought Darien Library was awesome - as indeed it is - and was delighted that I know and like it too.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Bing
posted at 8:47 AM | Permalink | 2 comment(s)
Have you tried Bing, Microsoft's new search tool? Its purportedly superior accuracy and usefulness remain to be seen but I like it at first glance and use. Other considerations aside, its daily photos are lovely, complete with descriptions (little button on the lower right) and factoids (hover over different parts of the photos) and the ability to look back at previous days' pictures (arrows on lower right). I'm not sure what's technologically or substantively different from Google or other search engines, or at least the differences are not immediately apparent, but it's a nice new toy on the shelf.

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Sunday, January 4, 2009
Crows
posted at 12:17 PM | Permalink | 0 comment(s)
Yesterday morning (January 3rd) I was awakened around 5:30 by the loudest cackling and screeching crows I've ever heard except in wide-open country fields. I have no indea what happened or what was going on but it wasn't just that it was dawn on account of there's a dawn every day. I suppose they might have been celebrating New Year's a couple of days late (ha ha). I read more about them here and here and here and learned tons of interesting things but haven't figured yesterday's early morning rabble-rousing out yet.

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