If you have read Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, you know the novel is long, and the author goes off on numerous tangents. These can be engaging, depending on the reader’s personality. None of them make it into the movies. One side story is how the evil innkeeper, Thénardier, had previously been at Waterloo with … Read more
People come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. And with widely varying music tastes. I’m a boomer, so Taylor Swift doesn’t do much for me. Yet, that might not be the only reason, O Reader, that you may avert your eyes or click away from this post. I will try to keep you here a … Read more
If you have ever felt that previous times were pretty good, maybe great, you might long for them with a sigh and mention the good ole days. Probably many of us have no such experience unless we want to include the least bad days. But you’d be short-sighted to feel deserving of pity. No matter … Read more
A glaring human failing underlies two seemingly unrelated global problems: planetary degradation and war. We cannot unite as a human family enough to change either threat. Easier of the two, environmental degradation might have a built-in fail-safe mechanism: humans cannot sustainably live off the land. They will kill themselves before recovery goes beyond a tipping … Read more
I am nirtog. In this reflection, I give blog readers a sense of my spiritual point of view. Even regarding ourselves, we must admit to a limited ability to assess comprehensively what we think and why, but we probably have the best chance of anybody. I claim to have aesthetic sensibility within a science and … Read more
(Originally written 20 Nov 2022) The poem takes a lot of concentration for me in order to try and ascertain its meaning. I think I got most of it without your commentary, but was ultimately frustrated by the phrase temporal reversion. Your commentary helped clear up or confirm my understanding of that phrase as well … Read more
This poetry by T.S. Eliot may be just the antidote we need for dealing with the crazy, mixed-up world in which we find ourselves. So many people seem incapable of using the most rudimentary thinking tools to sort out what might be true from what is unlikely. And many professed Christians seem content to ignore … Read more