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A penny for your thoughts

A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

The idiom “a penny for your thoughts” can be traced back to Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) who first mentioned it in “The Four Last Things,” an unfinished work written circa 1535 and published after his death:   Thomas More, a devout Catholic who resisted the Protestant Reformation in England and who was eventually beheaded (and subsequently canonized), intended to imply that when a person seems lost in thought or distracted, it was fitting to offer them a penny if they would explain...

GIVING TO CAESAR WHAT IS CAESAR’S

There is a news story in the most recent issue of National Review (NR) that caught my eye. I’m sure that many of you might have seen it yourselves if not there, then elsewhere. The headline on the NR article is: “Former Kentucky Clerk Ordered to Pay $260,000 in Legal Fees after Refusing to Issue Marriage License to Same-Sex Couples.” Kim Davis was the former County Clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, and she was elected to be the clerk in...

MY ENTIRE LIFETIME IS JUST A MOMENT TO YOU

This post is NSFW and may be upsetting to some. A young woman lies dead on a road, her life taken from her without warning and without recourse. She looks young, perhaps twenty-something. I’ve seen people her age in similar circumstances. While working at a military hospital in Myrtle Beach, SC almost forty-six years ago, two women were rushed to our emergency room. A pair of dangerous men robbed a coin or stamp collector in Charleston, SC before killing him....

The look of love

THE LOOK OF LOVE

There is a seismic shift happening at the moment in the area of human relationships.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) to a greater extent and robotics to a lesser extent are starting to encroach in person-to-person relationships and warning bells are starting to go off. One recent such bell was published on The Hill, an e-journal focused on political events in Washington, D.C. and called “AI girlfriends are ruining an entire generation of men.” The company Replika has two million subscribers in various...

Oceans between us

OCEANS BETWEEN US

I like many different forms of music. I enjoy light rap, pop, easy listening, some country, some jazz and a bit of opera, even. But fundamentally, I like rock and roll; U2, the Boss, REM, Journey, Loverboy, Bryan Adams and of course, Bon Jovi. One of my favorite rock bands years ago was Survivor.  They just knew how to rock out.  This was maybe the only group where I liked every single song they did.  They had one song in particular called “Oceans”...

The Greatest RINO of all

THE GREATEST RINO OF ALL

For much of the past eight years, Donald J. Trump has claimed that his political enemies (basically any republican who disagrees with him and refuses to pay homage to him) are nothing more than RINO’s (Republicans in Name Only.) However, it should be clear that he, himself, is the greated RINO of all! Consider this: The Republican Party has been hijacked and has morphed into a personality cult focused on a six-time debtor (the term for someone who has filed...

Is Poland next? What is Putin thinking?

IS POLAND NEXT? WHAT IS PUTIN THINKING?

Poland is getting very, very nervous. They’ve never gotten along with Belarus, and now thousands of troublemaking soldiers of fortune and convicts (e.g., violent criminal offenders) that comprise the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) are arriving in Belarus within short striking distance of Polish territory. Plus, Russian President Vladimir Putin is threatening to attack Poland if hostilities break out between Poland and Belarus. So, in order to be prepared to defend its border, Poland is understandably moving forces eastward toward...

Saul's conversion. Mysticism and faith.

MYSTICISM AND FAITH

I am currently writing a post on Jesus for the sake of my Jewish friends, and I came across musician Paul Simon’s latest work and how this project was suggested to him in a dream1 he had several years ago, with bits and pieces revealed to him over the following years. After reading several interviews about his approach to producing this album “Seven Psalms,” I also read accounts from him about how he processes his work and writes his songs...

In memory of

IN MEMORY OF . . .

these noteworthy and talented Americans that we lost to COVID. The poet John Donne once wrote “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” Meditation XVII – Meditation 17. As a former hospital worker, I’ve seen people die of disease in the past (including my late wife), and it is a terrible and humbling thing to behold. For all we know, except...

Heart of Darkness

HEART OF DARKNESS

Charles Marlow is the protagonist in Conrad’s book, but Marlow might as well be Joseph Conrad, himself, as they both shared similar experiences (including passage on the Congo River.) Marlow is hired to run a rundown sternwheeler of a steamship up and down the river carrying passengers and merchandise, particularly ivory.  The Congo River begins in the highlands of Lake Tanganyika and Lake Mweru and then (at least on the maps) carves an ugly, inverted, half-moon scar before it exits at...