The rain has just barely started here. We had a shower, but much more is promised. It's about time. We've been high and dry since mid-December.
I feel sorry for anyone in California who might be in the path of a mudslide. Those are destructive and can be very deadly, but it's nothing new there. When I went to the Descanso Gardens in La Canada as a student, there were concrete barriers around several trees to isolate them from the mud which had flowed around them during an ash and mudslide following some fire and subsequent flooding from the foothills. That was in the late 1950s.
My great uncle also recounted serious mountain flooding that had destroyed cabins for some of his friends. So this is nothing new or out of the ordinary. It isn't some sudden judgement by some imaginary god, but I know some fanatics who will try to make it such. I was reading some of their blatherings earlier today.
We dig up bones of ancient creatures who got caught in similar events millions of years ago. This is a turbulent planet that is very geologically active and also very meteorologically active. Today, we know about any such happenstances almost immediately no matter where they occur and that leads people to believe each disaster is unprecedented. Not really. I think weather patterns are evolving as the planet heats up, but disasters are not some new phenomenon.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
HATE IS HATE!
(From Facebook.)
I'm headed out to do a small cleaning job that came in this morning, but before I do, I just have to get something off my chest.
That being the idea that people who sponsored that hateful bill in Arizona were really not hate filled.
OH, YES THEY WERE!
It's the same attitude that led people throughout most of the USA to treat black people like the offscouring of the earth when I was a kid. They couldn't go into most restaurants, stay in decent motels and hotels when they traveled, couldn't use the same restrooms or water fountains, etc. -- on top of more and more heinous etceteras.
I was a kid in the late 1940s and my aunt had married a Texan veteran and returned with him to North Dakota. He and my father were walking down a street in Steele, North Dakota one day when a rare black man came along. Dad moved over and let the man pass on the sidewalk. My then uncle asked, "Why did you do that? He'll start thinking he's just as good as you!" He would have made him get off the sidewalk!
To claim that serving someone whose lifestyle you don't approve of is a violation of your religious liberty is just as heinous an attitude. If you don't believe in being homosexual, that's your business. Nobody is going to try to force you to cohabit with them. Refusing to treat them like an equal human being is pure hate, and once it starts, the end can be horrendous.
OK, I said it, and now I'm off.
I'm headed out to do a small cleaning job that came in this morning, but before I do, I just have to get something off my chest.
That being the idea that people who sponsored that hateful bill in Arizona were really not hate filled.
OH, YES THEY WERE!
It's the same attitude that led people throughout most of the USA to treat black people like the offscouring of the earth when I was a kid. They couldn't go into most restaurants, stay in decent motels and hotels when they traveled, couldn't use the same restrooms or water fountains, etc. -- on top of more and more heinous etceteras.
I was a kid in the late 1940s and my aunt had married a Texan veteran and returned with him to North Dakota. He and my father were walking down a street in Steele, North Dakota one day when a rare black man came along. Dad moved over and let the man pass on the sidewalk. My then uncle asked, "Why did you do that? He'll start thinking he's just as good as you!" He would have made him get off the sidewalk!
To claim that serving someone whose lifestyle you don't approve of is a violation of your religious liberty is just as heinous an attitude. If you don't believe in being homosexual, that's your business. Nobody is going to try to force you to cohabit with them. Refusing to treat them like an equal human being is pure hate, and once it starts, the end can be horrendous.
OK, I said it, and now I'm off.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
REFLECTIONS
(From Facebook.)
Yeah, what is on my mind tonight? So many things it's hard to choose between them.
I just know that I feel that need to write again. It's the same urge that led our species to gather together into clans, villages, cities and nations. We need that pack-like atmosphere, whether around a village firepit, the local bar, a family dinner table, a club, church or lodge, etc. or, now, on twitter and the internet.
I was miserable stranded out there on that ranch as a kid. The only respite was from the work involved and the occasional trip to town or a rare visit by someone, usually many years my senior. I was socially backward and so damn lonely and frustrated. The hormones were driving me toward finding a mate, but the prospects weren't very good or encouraging.
My escape came through the cult that monopolized about two decades of my life. I have mixed feelings about that, but it did get me out of a totally nowhere place and made possible my eventual development.
Ambassador College was a rather poor excuse for a reputable institution of higher learning with theocaratic authoritarianism, superstition and mythology permeating everything, but it did extricate me from a social blackhole and give me the opportunity to develop my talents in communication. Some who know me now would be shocked to see me as I was in my late teens. Getting away from that limiting atmosphere was my salvation, much as I despise the connotations of that word.
As I've said before, I've lived many lives in this one life and each has had its part in making me who I am today. I doubt anyone is totally satisfied with everything that has transpired in their individual life. The variables and happenstances, Ill thought out decisions, etc. are inescapable. Everyone experiences a great variety, and as the years pile up, about the best we can conclude is that it was one hell of a ride!
Overall, I'm content. Regrets are few. Like that farmous tombstone said about another struggling human: Ive done my damnedest!
Yeah, what is on my mind tonight? So many things it's hard to choose between them.
I just know that I feel that need to write again. It's the same urge that led our species to gather together into clans, villages, cities and nations. We need that pack-like atmosphere, whether around a village firepit, the local bar, a family dinner table, a club, church or lodge, etc. or, now, on twitter and the internet.
I was miserable stranded out there on that ranch as a kid. The only respite was from the work involved and the occasional trip to town or a rare visit by someone, usually many years my senior. I was socially backward and so damn lonely and frustrated. The hormones were driving me toward finding a mate, but the prospects weren't very good or encouraging.
My escape came through the cult that monopolized about two decades of my life. I have mixed feelings about that, but it did get me out of a totally nowhere place and made possible my eventual development.
Ambassador College was a rather poor excuse for a reputable institution of higher learning with theocaratic authoritarianism, superstition and mythology permeating everything, but it did extricate me from a social blackhole and give me the opportunity to develop my talents in communication. Some who know me now would be shocked to see me as I was in my late teens. Getting away from that limiting atmosphere was my salvation, much as I despise the connotations of that word.
As I've said before, I've lived many lives in this one life and each has had its part in making me who I am today. I doubt anyone is totally satisfied with everything that has transpired in their individual life. The variables and happenstances, Ill thought out decisions, etc. are inescapable. Everyone experiences a great variety, and as the years pile up, about the best we can conclude is that it was one hell of a ride!
Overall, I'm content. Regrets are few. Like that farmous tombstone said about another struggling human: Ive done my damnedest!
Saturday, February 22, 2014
A BUSINESS DISASTER
The man I worked for yesterday recomended a new mexican restaurant here in Cottonwood and said it was the best he's ever found. Today, we went to try it out and found it closed with a sign on the door saying it was under lien for unpaid rent.
A year or so ago, it was a good Irish-style restaurant, but they apparently went under and this new enterprise decided to take over a pretty much made to order location.
As I understand, the owner has had a successful place in Jerome for some time and had expanded to another here in Cottonwood.
This just drove home to me again how hard it is to succeed in many businesses, especially if you try to branch out prematurely and inadvisedly and why I always avoided like the plague any business that required huge investments in things like rent, business licences and permits, etc., etc.
As soon as you open any kind of storefront business, scores of money sucking leeches are going to descend on you with their demand-hand out. They care not a damn whether you make it or not, they want their cut, and they want it right now.
I've survived for nearly four decades keeping a low profile and working a service-type business out of my home with minimum phone and advertising expense and studiously keeping my ambitions in balance with reality. It's the only way to go if you don't have significant capital and the ability to bring in the crowds with mass advertising. Even then, I had to be very careful.
I'm saddened that a local undertaking didn't make it and I hope that the original site in Jerome manages to survive what has to be a devastating setback.
A year or so ago, it was a good Irish-style restaurant, but they apparently went under and this new enterprise decided to take over a pretty much made to order location.
As I understand, the owner has had a successful place in Jerome for some time and had expanded to another here in Cottonwood.
This just drove home to me again how hard it is to succeed in many businesses, especially if you try to branch out prematurely and inadvisedly and why I always avoided like the plague any business that required huge investments in things like rent, business licences and permits, etc., etc.
As soon as you open any kind of storefront business, scores of money sucking leeches are going to descend on you with their demand-hand out. They care not a damn whether you make it or not, they want their cut, and they want it right now.
I've survived for nearly four decades keeping a low profile and working a service-type business out of my home with minimum phone and advertising expense and studiously keeping my ambitions in balance with reality. It's the only way to go if you don't have significant capital and the ability to bring in the crowds with mass advertising. Even then, I had to be very careful.
I'm saddened that a local undertaking didn't make it and I hope that the original site in Jerome manages to survive what has to be a devastating setback.
Friday, February 21, 2014
ACTIVIST FIRST, LAST, ALWAYS!
I had a good cleaning job today and enjoyed it very much. My customer was a middle-aged colored man who has a successful dog training business that takes him many places because I assume he's an expert at what he does, just as I am at what I do.
He was surprised to find out I was an atheist, which sparked some conversation and my gifting him with a copy of my book. He wants to write a book on dog training, and if he continues with the project, I may be able to help him with some editing, etc. I'm prepared to make it reasonable enough for him to afford it because I love doing that sort of thing. I hope he looks into my blog and reads some of the pointed articles I've published over the years.
No longer do I hold back on stating my beliefs. That only gives the opposition control of the conversation so they can keep people ignorant and docile. As I pointedly explained to him, he's christian because his ancestors were brutally shanghaied and brought into this culture by force. Even his surname is English, not african. The same is true of my Yavapai Apache adopted step-son whose baptist baptism we attended just to show love and respect. What's a native american have to do with an imported Jewish messiah whose followers almost exterminated his ancestral people?
I'm an activist at heart. I'll always be so.
He was surprised to find out I was an atheist, which sparked some conversation and my gifting him with a copy of my book. He wants to write a book on dog training, and if he continues with the project, I may be able to help him with some editing, etc. I'm prepared to make it reasonable enough for him to afford it because I love doing that sort of thing. I hope he looks into my blog and reads some of the pointed articles I've published over the years.
No longer do I hold back on stating my beliefs. That only gives the opposition control of the conversation so they can keep people ignorant and docile. As I pointedly explained to him, he's christian because his ancestors were brutally shanghaied and brought into this culture by force. Even his surname is English, not african. The same is true of my Yavapai Apache adopted step-son whose baptist baptism we attended just to show love and respect. What's a native american have to do with an imported Jewish messiah whose followers almost exterminated his ancestral people?
I'm an activist at heart. I'll always be so.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
DO NO HARM
What's with this human tendency to want evertything spelled out for them, for hard and fast rules for everything. History shows us that approach leads to regimentation and recurring rounds of tyranny of one form or another.
Religions just love rules and judgments and whole books of the bible are devoted to lists of them. They weren't definitive enough, so the Jews invented a talmud to make it even more intrusive and hard to live by.
I agree that love is the most important guiding principle, but I think the principle doctors try to live by is the best overall -- do no harm.
You don't have to memorize endless lists to put that into practice. All one has to do is ask: Will this hurt or diminish the happiness and well-being of anyone or anything?
If it will, just don't do it!
Religions just love rules and judgments and whole books of the bible are devoted to lists of them. They weren't definitive enough, so the Jews invented a talmud to make it even more intrusive and hard to live by.
I agree that love is the most important guiding principle, but I think the principle doctors try to live by is the best overall -- do no harm.
You don't have to memorize endless lists to put that into practice. All one has to do is ask: Will this hurt or diminish the happiness and well-being of anyone or anything?
If it will, just don't do it!
A PARENT'S ETERNAL QUESTION
(From Facebook.)
Robert Reich, a man I deeply admire and respect, posted this this morning:
"Saying goodbye to my father felt especially poignant this time. He’d been looking forward to his 100th birthday party, wondering for years if he'd actually make it. The party was a big success: The entire family turned up, many old friends, even his doctor. And Dad danced -- not just once but several times, each time with a big grin on his face. But leaving him last night was especially hard. “When will I see you next?” he asked, puzzled and sad. “Soon!” I said. “But the party’s over,” he said, in a way that seemed far too definitive. I’m thankful we had a chance to celebrate his life when he could still be part of the celebration."
Now in my eightieth year, I know what was behind his father's question and his statement that the party was over. He realizes, as do I, that time is limited and the future is oh so tenuous.
I didn't get to see my own father and mother anywhere near enough in their final years, as the inevitable end crept nearer and nearer. Those were pre-internet and pre-Facebook years. Things are quite different now, and getting even more so with the passage of time.
My children tell me how much they enjoy what I write about what I'm thinking and doing. Time, distance and financial constraints limit face to face interaction, but I can still keep them and others who may be interested up-to-date with much of what transpires in my daily life, and they can do the same. It isn't quite the same as face-to-face, but it's certainly better than what used to be.
Robert will soon be in the same position as his father. It's inevitable, and it"s bittersweet. There's no escaping reality.
Robert Reich, a man I deeply admire and respect, posted this this morning:
"Saying goodbye to my father felt especially poignant this time. He’d been looking forward to his 100th birthday party, wondering for years if he'd actually make it. The party was a big success: The entire family turned up, many old friends, even his doctor. And Dad danced -- not just once but several times, each time with a big grin on his face. But leaving him last night was especially hard. “When will I see you next?” he asked, puzzled and sad. “Soon!” I said. “But the party’s over,” he said, in a way that seemed far too definitive. I’m thankful we had a chance to celebrate his life when he could still be part of the celebration."
Now in my eightieth year, I know what was behind his father's question and his statement that the party was over. He realizes, as do I, that time is limited and the future is oh so tenuous.
I didn't get to see my own father and mother anywhere near enough in their final years, as the inevitable end crept nearer and nearer. Those were pre-internet and pre-Facebook years. Things are quite different now, and getting even more so with the passage of time.
My children tell me how much they enjoy what I write about what I'm thinking and doing. Time, distance and financial constraints limit face to face interaction, but I can still keep them and others who may be interested up-to-date with much of what transpires in my daily life, and they can do the same. It isn't quite the same as face-to-face, but it's certainly better than what used to be.
Robert will soon be in the same position as his father. It's inevitable, and it"s bittersweet. There's no escaping reality.
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