The title to this blog-post comes from "60's folk song" of sorts. I remember the lyric particle because I once sang it in a club in Rome -- oh so many years ago. The second line is "with a dollar in my hand; and an achin' in my heart." That's all I care to remember though I do actually know the chord progressions on a guitar -- should I ever need to use them again.
It's raining here in Savannah: all day, all dark!!! Like a tropical paradise without the "paradise" part.
My RSS feed from the Hurricane Center says the "season" may be nearly over for 2015 --- El Nino has apparently killed the Atlantic Hurricane season. Always good news for us homeowners!
I am listening to "informative speeches" today (and tonight during the Republican "debate(s)"). And that's my day -- as I see it at this early hour.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
In the Mind of God
Human beings have "free will" -- if we are to believe what Thomas Aquinas told us, and Plato, and others. We can decide of our own "bat" how to act, what to do, what is right or wrong, what is moral.
And the world can only laugh -- or cry. Because we are "free." "Condemned to be free" if you believe what the existentialists tell us. Because there are "right pathways" but in one sense every choice is "wrong" and none of them leads to perfection. We are "condemned to be free" because we will make "wrong decisions." But if there is no "pure objective arbiter" of right or wrong -- we are, in another sense, always "right." So, we are always right -- and always wrong. And totally free -- and yet chained to mistakes. And so it goes.
And the world can only laugh -- or cry. Because we are "free." "Condemned to be free" if you believe what the existentialists tell us. Because there are "right pathways" but in one sense every choice is "wrong" and none of them leads to perfection. We are "condemned to be free" because we will make "wrong decisions." But if there is no "pure objective arbiter" of right or wrong -- we are, in another sense, always "right." So, we are always right -- and always wrong. And totally free -- and yet chained to mistakes. And so it goes.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Levels of Confidence
Students are sooooo strange. Some are confident (without any knowledge); and others are knowledgeable (without any confidence).
I have dealt with both types -- and in extreme situations. It's easier to build up someone's confidence than it is to build up their knowledge. With adding knowledge -- inspiration and desire becomes the big possibility. Students have to want to know -- and enjoy knowing -- to do the work necessary to actually know.
I have dealt with both types -- and in extreme situations. It's easier to build up someone's confidence than it is to build up their knowledge. With adding knowledge -- inspiration and desire becomes the big possibility. Students have to want to know -- and enjoy knowing -- to do the work necessary to actually know.
So Tired of American Football
Talk about a short love affair! I am now officially "tired of American Football": concussions, DraftKings, Fantasy Football, hyper-advertizing, pre-game nonsense shows put on before other pre-game nonsense shows, sports analytics, experts, pseudo-experts, former players posing as experts,
injuries, premature deaths, the sport actually "dying" in from of us, too many games, too many games on too many nights, "aging" (at 39, at 33, at whatever age) quarterbacks, "aging" running backs, too-clever coaches, ridiculous network money chasing a sport cloned by Madison Avenue ---- !!!
I'm ready for a hiatus from football! It will be the same after the first week of "over-hyped" college basketball in November! Yikes.
injuries, premature deaths, the sport actually "dying" in from of us, too many games, too many games on too many nights, "aging" (at 39, at 33, at whatever age) quarterbacks, "aging" running backs, too-clever coaches, ridiculous network money chasing a sport cloned by Madison Avenue ---- !!!
I'm ready for a hiatus from football! It will be the same after the first week of "over-hyped" college basketball in November! Yikes.
Friday, September 11, 2015
9/11 Rue the Day, Jihadists!
Would we, as Americans, fight to the death to preserve our freedoms -- our uniqueness -- our opportunities -- our laws -- our culture -- our diversity -- our tolerance -- our oddball celebrities -- our damnable refusal to change -- our productivity -- our creativity -- our compassion -- our future?
I hope to hell we would.
I hope to hell we would.
Silly Women; Silly Girls
The twitter generation basks in its own self-delusion. They talk about their innermost feelings and desires (on on public medium), and think that "only their friends on twitter" are listening.
Anyone can "listen"; anyone can overhear; anyone can gauge the depth and/or reality of one's remarks.
And in the future -- employers will see those strange conversational threads about "f___boys" and gratuitous "d__k" and wonder where all the civility and normalcy of the world went. It's one thing to complain about things, or long for things, or desire things -- it's another matter entirely when on coarsens the conversation by blurting out all the "street" and "bar" language one knows. Life is not, I repeat, not, high school.
Anyone can "listen"; anyone can overhear; anyone can gauge the depth and/or reality of one's remarks.
And in the future -- employers will see those strange conversational threads about "f___boys" and gratuitous "d__k" and wonder where all the civility and normalcy of the world went. It's one thing to complain about things, or long for things, or desire things -- it's another matter entirely when on coarsens the conversation by blurting out all the "street" and "bar" language one knows. Life is not, I repeat, not, high school.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
NFL Football 2015 Begins Today
Well, today being Thursday marks the opening of the 2015 NFL Season with New England playing Pittsburgh. It's called the "Sunday Night Game" because it's on NBC (which produces Sunday Night Football), a late imitator of the popular "Monday Night Football" which broke free from the typical Sunday afternoon schedule to give us "Monday Night Football" on Mondays (and Thursdays, of course) --- got all that.
Only in American would games be called not on their actual play dates but on their intended corporate communication mogul dates! Nonetheless I will be watching, until I get sleepy and fall asleep (my typical response to "late games" that often go on past midnight). It is the season after all.
Only in American would games be called not on their actual play dates but on their intended corporate communication mogul dates! Nonetheless I will be watching, until I get sleepy and fall asleep (my typical response to "late games" that often go on past midnight). It is the season after all.
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