This is a great idea, I may have to get a smartphone. I will feel much better about the ability to be true to my ideals, which will brighten my day even if there is a ’tilting at windmills’ aspect to the concept. In the event enough people join in to be noticed, it will be icing on the cake. We need an identifier for companies that have contributed money to the NRA – I’m not buying their products. I’m sure you can come up with others.
I tore this out of the NY Times on the weekend and now here it is in digital form. Who is going to miss 7 minutes? We should all be doing this before brushing our teeth morning and night (I read somewhere that exercise before bed helps achieve uninterrupted sleep).
This is a wonderful way to employ visual learning of concepts that a lot of students block out. If teachers used GIFs like this as aids in the classroom, I’ll bet average SAT scores would rise noticeably. Not to mention that the average person wouldn’t be as ignorant of basic math concepts as they are currently – to the detriment of us all – and we’d have less bad policy from all levels of government.
Good writing is where you find it. Here is a stirring piece from the Boston Globe.
Initially, the whole bombing fiasco was a difficult thing for me to process. The two brothers were such amateurs that it seemed like a too-easy, snap judgement to label them as evil, callous destroyers of the lives of so many people.
Then I read an account like this one, with the third picture showing the 19-year-old brother placing the backpack bomb right next to young children, and am enraged. Believe me, every parent who looks at that photo now wants the death penalty. It is too easy to think of innumerable times when one’s own family was similarly vulnerable.
Here is another galling angle to the story. It is going to lend more volume, fear mongering, and illogic to the arguments of the anti-immigration bozos and potentially hurt millions of innocent, needy people who are desperate for a helping hand.
There are always going to be outliers with anarchist-like impulses and a society cannot let itself be overly swayed by their actions. We have already done that to some extent with various ‘security measures’ following 9/11 and the ridiculous shoe bomber. My fear is that we become gradually inured to encroachments on our freedoms and passively accept, say, thousands of tiny drones in the sky, so small as to be invisible, that are capable of monitoring anyone’s movements and conversations. When it comes to a guiding philosophy, I’m from New Hampshire.
This article summarizes three different studies of large groups of people over many decades. It is full of good advice; some fairly obvious, some not so much. For instance, maintaining strong social relationships over decades is a better predictor of long-term health than is exercising diligently. In addition, the three-point formula for happiness, according to people who are well into retirement and have the benefit of long, reflective hindsight, is (a) don’t stay in a job you hate, (b) be a conscientious and caring person, and (c) follow the Golden Rule as best you can.
It is good food for thought and worth re-reading now and then.
I am in full agreement with this article. Diamonds have only modest intrinsic value and are not rare or precious in any real sense. If your girlfriend/wife (or you) likes shiny, sparkly jewelry go with cubic zirconium. It is reasonably priced and will hold its value loads better than any store bought diamond. Think for yourself. Don’t be scammed.
