Uncertainty

Posted by: Mike
We humans are driven or motivated by a number of internal drives.  For most of us in comfortable middle-class America, we are not aware of needs for shelter and coverings, but of course we are aware of our need for food or nourishment.  We also have needs for recognition by others, needs for [...]

Flotsam and Jetsam

Posted by: Mike
So– just to clarify, flotsam is wreckage of a ship or boat that is found floating or washed up on the shore, and jetsam is unwanted material that has been thrown overboard.  Jetsam is a contraction of jettison, and flotsam is from Anglo-Norman French, from “floter,” to float.  Although they result from two [...]

Holiday Hooey

What if people really told the truth in those holiday letters?  How about having them do a stream of consciousness that really reflects the events of the past year?  Let’s face it.  Life has its downs as well as its ups.  Some of these letters are so full of wonderful “accomplishments” of the writer’s family [...]

Time Warp

Of course it’s not new with me, but have you ever thought that the experience of time might be (let’s say is) quite different for nonhumans.  How about an insect?  Or an elephant.  Or that Carolina wren that moves so fast among the shrubs that it’s mental processing and physical responsiveness is many times faster [...]

Subjective/objective

You find not infrequently in writings references to “objective” or “subjective.”  Most of us likely think that we know what these terms are all about.  But I wonder?  It seems to me that what is really objective are things that we can see and touch (I understand the problems inherent in perception; but let’s not [...]

A New Day

It is a new day!  The 22 of December.  Noteworthy as the day the sun is beginning its return to the Northern hemisphere.  Granted that it’s just beginning; but we need to recognize that beginnings are necessary for any kind of change to take place.  So let’s rejoice in this beginning. Parenthetically, -I’ve sought out ways [...]