( culture / people ) The problem with the world is that truly stupid people -- with access and control over critical information -- are the ones running things.
You don't have to be particularly intelligent to rule. In fact, it probably gets in the way. You simply need control of key infrastructure and information, t... read more
( culture / religion / people ) title tweaked to avoid offending the too-easily offended
...a Jew is, by definition of 3,000 years, only a person born to a Jewish mother or converted to Judaism according to normative Judaic law... -- Dov Fischer, here ... read more
( education / research / people ) "A robust character hinges on eight core virtues: courage, moderation, wisdom, justice, curiosity, honor, humility, and humor. These virtues will all be needed to navigate the four stages of transformation."
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( culture / people / politics / freedom ) Remember that old bumper sticker, "QUESTION AUTHORITY"? Well, there has NEVER been a better time than NOW for that frame of mind. These past two years it has been "AUTHORITIES" and "EXPERTS" versus FREEDOM OF CHOICE and COMMON SENSE. THE GROUP versus THE INDIVIDUAL. ... read more
( culture / quotes / people ) "The ascendancy of crowds indicates the death throes of a civilisation. Crowds are only useful for destruction." -- by Gustave Le Bon in The Psychology of Crowds... read more
( culture / quotes / tech / people ) "Unlike Skynet, which gained self-awareness, Silicon Valley is full of people who seem to have no self-awareness at all." -- Vince Coyner, here ... read more
( culture / people / money ) "A struggling fisherman from an impoverished village in Thailand's Nakhon Si Thammarat province made an incredible discovery on the beach. 37-year old Hatchai Niyomdecha happened to be walking along the..." ... read more
( education / research / people / covid ) "A friend of mine is a general practitioner and her husband works in a bank. She, of course, tells him all about the virus and that some measures, such as the mouth mask, do not make sense. Yet, he walks around all day with a mouth mask that doesn't work and he doesn't believe his wife. How i ... read more
( culture / people / religion ) "The ruling comes after the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn sued the Democratic governor of New York over his executive actions restricting church attendance earlier this month. In their 5-4 decision, the majority struck down the regulations since they cannot be viewed as neutral becaus... read more
( education / research / people ) "About 2 million people take it annually, at the behest of corporate HR departments, colleges, and even government agencies. The company that produces and markets the test makes around $20 million off it each year. The only problem? The test is completely meaningless." Go to vox.com/2014 ... read more
( education / research / people ) via "Are Redheads Aliens? Strange Facts About Redheads"I am a redhead myself (never liked the term ginger in this context, but that's a personal problem). Anyway, I found this interesting."It takes more anesthesia to knock us outHigher resistance to pain blockersThe individual hairs ... read more
( culture / people ) Politicians are more likely than people in the general population to be sociopaths. I think you would find no expert in the field of sociopathy/ psychopathy/ antisocial personality disorder who would dispute that a small minority of human beings literally have no conscience -- but it does explain... read more
( culture / quotes / people ) "People try to do all sorts of clever and difficult things to improve life instead of doing the simplest, easiest thing -- refusing to participate in activities that make life bad." -- Leo Tolstoy
NEW! Random samples of dialogue from my novels!... read more
( culture / people ) Israeli virologist urges world leaders to calm public, slams unnecessary panic. "'People think this virus is going to attack them all, and then they're all going to die,' says Prof. Jihad Bishara. 'Not at all. In fact, most of those infected won't even know it.'" Go to timesofisrael.com... read more
( culture / people ) I've been in middle Tennessee the past 25 years, grew up in northern California, spent most of my 20s in L.A., but according to this site I should move to New England. They say..."You would fit in well in New England due to your no-nonsense personality and preservation of tradition. New Englan... read more
( education / research / people ) Copied from somewhere, maybe one of these. And on this site, as well, at consciousnessYou start with a cage containing four monkeys, and inside the cage you hang a banana on a string, and then you place a set of stairs under the banana. Before long a monkey will go to the stairs and climb toward ... read more
( culture / people / internet ) The Friends of Humanity website. Don't know anything about it, but like the sound of it. :) "Friends of Humanity is active in the defense of human rights, education, health care, and environmental protection. Our projects are currently underway in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America."Th... read more
( education / research / people ) FYI, below. I wanted to educate myself, anyway, and thought I might as well share what I found: zero-tolerance...recent research indicates a negative relationship between the use of school suspension and expulsion and schoolwide academic achievement, even when controlling for demo... read more
( culture / people ) It was horrible! I was at Walmart again, but that's not the worst part. There was a teenage/early-20's girl with boobs out to here, wearing the most form-fitting outfit you ever saw. I tried to ignore her because she REALLY wanted to be looked at, and I always try to disappoint people like that. Eve... read more
( culture / people ) From somewhere on the Internet ...Name the five wealthiest people in the world.Name the last five Heisman Trophy winners.Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor or ac... read more
( culture / people / internet ) If you were on a deserted island with an Internet connection and a pug, but could only access ONE website, which site would it be?(BTW, the pug is irrelevant, I just like pugs!)Facebook - 3 votesGoogle - 2 votesKindle - 1 votesTwitter - 1 votesYour webmail - 1 votesOther - 1 votesPinterest - 0 votes... read more
( culture / people / advice / crime ) If you're ever unlawfully detained, this might be good to know:escape from zip ties - rearescape - front... read more
( culture / people ) Great article. Greed is Not a Virtue, by David Korten - Agenda for a New Economy."By capitalism's perverse moral logic, if a person sells toxic assets by knowingly misrepresenting them as sound, the fault lies not with the misrepresentation of the seller, but rather with the... read more
( culture / people / confrontation ) I had a run-in yesterday with the neighbor formerly known as ahole motorcycle guy. I had just gotten back from a customer's office when I get a knock on the door. It's motorcycle guy saying Can we talk a minute? I know you've got a problem with me. About a year ago I had gotten in his face a... read more
( life / money / employment / people ) First time I've ever seen this. Filling out an online job application, the EEOC stuff at the bottom gave me a choice of: MaleFemaleGender UnknownDecline to Answer I can understand sexually confused, but gender unknown? Really?... read more