jonolan on From The Other Perspective: “Yeah, it's from XKCD. I love their stuff” May 10, 09:37
on From The Other Perspective: “That cartoon (is it XKCD?) is the mot compelling argument I've seen or read yet for social distancing.” May 10, 09:32
on On The Bright Side: “They will be fed. The people are going outside in a big way as the states slowly open up.” May 4, 08:28 on Boing!: “You're welcome and I'm pretty sure she normally wears "construction grade" support. I hope so, at least.” Apr 27, 09:02 on Boing!: “Hahahaha, that video is ludicrous. Thanks for the chuckle, jonolan. I hope she wears a good back brace.” Apr 27, 08:00
2015 In Review
On this, the last day of 2015 to look back on this year is not pleasant but it is easy to sum up – “Aaaaaargh!” sums up 2015 quite aptly. What, however, is much worse is the fact that 2016 doesn’t look like it will be any better. Indeed, if things continue along the fatal sequence of the current entropic curve, it may well be far worse.
Tags: 2015 | 2016 | Degeneration | Dissolution | Entropy | New Years | Time
The winds of time change and with them change the winds of societies and religions or, at least, the hearts and minds of the adherents to religions. When dealing with them, one needs to check the weathervane for their current conditions.
Jihadism Is Islam’s Weathervane
Well the winds of Islam are blowing strongly straight towards the barbarism and feral savagery they wallowed in during the first century of its unfortunate existence.
Yes, it’s quite true that we could look back many centuries and find a time when the Muslim World was arguably the center of philosophical and scientific thought, a time when Muslims should more humanity and tolerance than Christendom did, especially when it came to either free thought or the Jews. Likewise, it is equally true that, if one looks back many centuries, one can find a time when Christendom was horrifically intolerant and prone to persecuting people.
Yet both the golden age of Islam and the dark age of Christianity are long buried in annals of history. We, the living must deal with the winds of today and today the winds of Islam are ill winds indeed.
Tags: Change | Christendom | Christianity | Christians | History | Islam | Islamists | Jihad | Muslims | Terrorism | Terrorists | Time | Vermin
David And Nichelle Are Still Looking Good
Time passes and with it pass those who were dear to each of us, so it’s good to see that some old associates are still looking good. Better in its own odd way, though David, Nichelle, and I haven’t had any interactions for close to 30 year, my wives now work closely with them on a regular basis and they’re all friends.
Tags: Aging | David Gerrold | Life | Nichelle Nichols | Sci-Fi | Science Fiction | Society | Star Trek | Time | TV
Some days, and many more nights, it strikes me odd how we humans make arbitrary divisions of time. We as a species compartmentalize time into a plethora of units that have no bearing upon anything but how we perceive time and level set our goals.
This has no bearing upon the greater reality but seems essential the working of the human mind.
A more fluid and/or holistic view of time actually seems detrimental to our happiness and sanity. Without these goal points in time that we’ve created we seem to descend into depression, frustration, and madness in fairly short order.
This strikes me as both odd and counter-survival oriented. It does seem to be the way we’re built though.
Tags: Musings | Psychology | Society | Time
Both as individuals and as societies we seem very concerned with ourselves and our importance. Each crisis is of horrific magnitude because it impacts us and the world we’ve created with our perceptions and imagining to surround us.
At times it is beneficial to be given a reminder – hopefully a gentle one – that much of this is illusory, and what isn’t, is likely transitory. The universe will continue its stately precession to oblivion long after we and everyone we ever loved or hated has long since died and been forgotten.
While humbling, this should also be a source of comfort for us. True, all of our efforts will eventually come to naught and be erased from the fabric of the universe by the erosion of time. Yet, so too will the effects of the efforts of our enemies and the consequences of our failures fade away, leaving not a trace of themselves upon the universe.
Tags: Death | Life | Mortality | Musings | Philosphy | Society | Time
Reflections From A Murky Pond by jonolan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License
