Strega

It’s not just the millennials, you’re right. In the UK, many people have an hours commute to work.  When the Blackberry first penetrated the business market, the ‘addiction’ was positive for me, as a business owner with clients in different countries.  Not only would my staff work a 7 hour day (I was emphatic that they only worked 7 hours in the o…[Read more]

Americans do have restrictions on what they can say in public.  The usual example given is they can’t yell, “FIRE” in a crowded movie theater.   The difference in the UK is based on what constitutes inflammatory output.  The sad thing is that the original protection of ‘free speech’ in the USA was directed at enabling the people to speak out agai…[Read more]

On reflection, I think it’s kind of disgusting that the term “casting couch” even exists, and not only that, but that everyone knew what it meant. It was perceived as acceptable. Yes times have changed, and for the good.  I’m sorry that Morgan Freeman was outed for this kind of bad behavior.  I used to like him in films. But in the end, I don’t t…[Read more]

Kids aren’t taught to lose, any more. Everyone wins. Competitions do not have losers. Everyone gets a medal.  This sort of philosophy denies the kids the lessons they need in life, where failure exists and coping with a failure defines your ability to exist in society.

@unseen I find it slightly amusing that you think women broadly are discussing men who go their own way.  I have a reasonable presence on social media, and I’d never come across the abbreviation MGTOW, nor any women who feel they can’t find a man because of a group tendency called this.

Oddly, I have come across the term ‘incels’ a fair bit.  Thi…[Read more]

Of course, Simon, SOMETIMES an explanation is necessary.  However, most of the time it’s optional. Trying not to do stuff automatically is quite hard.  I’m getting there slowly. Try it out. Try not giving an explanation (unless you’re talking to a police officer, etc).

@danielw I like those.  I’m not very good with rules, so I haven’t compiled a list, but I do have personal projects.  I learned to not get irritated by anyone.  That took a few years, but I’m pretty good compared to how I used to be.

My mum had a favorite mantra.  Never complain, never explain.  I’m working with this one at present.  It’s harder…[Read more]

So basically, ‘evil’ is a concept of what the worst of the worst would be, if it were a ‘thing’.  Got it.

John Oliver did a segment on ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centers’ last Sunday night.  The problem is worse than I though it was possible to be.

Can you operate with never using the word ‘evil’?  Would there be an obstacle to your communications without this word?  It’s a ‘magic thinking’ word, and since no human is all bad or all good, it would appear to be an invalid term

Not really. Bad, awful, mean, unkind, spiteful, hateful…  there’s no need for ‘evil’ because you endow the act with some kind of superpower. People can be arseholes.

The proper antonym of ‘good’ is ‘bad’. The term ‘evil’ is a giving up of the possibility to make the ‘bad’ become less so, or even good.   It’s populism can most probably be linked to religion or group thinking.  There is no real antonym to ‘evil’   I don’t believe in ‘evil’, I think it’s a perjurative term.

I read (probably on Twitter) that Macron the French had warned Russia in advance of the blitz over the weekend.  I was trying to find supporting information for this, and came up with the FT article here http://www.ft.com/content/ab5c6d60-3f15-11e8-b7e0-52972418fec4

Ask him what the point of a vacation is if you’re just going to go home afterwards 🙂