Abortion is in the news, which hinges on when a sperm and egg transition to becoming a life protected by the law. My world is filled with people whose beliefs in the supernatural differ from mine and whose conflicts with others’ supernatural beliefs cause suffering and death around the world. Their justification seems to be nothing more than strong feeling that they’re right, yet people they disagree with justify themselves[…] Keep reading →

I found some quotes from the roots of what transformed our culture from based on people as citizens, promoting freedom, to one based on people as consumers before citizens. They turn my stomach the way learning a Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. We became a consumerist culture, replacing food with doof, for deliberate reasons. I don’t know if the people promoting the change foresaw where they would lead us. I doubt[…] Keep reading →

Does a human life begin at conception or some time after? I can see arguments for at conception, at birth, and some time between. I believe most people today would be horrified at it, but I think when infant mortality was higher, people wouldn’t consider a life viable until after a few days or even years. Various cultures have traditions that mark the beginning of life well after birth. What[…] Keep reading →

You know the story about the two women each claiming a baby was hers, where King Solomon says to cut the baby in half and the woman who says to let the other woman keep it must be the mother? Have you ever thought about this story? How has it become a model of wisdom? It fails at every level. First, are we supposed to believe a woman simply claims[…] Keep reading →

Why bother with individual action if it alone doesn’t change systems? The ignorance behind that question astounds me. I’ll put the question in parallel, equally ignorant forms: Why bother changing your baby’s diaper if it doesn’t solve infant mortality? Why take the first step of a marathon if it doesn’t take you across the finish line? Why eat healthy or exercise if it doesn’t solve obesity, diabetes, and heart disease?[…] Keep reading →

My mind does it too. When I have something to throw away in my hand, I look for a trash can. I think my mind thinks not specifically, “where is a trash can?”, but “where can I put this thing I don’t want?”. The distinction? From the amount of litter I see placed in corners, wedged between fence posts, in planters, on signal boxes, and in whatever place looks like[…] Keep reading →

I just finished my second set today of twice-daily burpee-based calisthenics. Normally, I do my second set in the evening, but since I started the habit on December 22, 2011 and today is December 21, 2021, today completes my first decade. I already finished my first decade of publishing blog posts, nearing 5,000. Here are all of them. 20 percent of the time has been on a single load of[…] Keep reading →