Q & A

Judaism may well ask modernity why its sexual ethics are so liberal. Why is the onus on religion to prove its validity against the default of secular values?

Sex and spirituality are in many ways related as sex ultimately leads to new life, new souls in the world. So even though the world treats sex like a cute game or simply a place for thrills and fun, it has a very important, fundamental, and powerful purpose. Therefore it must be approached carefully and purposefully and with dignity and self-control. The Jewish religion is very strong about this and Jews have passed down this awareness throughout the generations.

Length of school day

https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/tables/table_2004_06.asp

Average length of school year and average length of school day, by selected characteristics: United States, 2003–04
Selected characteristic	Average length of school year in days	Average length of school day in hours
Total	180.4	6.7
NCES typology
Catholic	179.0	6.7
Parochial	178.9	6.6
Diocesan	179.4	6.7
Private	178.4	6.8
Other religious	178.5	6.8
Conservative Christian	178.2	6.7
Affiliated	178.4	7.0
Unaffiliated	178.9	6.8
Nonsectarian	185.7	6.5
Regular	182.2	6.8
Special emphasis	184.1	6.5
Special education	195.6	6.1
School level
Elementary	179.6	6.7
Secondary	183.3	6.8
Combined	181.2	6.7
Program emphasis
Regular elementary/secondary
	178.9	6.8
Montessori	183.2	6.6
Special program emphasis	179.1	6.8
Special education	194.4	6.1
Vocational/technical	‡	‡
Alternative	184.0	6.4
Early childhood	203.6	6.2
Size (number of students)
Less than 50	181.9	6.6
50–149	180.7	6.7
150–299	179.3	6.7
300–499	178.9	6.8
500–749	178.4	6.9
750 or more	178.8	7.0
Region
Northeast	181.3	6.6
Midwest	178.5	6.7
South	180.2	6.8
West	182.2	6.7
Community type
Central city	181.6	6.8
Urban fringe/large town	180.6	6.7
Rural/small town	178.4	6.7
‡ Reporting standards not met.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Private School Universe Survey (PSS), 2003–2004.

Linked Post - The History of Public Schools in America

By the 1840s, a few public schools had popped up around the country in the communities that could afford them. However, that smattering of schools wasn't good enough for education crusaders Horace Mann of Massachusetts and Henry Barnard of Connecticut. They began calling for free, compulsory school for every child in the nation.

Massachusetts passed the first compulsory school laws in 1852. New York followed the next year, and by 1918, all American children were required to attend at least elementary school.

Next came the movement to create equal schooling for all American children, no matter what their race. At the turn of the 20th century, schools in the South, and many in the North, were segregated. The 1896 Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the legality of segregation. Finally, in 1954, the Supreme Court overturned its ruling with the landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education, and public schools became open to people of all races.

http://people.howstuffworks.com/public-schools1.htm

Is it racist?

I learned this Rashi in my first year of BT yeshiva and was pretty shocked by it in part because I don't find anything more attractive about white skin or Caucasian people. But I wonder if most people feel that way. Is it racist for one race to be more of something or is racism when we don't treat people as being created in G-d's image because of their race. I'll allow for the possibility that one race in general is smarter, or taller, or prettier, or more athletic. It's hard to prove such things but it could be true. Is that racist in the sense of bad? It's racist in the sense of facts based on race but that's not what we mean when we charge someone with racism. Maybe we can take rashi to mean that Sarah's looks were different and different means exotic which can mean attractive. I might be apologizing for him there but I still put it out there.

The electoral college

The biggest problem is the winner take all provision of the electoral college. It wasn't designed that way and Maine and Nebraska have proportional. But remember that the electoral college makes the votes of people in less populated states more important. Every state gets 2 votes plus the number of reps. in the House. So California gets 2 (40 million people) and Wyoming (1/2 million people) gets 2. So the college offers some protection against the tyranny of the majority.

	CA	WY
Population	39,144,818	586,107
Electoral Votes	55	3
Popular	711,724	195,369
vote
per elector

Tearing Down Abe Lincoln

by Steve Pieczenik (linked post)

http://pieczenik.blogspot.co.il/2015/07/in-spirit-of-taking-down-racist-south.html

 “I will say, the, I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races—that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor in qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a Physical difference between the white and black races. I, as much as any other man in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race” 

 If that is not the words of raging Skin Head, Neo-Nazi—then I have never heard words and feelings more racist, bigoted and inflammatory than these and other words that I can quote to you. For example, this person wasn’t happy just trying to explain that white people were superior to blacks, he then went on to propose an APARTHEID STATE –just like South Africa. Let me continue with these ignoble words that has been lost to the history of America:
 “Such separation if effected at all, must be effected by colonization….what colonization most needs is hearty will..  our interests [white people]to transfer the Africans to his native climate [Africa], and we shall find a way to do it, however great the task may be.”

 Clearly no one in their right mind would consider the aforementioned words conciliatory or pro-black. Therefore these words and many other words and deeds have shown that the man who pronounced them time and time again did so in order to curry favor with his American voting audience.Yet, now, these words represent the most heinous of attitudes that one can even imagine at any time in the short history of our nation.

 By now, most of you will suspect that I have played the same propaganda trick on you that our United States Government and state governments played on all of us while we growing up---in the name of education we received highly contrived propaganda by those in the elite schools and institutions of the northeast telling us about a fictional character who was ‘honest’, ‘noble’ and ‘caring’; when in fact his actions and deeds show a malevolent individual replete with hate and tyranny.

 Of course, I am talking about none other than our illustrious President Abraham Lincoln—or ‘honest Abe’ as we would watch Raymond Massey play this Marfan’s role in the movie that was shown in grade school again and again.

 So where did I get those verifiable quotes?

 The first denigrating the blacks comes from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates. For those of you who are historians, you may find this quotes and similar ones in the “Lincoln –Douglas Debates of 1858”, edited by R. W. Johannsen [Oxford University Press, New York, NY:1965],  pp. 162-163.
 The last quote comes from “Abraham Lincoln Speeches, Letters, and State Papers.” Vol. I, p. 458.

Great Quote

“See everything; overlook a great deal; correct a little”.

Are There More Men or Women?

"More precisely, out of 1,000 people, 504 are men (50.4%) and 496 are women (49.6%). For every 100 girls, 107 boys are born, but males have a higher risk of dying than females, both in childhood and at adult ages. So at a certain age, the numbers of men and women even out." Source: The Institut National d’Etudes Démographiques (INED)

Mental Toughness

"We wanted to make sure that we came and mentally we were four times stronger than we were physically. That was our message to our players."

Mark Dantonio, Michigan State University Football Coach

Mental toughness is a term I learned from sports, one of many good life lessons from sports.

Act for yourself.

Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinion of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.  Journals

Katherine Mansfield
(1888-1932)
English writer, critic.

he just did it

 "I think that was one of the things that I developed just by being in the Beatles was being bold. And I think John had a lot to do with that, you know, because John Lennon, you know, if he felt something strongly, he just did it. And you know, I picked up a lot of that by being a friend of John's, just that attitude of "well, just go for it, just do it."  George Harrison

http://lifeofthebeatles.blogspot.co.il/2006/06/george-harrison-on-vh1-yin-yang-with.html

Instant Karma

Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head

Why in the world are we here
Surely not to live in pain and fear

JOHN LENNON

"James"

James...we were always friends,
From our childhood days
And we made our plans,
And we had to go our seperate ways.
I went on the road
You pursued an education.

James...do you like your life,
Can you find release,
And will you ever change
Will you ever write your masterpiece.
Are you still in school
Living up to expectations...James...

You were so relied upon, everybody knows how hard you tried-
Hey...just look at what a job you've done,
Carrying the weight of family pride.
James...you've been well behaved,
You've been working so hard
But will you always stay
Someone else's dream of who you are.
Do what's good for you, or you're not good for anybody...James.

I went on the road
You pursued an education...James...
How you gonna know for sure-everything was so well organized.
Hey...now everything is so secure,
and everybody else is satisfied.

James...do you like your life,
Can you find release
And will you ever change,
When will you write your masterpiece.
Do what's good for you, or you're not good for anybody...James...

Billy Joel

blo·vi·ate

blo·vi·ate

ˈblōvēˌāt/

verb

USinformal

gerund or present participle: bloviating

1. talk at length, especially in an inflated or empty way.

Whose World Is It?

In the Titanic, 75% of the women survived, 50% of the children, and 19% of the men. This is long before feminism. Of women traveling first class - you know those women who complained that they couldn't be Senators like their brothers - 97% survived.

http://www.icyousee.org/titanic.html

The worst

I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone.  Robin Williams

until

You never find yourself until you face the truth. Pearl Bailey

you may not get a second chance

When opportunity knocks, answer – you may not get a second chance. Or to quote the language of our Sages “a closed door does not easily [re]open.” (Bava Kamma 80b) One must always be ready to immediately take advantage of opportunities that present themselves. My father z”l would often say that Mazal, can be read as an acronym for makom, place, zman, time and laasot, doing. Being in the right place at the right time is not enough, one must then “do” to have mazal. While there is a time for “due diligence” there are times when such must and should be dispensed with. The key to success is knowing the proper time for each.

http://www.torahinmotion.org/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=64

excellent critique

excellent critique on a bad blogger but applies to so many people

- does not have the intellectual capacity to think beyond his gut instincts, which are often based on nostalgia and misinformation that he readily accepts
- has an arrogance rooted in cluelessness, not a sinister agenda
- when frustrated by an inability to respond on an intellectual level, resorts to sarcasm and personal insults

Frithjof Bergmann

Frithjof Bergmann Interview #3: Finding Your Calling (1-17-14)

This guy still moves me all these years later. I took 3 classes with him at Michigan. He was my favorite teacher. His approach is intellectual yet he seems to speak full throated from the heart. He sounds like he really cares about the world and for that he has my pity for that route is mostly heartbreak. It's interesting that he would take such interest in the subject of work and how awful work can be when he was a college professor, which, with all its flaws, has got to be one of the more interesting jobs in the world. I recall him saying that he worked briefly as a longshoreman at one point. Maybe it was bad enough to wound/inspire him for the rest of his life. Bruce Springsteen, who also barely ever worked in one of the awful jobs that the rest of us are subject to, also seemed to carry the brief experience of bad work with him for decades. Bruce says that watching his parents, other relatives, and neighbors go through it also made a deep impression on him.

Just for the record, I wound up working in the financial industry for 25 years and hated almost every minute of it. If you sneak up on me and whisper the word 'corporation' you risk watching me dive under the couch like a PTSD haunted war veteran.

Breeds Implicated in Serious Bite Injuries

In a range of studies, the breeds found to be highly represented in biting incidents were German Shepherd Dog,^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,50} mixed breed,^{1,4,6,8,10,11,12,19,17, 20,50} pit bull type,^{5,9,13,16,21,20,22,23,24,25,26,27}Rottweiler,^{15,18,22,24,25,28} Jack Russell Terrier,^21,25,26 and others (Chow Chow,^7,23 Spaniel,^14,26 Collie,^3,29 Saint Bernard,²⁰ and Labrador Retriever²).

https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/LiteratureReviews/Pages/The-Role-of-Breed-in-Dog-Bite-Risk-and-Prevention.aspx


The Jack Russell Terrier is a small dog with a particularly big attitude. When people talk of a small dog with a big dog attitude most of the time they are referring to this spunky terrier whose roots are in fox hunting. While it may be a small dog the Jack Russell is a very adept hunting dog and uses its small size to its advantage.

http://www.caninejournal.com/jack-russell-terrier-personality/

1/19/08: Family Dog Kills Infant

Lexington, KT - A family dog mauled a 6-week old baby to death yesterday. Witnesses told police that Justin Mozer was sleeping in a bedroom when the family's Jack Russell terrier attacked him. Officials have not released whether the baby was sleeping in a crib. The family also owns a pit bull. Fayette County Animal Control removed both dogs by request of the owner.

http://blog.dogsbite.org/2008/01/fatality-victim-justin-mozer-killed-by.html

In 2013, over one-third, 38%, of all dog bite fatality victims were either visiting or living temporarily with the dog's owner when the fatal attack occurred.
2013 Dog Bite Fatalities by DogsBite.org, 2014

http://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-quick-statistics.php

Some breeds, such as the Jack Russell terrier, have what is termed a
"scissors bite." This means that the upper or maxillary canine teeth are distal to the
lower (mandibular) canines. This enables an animal to lock his teeth onto prey and exert
tremendous force by twisting and tearing. The shape of dog bite wounds will vary considerably, depending upon the size and breed of the dog, as well as.whether or not the
entirety of the dentition was used in producing the wound. There may be wide gaps
between the impressions made by the different teeth, and the dog's poor occlusion and
asymmetric dental arches will also be apparent in the wound. 

http://www.dogsbite.org/pdf/1991-fatal-and-near-fatal-animal-bite-injuries.pdf

Strategy on something you'd think was so simple

How to run the 100 meters

What could be simpler than a sprint. Seems one needs to be knowledgeable about anything they want to be good at.

Carmel Hotel Safed

https://sites.google.com/site/carmelhotelisrael/home

Carmel Hotel Safed

A web page I put together

The important thing

Interviewer: How would you best like to be remembered?

Helen Reddy: I don't care if I'm remembered or not. The important thing is that any good I've done lives on.

On Wilt being just tall, a comment from the web

1) Your comment suggests that height is what makes a player great. If that was true, Manute Bol and Shawn Bradley would be the GOAT. BB is about getting position, timing, anticipation, fundamentals, hand eye coordination, passing, shooting and teamwork.
2) Besides, if your comment was true (which it is not) the average height in the NBA is 6 foot 7 and has been since 1981. So, Wilt would still dominate today’s players as well, by your logic. When Wilt won the NBA title in 1967 the average height and weight of his team (76ers) was 6 foot 6 and 213 lbs. The average height and weight for the 2014 Spurs was 6 foot 6 and 213 lbs. In 1972 when Wilt won another title with the Lakers the average height of the opposing starting centers was 6 foot 10. When Shaq won a title in 2000 the average height of the opposing centers was 6 foot 11. 
3) You insulted every center that played during Wilt’s time, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Willis Reed, Bob Lanier, Artis Gilmore, Nate Thurmond, Dave Cowens, Walt Bellamy, Wes Unseld, and Clyde Lovellette. I only listed the HOFers, not all the other all stars and good players.

An interview with Frank Towers 1-18-2013

An interview with Frank Towers 1-18-2013

"In this interview, World War II veteran Frank Towers describes his service in Europe, concentrating on the liberation of 2500 Jews destined for death near Magdeburg, Germany. He outlines his path to their liberation on a map in this very compelling story."

shared responsibilities

the notion that shared fears are more important than shared responsibilities

Henry Giroux 

reason is simply ignored

http://therealnews.com

GIROUX: ... the crisis of politics, the crisis of agency, the crisis of history, the crisis of ethics, it's not being matched by a process of ideas. I mean, we don't realize the degree to which education has become central to politics itself in ways that speak to cultural apparatuses that dominate the mainstream media and other sources that are constantly producing what I call a disimagination machine, one in which evidence doesn't matter, reason is simply ignored, evidence, again, is thrown out the window. Civic literacy is viewed as a liability, that it's more important, basically, to be stupid than to think.

I mean, you know, Hannah Arendt had said something interesting. I mean, among other things. She said that thoughtlessness is the [instance] of fascism. And I think the right understands this, and I think the right uses the media as a giant pedagogical machine to constantly constantly reproduce lies to appeal to the basest instincts of the American public to distort history, to erase all those public spheres where actually matters of thoughtfulness and political dialog and engagement can actually take place.

Henry Giroux, Professor for Scholarship in the Public Interest at McMaster University and author. His latest book, 'Disposable Futures: The Seduction of Violence in the Age of Spectacle'. He also has a forthcoming book titled, 'America At War With Itself'.

believes truth is merely an opinion

Scholar Henry Giroux tells Paul Jay that Donald Trump is not an eccentric populist, but the representative of a neofascist politics that ignores evidence, believes truth is merely an opinion, and says dissent is unpatriotic.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=16785

Great word

slap·dash

 (slăp′dăsh′)

adj.

Hasty and careless, as in execution: slapdash work.

adv.

In a reckless haphazard manner.

It reinforces dominant themes of Mr. Trump’s campaign that still linger from the primary, which his team has struggled to change: a deliberately bare-bones campaign structure, a slapdash style and a reliance on the instincts of the candidate over the judgments of experienced political experts, like Mr. Scully and Mr. McConnell.

Some Russian

я не говорю по России

ya ne govoryu po Rossii


моя бабушка говорила России

moya babushka govorila Rossii
my grandmother spoke russian

MIchael vs. Kareem

I recently heard an interview with Michael Jordan where he described his discomfort in being called the greatest player of all time as this seem disrespectful to the players who came before him like Wilt and West, players he never played against. Good for him. His attitude is part of what makes him special.

But somebody has to explain to me why Michael is better than Kareem. Look at the stats for which Michael is famous. Over 15 years, he averaged 30 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. Kareen over his first 15 years averaged 27 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 3 blocks. Edge Kareen for the rebounds.

And what about championships for which Michael is famous? They each had 6. But Kareem did it on two teams which is much, much harder.

And what about MVPs? Michael 5, Kareem 6.

And Kareem also played on for 20 years and broke by far the total points record.

If I'm starting a team, I take Kareem.

Oh one other thing, while Michael is a sports inspiration, Kareem is much more of a personal inspiration, a religious and thoughtful person, a leader of his community, and society in general.

Over 500 Scientists Proclaim Their Doubts About Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Over 500 Scientists Proclaim Their Doubts About Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Benson and Masser

With Michael Masser, the composer, on the piano

Important Message for Parents

Would You Help A Lost Child?

go to 2:40

Historic Coin

LOT of 3 WALKING LIBERTY SILVER HALF DOLLARS - 1936-P 1945-P 1945-D

1859 INDIAN HEAD CENT, 2 coins, LIBERTY, EARLY AMERICAN MONEY

Rare Very Old Antique Indian Head Buffalo Nickel Collection Coin Invest Gift Lot

1833 Russian Empire Coin 5 kopeks EM Nicholas I

God Bless America

from Quora:

Nazi Germany: What were the final days of the Third Reich like?
Knut Ritter, I am German.

I can remember a story  of my grandma (she was 22 when the war ended, and had blue eyes and blond hair). During her escape as a refugee from Danzig-area on her way, there was a rumor about closing troops west. The people said they had a star on their vehicles. She asked: "A red one or a white one?" They said: "A white one" Her answer: "Thank god! We are safe!"

Marriage and the Pleasure Seeker

When your focus in life is pleasure seeking, when your religion is pleasure, then discomfort is not only uncomfortable, it is tragic, your "religion" has been violated, or so it seems to the pleasure seeker.

One of the many problems with pleasure seekers is that they tend to focus only on their own satisfaction as that of other people takes work, takes sacrifice. There's one piece of cake. Who's gonna get it? I can't be without cake. That would be uncomfortable. It would be tragic.

Prior generations, who were more focused on the true purpose of life - God, virtue and spiritual accomplishment - left us an affluent world where we could have focused less on physicality than they had to but instead we focus exclusively on it. We blew the opportunity and have become the most selfish generation in history.

I can't tell you if men or women are more intrinsically pleasure seeking - I would think it depends on free choice - but our generation is more solicitous of women. It indulges them more. Men have the technical burden of supporting a family which today is a brutal task and they have more kinds of mitzvahs. Women have a general duty to the family but feminism has obscured this and ridiculed it. 

This is not such an issue in the Chasidic world but it is in the non-Chasidic and it's a huge problem in the Modern Orthodox world which seems to work daily to remove the yoke of religious duty from women.  Everything has to be fun and wonderful and inspiring and comfortable. Life is sometimes that way and sometimes not. It's a mix and so Modern Orthodox feminism contradicts the nature of life.

Marriages are the chief casualty of this conflict. The halacha tries to hold the marriages together but the Modern Orthodox rabbinate battles the halacha. Some of their most talented abuse their gifts in the name of justice but actually in the cause of injustice and lust after the women. Remember, the Satan desires Chava and that in the end is what this is all about.

The answer is not prenups, not divorce on demand, not hysteria about imperfect marriages, it's growing up, seeing what life is really about, and using life the right way, not for pleasure seeking but for spiritual accomplishment - and that's not the same as being high with feeling. It has much more to do with duty and self-sacrifice.

People who can't handle that have no business getting married. A marriage is a union and the pleasure seeking person cannot unite with anything. He or she expects everything to join his or her cause of his or her personal pleasure.

risk taking

Life is full of risk taking. Every decision carries risks. This setup forces reliance on God. If you look at the world honestly and with gratitude, you'll see the God is full of loving kindness. He'll help you as you make your decisions for all to go well, providing that you use the tools He gave you - logic, facts, your instincts, advice from wise people, and Torah principles.

Regrets, more than a few?

If I had to do my life over, I would change every single thing I have done. Ray Davies

The rule of 10

While there's a place in life for fear as a tool for grasping reality, excessive fear can take you out of reality. To gauge where one is holding, I suggest the rule of 10.

How does this work? Picture any situation on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being no problem at all and 10 being really bad. Most of life is 1, 2, 3. Challenging situations can rise to 5,6,7. Rarely do we hit 8 and above in reality. However, our fears if unchecked can picture 10, 20, 30, 100.

Watch your meter. Are you seeing 100? Does that match reality? It can't really be at 100.

Now let's take something subtle like desire - for food, companionship, sex. If we tempt ourselves too much - hanging out at the bakery - it can feel like the meter will burst through 10. But really, it probably isn't any higher than 8. The body has limits, gets tired. While it may feel like we will burst if we don't get the chocolate cake, probably, really, the meter is peaking at 8 and will subside if we hang tight for a few minutes. Desires don't normally peak without our assistance, even ones that seem to have a mind of their own.

Now if you are not getting basic needs met, the needle can sit quite high, and it can be incredibly painful. But this doesn't mean you will die. A meter reading of 8 is very bad but not death. But sometimes the meter is moving so fast you think it will keep rising and never stop. But it will stop. Physical desire has to stop because it's rooted in the body which gets tired.

So hang tight and go out and get your needs met. You are lonely, or hungry. You hate your boss. Whatever it may be.  Improve the situation in a healthy and dignified way. It may take a little time - weeks, months. But you can last it out. The meter is at 8. You can live for a while at 8 bad as it may be. Solutions will come.

Mistake-prone Panthers lose their identity and flub in Super Bowl 50

I didn't watch the Super Bowl, well, only 60 seconds of it, so why do I care? Because we learn an important lesson here. You need an identity to get through life. And somebody else's identity won't do. Your identity has much to do with your inborn personality as well as your experiences. You can grow, change, be influenced for the better, but still must honor your nature to a meaningful extent. Allowing your opponent to take you out of your game, as athletes often phrase it, is a sure way to lose. Sometimes one thinks, I'll obey this boss, this spouse, this parent - any authority figure - and all will be well.

And then you can't figure out why they kick you down the road or kick you out of the room. You need to stand tall and be yourself - your best self - but your self or you don't stand a chance.

Another Blog?

There are millions of them and some are actually read by others. I have no such expectations. However, I enjoy the illusion created by the Internet that I actually have a voice. If I post some words and 3 billion people have access to them, it feels somehow that somebody actually is reading them, and even liking them.

And this is important to me. I feel a need to express myself, to share my thoughts. I probably should have become a teacher or writer rather than a project manager. In the former professions, one is paid to give his thoughts. In the latter, one is paid to keep his mouth shout.

And the thing about persistent needs is that if neglected they emerge weirdly and inappropriately. For example, is work the place that I should express my plentiful criticisms of corporate culture? No is the easy answer to that question.

So I need to talk. And to whom can I talk? With friends unfortunately people settle into verbal routine. This friend and I talk sports. That friend and I complain about work. Not only the topic but the words employed are limited. The sentiments are limited. This applies even with highly intelligent people. We all become so routine and boring. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because people play it safe with one another. They don't want to offend. Or, the routine serves as a kind of meditation.

I recall my 30th high school reunion where I met old friends after decades and watched the conversation start where we left off. Somehow we went right back into the old routines.

So a blog to the rescue? The challenge for me is to write as if there's an audience and not turn this into a journal because what if somebody actually does read it?

So here we go, one of many blogs for me. The others are purposeful. This is random. Thoughts from a middle aged man. And a middle aged person who thinks has something to offer.