Live while you are alive
“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like “What about lunch?”. (A.A. Milne, quoted in The Economist). My comment: Amen to that! I remember at school my English teacher firmly telling us that long words don’t necessarily denote a brainy fellow, more likely …
Epicurus stayed clear of politics, but I thought this a good story, and rather clever: “Ukraine would like foreign assistance from the United States and its allies in its standoff with Russia; but outside of providing defense weaponry, the country would prefer the U.S.to just stay quiet. “When they start saying that tomorrow, you’re going …
Of the childless Americans aged 18 to 49, 44% now say they are never likely to become parents. More than half of the respondents who didn’t plan on having children cited personal preference, 17% cited financial obstacles, and 14% attributed their decision to the state of the world or climate change. (Pew Research Center, Dec …
“Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die”. (Novelist Anne Lamont, quoted in the New York Times) My comment: Refusing to forgive sours the soul.
From time to time I post a short list of the main teachings of Epicurus: 1. The “Summum Bonum” or “Reason for Living” is happiness or pleasure. Happiness is peace of mind and body. It is tranquillity or undisturbedness (ataraxia), the quiet of a mind free from fear (or anxiety) and a body content with …
Love Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediment; love is not love which alters when it alteration finds Or bends with the remover to remove. Oh, no. It is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken. It is the star to every wandering bark Whose worth’s unknown, …
Continue reading ‘Love comes within the purview of Epicureanism’ »
“It’s a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realise that one’s safety was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract”. (Astronaut Alan Shepard, quoted on pUPI.com)
Scrap handwriting? A-level and GCSE exams should be typed on computers because prolonged periods of handwriting can be “tiring” for students, a headteacher has said. Keith Metcalfe, the head of the £9,000 per term Malvern College, has called on exam boards to drop compulsory handwritten exams for GCSEs and A-levels in favour of typed papers. …
It’s hard to go anywhere without hearing the name “Alexa”. This is particularly vexing for people whose parents happened to give them the name that Amazon chose as a wake word for its smart home device in 2014. Amazon landed on Alexa because “it was inspired by the Library of Alexandria, and reflects Alexa’s depth …
Glaub, was wahr ist; Lieb, was rar ist; Trink, was klar ist” “Believe what is true; love what is rare; drink what is clear”. My reaction: This could be comfortably folded into a list of Epicurean beliefs.
Aliens will arrive on Earth after studying us for years. Uri Geller has claimed that extraterrestrial contact is imminent and aliens have been studying us for years. The 74-year-old said aliens will arrive during something akin to a “Steven Spielberg production”, possibly on the grounds of the White House. Speaking to The Sun ”newspaper” the …
Poachers killed so many elephants for their ivory during the 1977-1992 Mozambican civil war that elephants rapidly evolved to be naturally tuskless. Male and female elephants usually have tusks, but a few are born without. Because so many of the species were killed during the war the tuskless were much more likely to pass on …
“My family in the rural Midwest recently told me they’ve begun to see flags flying outside private homes bearing the message, “F–k Biden.” Underneath that statement, in smaller typeface, the thought continues: “…and f–k you for voting for him.” “If you’re surprised that politics has descended to such depths, you haven’t been paying attention. “I …
Romance scams have cost consumers a record $304 million as more people have searched for love online during the pandemic. As the pandemic encouraged people to spend more time online, criminals targeted people on dating apps and social media platforms, especially older Americans. Adults 60 and older lost $139 million to romance scams in 2020, …
“To those who abuse us for simply making polite requests to wear masks or to maintain social distance in hospitals or GP practices, to those who deny the existence of the pandemic or the science of vaccination, to those who issue death threats or incite violence against us, we say enough is enough.” (Gill Walton, …
