There’s a story behind the piece below, Chopin’s “Heroic” Polonaise, performed by Vladimir Horowitz, the pianist most people deem Chopin’s pre-eminent interpreter. Frederic Chopin was born in 1810 near Warsaw, Poland, and was known as a child prodigy as a …
Category: Sustainability
Does Evil “Destroy Itself?”
What Aristotle said here is interesting, especially since there has been so much of both evil and good through the millennia. The days since Aristotle have been marked by the Golden Age of Rome (Pax Romana), the Dark Ages, the …
Tagged with: Golden Age of Rome (Pax Romana), the Dark Ages, the end of slavery, The Enlightenment, the post-Emancipation oppression of Black Americans, the Rennaissance, the slaughter of the Native Americans, the Spanish Inquisition, Trump's only interests are enriching himself from public office, Trump's only interests are further consolidating his power, Trump's only interests are keeping himself out of prison, Trump's only interests are punishing his enemies
Another Note on Grammar
In an earlier post called Americans’ Grammar Is Deteriorating, But Let’s Keep Things in Perspective, I made the point that many of Americans’ grammatical errors have become normalized as our respect for our traditional English language has deteriorated, just like …
Tagged with: Note on Grammar
Americans’ Dwindling Self-Awareness
I’m wondering if people’s growing lack of consideration for others is a regional trend here in the Unites States, or it’s one of global extent. I find it hard to believe, for instance, that the Japanese are suffering from this …
Tagged with: Americans' Dwindling Self-Awareness
Americans’ Grammar Is Deteriorating, But Let’s Keep Things in Perspective
The guy who wrote the meme here is referring to something called the subjunctive mood, used mainly to state a contrary-to-fact conditional. He’s not in LA, therefore we say, “If I were in LA,” not “If I was in LA.” …
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Tagged with: Americans' Grammar Is Deteriorating
Life on Earth 50 Years Hence
Nicely put, Sir David. Not to put too fine a point on it, but human civilization, driven by its voracious greed, is in grave danger. For a while it appeared that humankind might find a way to harness its vast …
Many of The World’s Wealthiest See No Moral Issues in Ruining the Planet’s Ecosystems
I like this, though there is nothing “imaginary” about the vast wealth controlled by the fossil fuel industry. The top echelon of Big Oil has more money than the GDP of some of Earth’s countries. As Mr. Spock says here, …
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No Nations
What public intellectual and science fiction giant Isaac Asimov said here has been the subject of a great deal of discussion over the years. It’s what virtually everyone who’s seen the Earth from space says, i.e., “There are no borders.” …
The Meaning of Life
At left is what Noam Chomsky said on this subject when he was a much younger man. Note that this is the essence of what it means to be an existentialist. First, we exist. We make choices, and those choices …
Comments on Word Usage in Modern Times
I just came across the rules at left, and thought I’d make a few comments: 1) The word “their” in the sentence “Each student (singular) should bring their (plural) book,” is a workaround for “Each student should bring his or …
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