Still Thankful, Still Don’t Read Well

Signs
Favorite Line(s):
And the sign said, “Everybody welcome.
Come in, kneel down and pray”
But when they passed around the plate
At the end of it all,
I didn’t have a penny to pay
So I got me a pen and a paper
And I made up my own little sign
I said, “Thank you, Lord, for thinkin’ ’bout me.
I’m alive and doin’ fine.”
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On This Day In:
2020	Write For Yourself
2019	I’m Actively Irresponsible
2018	I Will Love You… Forever
2017	Pebbles In Your Shoe?
2016	Resolute Will
2015	Absorbed And Civilized
2014	Relax And Lead
2013	Location, Location, Location
2012	Are You Really Good?
2011	Relatively Objective, Anyway

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Facing The Headwinds

We all live in the same house, we all must be part of the effort to hold down our little house.  When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just… do something about it.  Say something.  Have the courage.  Have the backbone.  Get in the way.  Walk with the wind.  It’s all going to work out.
—    U.S. Representative John Lewis
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On This Day In:
2020	Write For Yourself
2019	I’m Actively Irresponsible
2018	I Will Love You… Forever
2017	Pebbles In Your Shoe?
2016	Resolute Will
2015	Absorbed And Civilized
2014	Relax And Lead
2013	Location, Location, Location
2012	Are You Really Good?
2011	Relatively Objective, Anyway

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I’m Still Learning To Play

It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.
—   Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia,
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On This Day In:
2020	All You Can
2019	No Wall And Not One Dollar
	‘Cause It Makes Me Scratch
2018	Mirror, Mirror
2017	Keep On Keeping On
2016	Reflections
2015	Is It Time Yet?
2014	Ask Any Follower
2013	Cornered Or Surrounded?
2012	Escape
2011	Achievement
	Not Unreasonable Enough

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But That’s Certainly Irrational

There can be an infinite number of polygons, but only five regular solids.  Four of the solids were associated with earth, fire, air and water.  The cube for example represented earth.  These four elements, they thought, make up terrestrial matter.  So the fifth solid they mystically associated with the Cosmos.  Perhaps it was the substance of the heavens.  This fifth solid was called the dodecahedron.  Its faces are pentagons, twelve of them.  Knowledge of the dodecahedron was considered too dangerous for the public.  Ordinary people were to be kept ignorant of the dodecahedron.  In love with whole numbers, the Pythagoreans believed that all things could be derived from them.  Certainly all other numbers.
So a crisis in doctrine occurred when they discovered that the square root of two was irrational.  That is: the square root of two could not be represented as the ratio of two whole numbers, no matter how big they were.  “Irrational” originally meant only that.  That you can’t express a number as a ratio.  But for the Pythagoreans it came to mean something else, something threatening, a hint that their world view might not make sense, the other meaning of “irrational”.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2020	The Butterflies Are In Trouble
2019	The Deep Center
2018	Oh, Heaven (Too)
2017	Now Pausing Makes Sense
2016	Just Spicy
	Only One Part
2015	Positive Acts Of Creation
2014	One Thing Is Clear
2013	Corrections
	See Greatness
2012	Gemutlichkeit
2011	Back On The Asphalt

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And Usually The Former

There is a hard and fast rule we must always remember: if a good end can be achieved only through bad means, either it is not a good end, or its time has not yet come.
—    Leo Tolstoy
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On This Day In:
2020	The Doggie Dab
	A Fork In The Road
2019	#LyingDonald’s Problem With The News And Truth
2018	Oh, Hell
2017	No Welcome Mat Here
2016	Making It Up
	A Missed Beat
2015	We Are All Explorers
2014	Still Trying To Cope
2013	Dear Diary (A good chuckle!)
2012	Conveniently Sequential
2011	King’s Speech Number Four
	Rational Probability

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Life Is…

Life is an Adventure … Dare it
Life is a Beauty … Praise it
Life is a Challenge … Meet it
Life is a Duty … Perform it
Life is a Love … Enjoy it
Life is a Tragedy … Face it
Life is a Struggle … Fight it
Life is a Promise … Fulfill it
Life is a Game … Play it
Life is a Gift … Accept it
Life is a Journey … Complete it
Life is a Mystery … Unfold it
Life is a Goal … Achieve it
Life is an Opportunity … Take it
Life is a Puzzle … Solve it
Life is a Song … Sing it
Life is a Sorrow … Overcome it
Life is a Spirit … Realize it
—  Anonymous
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On This Day In:
2020	Why #DonTheCon Hates, Belittles And Fires Honest Government Employees
2019	What Do You Want?
2018	Wakanda Forever
	I’d Be Happy With Another Score (Or So)
2017	In Defense Of A Free Press
2016	Lost Opportunity
2015	Are You Listening Ladies?
2014	Practice, Practice, Practice
2013	A Fist Full Of Confusion
2012	Teaching Faith
2011	The Heart Of Terror
	The Proportion Of Gravity And Probability

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One Month In: Learning To Play Guitar

He who learns to play music in his eightieth year will play at the resurrection.
—    Turkish Proverb
[About a month ago I convinced my wife to let me buy a guitar (Orangewood acoustic dreadnought: Austen (model) for $195).  I’m playing it almost every day for 10 minutes to an hour.  Most days about 40 minutes.  It’s coming along slowly, slowly, but I’m enjoying it.  I’m just watching videos on YouTube and then going off to practice…    —   KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2020	Working On My 2019 Tax Returns
2019	Three Beliefs
2018	He Found Them On-Line
2017	Maybe In A Future World
2016	Largely A Mystery
2015	Tools And Weapons
2014	Likes And Dislikes
2013	Pillars Of Learning
2012	Another JCoM Review
	Move It
2011	Expected Value

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I’m Retired, I Always Have Time For It!

The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.
—   Sydney J. Harris
[I didn’t finish yesterday.  I’ll try again today…  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2020	Decide, Support, Vote
2019	Aware Some
2018	Know Any Christians?
2017	The Only Thing I Can Give…
2016	Wiser But Less Cocksure
2015	Not Today
	Wicked
2014	…Am Too
2013	Credible?
2012	Both
2011	Risking Hidden Linkage

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So How Should We Persuade The Dangerous?

Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice.  One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force.  Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease.  Against stupidity we are defenseless.  Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental.  In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.  For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one.  Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.
―    Dietrich Bonhoeffer
From his book:  “Letters and Papers from Prison“
[I’m not saying one side has more stupid voters / supporters than the other.  I am saying one side is prouder of being less educated, less informed and more stupid than the other.  And they voted for the candidate (#IncompetentDonald) who said he loves the poorly educated (“because we’re the smartest”).  Hence we have the Capitol riot of 6 January 2021.    —   KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2020	Maybe More Than A Very Few
2019	Missing Failure
2018	Praise God
2017	Necessary Gaps
2016	Nor My Dogs
2015	Say What?
	I’m A Dog, Too!
	Beginnings
2014	Astonishing Choices
2013	Three Hard Tasks
2012	The Only Remains
2011	Personal Capability
	What Price Failure?
	Both Of W’s Elections
	Tea (Baggers) Anyone?

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Put ‘Er There

Where there is no love, put love — and you will find love.
—    St. John of the Cross
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On This Day In:
2020	And In The Back
2019	Sunlight Stream
2018	Wars Without Taxes
2017	Multiplication And Division
2016	I Went To The Woods…
2015	I’ve Got To Run
2014	Which Is It?
2013	Making You Stronger
2012	Sick Of Being Sick
	Greater Than Power
2011	Clear, Specific And Measurable
2010	The Runner’s High
	Into The Dark…

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This Boy Just Ain’t Right

Southern State Of Mind
Favorite Line(s):
I’m always walkin’ ’round
Tellin’ everybody
Hi
Just a wavin’ at the strangers
In the cars
Passin’ by
Some people
May look at me and say
That boy just ain’t right
Hey y’all
I ain’t crazy
I’m in a southern state of mind
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On This Day In:
2020	Pat, Pat, Pant, Pant
2019	You (Too) Are Related
	A Blind Squirrel Finds An Idiot
2018	My Hope
2017	We All Lose
2016	Wants
2015	Let Us Join
2014	Feeling Kept?
	Chillin’
2013	The Lucky Few
2012	A Post-Valentine’s Day Message
2011	Risk, Lyrics, Starting Over, And My Trip To The ER
	Lucky Choice

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And Last Minute Blog Posts

The road to hell is littered with the manuscripts of church sermons written late on Saturday.
—    Alan Harris
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On This Day In:
2020	Pat, Pat, Pant, Pant
2019	You (Too) Are Related
	A Blind Squirrel Finds An Idiot
2018	My Hope
2017	We All Lose
2016	Wants
2015	Let Us Join
2014	Feeling Kept?
	Chillin’
2013	The Lucky Few
2012	A Post-Valentine’s Day Message
2011	Risk, Lyrics, Starting Over, And My Trip To The ER
	Lucky Choice

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The Fighter Still Remains

The Boxer
Favorite Line(s):
In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
“I am leaving, I am leaving”
But the fighter still remains
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On This Day In:
2020	Love And Charity
2019	Tomorrow Is Valentine’s Day
	Inverted U Curve
2018	Still More Prejudice
	A Well Trod Path Of Hopes, Expectations And Surprise
2017	…And With It Civilization
2016	Just Like My Mother
2015	All Omissions Are Mine
2014	Precise Order
2013	Uh, No. Not Really…
	Deep Regions
2012	A Pre-Valentine’s Day Message
2011	Easy Like Sunday Morning
	May I Have A Little More, Please…
2010	Valleys and Peaks

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How Many Democracy Loving Conservatives Are In The Senate?

To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.
—   Mahatma Gandhi
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On This Day In:
2020	Love And Charity
2019	Tomorrow Is Valentine’s Day
	Inverted U Curve
2018	Still More Prejudice
	A Well Trod Path Of Hopes, Expectations And Surprise
2017	…And With It Civilization
2016	Just Like My Mother
2015	All Omissions Are Mine
2014	Precise Order
2013	Uh, No. Not Really…
	Deep Regions
2012	A Pre-Valentine’s Day Message
2011	Easy Like Sunday Morning
	May I Have A Little More, Please…
2010	Valleys and Peaks

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Suggestions…

Walk
Love
Read
Think
Garden
Stay Safe
Be Patient
Shop Local
Wear A Mask
Open Your Heart
Educate Yourself
Hug Someone In Your Bubble
Call Your Parents (or Children)
Practice Tolerance
…Just Be Kind
[And if none of the above are possible for you: A slice of pizza, a glass of red wine and listening to some music is nice, too.  —  KMAB]
[Most of the above list has been “borrowed” from one of the blogs I follow:  “I Didn’t Have My Glasses On“
The specific post which contained her list can be located at:  http://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/2020/06/27/just-be-kind/
Please check out the original blog if you have a free moment…  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2020	Until November… Then Vote
2019	Start With Health And Friends
	Iterum Vale Tres*
2018	Tweets From The Disrupter-In-Chief
2017	Do We Still Listen To Her Silent Lips?
	Not Now, Not Ever
2016	Why Do You Write/Blog?
2015	Can Your Repeat The Question, Please?
2014	On Faith
2013	My Name Is Charles Stein
2012	Faiths And Sorcery
	Made And Kept Free
2011	Multi-Source Learning

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