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:
2022	I Learn Something New
2021	I’m Retired, I Always Have Time For It!
	Just Mice Elf
	That Was A Shot In The Arm
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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Practice, Practice, Practice

Sometimes the best, and only effective, way to kill an idea is to put it into practice.
—    Sydney J. Harris
[Actually, we’ve been trying / practicing “Trickle-Down Economics” for over 40 years and it has still not worked.  Does that mean it will be “killed” sometime soon?    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Beautiful Curves
2021	Life Is…
	Thank You Guardians (OTG)*
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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More Than Just Words

The two words ‘information’ and ‘communication’ are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things.  Information is giving out;  communication is getting through.
—    Sydney J. Harris
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On This Day In:
2021	Bring The Void
	Home Cookin’, Anyone?
2020	Growth Mindset
	I Wonder Where You Are
2019	Steps To Impeach #45
	Science Upgrade Needed
2018	Come November 6th
2017	Hearts And Memories
2016	Tremendous Energy
	Beyond Trying
2015	Tell Me…
2014	Live Forever (To Remember Me)
	Orange October (VI) – Giants Win Game 4
2013	More Than Just Words
2012	Egotist, n.
2011	Good And Bad

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I Resemble That Remark!

Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.
—    Sydney J. Harris
[For those of you who are unaware – and I suspect most of you are – today marks the 4th anniversary of my blog!  Thanks for stopping by.  Come again soon, our best days are still ahead…    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2012	Happy 3rd Anniversary
2011	Is America Safe Tonight?
2009	Hello world! (See how it all began…)

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Seeking A View

The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.
—   Sydney J. Harris
[When the light is brighter on the inside than the outside, a window can serve as a mirror and a window.  See yourself while letting your light remove the darkness around you.  Then you need never fear the dark.    —   KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2012	Stumblin’ Along My Way
	We’re Proud Of You, Jr!
	Union Card
	Two Philosophies
2011	Simply Unpredictable

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On Parenting

Parenthood remains the greatest single preserve of the amateur.
―    Alvin Toffler
From his book:  “Future Shock“
My best advice to anyone who wants to raise a happy, mentally healthy child is: Keep him or her as far away from a church as you can.
―    Frank Zappa
The beauty of “spacing” children many years apart lies in the fact that parents have time to learn the mistakes that were made with the older ones – which permits them to make exactly the opposite mistakes with the younger ones.
―    Sydney J. Harris
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Three Hard Tasks

The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, but moral acts:  to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, “I was wrong”.
—    Sydney J. Harris
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On This Day In:
2022	First, To Understand
2021	So How Should We Persuade The Dangerous?
	Can A Loser Ever Win?
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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Happy Inauguration Day!

[Two thoughts on today’s Inaugural celebrations…]
This not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication.  Here muster not the forces of party, but the forces of Humanity…  I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking men to my side.  God helping me, I will not fail them, if they will but counsel and sustain me!
—    Woodrow Wilson
From his 1st Inaugural Address
Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.
—    Sydney J. Harris
[To the former:  I stand at your side, Mr. President.  To the latter:  ask me again in Nov. 2014 and then again about a year after that…  Until then, God Bless you, Mr. President and God Bless the United States of America!    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	End The Filibuster
2021	Be Creative, Question Assumptions
	By No Means
2020	I’ll Eat To That (Gemütlichkeit)
	To The Front
2019	#ContinueToResist
	Except Willful Ignorance And Prideful Stupidity
2018	More Executive Time For #DumbDonald
2017	Watched The Inauguration
	Two Geniuses
2016	Come Dance And Laugh With Me
2015	Looks Good To Me
2014	Desire For The Sea
2013	The Fierce Urgency Of NOW
	Happy Inauguration Day!
2012	One Path
	Sorrow And Joy
	The Seven Year View
2011	Emergent Practicality

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Working On Reality

An idealist believes the short run doesn’t count.  A cynic believes the long run doesn’t matter.  A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.
—    Sydney J. Harris
[My life is full of small steps.  One day at a time…    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	Almost, But Not Quite
	Just Messin’
2020	The Definition Of A Modern Republican Senator
	#45 Has Got To Go
2019	Just Rewards
2018	Diet Resolutions For The New Year
	Day 3: Late December Diet / Fast
2017	Daily, Mr. President, Daily
2016	We Did This
2015	I’m Talking To You
	Forced (Again)
2014	We Are Not A Fearful Nation!
2013	Risking Truth
2012	Working On Reality
2011	Massive Contradictory Changes

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Superior Discovery

Superior people are only those who let it be discovered by others;  the need to make it evident forfeits the very virtue they aspire to.
—    Sydney J. Harris
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On This Day In:
2021	Is Too
	Food For Thought
2020	Says Every Generation Since Schools Were Invented
	Chokin’ My Thoughts Away
2019	Dance The Night Away
2018	#45: The Poorest President In History
2017	Bull’s Eye
2016	Gifts
	Jacked 3
2015	I’d Settle For Interesting
2014	Old Math
2013	Adequate Explanation
2012	Superior Discovery
2011	Welcome Home And Thank You!!
	Two Heritages

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Escape Hatches

The most important thing in an argument, next to being right, is to leave an escape hatch for your opponent, so that he can gracefully swing over to your side without too much apparent loss of face.
—    Sydney J. Harris
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On This Day In:
2021	Are You A Loner?
	I Got Work
2020	I Wish Republicans Valued Democracy As Much As They Say They Value Freedom
	It Sure Does
2019	Something Very Different
2018	For Most Of Us
2017	Stories We Need On Life’s Edge
2016	Heart Trouble
2015	From The Inside Out
2014	Alone And Free
2013	Superstition Is Your Way
2012	Escape Hatches
2011	Sing Like No One Is Listening

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Thoughts And Communications

The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.
—    Sydney J. Harris
The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.
—    Edward R. Murrow
[Computers…  Can’t live with them; can’t live without them.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	What Should Be Universal Exercise
	I’m So Glad
2020	Trying To Keep On Keeping On
	Bending
2019	Ooops (Again)
2018	Two Start Up Front
2017	I Love America Because…
	An Act Of God
	And So It Came To Pass (Act Of God part 2)
2016	As Far From
2015	Rocky 7
	Just Like Politics
2014	Game And Legend
	“Scientific” Pride In Humanity
2013	Real Honor
	Catching Up
2012	Thoughts And Communications
2011	But How Does Peter Feel?
2010	Name That Regret

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Have We Met?

Ninety per cent of the world’s woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues.  Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves – so how can we know anyone else?
—    Sydney J. Harris
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On This Day In:
2021	A Loss Of Happiness
	Early Boy Band Choreography
2020	Wear A Damn Mask!
	I Can’t Stay For Long
	Boxing (#2): First Lessons
2019	A Surprisingly Good Way
	It’s Official X-mas (Tree) At Home
2018	Weight / Health Update
	What’s Happening With You?
2017	The Great Leveler
	Conservative Depressions
2016	Election + 1 Month
2015	Dance And Sing
2014	A Measuring Stick For Progress
2013	Courtly Love Or Victory Over Habit
2012	Have We Met?
2011	Efficiently Useless

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Morning Wood

When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?‘
—    Sydney J. Harris
[I usually try to avoid being crude, but sometimes I can’t help myself…    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	Happy Thanksgiving (2021)!
	When You Get Where You’re Going
2020	Still In School
	The First Deuce
	Escape From Planet Junkyard
2019	Will John Bolton Testify?
2018	Just Maybe
2017	Police In My Review Mirror
2016	Full And Rich
2015	Go Deeper
2014	Intentional Mapping
2013	The Sweet Path
2012	Living Free And Abolition
	Morning Wood
2011	I Resemble That Remark

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Isn’t This Just Pleasant?

The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one’s mind a pleasant place in which to spend one’s leisure.
—     Sydney J. Harris
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On This Day In:
2021	Still Trying To Understand
	V Memories From Saudi Arabia
2020	Sometimes Just Being There Is Enough
	And I Owe It All To You
2019	Or Live For It
2018	Happy Thanksgiving (2018)
2017	Grateful Humility
2016	Obstacles
	Election + 2 Weeks
2015	Done What You Could
2014	Impossible To Other Men
2013	Just In Case
2012	Isn’t This Just Pleasant?
2011	No Void In Sight

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