Yup, I get it. People in England (and, for that matter, Australia, New Zealand, Ukraine . . . […]
personal musings
I wasn’t going to add my thoughts, but I came across a few more comments, so, against my […]
I’ve been silent on many important news stories mainly because I’m tired of debating sound bites and the […]
Sorry: 950 words because of the topic. I was hesitant to write about current events in Europe and […]
Nota Bene: this post might or might not remain here depending on the outcome of this test. I’m […]
A few days ago marked the ten-year anniversary of the world losing Christopher Hitchens. I’ve written before about […]
I recently updated my Blogger blog (HERE). For the profile, they ask one’s preference in music and movies. […]
Until recently, I didn’t have a succinct way to express an essential aspect of how I live. Heck, […]
Using the concept of “freedom” when discussing vaccines is an example of people cheapening ideals that should drive […]
Many of today’s bitter arguments, nee discussions, are on issues that allow — no, demand — only binary answers: Yes, No, Right, Wrong, True, False.
“Isn’t it true that surgeons cut patients and sometimes cause patients to die?”
“Yes, but—”
“NO BUTS! Surgeons are awful people!”
Everyone recognizes the weakness of the argument. It may well be surgeons are awful people, but for reasons completely independent from them cutting into and mucking about in people’s insides.
That extreme example exemplifies the level of debate for many contentious issues.
Abortion and guns are two issues that come to mind; issues framed as being binary but aren’t.
This blog has many opinion posts buried among other poorly read — and probably poorly written — posts. My fiction still holds the record for least-read offerings, but my opinion pieces are a close second.
As mentioned before, I write not only to clarify my thoughts but also to keep track of my changing views.
What!?
On a comment, in passing, I happened to mention I might be prone to write about those three things tonight — the silly search for ‘purpose’, bees, and rocks — and I thus felt compelled to do so . . . first up:
It’s that time of year when the bees aren’t finding enough flowers out there in the wild, so they take over the feeders. They can do so because of two flaws in the design of those feeders. One, the holes are too large. A hummingbird can feed through a very small hole, but those are large enough for the bees to nearly squeeze through.
So, yesterday I posted a quick observation about the state of comments on this blog (and maybe blogs in general, based on some of the feedback).
I might have come across as rueful of the situation, hence let me clarify a few things because I fear unintended consequences from that post . . .
Namely, I fear an increase in comments due to people (consciously or unconsciously) thinking I was pressuring them (consciously or unconsciously) to comment more often.
Well, let me set the record straight . . .
In yesterday’s post, I linked THIS<<link post and my sister AnnMarie mentioned how nice it was to see multiple comments. I went back and counted . . . there were 16 unique individuals leaving comments.
It’s something I’ve also noted as I occasionally go back and read old posts. Namely, there used to be more people leaving comments as late as four years ago than this year. To be clear, the slowdown started sometime in the last three years and it has now reached a point where I can expect comments from a maximum of two, maybe three people leaving a comment, and it’s the same two or three people.
Most of the readers who at one time I considered “regulars” are no more. I don’t mean they’ve died (although — sadly — a few have, and they are deeply missed). I mean they no longer seem active in the blogging community. Some have blogs that have gone dormant without explanation, and some indicated their focus and interests have shifted.
Yup, still busy . . . these days are just flying by and before I know it, it’s late at night. So, more samples of photos that will appear in future posts (with others, of course). Yesterday morning, a few Northern Mocking birds frolicked in my backyard . . .
They gave me lots of opportunities to get decent photos both with the D7500 (above) and the P900 (below).
Disperser Tracks 