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personal opinion
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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!?
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 . . .
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).
Yup, still busy . . . but, I want to give a glimpse of a few things coming up. Meaning, these are photos that will appear in future posts (with others, of course). For instance, bugs . . .
I have a ton of hummingbird videos and photos . . . I’ll need to decide what and how much I want to share, but whatever it will be, it will look something like this . . .
Of all the books I’ve read that contained math, science, and the practical application of the two, the book by Randall Munroe, What If? <<link, was the most enjoyable and the most informative.
It also gave me an insight into the mind and thought process of the guy who writes the xkcd comics <<link.
The above is his entry when the 1982 Exxon Memo to Management about CO2 Greenhouse Effect (LINK) was made public. The link contains a link to the original PDF.
For them not interested in reading, you can see the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery.
For a SmugMug slideshow, click HERE<<link. When you click the link, it will open in a new window, and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button at the Top-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: clicking the PLAY arrow activates the option for a full-screen slideshow. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos (this will pause the slideshow).
If you want the full experience, keep reading.
We begin with a fairly easy “find the hummingbird” . . .
. . . followed by an extremely easy “find the hummingbird” . . .
Letsee . . . what to talk about today?
Indigenous is an interesting word. A dictionary definition (there are a few variations) goes as follows:
Produced, growing, living, or occurring natively or naturally in a particular region or environment.
But also:
Relating to the earliest known inhabitants of a place.
For the purpose of this post, I’ll talk about a combination of the two definitions and how they are purposefully mangled by idiots . . . er . . . non-thinking jer . . . er . . . well-meaning people.
And I’ll begin with Hawaiʻi.
Having lived in Hawaiʻi for a few years, I was struck by the sanctimonious attitude of many of the natives. Like most people everywhere, they have a certain image of themselves, are proud of their culture and customs, and walk around with a chip on their shoulder about being ‘invaded’ by who they call ‘haoles’.
They will tell you the term refers to ‘light skin’ or ‘visitor’, but just swap the ‘h’ and ‘a’ around and you get what I think they really mean.
You see, Hawaiʻians, like most people who don’t know history, claim possession to where they live by virtue of having lived there a long time and — like most people — are not happy when outsiders ‘invade’ the place. I’m sure most readers are familiar with various conflicts around the world — and here, too — based on claims about who has the right to live in this or that place.
The thing is, at one time, no one lived on those islands. Then Polynesians came, liked it, and settled there (LINK). Later, Tahitians came, liked it, and settled there. By ‘settled’, I mean conquered the Polynesians (LINK). You know the rest; Europeans came and also settled there, and so on.
I think I’m a pretty strong individual. Mentally, I mean.
I can face hardship, face problems, face obstacles, and either surmount them, go around them, or accept them.
It’s different when it comes to some things.
For them not interested in reading, you can see the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery.
For a SmugMug slideshow, click HERE<<link. When you click the link, it will open in a new window, and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button at the bottom-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: clicking the PLAY arrow will run a full-screen slideshow. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos (this will pause the slideshow).
If you want the full experience, keep reading.
The photos in this quick series of posts have all been taken with the Note 20 this May, lightly processed in Lightroom (see what I did there?), and output for this blog post.
Disperser Tracks 