A mandrake is a flowering plant native to Bible lands. It bears fruit somewhat like a plum, extremely fragrant. The root of the female version (and yes, plants often are male and female) forks to resemble the lower half of the human body. Mandrakes have been associated with fertility for centuries. There is absolutely no…
Why does a truck full of birds at rest weigh the same as the same truck with the birds in flight? The birds are weightless in the air, right? That’s why they don’t go splat. Flying birds should make the truck weigh less.
Turns out it’s more complicated than that.
If you happen to find yourself in Sun City, Arizona, watch out for llamas. At last report two of them were running wild, creating a great deal of havoc with local traffic and amusing any number of YouTube viewers.
Presumably, the llamas have a home somewhere, and they left it. In retrospect, they probably regret that decision. But in any event, we have to deal with reality, not the world of our own imagination.
For me, the toughest thing about cutting grass — by far — is putting on my shoes. It seems illogical, but it’s true. I will come up with any and every conceivable reason to not get out there and do what needs to be done. Too hot. Too wet. Too tired. Too busy. Too many interesting videos on YouTube.
Once I get my shoes on, though, I’ll go. And once I go, I’ll finish.
If people can’t control their own emotions, then they have to start trying to control other people’s behavior. That is a very profound truth (unfortunately, not original to me) regarding political correctness in particular and whining in general. We convince ourselves that the problem is “out there” and therefore someone else’s fault, someone else’s responsibility. In truth, though, the problem — at least, the one relevant to the current circumstance — is “in here.” Our own personal weaknesses, our own personal insecurities, our own personal failures.
Without trying to take sides in the gun vs. anti-gun argument, allow me to cautiously make the following observations: one, a gun tragedy is guaranteed to bring people out of the woodwork, quoting outrageously misleading statistics and claiming that all gun advocates are essentially guilty of murder; two, gun advocates will try to “put things into perspective” by saying the problem isn’t actually as gigantic as it is made out to be, and essentially come off like jerks who think a dozen or so dead children is not that big a deal. In short, everyone still believes what they already believed, they’re just louder about it.
I find facts a lot less argumentative than rhetoric, so let’s look at some facts.
