Category: Society

Laughter Really Is the Best Medicine

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There is Value in Laughing WITH – and Even Value in Laughing AT

Laughter is a Good and Necessary Thing

Those of a certain age will recall when they likely saw the words in the title of this posting. Laughter is the Best Medicine has been a section of Readers Digest (remember that thing?) for many decades. And they were exactly right. Science, medicine, sociology all have ample evidence that laughter is important to us, individually and socially. There are even laughter coaches and laughter yogis out there.

It certainly is important to me,

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Time for a Grab Bag Week

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Lots of Odds and Ends in the News & in Our Heads This Week

It is That Time of Year

A lot of things man-made and natural come to the forefront this time of year, and a few extras are up front this year. Let’s take a look. The first three are inexorably linked to each other, the rest, free range.

Lack of Electoral Enthusiasm by Youth and Blacks

This promises to be one of the more unusual and more important midterm elections in many decades. Some polls and pundits indicate that enthusiasm is lower than it might be among young voters and among Black voters

I surely get it that any number of people and groups feel that not enough has been accomplished yet on their agenda priorities and for the nation’s good.

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The Subtle and Wonderful Experience of Walking with a Dog

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The Effects are as Good on You as They are on the Dog

 

This Blog Gets Happier in a Moment

But first, a couple of necessary sad notes. We received an urgent call this past weekend from a close friend who was about to lose her dog. After a long series of illnesses and related problems, it was time to let Hairy the Corgi go. Never an easy decision, even when it is the right thing at the right time, as this was, but there comes a time when what is best for the dog is to set them free from pain and problems.

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Whose Land Is This? Lessons from Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel – and the US

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Almost Every Place on Earth Has Had Previous “Owners”

What Conveys Whose Land This Is? It’s Tricky Applying Modern Standards to Historical Facts

I have a difficult time thinking of any sizeable piece of ground (or waterway) on this planet that does not come with multiple, conflicting claims of whose territory this is or should be. This disagreement has long been a leading cause of human conflict from our very beginnings as an identifiable species.

In the modern era (“modern era” being what we call the present time. Amusing to think about how others will call this ancient times before too long),

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The Power and Pleasure of Music

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Three Recent Examples Bring the Lessons Home Delightfully

What Is it About Music?

Music seems to almost magic in its power to motivate, activate, sooth, and inspire the human creature (and other creatures, too; more on that later). You get this observation from someone who does not play any instrument nor knows how to read music. Well, I did have a short musical interlude. I had an impromptu kazoo band that showed up uninvited at Pentagon ceremonies when I worked there. And I once attended a dulcimer workshop. At the end of that first session, the instructor and I agreed my future was in the audience.

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Water, Water Everywhere. And Yet, Not a Drop to Spare

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Nature is Kicking Our Butt Over Water, with Too Much and Not Enough. It’s Mostly Our Fault

The Term “Our Chickens Have Come to Roost” Sounds Right

I have been thinking about this posting for a few weeks. A good assortment of articles and reflections are being written about all this just now. Many are well worth your time to read, based on what I have been seeing

For our time together today, I thought we might reflect on the extreme opposites that are pounding the world and what their occurring at the same time mean for us all.

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Time to Declare War on the No Vaccines Crowd

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In Fact, It’s Way Past Time. These are Not Just Personal Decisions

Polio is Back. Can You Believe That?

Polio, which we defeated in this country in the 1950’s and which was only occurring naturally in two underdeveloped countries  in recent years has returned to the United States. Seems unimaginable. The vaccine is exceptionally effective, has absolute minimum risks, and widely available at little or no cost. Herd immunity across the US has further protected us all.

So, what happened? Anti-vaccine nonsense happened. It turns out that in some communities only about 30% of children,

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Anniversaries are a Fine Time for Reflection – and Celebration

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Sharing a Half Century+ of Good Fortune & Lessons Learned

A Moment to Pause, Reflect, Celebrate

Life tends to run along with a steady hum, the everyday sometimes drowning out the special with background noise. Anniversaries, like birthdays, provide a good prompt to stop for a moment, step back, reflect on what is/was/will be, and, hopefully, celebrate.

So it was recently in our household. My bride and I celebrated 55 years as a couple just a few days ago. After dealing with the shock of that number (“55?! How is that high a number possible?”),

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Good Days, Good News

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The Last Few Days Show Promise on Many Fronts

Public Perceptions Count

It seemed as though two thought patterns kind of ran through the country over the last few months.

One has been dissatisfaction with Biden, which in turn led to even worse than normal forecasts for the president’s party in the upcoming midterm elections. The other has been a general national grumpiness, post pandemic peak, which we have commented on in this space before. People, in their eagerness for normalcy, are in something of a bad mood generally, and that reflects back on politicians.

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Three BIG Problems – One Simple Solution

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Most of Us Ignored the First Two – Until the Third One Affected All of Us

Its All About People

We have had two long-running, serious – and interrelated problems for decades. The third one is a bit more recent. All three revolve around people – what people want and how people treat each other on a national and personal level.

Problem 1

The first of these is border security. Ignore the nonsense of the Trumpists; they actually made the problem worse, with their infantile focus on a mythical wall. But setting that aside,

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