Recent content by officerripley

...[W]hen elites become desperate to hold on to power, [they] can do terrible, traumatic things, and...the deep psychology of modernity produces monsters the likes of which even the sleep of reason would struggle to generate. ~~from The Holocaust: An Unfinished History by Dan Stone

Just read this quote and it really struck me how it applies to this thread: "...[W]hen elites become desperate to hold on to power, [they] can do terrible, traumatic things, and...the deep psychology of modernity produces monsters the likes of which even the sleep of reason would struggle to...

Exactly. I remember learning in Social Studies class way back in high school that the Soviet Union announced right at their beginning that they weren't going to be able to have true communism right at first, that they were going to have the "dictatorship of the proletariat" to get things up and...

There was one and only one women's empowerment group here in town (at one time; now there aren't any) and to join, you had to be either enrolled or teaching at our local university. When I told the gal who ran it that I had worked at the university for 30 years so could I still join, she said...

(A 1961 Corvair that had holes in the floorboards and went through a quart of oil a week. I hated it.)

I like committees and I'm not ashamed to admit it. When it comes to humans, 2 or more heads are always better than one; it's how we evolved.

..[T]hink of [misbehaving in middle age] as Building an Inventory of Good Stories to Tell in the Nursing Home. ~~from God Save the Sweet Potato Queens by Jill Conner Browne

I can relate: most of the women in my age group--all the ones I've met so far anyway--are all moms and grandmas who not only want to talk about only their families but also find it weird (and even in some cases, bad) that I chose not to have kids. There are a few women in my age group whose...

...{W}hile we're staring up at the stars, we're distracted from the real work at our feet--making this place that nurtured us whole and healthy enough to sustain our children and grandchildren and their children after them, so that they can thank us, instead of cursing us for the ruins we leave...

I'm afraid you're right. Why else would they be building their end-of-the-world compounds, Zuck's in Hawaii, the Kochs in the Midwest U.S., and I forget who that built one in New Zealand.

I know; I've certainly seen worse ways of committing suicide than what's shown in that movie.

What scares me is the notion we are all one rotten moment, one crushed hope or hollow stomach from stuffing someone blameless in a cage. ~~from I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

Everything Everywhere at Once: meh.

Some here are lucky enough to have never experienced hate, I guess. But unfortunately, as some of us know too well, hate is alive and well, not just on the news, but in work, social and family settings. (The family hatred hurts the most of all I think even when it's not directed at you. I...