Thoughts, beliefs and wondersThese are some thoughts on this and that and the other. They will be constantly evolving. I've found that total consistency means you never learn anything new. [Alone] [Buses and Public Transit] [Cats] [Civil Rights] [Environment] [Free Trade] [Journal] [Living without a car] [Open Living] [Rules] [Travel] Bus travel and other forms of public transportation. I consider public transit to be a common good along with education, libraries, roads, national parks (and state parks) and other services and places that benefit everyone in a society. [More] I like cats. Most dogs that I've met tend to be too interested in being liked. Cats really don't care. This is because most animals in the dog family run in packs and want to be a part of a pack, while cats, other than lions, are solitary. I'm also fairly solitary and enjoy being by myself, so I get along much better with a cats. Besides, they're easier to care for in an apartment and I have no interest in buying a house. [My Cat] I am in favor of free trade and open borders because I don't believe that the government is able to move fast enough to keep an economy healthy and moving. This does not excuse or condone those who use sweatshop labor, child labor, and brutal and unsafe working conditions to lower their costs, and I don't have a problem with requiring companies that want to sell their goods in our country to treat their employees with decency and humanity; but, that said, I think that free trade, with a minimum of regulation is the best way to have a good and innovative economy.I have noticed that companies and special interest groups that are loudly in favor of no regulation by the government, often change their tune when the regulation would favor them. The environment is one of those areas that shows the truth of Mark Twain's saying that there are "lies, damn lies and statistics". Both sides, all sides, have taken statistics and stretched them to the breaking point. [More] I've been without a car for several years now. This isn't the first time I've been without a car but it's the first time since my mid-twenties that I haven't had children at home to haul around and get to places. There's a big difference right there. I'm enjoying it so far but then I'm a solitary person anyway and don't have to keep up with a busy social life. [More] No this isn't about living on the street or camping all the time. This is about not hiding away from each other as we do. We crouch in our homes with double locks on the doors and turn away from each other as we sit in traffic in our individual cars. We are so afraid that someone might invade our privacy that we don't even let them find out what we are thinking. This mania for privacy often breaks down with a brutal act designed to get attention, to get someone to pay attention to us, to get someone to care, to prove to ourselves that we matter to other people. [More]Travel Travel is like the internet. It seems linear but it's more like hypertext or fractals. [More] Civil rights are just treating people with courtesy, dignity and respect. Civil rights is not judging people based on that fact that they belong to a certain ethnic, racial, religious, gender or sexual preference group. Why is this so hard? Why is there this knee jerk reaction to someone that we first meet that may have nothing to do with them? Culture, experience, what our parents thought. Lots of things. Civil rights is saying that even though we don't like them or approve of them, for whatever reason, they have the right to their own lifestyle and their own beliefs. . as long as they cause no harm to others. [More] I'm trying something new here. I'll be putting down on a daily, or so basis, some thoughts I've been having and some things I've done and places I've been. [More] Everyone has personal rules or personal laws that they follow. They might be as traditional as "you shall not wear white shoes after Labor Day", or moral as "I will never drink liquor", or practical as "I will only date employed men". Often they are unconscious and followed without realizing that we have them. The fashion or social rules aren't what I'm interested here. The ones I want to list here are the ones that define how we live our lives. I'm not going to put down a huge list but just a few to be added to. These are ones that I want people to expect of me and that I want to expect of myself. [More] I like being alone. I enjoy living by myself. My kids were around up to a few years ago and now they are not only out of the house, but out of town. I'm glad they are grown but I do miss them.I worry that I'm weird for enjoying living alone. Shouldn't I want other people around? This is what we're told. I'm rather between friends now also as people that I did hang out with have moved on or found new interests or we've just lost touch. I seem to be closer to some long distance friends than anyone around here. [More]
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