Category: Fourre-tout

The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naïve forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget. 
Thomas Stephen Szasz

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Life is full of unexpected vicissitudes, but generally speaking we harvest what we sow.

Unconsciously or consciously we judge the people around us and store our feelings in one of our brain’s little compartment.
When one of these storage units overfills, the spillage spoils the smooth running of the human machine.
We become tense, anxious, volatile.
Any careless remark can trigger a tsunami of contained emotions.

Forgiving those who hurt us is not easy and is often difficult to contemplate. It takes courage to do so.
But forgiving does not mean forgetting. It does not give the offender a clean slate.
Forgiving means that you are willing to let some hurtful language slide by with the caveat that you won’t be so lenient if it happens again.

In life there is an unwritten code of conduct that civilized people go by.
And one of the first rule of that code is not to speak carelessly and hurt people by insensitive remarks.

“A knife wound heals, but a tongue wound festers.”  Turkish proverb

Offensive language from a stranger is less hurtful than when coming from somebody you know, but no matter what the source, it hurts.

A responsible adult is somebody who is able to control his thoughts and keep his mouth in check.

Alain

 

Let’s not deny it, we all like facility. We like to do things easily and quickly. The easier the better.

For instance, sometimes after staring at your computer screen for a while, you start squinting and your eyes beg you for mercy.
Well, you don’t have to squint anymore. Your Mac (version OS X) can read anything out loud to you.
I was not aware of this until my wife pointed it out.

To experience this feature, first click on “System Preferences”. Then click on the “Dictation & Speech” icon and select either Tom, Kathy, Vicky or Victoria’s voice. You can test each voice by clicking on the “Play” button.
Personally I like Tom’s voice.
And you can also select the “speaking rate”, the speed at which the text is read.

To have your Mac speak to you, highlight the text to be spoken and press the Option + Esc keys (you can select different keys) at the same time.
Et voila! Your Mac will read any text to you.

If you are tired of typing, you can also dictate to your computer.
In the “Dictation & Speech” area you simply need to turn Dictation “ON” and your machine will type whatever you speak.

Isn’t beautiful? You don’t need that costly secretary anymore… unless you cannot do without the way she speaks and the way she walks. But this is for you to decide.

Go ahead, try it on. Highlight any chapter (or the entire text) in this little piece and press the Option + Esc keys together.
Your Mac will read it to you.

Will wonders ever cease?

Alain

PS: To get a better view of the spider, click on the image.

Here we go again! The peons are being rounded again to go the polls and voice their sentiments.

To me though, the bloody elections are like a recurring rash. Annoying and irritating.
Annoying because my mailbox is filling up with political pamphlets that I never read, and irritating because the airwaves are full of partisan messages that nobody pays attention to.

All this hullabaloo because of democracy: the rule of the people.

Democracy has a nice ring, but the principle is flawed because most of the electorate has not the faintest idea who or what to vote for, and many abstain to participate for that simple reason.
In today’s elections we are faced with so many questions and decisions that unless you are a hardcore political junkie, you are practically unable to proceed.

In Marin County, we have to elect or re-elect a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney General, Insurance Commissioner, State board Equalization district 2 (what the heck is that?).
Then we have to vote for a US Representative, a State Senator, a Member of the State Assembly, a State Superintendent of Public Instruction, a Healthcare Director.

What do we know about the incumbents or the candidates? Practically nothing.

In order to vote for a candidate, I would like to know what his political record is and how he/she stands on at least ten major issues. But this kind of information is not readily available.

It does not mean that you should not vote, but to vote earnestly you have to do a lot of research and I don’t think that the average citizen has the time or the inclination to do so.
Most voters will vote by party affiliation or union affiliation. They will leave it up to their leaders to tell them what to do to protect their narrow interests.
And these leaders can, and often are controlled by the omnipresent money of special interests.

In order to vote intelligently, you need to investigate each candidate, each proposition thoroughly. And in this respect, the Internet can be very helpful.

But you also need to check various sources to form a valid opinion. And those sources have to give you sound reasons to vote for certain candidates or propositions.
A single newspaper endorsement is not enough to form an opinion. It is a good idea to check a few local newspapers and examine their reasons for endorsing a candidate or a proposition.
It is hard work, but if you care about your future or about the future of your children, you have to do this.

You have to vote, but you need to do your homework carefully and thoroughly before trekking to the voting booth and casting your fate to the wind.

Alain