We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Rightly or wrongly, we reserved physical punishments for dangerous situations. For example, running into the road when told not to. For running into deep, wavy water before being adequate swimmers.
However, we were of the generation of gentle rather than authoritarian parents. Probably not the best. Now, I feel the youth need some fear of parents because it is parents' job to represent reality before the kids hit real reality.
While the Smollett case continues to take twists and turns, it's paramount that we acknowledge that for every case such as this, there are thousands of others that are indisputable and leave a lasting impact on the targeted victims and their communities. We must make it clear, over and over again, that the bias-motivated crimes happening every day are unacceptable.
College hate crime hoaxers usually don’t file police reports. If they do, it’s to the campus cops who generally do the first part of their job and discover it’s a hoax, and then do the second part of their job and cover it up. Local cops in campus towns also often shrug and the perps walk away with no charges.
Asylum claims are the latest immigration scam. If migrants want somewhere else to stay, why not stay in Mexico where the language and culture are similar?
Reasons to visit Vienna: Coffee, pastries, horses, the Belvedere and the Kunsthistoriches.
You can't "do" the latter any more than you can do the Prado. It's like the Metropolitan in NYC, but Vienna has the best collection of northern European art (thanks to the Hapsburgs). We went there to see the Breughels, and that was enough. Mind-boggling.
15:35 But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?"
15:36 Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
15:37 And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.
15:38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
15:42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.
15:43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
15:44 It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.
15:45 Thus it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
15:46 But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual.
15:47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
15:48 As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.
15:49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
15:50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
In the end, Stafford suggested that even if Smollett were guilty of staging a hoax "hate crime," he still highlighted a greater truth. "Jussie may have created this whole situation to highlight a reality that is happening every day," he said. "Our current administration doesn’t support people like him — that are black and queer."
There are many unspoken rules in gyms. One is that you do not look at other people whether in the locker rooms or in the gym. Except furtively. Minimize eye contact mostly.
Another is that you do not talk to people you don't know. The exceptions are with people you see all the time in a class or using the weights, etc. Over the years, I have several friendly acquaintances from the gym, and one new pal.
Another is that you should not hog equipment or space. Do some pushups or leg press and let another person use the pullup machine for five minutes. Politeness and consideration.
“In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is...in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.”
Transsexual Activist
Accompanying 
There are many unspoken rules in gyms. One is that you do not look at other people whether in the locker rooms or in the gym. Except furtively. Minimize eye contact mostly.
Nude Beaches: 