A hearty YES! to the civilization-saving importance of music, by which I mean above all homemade music, such as you experienced in Prague. That sounds like an impromptu Czech version of the Irish seisiún, also found in pubs. Or the regular Friday-night pizza dinner/hymn sings at our daughter's house.
The difference between making music yourself, especially with other people, and what plays omnipresently in our homes, our stores, our doctor's offices, and our earbuds, is like the difference between raw milk, unpasteurized apple cider, or homemade sourdough bread, and what goes by the names milk, cider, and bread on the shelves of our grocery stores.
I was reminded of one of the happiest evenings of my life, which happened in March. My husband and I enjoyed an evening at a Dublin pub, where a circle of at least 20 musicians played traditional Irish music for hours. Various pub goers broke out into song and conveyed a true depth of feeling. It was splendid and so very human. Music is spirit and soul and love and longing.
I love cats. Always have. But my dog has helped me be a more compassionate and friendly person. And that’s quite something since I tend to be an introvert.
"why bother working with your dog so that he is trustworthy enough to go into public as your partner, if he’s just going to be leashed anyway? A similar argument could be made for children."
One of the biggest challenges I face as a millennial parent is the near constant obsession society has with parents keeping their children safe at all times. My eldest is 3, and for her entire walking life has hated holding hands. If you try to hold her hand she will either try to push your hand away or else go limp and lie herself down on the ground in protest. Given her very young age, I do hold firm that she must hold hands in parking lots or when crossing busy main streets, but outside of that, I've taught her to "stick by mommy and no running away." I 100% refuse to use those toddler leash backpacks because they're degrading and defeats the purpose of them learning physical safety boundaries and observing their environments.
I regularly receive comments from family members and concerned members of the public that I don't hold her hand when walking down the sidewalk, when crossing empty streets, when I let her run ahead on trails to explore, etc. But I honour her quest for freedom by only making her hold hands in the most high risk situations, allowing her to remain untethered from me the majority of outings. And as her mom, there are ways I can mitigate risk while allowing her this freedom - I can walk on the edge of the sidewalk so I'm between her and the traffic, I can teach her to walk only on the sidewalk and not on the road, I can teach her to stop and wait when I tell her so when she's run too far ahead on a trail and I am losing sight of her.
The other day at the park I was sitting on a bench letting her climb around on her own terms, and when she shouted "mommy!" to get my attention so I would look at her, another mom, in a panic, turned around and asked her "are you here alone?" just because I wasn't hovering after her the entire time. Imagine a child at a park playing on their own striking fear into other parents...
Any recommendations on how to avoid the dangerously corrupted water? I drink and have drank water a lot throughout my days, staying hydrated is a big priority of mine, how concerned should I be about this issue?
I loath our belief in the necessity of leashes. What ever happened to parks full of dogs in full stride lost in wonder of the simple things in life: grass, wind, bugs, and balls? One of my greatest pleasures in life is observing my Great Dane roam free; and go full goober mode while doing so.:)
My goddaughter was in the Peace Corps. She was taught to fill a large container, let the solids settle out and decant the water into clear plastic bottles and let 30 minutes of direct sunlight kill the microbes. Obviously works better closer to the equator but still has a lot of bang-for-buck.
I love the dog analogy - you are spot on! Dogs have always been in my life - I can't imagine life without them. They have taught me so much about myself and the way I interact with people, places and things. My wish when I was 5 was to have a farm with all the dogs I wanted. (My best friend planned to live on the same farm with all the cats she wanted!) I think my 5 year-old self recognized the wisdom of dogs and though I never did get that farm, I have several dogs in my home, for which I'm grateful. Dogs are simply the best.
I have been blessed to live the last 30+ years in the flatwoods of North Florida. My homestead is large enough to train puppies off leash. Such a huge convenience and confidence-builder for both them and myself to know that they will respond to my commands when they are running free. I don't go to the game any more. It comes to me. There is a mini-herd of female whitetail deer that hang out in my neighborhood. Four, maybe five of them that I see on the property regularly. If only they weren't the primary vector for ticks. I have my dogs on Nexgard. If only there was a drug I could take monthly to prevent the ticks I pluck off myself daily during our eight months of summer.
Everything by Mark is a good listen. I grew up reading the "Just-so Stories". I would love to find another unabridged edition. Mine was given to my father's younger brother in the 1930's and still had the non-PC stories included ( you'd be hard-pressed to find "How the Leopard got his Spots" in any contemporaneous edition)
Being "careful and thorough" is not in itself a panacea against error. Bertrand Russell (a paradigm of careful and thorough thought) was an advocate for the West using its nuclear first strike capability against the USSR based on his game theoretic assessment of the likelihood of a Soviet First Strike. Which is why I'm not particularly convinced by claims of Marxism without reviewing the actual arguments, and for that matter, checking what any given person means by "Marxism." (While there are areas in which, for example, Jordan Peterson makes a lot of sense, his idea of what constitutes Marxism is kinda loony toons.)
Oh, boy. I'm guessing nobody taught you what "refute" actually means. One counter-example does not a refutation make particularly when talking about the beliefs and statements of a single individual which can change over time. And even if the particular example were wrong (it isn't), the larger point still stands.
People who knew Russell at the time (Hermann Bondi, for example) are quite convinced that Russell was at one point advocating an actual US first strike based on the Prisoner's Dilemma. That Russell later recanted his position (whether that was for an actual first strike or merely the threat of one) actually makes my point for me: even careful and thorough thinkers can be mistaken, and thus the importance of the review and criticism by others of any claim, rather than merely appealing to the persons reputation.
So no, there's no basis for assuming that an argument is a good one based on claims about the arguer being careful and thorough. He could, in this case, be careful, thorough, and still wrong.
"Criticism is the only known antidote to error" -- David Brin
As to mankind adopting dogs to help with the hunt. Having lived in a remote camp in Alaska for two winters, and seen a few wolf kills. I posit that mankind--who made his living robbing the vultures of their feast--probably ghosted the much better sent tracking and hearing wolves. Followed their singing and robbed White Fang of his feast. I can envision that the better tracking wolves located and wore their prey down, then the better armed humans finished the deed, taking what they wanted and leaving butchered scraps for the wolves. Which would perhaps have benefited the wolves somewhat.
Everyone wants to think man is the master who dreamt up coordination, or perhaps symbiosis; when in my mind the wolves probably had to acquiesce to human meddling, and just made the best of it.
About the Trump derangement: Trump's favorite shopping buddy was the very flamboyant gay musician Liberace. Trump was also one of the very first public voices calling for legalizing gay marriage.
So if anyone thinks Trump is anti gay, that's just the sign of a very good misinformation campaign by the media influencing industrial complex. Or TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome).
It's so nice to get 'transported' to Czech with you. I always loved music for it's ability to carry me away and occasionally carry my friends with me. Jamming around the firepit or pub is peak social pleasure. I opened a record label when I was young. I traveled to put on concerts on. My favourite part was standing in the audience in those moments where everyone, from every walk of life, every culture and language were synced and clearly carried to some other place. After covid I realized I had misunderstood it's power. Music deconstructs our experience into manageable and communicable parts. We lost this in covid. So many musicians I knew transformed into angry anti-culture pro-vaxxers. Very un-rock n roll. That or they withdrew and simply gave up on rock'n roll altogether. I spend less time there now. For the same reason I hardly watch movies anymore. But I still love being carried away with a great story. Thank you.
A hearty YES! to the civilization-saving importance of music, by which I mean above all homemade music, such as you experienced in Prague. That sounds like an impromptu Czech version of the Irish seisiún, also found in pubs. Or the regular Friday-night pizza dinner/hymn sings at our daughter's house.
The difference between making music yourself, especially with other people, and what plays omnipresently in our homes, our stores, our doctor's offices, and our earbuds, is like the difference between raw milk, unpasteurized apple cider, or homemade sourdough bread, and what goes by the names milk, cider, and bread on the shelves of our grocery stores.
Heather, so strong and intense and provoking and at the same time so sane and loving and soft. You scare me AND I love your writing.
I love and really enjoyed this. Thank you!
I was reminded of one of the happiest evenings of my life, which happened in March. My husband and I enjoyed an evening at a Dublin pub, where a circle of at least 20 musicians played traditional Irish music for hours. Various pub goers broke out into song and conveyed a true depth of feeling. It was splendid and so very human. Music is spirit and soul and love and longing.
And dogs are a gift.
I love cats. Always have. But my dog has helped me be a more compassionate and friendly person. And that’s quite something since I tend to be an introvert.
"why bother working with your dog so that he is trustworthy enough to go into public as your partner, if he’s just going to be leashed anyway? A similar argument could be made for children."
One of the biggest challenges I face as a millennial parent is the near constant obsession society has with parents keeping their children safe at all times. My eldest is 3, and for her entire walking life has hated holding hands. If you try to hold her hand she will either try to push your hand away or else go limp and lie herself down on the ground in protest. Given her very young age, I do hold firm that she must hold hands in parking lots or when crossing busy main streets, but outside of that, I've taught her to "stick by mommy and no running away." I 100% refuse to use those toddler leash backpacks because they're degrading and defeats the purpose of them learning physical safety boundaries and observing their environments.
I regularly receive comments from family members and concerned members of the public that I don't hold her hand when walking down the sidewalk, when crossing empty streets, when I let her run ahead on trails to explore, etc. But I honour her quest for freedom by only making her hold hands in the most high risk situations, allowing her to remain untethered from me the majority of outings. And as her mom, there are ways I can mitigate risk while allowing her this freedom - I can walk on the edge of the sidewalk so I'm between her and the traffic, I can teach her to walk only on the sidewalk and not on the road, I can teach her to stop and wait when I tell her so when she's run too far ahead on a trail and I am losing sight of her.
The other day at the park I was sitting on a bench letting her climb around on her own terms, and when she shouted "mommy!" to get my attention so I would look at her, another mom, in a panic, turned around and asked her "are you here alone?" just because I wasn't hovering after her the entire time. Imagine a child at a park playing on their own striking fear into other parents...
Any recommendations on how to avoid the dangerously corrupted water? I drink and have drank water a lot throughout my days, staying hydrated is a big priority of mine, how concerned should I be about this issue?
I loath our belief in the necessity of leashes. What ever happened to parks full of dogs in full stride lost in wonder of the simple things in life: grass, wind, bugs, and balls? One of my greatest pleasures in life is observing my Great Dane roam free; and go full goober mode while doing so.:)
My goddaughter was in the Peace Corps. She was taught to fill a large container, let the solids settle out and decant the water into clear plastic bottles and let 30 minutes of direct sunlight kill the microbes. Obviously works better closer to the equator but still has a lot of bang-for-buck.
i am the cat who walks by himself an all places are alike to me. r. kipling just so stories
Thank you for this essay.
Dogs are happiest when allowed to be dogs.
And music can never be cancelled.
I love the dog analogy - you are spot on! Dogs have always been in my life - I can't imagine life without them. They have taught me so much about myself and the way I interact with people, places and things. My wish when I was 5 was to have a farm with all the dogs I wanted. (My best friend planned to live on the same farm with all the cats she wanted!) I think my 5 year-old self recognized the wisdom of dogs and though I never did get that farm, I have several dogs in my home, for which I'm grateful. Dogs are simply the best.
I have been blessed to live the last 30+ years in the flatwoods of North Florida. My homestead is large enough to train puppies off leash. Such a huge convenience and confidence-builder for both them and myself to know that they will respond to my commands when they are running free. I don't go to the game any more. It comes to me. There is a mini-herd of female whitetail deer that hang out in my neighborhood. Four, maybe five of them that I see on the property regularly. If only they weren't the primary vector for ticks. I have my dogs on Nexgard. If only there was a drug I could take monthly to prevent the ticks I pluck off myself daily during our eight months of summer.
https://www.steynonline.com/audio-video/179.mp3
if this works it is a good listen
Everything by Mark is a good listen. I grew up reading the "Just-so Stories". I would love to find another unabridged edition. Mine was given to my father's younger brother in the 1930's and still had the non-PC stories included ( you'd be hard-pressed to find "How the Leopard got his Spots" in any contemporaneous edition)
Being "careful and thorough" is not in itself a panacea against error. Bertrand Russell (a paradigm of careful and thorough thought) was an advocate for the West using its nuclear first strike capability against the USSR based on his game theoretic assessment of the likelihood of a Soviet First Strike. Which is why I'm not particularly convinced by claims of Marxism without reviewing the actual arguments, and for that matter, checking what any given person means by "Marxism." (While there are areas in which, for example, Jordan Peterson makes a lot of sense, his idea of what constitutes Marxism is kinda loony toons.)
Unfortunately you are refuted regarding Russell:
BERTRAND RUSSELL AND
PREVENTIVE WAR
http://www.plymouth.edu/department/history-philosophy/files/2012/10/Bertrand-Russell-and-Preventive-War.pdf
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
1 Oct 1946
28 pages
Vol. 2, No. 7
The Atomic Bomb and the Prevention of War
Bertrand Russell PP19-21
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WwwAAAAAMBAJ&redir_esc=y
All of two minutes browsing and you would have saved your own blushes.
Oh, boy. I'm guessing nobody taught you what "refute" actually means. One counter-example does not a refutation make particularly when talking about the beliefs and statements of a single individual which can change over time. And even if the particular example were wrong (it isn't), the larger point still stands.
People who knew Russell at the time (Hermann Bondi, for example) are quite convinced that Russell was at one point advocating an actual US first strike based on the Prisoner's Dilemma. That Russell later recanted his position (whether that was for an actual first strike or merely the threat of one) actually makes my point for me: even careful and thorough thinkers can be mistaken, and thus the importance of the review and criticism by others of any claim, rather than merely appealing to the persons reputation.
So no, there's no basis for assuming that an argument is a good one based on claims about the arguer being careful and thorough. He could, in this case, be careful, thorough, and still wrong.
"Criticism is the only known antidote to error" -- David Brin
As to mankind adopting dogs to help with the hunt. Having lived in a remote camp in Alaska for two winters, and seen a few wolf kills. I posit that mankind--who made his living robbing the vultures of their feast--probably ghosted the much better sent tracking and hearing wolves. Followed their singing and robbed White Fang of his feast. I can envision that the better tracking wolves located and wore their prey down, then the better armed humans finished the deed, taking what they wanted and leaving butchered scraps for the wolves. Which would perhaps have benefited the wolves somewhat.
Everyone wants to think man is the master who dreamt up coordination, or perhaps symbiosis; when in my mind the wolves probably had to acquiesce to human meddling, and just made the best of it.
About the Trump derangement: Trump's favorite shopping buddy was the very flamboyant gay musician Liberace. Trump was also one of the very first public voices calling for legalizing gay marriage.
So if anyone thinks Trump is anti gay, that's just the sign of a very good misinformation campaign by the media influencing industrial complex. Or TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome).
Well said and beautiful!
It's so nice to get 'transported' to Czech with you. I always loved music for it's ability to carry me away and occasionally carry my friends with me. Jamming around the firepit or pub is peak social pleasure. I opened a record label when I was young. I traveled to put on concerts on. My favourite part was standing in the audience in those moments where everyone, from every walk of life, every culture and language were synced and clearly carried to some other place. After covid I realized I had misunderstood it's power. Music deconstructs our experience into manageable and communicable parts. We lost this in covid. So many musicians I knew transformed into angry anti-culture pro-vaxxers. Very un-rock n roll. That or they withdrew and simply gave up on rock'n roll altogether. I spend less time there now. For the same reason I hardly watch movies anymore. But I still love being carried away with a great story. Thank you.