F.A.S.T. -- The Future of Homeland Security? (w/poll)
In February 2009, the Ministry of Homeland security awarded a $2.6 million contract to Charles Draper Laboratories to investigate various off-body sensors and sensor systems capable of providing...
View ArticleThis week, help me tear down the Reagan myth
Arguably, there's been one good side effect of the chaos in Cairo and the horrible blizzard. Had it been the kind of slow news week you'd normally get in the early February dead of winter, your TV set...
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St. Patrick's Day: A Diary in Green
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! I decided to repost this diary from last year in which I described a little bit of the holiday's history. In 2010, I wrote the diary using green font, but...
View ArticleOn the Origin of Feces
This was provoked by the yammering yahoos who are clamoring to place their preferred narratives in front of reality, e.g., Bush as War President again. I am surprised how they have been so effective in...
View ArticleThe Era of Republican Big Government Is Already Here
It is far too soon to make sweeping pronouncements of any sort, but one of the most persistent issues of next year's Presidential Election may well be a grand debate on the size of government....
View ArticleBooks That Changed My Life: D'aulaire's Greek Myths
First, please allow me to apologize for not publishing a series entry last Friday. It was completely my own fault. I knew I was going on vacation last week, and figured that, since any time I had on...
View ArticleSpiritual Light and Darkness — Celebrating the Equinox as a Modern-Day Mystic
I used to look at solstices and equinoxes as purely physical events. I was skeptical about attributing any deeper meaning to them.Even having studied meditation, mysticism, and the esoteric for about...
View ArticleLethe
The time: the mid 22nd century The place: at sea, close to the southern coast of the country still known as the United States.The ship's name is Lethe - Forgetfulness. Oblivion. Concealment. Her...
View ArticleBooks That Changed My Life: Taran Wanderer
I loved mythology and fantasy as a child. I suppose that was inevitable, considering that my mom, as a nine-year-old, attended the world premiere of the Wizard of Oz. More to the point, I was lost in...
View ArticleThe Corn Maidens
If you grow up in South Dakota, If you listen to the winds of the high and windy plains, You know things That people don't tell you. This is not one of the old stories from the people of the South...
View ArticleThe Hate Subsidy
When the tax code is written so some income is not taxed, you are creating a subsidy. Oil money is subsidized in the hopes it will reduce the cost of oil production (whether this works is debatable,...
View ArticleIn Midst of Publicity Stunt Real Cory Booker Shines Through
(Mayor Cory Booker's power play causes chaos at Newark City Council meeting)It was a great plan. Mayor Cory Booker was going to stick to a strategy that had made him one of America's most admired...
View ArticleAncient Ireland: The Five Fifths of Ireland
At the time just prior to St. Patrick in the 4th and 5th centuries CE, Ireland was divided into five kingdoms, known as the five fifths of Ireland: Ulster, Meath, Leinster, Munster, and Connacht. While...
View ArticleThe Land of the Free and other American mythology
While the mythology that America has the highest standard of living is beginning to die its long-overdue death, most Americans still honestly believe that their country is the most free in the world....
View Article"Some say, on that first morning..." (December 14, An Advent Canticle)
Some say, on that first morning of Christ's birth An unseen voice swept over land and sea Crying mournful, Pan is dead -- The Great God Pan is dead; And ever since, the ancient gods have dwindled;...
View ArticleAncient Mythic Origins of the Christmas Story
Valerie Tarico interviews Dr. Tony Nugent , scholar of world religions. Dr. Nugent is a symbologist, an expert in ancient symbols. He taught at Seattle University for fifteen years in the Department of...
View ArticleBusting myths about the private gun sale, aka 'gun show' loophole
There's an article on Media Matters today concerning "Nine Media Myths About Proposals To Strengthen Gun Laws". The entire piece is worth reading, but just to pick one issue from it, I'm choosing two...
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The Grieving Room: Haunted
Welcome, fellow travelers on the grief journey, and a special welcome to anyone who is new to The Grieving Room. We meet every Monday evening. Whether your loss is recent or many years ago, whether...
View ArticlePrometheus Unshamed I
THE NEW GOD ON THE BLOCKWhat is our era not the end of? The End of History, the End of Civilization, the End of Education and more have been declared, but apparently, someone forgot to inform Time, for...
View ArticlePrometheus Unshamed II
THE SHAME OF IT ALLWe need to go back to the beginning ... of this series of diaries, at least, but time-wise, even a bit further. St. Augustine raised the fundamental issue in his Confessions (~397...
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