If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?
I am a purveyor of words, so I like language I don’t feel it permanently banning any words but maybe we should learn how to use words properly and in the correct context.
We are sitting on the edge of the cliff waiting for the lemmings to jump because someone does not like other people’s life choices. Here we go again, an entire nation being held hostage for the temper tantrum of a few upset, self indulgent, right wing, overly righteous, know better than the rest of us ____, pick your favorite derogatory term. Do away with anything that is gender related in the educational system, get rid of planned parenthood, stop this and stop that and use your muscle to make sure that whatever offends you is forever gone. Isn’t nice that you have the power to make all the rest of mankind dance to the tune you wish to play. How about we change the direction of the flow of power and make you on the down hill run? If we look hard enough then chances are we can find a way for the majority of us to continue to live and you little spineless hermaphroditic insects go away. So let us look at this for what it is and that is the fulfillment of a HATE CRIME. We have laws against such things so maybe we should look into this from a different angle. It may be an issue across the nation but we cannot classify it as a national issue. Everywhere you go times are changing and some things take some getting use to. Turning back the clock is not an option, although the people behind this fight would be happy to do just that. If they win this time getting all they ask for, what will be on the agenda next time? How about women’s right to vote, or own property, maybe interracial marriage, where you can live based on color or some other factor. These issues are important and to some very important. The issues are far more important than the people opposed to them, and yet they do not impact everyone in the nation like the decisions of the little people that managed to get elected by lazy uninformed voters from wherever these idiots blew in from. Identify the issues they are targeting for what they are and the people that are making all the noise for who they are, throw both in the trash and get back to running the country while we still have a country to run.
Roughly 5,000 years ago, humans started to speak to one another. Ancient civilizations in regions around the world began to develop complex language systems starting at least as early as 3200 BCE. While it’s difficult to pin down the exact origin of language given the limited archaeological evidence available, historians generally agree on a few early tongues that pioneered the use of both written and verbal communication. Today, there are more than 7,100 different languages in use around the world, and they are easier than ever to learn to speak thanks to language-learning platforms such as Babbel. Here are seven of the oldest languages in the world.
Sumerian
From roughly 4100 BCE to 1750 BCE, the ancient Sumerian civilization thrived across southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). The Sumerians developed the world’s oldest known writing system, cuneiform, which consisted of wedge-shaped characters carved into clay tablets. The script was later used to denote the spoken Sumerian language, in lieu of any sort of alphabet. The language started as an entirely logographic script, and evolved into a phonetic syllabic system to convey more conversational thought. The oldest known example of Sumerian writing first appeared in a group of administrative and educational texts dating to around 3200 BCE. Around 2500 BCE, the Sumerians produced the first known literature from any ancient civilization: religious works such as the Kesh Temple Hymn that focused less on real-world issues and more on mythological concepts.
The now-extinct Sumerian language consisted of four vowel sounds (a, i, e, u) as well as 16 consonant sounds (b, d, g, ŋ, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, ś, š, t, z), and was one of the first known uses of grammatical concepts such as prefixes, infixes, and suffixes. By the year 2000 BCE, the language had faded to the point where it was no longer spoken, as new civilizations and languages emerged throughout the region. It enjoyed a brief resurgence for literary and liturgical purposes between 2000 BCE and 1500 BCE, but was mainly studied by scribes thereafter.
What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?
6 minutes, 6 hours, 6 days, or 6 months it really doesn’t change… maintain my sanity, financially keep my head above water, try and maintain my health.
Yet another person talking about embryos being babies. This is as logical as an acorn being an oak tree but we will run with it. So all this nonsense seems to be taking hold, we know that a woman in the south went to jail for losing a baby because she got shot in the stomach and the baby died. Child endangerment, the other person found not guilty, go figure. We know that there seems to be no problem with the idea that women die to save the unborn, again how wise is this, the lady could possibly earn a living, pay taxes and vote, but don’t let common sense get in the way of your bias. Take this a step further and a bright eyed insurance agent says “We could put a rule in that if we have to save an unborn that a sex needs to be declared and if it turns out to be they got it wrong we can sue to get our money back”. A lawyer asks that a name be provided for the unborn, and that provisions be made for care till adulthood, again with a gender escape clause so they can make more money. Is this too far out to be believed? We all know the car salesman that you shake hands with and then count your fingers afterwards, so no it is not in the realm of impossible. Why are we at a stage where this is common? That is pretty simple really, the people that are putting all these dumb things in place reside in Republican run states. The way things have been going election wise for quite some time is that a President usually gets two terms. This time around it did not happen. Trump did not get the popular vote in 2016 but he won the electoral vote, did not happen in 2020 even with cheating. So we did not get to chose the Boss 2 times in a row and do things our way so we are going to be the biggest horses asses we can possibly be and come up with the dumbest crap we can think of. Bussing and flying immigrants to major cities in the north, stringing razor wire on the border, defining federal law, changing state laws to defy federal law. Does any of it prove anything, not really. We just have a bunch of naughty little boys on the playground that kicked a hole in the last ball they had and now all they can do is fight and call one another names. Every elected official that has violated the oath of office should resign and go sit in a corner at least the next 4 years. The people that elected you deserve better than that and you have no right to any compensation for the time spent.
There is a survey out that is taking the point of view that socialism is not just bad but one of the worst things to ever happen. Terms like Marxis and all that sort of thing are thrown in just to make it sound worse than it really is. The viewpoint is that nothing good comes from socialism and yet we have social security that takes care of a lot of people in this country that would have nothing without it. Why, because big business likes to keep profits high and wages low and the little guy at the bottom can fend the best he can. Beyond that corporations would still take the position that if you can not work you have no need to live. Many countries across Europe have social medicine, education, and a social attitude toward all the citizens of their nation. No one goes hungry or sleeps in the street, older people have free transport on public buses and trains, help with rent and utilities and all seem to be very content with the situation. Our system puts personal wealth and power before humanity. There are no limits on what the rich and powerful can get away with and it is okay to use others to fill the voids or pay the price for whatever comes. Are there short falls with socialist systems, of course just as there are with any system. The right has no more lock on what is good or evil than the left. As mentioned before many believe religion is an answer to problems and it is just another problem to add to a problem. The ideal mix may never be achieved but liberal and conservative have parts to play in the program that keeps our world moving along. Balance is the issue that needs to be addressed not panic and fear that the sky will fall if a bit more of this is applied than a bit more of that. Nothing is in balance at present, everywhere we look we have discord. War, fighting, decisions being made for no reason other than it is counter to what others see as reasonable, and out and out stupidity being the watchword on a constant basis. We have cycled through some really major events and attitudes. People became politically correct, whatever that was, and then we did away with violent cartoons only to replace American made ones with Japanese made ones that are even more violent. How we spoke in classrooms and address gender issues and the list goes on with one group saying understand and the other saying it is against God’s will. The problem is that neither side of this debate will open a window to attempt to understand anything because if they do they may actually listen and learn something, God forbid, It is very possible that both sides of this debate will rot in hell for a very long time before they ever get around to discussing it.
I would tell my younger self to listen and pay attention and to not focus on the outcomes that didn’t turn out the way I wanted. My father always said this is no failure if you learn from it, I would tell my younger self that there are no truer words spoken. There is no failure only opportunity to learn.
It can be tricky to pin down just why an animal’s coat looks a certain way, and scientists have a few ideas about why zebras evolved to have their trademark black and white stripes — they might act as thermoregulation, or as a unique, confusion-based kind of camouflage, to name just a couple of examples. But one of the more promising, consistent theories — although scientists are still ultimately divided — is that the striped pattern keeps dangerous flies away.
After finding that zebra stripes are more pronounced in areas of Africa with more horseflies and tsetse flies (which can transmit deadly diseases among equines), an evolutionary biologist assembled a team for a new experiment. They observed horses, some dressed up in zebra-striped coats, next to some especially tame zebras, and found that while flies hovered around all of them, they rarely landed on zebras or the striped horses compared to the horses without coats. When flies would approach zebra-striped surfaces, they would behave as if they couldn’t find a good spot to land.
Do we have a value system? What is of value to us? Can we describe or identify that which has value? Great questions, what are the answers? Last weekend a good percentage of the nation watched the Super Bowl. What were your thoughts when you drove past the homeless encampment on the way to the store for chips and beer? We send millions of dollars worth of munitions to our allies to use against their enemies and find justification for withholding $40.00 per month per child during the summer for school lunches. There are families of 3 or 4 that are living in mansions that cost millions and just down the street we have other families living in tents. It is normal to enjoy the fruit of your labor, the point is that sometimes we need to be aware of our surroundings and share our good fortune. The disparity between labor and management in many businesses today is beyond belief. It is like we have gone back to the days when we had royals and serfs and nothing in between. This country was not founded on that theory. We had an upper class that owned property and had the vote. We had a separation of church and state, as the founders knew that tying religion to any civic entity is a recipe for disaster as religion of any flavor is toxic to individual freedom. There have been struggles with privilege based on status for centuries and we still put up with the problem. Laws are enacted and yet some constantly claim that they are somehow immune from this or that because of the color of their skin or their shit doesn’t stink. Will we ever get beyond that issue? It may come to pass when we have AI enforcing and administering the law. Other nations have overcome the majority of things that seem to plague us, homelessness, hunger, housing the elderly and education and health care. Why we can not do this is simply a case of everything has to be for profit not good will. Double standards are the norm, businesses that close on Sunday and claim their faith exempts them from paying for birth control insurance have no problem using other businesses that are open on Sunday to advertise their business. Just a way to get out of paying for insurance. Most rules are made for the benefit of those that made the rule. Take the one that says there can be no autopsy performed in the Vatican. Won’t explain it as it seems obvious without explanation. Today most of the dysfunction is in the lack of cooperation between the political parties. Working together to overcome the disparities is how we achieve advancement and gain unity. Today’s world view is not to let that happen but rather to burn the bridge before anyone can get on it rather than cooperatively resolve the issue in advance.
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