The peace sign is now universally understood to express harmony and goodwill, but its origins stem back to a very specific movement. British artist Gerald Holtom — working with the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War — designed the symbol in 1958 to promote the idea of nuclear disarmament. The peace icon made its debut that same year during an Easter weekend march in Englandto protest the use of nuclear weaponry.
The symbol’s design is based on how one would express the letters “N” and “D” (for nuclear disarmament) using semaphore, a method of visual communication that traditionally uses flags or lights. The straight downward line at the symbol’s center represents “D” in semaphore, whereas the angled lines coming off the center line reflect the shape of “N.” Though the peace sign has since been used more generally by anti-war groups, the logo remains staunchly anti-nuke at its core.
The languages we speak don’t just shape the way we communicate; they also influence how we perceive and understand the world, including something as fundamental as time. The direction in which a language is written, for example, can affect how we think about and refer to the passage of time. Because English speakers write from left to right, we tend to visualize the timeline of life to death from left to right, and describe the past and future as being “behind” us and “in front” of us, respectively — we say “looking forward” to the future and “looking back” at the past. However, speakers of Aymara, an Indigenous language of the Andes, perceive the past as lying ahead of them, because it’s known and visible, while the unseen, unpredictable future remains behind them. Meanwhile, Mandarin has adopted a vertical view of time. Speakers of this language often refer to past events as “up” and future events as “down” — next week, then, becomes “down week.”
Researchers have long been interested in our metaphorical manipulation of languages — “spending time” or “feeling down,” for example — and whether the way we talk about abstract concepts does indeed shape how we think about them. These nuances fall under the umbrella of linguistic relativity: the thought that the language we speak influences our reality. But some critics argue that this theory — also known as the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis — overstates the influence of language on thought. They argue that while language can indeed shape our perceptions, it does not rigidly determine how we think, or how we understand the world.
Throughout the Middle Ages, English men were required by law to practice longbow archery — a mandate that was in place for longer than you might expect. Early laws encouraged practicing archery indirectly: King Henry I, who ruled England from 1100 to 1135, declared that deaths accidentally caused by practicing archers didn’t count as murder or manslaughter. During the reign of Henry III, the 1252 Assize of Arms required that able-bodied men of a certain means between the ages of 15 and 60 be equipped with a bow and arrows and know how to use them — although residents of England’s royal forests had to practice with blunt arrows to protect the king’s game.
In 1363, King Edward III, who was in the midst of the Hundred Years’ War and convinced that archery skills were “almost wholly disused,” declared that able-bodied men must practice archery on holidays. The Archery Law, enacted that same year, further demanded practice on Sundays. Edward also outlawed, on pain of imprisonment, watching or participating in “vain games of no value,” a wide net that included handball, football, hurling stones, and cockfighting.
Subsequent kings laid down similar acts: Richard II banned several games and required serfs and peasants to practice the longbow, and Edward IV set minimum imports for equipment. Henry VIII, after introducing several bans on games and tighter enforcement procedures earlier in his reign, passed one of the most notorious pro-archery laws of all in 1541: It nullified all previous acts, banned even more non-archery sports, and exempted wealthy people. In addition to requiring men under 60 (and, to a lesser extent, their male children) to own a certain amount of archery equipment, it empowered employers to garnish the wages of any servants who didn’t have it. The 1541 law was still on the books in bits and pieces until the 20th century, but England’s Betting and Gaming Act of 1960 finally nullified the last of the country’s longbow mandates.
Let’s hear it for justice. Trump has not been able to wiggle out of the charges in DC. He will keep trying and the Supreme Court is probably trying to figure a way to help him. When he loses this election the justices may find themselves on the receiving end of sentencing and their title of little tin gods will go away. 6 of the 9 seem to have the wrong take on who or what they are there to uphold. Three are definitely in the pocket of Trump. Two more are very much leaning in that direction and one is just thinking his position will keep him out of harm’s way. They have lost sight of the true force behind their appointments in favor of supporting a felon. He is also having difficulties and identifying Jan 6 as a “Day of Love” is just one of them. He has also said that the rioters that are being held are like the Japanese that were interned during WWII. The Japanese only crime was to be different and that is the cause of their being locked up. Needless to say, they are different so it would be justification for him to lock them up today. The entire world needs to heal the wounds that are causing so much grief. When you look at the basic cause it is the fact that people believe differently and everyone of them is convinced that the way they believe is the only correct way. If anyone is looking to Trump to lead the way on this issue they need to go back to the drawing board. The only thing he knows about the bible is that the ones with his name sell for $60 each. The idea that one power put all the world together and that power watches over all the people and critters on earth 24/7 seems implausible to say the least. There might be a bit of help offered from Santa Claus but that is about it. This being has created all these separate faiths to do what, confuse things like the tower of babble. These faiths all have their little quirks. There are requirements like praying multiple times a day, or donating 10th of your wealth to the church. The various churches have pastors, or inman, or priests. All seem to have a figurehead that has communications with the all mighty, or at least that’s what is said. This all powerful deity has got to have a massive headache most of the time listening to all the nonsense mankind puts out for why we are doing what we are doing to each other instead of looking out for each other. Think about it.
The Etymology of the Word “Fall” Refers to Falling Leaves
Prior to the terms “fall” and “autumn” making their way into the common lexicon, the months of September, October, and November were generally referred to as the harvest season, a time of year for gathering ripened crops. Some of the first recorded uses of the word “fall” date back to 1500s England, when the term was a shortened version of “fall of the year” or “fall of the leaf.” The 1600s saw the arrival of the word “autumn,” which came from the French word automne and was popular among writers such as Chaucer and Shakespeare. By the 18th century, “autumn” became the predominant name for the season in England, though over the following century, the word “fall” would grow in popularity across the Atlantic. But while some proper British English linguists consider fall to be an Americanism, the term actually originated in England, and both “autumn” and “fall” are used interchangeably today.
President John F. Kennedy assumed office during a tumultuous time in America’s history. But right from his inaugural address, he conveyed a spirit of hope and idealism in a resonant quote that went on to define his presidency. “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country,” he famously said.
JFK’s inauguration, the first to be broadcast in color, was watched by some 38 million people. The speech, although credited principally to Kennedy, was also written by Kennedy’s longtime aide (and later, principal speechwriter) Ted Sorensen. Kennedy wanted a speech that would “set a tone for the era about to begin,” and he got just that. America was on the precipice of great social change, and the inaugural address encapsulated the country’s need for unity and the civic engagement the moment would call for.
It is hard to imagine that almost 50% of our populus is willing to take their futures, and the futures of the rest of us, and flush them down the toilet. How are they going to do that? Simply by putting a mark beside Trump’s name on the ballot. These people have not listened to his rants about deportations, imprisonments, and not having to worry about voting ever again. He wants to be seen as one of his contemporaries and those are the dictators of this world. His focus is to become more wealthy than anyone else, and if put into office he will take what he wants from whomever he wants. There are no states in this nation that have not supplied troops to a war or conflict and he has called all those that served losers. They have gone off to protect the freedom that everyone enjoys even those that have never served, like Trump. So does the rest of the people in the states that are so solidly behind him also think of you as losers. If you vote for him then you most certainly are losers. We already know that this is going to be a contested election because if he loses we can expect to see the same crap as in 2020, his day of love as he described it. His transition team is supposed to have made arrangements with the White House staff in the event he wins and they have not done that. The reason is because they must stop taking money from outside sources when they sign, they don’t want to stop taking money. The main point is that rules are for others to obey, not Trump. So what are the reasons to vote for him? If you believe that he is religious you would be mistaken, and yet his line of nonsense seems to attract the religious. Mostly the ones that are convinced that skin color makes a difference. History tells us that that attitude is as old as the first humans. It is claimed that Neanderthal and Homosapien peoples were totally different and yet they must have been able to interbreed as there are people today with both genes in their DNA. The inability to reproduce with one another is the point of difference. When it comes to his having plans for the nation he has yet to express a positive idea. Do away with all social support, social security, medicare etc and ask yourselves can you really manage without these programs? How about the older members of your families, can they manage or are they all going to come live with you? His focus is get rid of immigrants, lock up opponents and drill baby drill. The need to extract more riches from the earth for personal gain is his real focus. What he leaves behind for your children and the future matters not, he will die with his name on as many things as he can put it on and he will be in the books as being the wealthiest and most powerful and that is all that counts.
Cooler weather, shorter days, and changing leaves are small harbingers of one undeniable truth: Oktoberfest is at hand. Most years (except 2020 and 2021) since 1810, the German town of Munich has erected massive beer tents (some capable of seating 6,000 people), tapped kegs filled with liquid masterpieces such as helles, Pilsner, and hefeweizen, and held the world-renowned beer celebration called Oktoberfest — the largest beer festival in the world. Although Germany will likely never relinquish their beer-guzzling crown, a few towns around the world hold similar Bavarian bashes that rival the original. One of the biggest is the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest, held about 75 miles west of Toronto. Established with only $200 back in 1969, the festival has exploded in popularity in the ensuing decades, and regularly attracts more than 700,000 people — including Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who opened the 2016festival by tapping its first keg.
While the event in Kitchener-Waterloo is a leading candidate for the world’s largest beer festival outside Germany, it does have some competitors. Its biggest rival comes from a country intimately familiar with throwing big parties: Brazil. Today, the town of Blumenau in southern Brazil is known as “Little Germany” because it was founded by German pharmacist Hermann Bruno Otto Blumenau in 1850 alongside 17 other German immigrants. Around 30% of the town is now of German descent, so it makes sense that Blumenau holds a 19-day-long Oktoberfest against the backdrop of the town’s German-style architecture.
The conservatives in the heart of the nation seem to be leaning in the direction of putting Trump back in office. Many in this area of the country depend on farming for a living as we depend on them to keep doing that task and keep us fed. That area of the country has been found to contain deposits of oil and one of Trump’s comments was that if he is back in office it will be “drill baby drill”.
Along with the drilling comes the maintenance of those wells which oftentimes includes fracking and that endangers the water table which is already low. So tell me again why this is a good idea. We can use oil for a lot of stuff, but we can not eat it and the production of oil does not exceed the life of our citizens. All this production creates is more money in the pockets of men like Trump that do not give a crap about anything but getting rich.
The drilling is to take place in public grounds, what were national parks and national forest, anywhere there may be mineral wealth to be gained. The reason to take mercury off the dangerous chemical list is because it is a quick and cheap test for gold. Everyone needs to pay attention to everything. The sleight of hand tricks to distract are nothing more than a way to keep everyone watching one thing while another thing is taking place.
If the predictions of a 100 year drought are real then we need to protect the water we have and learn to use it sparingly. A lot has been said about global warming and since this is halfway through Oct and the Phoenix area still has temperatures above 100 there could be some truth in the theory.
The idea that we need fossil fuel to produce electric power is not true. We have spots in the country that have lots of natural geothermal heat and we can use that for power production along with solar and wind. Tapping into that heat source may help us regulate the potential destructive power that is there, like YellowStone. That heat is present outside the park so we need not detract from that, but there is very little reason to not utilize the natural power that is there. If places like Iceland have managed to live with and prosper from having active volcanoes under foot we can do the same.
Esoteric Meandering Shouting Into the Void 
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