Post No. 484 - Reading

G'day, hello, howdy, hi, zdravstvujtye (some of my work colleagues are Russian, including an absolutely invaluable administrator who has recently taken maternity leave - may she and young one and family be blest), guten tag (where I have connection owing to a recent past life), sveiki, czesc (I have friends, not just colleagues, at work who are Polish), bonjour (colleagues at a former workplace were French, and we practised and tried to extend my woeful and limited range of this language), selamat pagi (one of the best junior engineers I ever worked with was Malaysian, and she taught me a few words), annyeonghaseyo, pryvit, bitaem, como vai (a friend of mine a few years ago, although not Brazilian, had Portuguese ancestry), ¡Hola (a former work colleague and friend, a VERY talented artist - with a Mexican sensibility to her artwork, particularly around the Day of the Dead - used to teach me Mexican Spanish), Selamat pagi, ni hao (ah, my work trips to Asia, and the many wonderful, wonderful people I have met there - and some excellent work colleagues and friends here, as well), bongiorno (my current home city of Melbourne has lots of Greeks and Italians, who have made our culture far richer - and made us coffee snobs :) ), hoschakal, hejsan, ciao. 

Some reading links for you:

• http://wildhunt.org/2013/10/a-rivers-history-a-communitys-future.html;

• http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/oct/27/interactive-safest-time-to-drive;

• http://paganactivist.com/2013/10/28/sex-ethics-and-paganism/;

• this is one of the many reasons (others including respect for readers) that I have chosen NOT to allow ads on this blog (and there is no sensible way of discussing this with Google): http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/14/victorian-government-ads-pulled-from-baddest-bikie-site;

• Caiseal Mor http://www.mahjee.com/;

• http://druidsdownunder.blogspot.com.au/2010/01/making-it-personal-triad-of-ancestors.html;

• http://druidsdownunder.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/a-year-of-two-life-cycles.html;

• Dragon Dreaming http://dragondreaming.wordpress.com/;

• Necropolis Now http://necropolisnow.blogspot.com/;

• Wildspeak http://www.wildspeak.com/;

• http://caeraustralis.com.au/gorsedd.htm;

• I realised, after reading this post, that No. 3, "watch urges" (as opposed to act on them), is one that I have used quite a bit throughout my life, but I've also used many of the other tools listed here - some, such as letting go of ideals or just watching resistance, I actively disagree with, but I can recommend them as worth considering. Whether they work or not for you, Dear Reader, is a different matter, as everyone is different, but they're worth at least considering: http://zenhabits.net/toolset/;

• remember to keep your thinking cap on: I, for example, don't agree with all of this article but it is worth reading and thinking about: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/01/how-economic-growth-has-become-anti-life;

• and again, thinking cap on: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/23/worship-children-brings-misery-suzanne-moore;

• http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/11/australian-feminists-need-to-talk-about-race;

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/24/offensive-words-_n_4144472.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular;

• http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-15/death-cafe-brisbane-end-of-life/5018806;

• http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/16/welfare-doesnt-cause-poverty-it-is-necessary-for-more-equality;

• http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/09/the-rise-of-the-reader-katharine-viner-an-smith-lecture;

• http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/31/jane-austen-safe-from-airbrush;

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/25/10-stories-from-successfu_n_4144305.html;

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/niels-gerson-lohman/us-border-crossing_b_4098130.html;

• http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/14/nsa-shows-law-master-spying-technology;

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gregory-patrick/knitting-ninja_b_4143644.html.

[1] BPF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Forces. See here and here for more on this.

[2] Please see here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"). 

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr 
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux?)

My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) is here.  

I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ...  See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "pagans for peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag.

• One size does NOT fit all. 
• May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
• Ban the dream interpretation industry! 
• A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
• Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
• "Following the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
• Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or "Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs. honour.
• The means shape the end.  
• Sometimes you just can't argue with a biped that is armed with a sharp stick, a thick head and not too much in the way of grunts.
• As words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
• My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi". However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films.

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY (quoting 19th century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)

Jesus loves you.  Odin wants you to grow up. (Facebook meme, according to John Beckett)

Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious. JANE ELLIOTT 

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN

We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech) 

Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that -- counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile." ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1968

Tags: about me, animals, attitudes, children, communication, death, discrimination, dragons, Druid, economy, history, reading, seasons, society, travel, 

First published: Laugardagr, 2nd November, 2013

Last edited: Saturday, 2nd November, 2013