Paul's Perambulations a personal blog

April 5, 2011

Cigarettes, 2 for $1: The Brisk, Shady Sale of ‘Loosies’

Filed under: General,Politics,Work — admin @ 9:05 pm

The title above is from a recent NYTimes article about the illegal sale of single cigarettes, and it poses many questions about the society we live in. Here are some things to consider:

 Does this encourage people to break the law? Does it even become “hip” or “smart” to be a little bit illegal? What about all the folks who cross state lines to avoid paying their sales tax on liquor or other items?

Is this American entrepreneurship?  The central character is working regularly, when no other more appropriate jobs are available for him.

Is this how we get healthcare – doing your time in prison?         (more…)

March 18, 2011

Japan, the United States, and a radioactive nightmare waiting to happen.

Filed under: Education,General,Politics — admin @ 9:37 am

Safety and environmentalism can cost consumers a lot of money, without immediate benefit. Government can force this on the consumers, as with cars and building codes, while industry and government profit from it. But there’s no profit for industry and government in protecting the public, and so, in a capitalist dominated society…failure and disaster (earthquakes ARE a predictable event in Japan, unfortunately).

March 1, 2011

My First Fundamentalist

Filed under: Religion — admin @ 10:38 pm

I remember being surprised when, as a teenager, I met my first fundamentalist. I was from a household that was educated in religious matters, attended a religious-based school, and I found religion courses interesting. But I never understood Biblical material in a strictly literal way. That was not expected in my family, and I never gave that approach any particular thought (not being aware that it even was an “approach”). (more…)

February 8, 2011

INTJ Myers-Briggs personality. Who, me? Does this make any sense?

Filed under: Education,General — admin @ 8:02 pm

I hesitated to post my Myers-Briggs personality measure, thinking it might be egocentric (there are enough of those blogs around) and because I don’t put much weight on personality testing. But if Myers-Briggs measures can lead us to consider (or reconsider) some aspects of ourselves, they can be of value.  And recently I had reason to consider that perhaps I really am INTJ and not always the sweet, agreeable guy that I tend to think I am. (more…)

February 5, 2011

Does Paul take a homeless person to the formal Mendel dinner?

Filed under: Education,Family,Peace,Recreation,Work — admin @ 11:18 pm

The Villanova College of Arts & Sciences invites their faculty to an annual formal dinner. Putting on a tux for dinner seemed rather excessive/wasteful to this simple Quaker. But a friend had purchased one at a garage sale that happened to fit me perfectly, and so (more…)

February 1, 2011

Comments on Big Little Wolf’s Daily Plate of Crazy

Filed under: Family,General,Love,Work — admin @ 7:22 pm

I recently came upon this well-written and challenging blog http://dailyplateofcrazy.com/ The author  (BigLittleWolf, or BLF) discusses personal issues of family, relationships, work, etc. from the perspective of a single mother. Here are some of my Comments on her blog and on similar blogs. They can be put in perspective by referencing them to her original postings if you wish. The bold heading is a brief identification of the nature of her original post. These topics are different from my usual ones and present an opportunity for me to write about some issues that I usually don’t cover. But I also see that the author’s situations and concerns are different from mine, and thus my blog and her blogs will naturally go their separate ways, even while we continue to learn from one another. Also, I have transferred much of my attention from my blog to my Facebook posts, where I condense some serious ideas into the allotted 420 spaces.

Her Blog Topics are in BOLD. She identifies as BLW. Her original post would be necessary to set the full context of my comments. My Comments may follow hers and be interspersed, so things may not be clear at times, but this is whatever it is and should not be considered definitive of anything. 

(more…)

January 26, 2011

Dating and Marriage

Filed under: Love,Recreation — admin @ 9:19 pm

I started dating during the final disintegration of my former marriage. It is my experience that dating progresses through several stages. (more…)

January 3, 2011

A sustainable marriage (NYTimes 12/31/10)

Filed under: Family,Love,Peace — admin @ 6:21 pm

This NYTimes article focuses on what makes a sustainable marriage. The author proposes that relationships succeed when they develop “self-expansion” via a mutual contribution to increased knowledge and new experiences. The concept is interesting and speaks to the relationship between Fran and me. I took their “quiz,” although I don’t put that much credence in it. What I found most interesting were the comments that ensued. You can see them for yourself online, and I have copied my four comments at the end of this post (#s 69, 159, 174, 207 for NYTimes article).

As a Quaker, I am particularly led by two testimonies focusing on 1) Inner (personal) peace and 2) Outward (world) peace. These two are closely related, and while my comments on this NYTimes article relate particularly to the first sense of peace, it is true that with more of this first type, we would also have much more of the latter type (and vice versa).     (more…)

January 1, 2011

Pros and Cons of spending years working for a Ph.D. in the humanities.

Filed under: Education — admin @ 7:42 am

As this article in the Economist points out, academic opportunities in the humanities appear rather dismal for procuring full-time tenure and tenure-track employment. Doctoral Degrees: The Disposable Academic http://www.economist.com/node/17723223?story_id=17723223 (more…)

December 20, 2010

My Crèche Tableau

Filed under: Family,Peace,Religion — admin @ 1:30 pm

Why do I value the crèche that I set up every Christmastime?  I do not take, nor am I particularly concerned with,  a strictly literal interpretation of the scene depicted (even the bible tells the story differently).  So what does it represent?  (more…)

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress