More Than Virus

 Mago Bill science related: More Than Virus, climate change   

    The water's ten foot high and rising; seems a good time to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and not mess with mister in between.

    We see some thought provoking happenings and doings around us these days. Some few trained expert observers, some few men and women are keeping an expert eye on the happenings in our arctic and sub arctic around what we have called the north pole and they are saying that what they see happening there is happening more than twice as fast as are the worldwide changes. Did you get that last sentence?

    I have begun to check out what they've been saying and that is what has led me to thoughts of "high water."

     I'll try to write briefly and sensibly about some of that which I have been discovering. It won't be easy, because it seems to be much worse than they seem to be saying. And it seems to be happening much faster than they have been able to say. We are beginning to see bigger changes happening in shorter periods of time than gandpa and great gradpa saw in their lifetimes. Changes we have not experienced in our lifetimes  are happening from one year to the next. The changes are big and important.

    The only good thing seems to be that these changes are not our fault. The fact is that we don't have a snowball's chance in hell of stopping them. We don't even have to survive them if we don't want to. There are things we can d to survive them and to help our children and youth to survive them.

     Just as we don't have much chance of stopping the rising flood, there are some sensible things we can do and ought to do. I would very much like to give the young a better chance of surviving and even thriving.

    For now I just offer a view of that which seems to  have begun to cross our path.

    To avoid being overwhelming, I'll restrict myself to telling a bit about melting ice and thawing permafrost, and that which is being released.

     Here goes, to begin with its water, a lot of it. Ten feet high and rising. Not surprising, but true.

    A few years ago some 75 year old anthrax was released and it killed about twenty raindeer and one boy. Merry Christmas. Some snow and ice was bulldozed over it. That snow and ice is melting. 

    Some radioactive waste has been exposed. And oh, oh. Some think more is being exposed.

    Some very old antibiotic resistant bacteria is being released and no one is stopping that release. And, other bacteria are reviving.

    Happenings keep happening.

    Who is to blame. Not me. A fair number of good scientists say that slow and not so slow shifts, and wobbles, and such of our Earth's axis have been causing changes in our climate since long before Noah. Right now the best of them are saying that such axial tipping has led to a warming of our northern hemisphere, because we are tipping so as to get a bit more sunshine each year. That's probably not the fault of anyone we know.

     Now that you might be semi-stunned, I'll put out some more thoughts, information, a couple of questions and a suggestion that you begin to check some of this out for yourself.

    There is now a rapid release of antique methane gas from arctic and subarctic melts and thaws. Could that include the release of  ancient virus?

    Could such melting and thawing turn out to be an existential threat to humanity?

    May pay us to wake up and be more aware.

     Permafrost, by the way, is frozen wet soil and plant matter that has frozen many yards down. Its been frozen so long that it has been called permafrost and houses and airports have been built on it.

    Among the matter being released from thawing permafrost are gases including CO2 and methane. We have a lot to learn. You may have to look stuff up. I did.

    Methane burns and causes burning which puts more CO2 in our atmosphere--which is our "greenhouse gas." Greenhouse gas causes warming of the Earth which causes the melting of  Earth's ice and permafrost which releases ... Of course  burning causes  the release of other stuff too. Like soot. Black soot covers white snow and frost and being as dark as soot, absorbs heat from the sun and so causes the melting of snow, ice, and permafrost which releases... You can start to figure it out.

    Methane and other stuff being release can be useful. Methane's the main part of "natural gas" widely used for cooking and heating.

    Then again methane is  suffocating, colorless, odorless and is increasing as a percentage of our atmosphere. I remember it being called swamp gas and as causing mysterious fires in swamps.

     I hope our youth find more time to learn more about chemistry than we did. There is a lot to learn. We might end up learning a thing or two ourselves. This "new" world may be a tough place for an old man and not so easy for an older woman either.

     Just about thawing and melting there is much more to learn. For example, northern ice in contact with warming sea water is melting and releasing  ancient matter into the sea and that includes mercury. Mercury accumulates in plants and animals and often does them harm. Top feeders, like humans, get harmed a lot.

    Now I find that shallow seas and not so shallow seas have at their bottom earth and vegetative matter frozen to great depths much like permafrost. And now like permafrost it has begun to melt and release methane and much else. There in the sea depths CO2, virus, bacteria, and uncounted other materials are being released into the water and air.

    The sun shines east and the sun shines west. The sun shines best on that part of the Earth tipped toward it. That's us here in our northern hemisphere. Earth's axis slowly nd not so slowly wobbles and tips a bit differently each year. The tip we are now experiencing is one of the more extreme tips of recent centuries. Lucky us.  

    Changes are a bit more extreme than we have experienced in our history. So, for example, Canada may soon have the best far north year round sea ports seen in our time on Earth. They can expect some competition from Russia. Canada may grow tropical fruit in their south. However they may both hundreds of years before either grows another good wheat crop. I may be exaggerating a bit but, great climate changes lead to great changes in growing patterns

    Some of this stuff needs to be repeated to sink in. From the thaws and melts in our north come massive emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases, and also a variety of microorganisms. These emissions lead to other changes. 

    Metals are being released, among them, mercury. Mercury is toxic, causes brain damage and it accumulates in human bodies as well as in fish, fowl, cattle, etc. Mercury accumulates in seaweed I'm told. We use a seaweed product to make ice-cream.  So, one way we may help our children is to take away their ice-cream.

    Sorry, but stuff is happening and more shit is coming. Its a good thing that we can learn, We have a lot of learning to do. We still have the job of taking care of ourselves and our children. There are not only massive emissions of CO2 and methane already here, but ancient and new sources of disease are also being released. And we are still having trouble protecting ourselves from one weak little c19 virus.

     Frozen fungi, spore, bacteria, and virus are being released from 500 years ago, 1,000 years ago, 10,000 years ago, 20,000 years, 30, 40, an 50 thousand years of frozen sleep! Many are reviving. Some have been revived. Most are of little danger to us even when they are very live. Some are of value to humanity. Some others would sicken and kill us. Where did C19 come from. Weak little bugger.

    Researchers have revived one virus which had been frozen for more than 30,000 years. It was reactivated, revived right before their eyes. It is one, it seems, which does us no harm.

     There are thinks we can do to protect ourselves and our children. You can think of a thing or two yourself. With friends and neighbors, more. With the help of students of the problems and of scientists, even more. With cooperation we can do a lot. We can organize, We can handle these dangerous changes. Trying seems a lot better than calling one another names.

    Some few persons began to do what they can some years ago. They have been doing what they can to protect themselves and others. Some have been collecting and saving seeds and storing them in 'safe'' places. Crops that were once grown on one continent may no longer grow there. That's a big change which can cause massive movements of people and crops. Some people will find it useful to have seeds which will grow where they are. One of the largest and most famous of these 'safe' sites for seeds came to be called the Doomsday Vault. That vault for preserving seed has been invaded by melt water. Melting is proceeding faster than anticipated.

     Change continues at a faster rare then we have been accustomed to.

    Bacteria dormant for many centuries and trapped in permafrost and ice are reviving with warming and melting, and thawing. This release is happening much more rapidly than we were prepared for. Time to get busy.

    Some good things may happen automatically. Perhaps one of the few bacteria that can be deadly to humans will kill enough of us so that we will no longer feel the need to kill so many of one another as we have for so long.

    We know that vectors for anthrax, smallpox, Spanish flu have long been trapped in ice and permafrost. And now that some are reviving. Might we be able to learn something from our public health expert that we can use to help one another.

    We were once accustomed to cooperate to protect one another. I bet that there are some truly helpful things we can do. We could try killing fewer foreign health experts. I'm willing to try.

     Recently history seems to be catching up with us. A couple of years ago a 30,000 year old non dangerous virus revived. An 8 million year old virus is said to have revived. A giant virus has revived. Potentially dangerous virus are reviving. Recent studies suggest that antibiotic resistant bacteria many millions of years old are reviving. Holy Moly!

    It might be good to start some conversation about practical doings for interested parties to take up. We could ask experts what's what. We can get ourselves taught. We could try to arrange to cooperate to live.

    Do you think that this has been less than a pile of words. Check it out for veracity. If you don't know how to check it out, this might be the time to learn.     

    Thank you for reading.

 

 

                                                                    RCS

 

                                 

     

Let Us Work

 Put us to work testing and tracking.

Testing and tracking lets us work.

testing an tracking

Testing and tracking.

TESTING AND TRACKING!

Lebanon: Not Blown Away

Mago Bill history: Divided, dominated, and blown up. Is that a way to describe Lebanon?

 

    The people of Lebanon are Lebanese. The Lebanese deserve to be honored for who they have been and who they are. They merit our moral support for the rebuilding the nation they can be on the word stage. They can also be a profitable people with whom to do business.

     This tiny, durable, country has a history of contributions to our world. Its people have been known for their cosmopolitan diversity of culture, including that of religions. They are a modern republic and the smallest sovereign state on the mainland of the Asian continent. And I thought it was in North Africa! I have some learning to do. 

 

   There is strong evidence of a rich, well developed culture there going back to 6,000 BC. More recently Lebanon was a seat of Phoenician culture. That maritime culture was active from about 3,200 BC to 539 BC and shared that culture from Lebanon to around the Mediterranean, and to beyond the Pillars of Hercules to as far as Ireland.  In 64 BC the region of Lebanon came under the rule of the Roman Empire, where it became a leading center of Christianity.

    Mount Lebanon was home to the early Maronite Christian Church and maintained its identity through the Arab conquest. Druze took over the Maronite homeland. The Druze are, to this day, a small, but important presence in Lebanon. Druze are considered to be an Abrahamic religion which is neither Muslim, Jew, nor Christian. Maronite Catholics and the Druze are considered to by many to be the founders of modern Lebanon. Druze are only about 6% of the population of today.Still, they may be more important to their country than there numbers suggest.

    Lebanon was conquered by Ottoman Turks in the 16th century and remained under their dominion for 400 years. At the end of WWI they came under the French Mandates. Under that mandate, Lebanon grew a bit but did not grow more united.

    From 1975 to 1990 there was bloody civil war In Lebanon, which led to the country being led by Syria and Israel. 

    Despite all the divisions and dominations, this 4000 sq mi republic lives. There has never been a republic like it. It has been accepted within international law as a "unitary, parliamentary, multi-confessionalist, republic." It seems that multi-confessionalist" refers to the country's acceptance of many religions. Just below is my attempt to expand on this sentence just above.

    Others have called Lebanon a "parliamentary, democratic republic" but add, "within the overall framework of confessionalism. I learn that "Confessionalism" is a kind of "consociationalism" in which the highest offices are proportionally reserved for representatives of certain religious communities. "Confessionalism" I see, is a mix of politics and religion which usually entails distributing political and institutional powers proportionately among confessional communities. "Confession--" here refers to the profession of a certain religious belief. Goals of consociationalism are: stable government, survival of democracy, and the avoidance of violence. A "tough row to hoe." Lebanese have some work to do. 

    When a people agrees to a certain republic, the great majority of citizens must be taught it and retaught it. That teaching includes how it works and how to work it. I have said "taught," but "taught to one another" could be better.

    Lebanese are Respected in Europe, the Arab world, and where ever they are known. They are respected for their culture and for their continued existence as a nation. Lebanon has also been known for their large and influential diaspora. When it has less need to struggle against foreign intervention, it has promptly become a stable financial power. It has profited from tourism and has busy agricultural production. Its people would appreciate the opportunity to do more. Left to guide itself it cam to rank high on the U.N. Human Development index. It is a founding member of the United Nations.

    Lebanon has been around for a long time. It is mentioned in written history from about 5,600 BP. It is mentioned in Sumerian tablets and in the Epic of Gilgamesh. It was a center of the Canaanite City States. Byblos kept records of dealing with Lebanon. This tiny country can be called a source of early cultural influence on Greek, Jew, and Phoenicians, and to much of western culture as well. And, as I am beginning to understand, a home for Christian, Muslim Druze, and more.

    I have mentioned that the capital cit of Lebanon is Beirut, Haven't I? When France was was a diplomatic center of the world and the people of Paris were called the most cosmopolitan, people of Paris called the citizens of Beirut cosmopolitan.

I know we can let Lebanon be, if we will.

Talk to us. there is a "comment" section below. When You are first to comment, it may read "no comment." Click on it. You're a boss here.

 

  

                                                                            RCS

 

                                              

 

 

Around Boulder Dam

Mago Bill history: USA: Memories of an early visit to Hoover Dam.

            They begin with times during WWII. You may know WWII as The Second World War. I knew it as The War. But this is not exactly about that war.

            My father was driving us around the U.S. Southwest. It was a big deal, with gas, oil, tires, and tubes being rationed as a part of the war effort. That brings back a lot of memories. Many things were rationed and lines to get them were long. We stood in lines for meat butter, and nylons. My father may have been combining touring with looking into new work. However, I will try to stick with the "Boulder Dam" story.

            Soon we were at that new dam and parked right on it. Then we were going down on an elevator to below water level. I was wide eyed, looking, and listening, perhaps with my heart beating faster than usual. On the elevator were some workmen who were still working on the dam. My father was talking with them. I think they were talking more about the war, the depression, and the president, than about the dam. For the times, a great dam.

            We saw some plaques telling about the great Hoover Dam, the great desert lake that it formed and the electricity that it was providing. The workmen on the elevator were telling my my father that they called the dam Boulder Dam, in part because of the great boulders moved while building it. But mostly the did not like to call it Hoover Dam, because Hoover had been such a bad president that he didn't deserve to have the dam named after him. They did not wnat the dam to be named after him.

            President Hoover had been of the Republican party. The President at the time was FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, of the Democratic Party. Most people liked President Roosevelt and so did the workmen. Both parties were different then from now. FDR is the first president of which I have living memories. I am back in memories of more than 70 years ago, damn.

            I have just looked at an old newspaper online. It was dared March 4th 1929 and in it I read "Herbert Clark Hoover is inaugurated as President of the United States." A bit farher along it goes on. "He announces tht the government should assist and encourage these movements of of collective self-help." That announcement makes me think that he may deserve to have the dam named after him. 

            I do not remember those "movements of collective self help." They were before my time. Still, they have a pleasant ring to them.

            But, I acknowledge that I have liked the name Boulder Dam since that family visit there.

            FDR was our president then and he was OK.

            President Hoover may have died in 1964, I think. If so he live long and prospered. The year 1964 felt like a turning point in US history. The country felt different after that, especially the politics. About that time everyone seemed to have begun to use the word "them" when speaking of the government. Before then I remembered everyone using "us" and "we" when speaking of the government. We didn't say "the government" we said "our government."

            Anyway President Hoover was a Progressive Republican and raised a Quaker. All to the good. He was interested in getting rid of inefficiency in business and government. Sounds good to me. He was president  as our country fell into economic depression. Tough on him and nearly everyone else. He lost some points and votes because he supported the unpopular prohibition of the drinking of alcohol.

            Hoover Dam was part of a good public works program designed as a practical method to get wealth flowing and put people to work. The dam is still a useful part of our national infrastructure. Hoover deserves some credit for that program.

            I might find incentive to write about FDR later.

Writing this little piece has brought many memories to me. I remembered much of the dramatic beauty of the American Southwest, our awareness of economics and politics, the World War, the high hopes, the memories of a child

            We have a lot to learn as we continue to interpret the doings and happenings of our not so distant past. We will need all of our experience, good sense, and cooperative skills as we move into our future. 

Thank you to those who use our comment section and to you who reads our posts.

            RCS

 

 

Mago Bill History Notes

Mago Bill Inspired History Notes

 

            You may remember Mago Bill as the name of some of my earlier blogs. You may remember that I believed that the given name of my paternal great grandfather was Mago William. While that Mago may have been called Will, he may never been called Bill, but it makes me smile to do so.

            My, somewhat imaginary, Mago Bill has inspired my interest in history and supported my political vision.

            Thoughts of Bill, Mago Bill, lead me to the following. An earlier Mago and the Carthaginians had certainly heard of Atlantis, but that fabled land had been lost for thousands of years before these Phoenicians posted themselves near the Pillars of Hercules. Those pillars may have been called the Pillars of Atlas, or even the gates of Atlas. They certainly guarded the way to the great Atlantic Sea and to the isle beyond the Western Isle.

            The paragraph above leads me to thoughts of many stories, but I will stick to my notes on those who knew the name “Mago” well.

            They were a knowledgeable people whom we might now begin to call Carthaginians. They knew much of trade and navigation. They also knew of mining, metallurgy, the writing of languages, and of defense and attack on land and sea. They were seamen. They that the islands not too far beyond the Pillars not only contained gold, silver, lead, and tin, but also contained men who knew about mining and metal working. They may have known about the little people who could follow the veins of metal deep into the earth. Those Carthaginians knew that men all around their smaller sea valued tin for making their bronze.

            The name and perhaps title of Mago was well known among those Carthaginian Phoenicians. I have found the use of title among them as early as 750 BC. You may find that it was used much earlier. I do find strong evidence that they were carrying on trade with the Western Isles from 500 BC to 400 BC.

            The Magonids were a political dynasty of Carthage room about 550 BC to 340 BC. The dynasty began with Mago I, under whom Carthage became prominent among the Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean. Under the Magonids the Carthaginian Empire expanded to include Spain, Sardinia, Libya, and Sicily. Diodorus and Herodotus often better tell us of the doings and happenings of the Magonids more honestly than do the Romans.

            There was a Mago II and then a Mago III who led the Carthaginians. There also seems to have been A Mago who commanded, or navigated for the trading fleet which connected the Western Isles to the Mediterranean. You may know, or have guessed, that the isle beyond the western Isle is the island nation we call Ireland.

            It might have been Mago, that knowledgeable ship-master, who so impressed a Sheehan as to name his or her son Mago. My great, great grandfather called his son Mago William. That is a source of my inspiration to call a blog of mine “Mago Bill.”

            In more recent history the name Mago appears from time to time. Here are a few examples. A historian writing in Ireland in 1691 AD writes of a count Mago. Another historian writes of a Mago county in the Ireland of 1829! A barony of Mago in Kerry has been written of. The name Mago has been found in county Clair and all over Ireland for hundreds of years. It is a respectable name if not common.

            I may be inspired to post more on Mago or Mago Bill.

RCS

• Mago
• Carthaginians
• 750 Bc
• 550 Bc
• 340 BC
  

 

Active Citizen Two

Citizenship and Governance: A Brand New Political Organization.

        Many in the U.S. are considering brand new political organizations for many reasons: a new national party, a coalition, an ad hoc effort to promote a special bill or effort, for social betterment, and on and on. They want organizations capable of working with large numbers of active citizens. They are expecting wider participation in self-governance. They want to do that which effectively furthers their aims right now.

            There is much which needs to be done and many of us to do it. However, just now I will offer a list of hints which may prove helpful to an organizer. 

The hints for civic organization:

~ Be inclusive. Help anyone who wants to be a member, be a member.

~ Keep in mind that teaching one another is important. Outside help can be useful, but that which we do for ourselves is more important. Each a learner, each a teacher.

~ Clarify aims and goals. Restate them often. Better them when you can.

~ Arrange to have each member have opportunities to help in achieving those goals. How will that be done?

~ Arrange to take care of all business promptly. How will it be done.Arrange for the ongoing education of all members. That's education in the skills and understandings necessary to the organization and organizational aims.

~ Make each member an educator. You do not have to use any of these hints; but anyone of them can be very useful.

~ Demonstrate abundant and appropriate trust in each member.

~ The fewer secrets the better and "no secrets" is the best policy.

~ Let each member know that he or she is participating in the creation and nourishing of the organization, its philosophy, and its doings.

~ Lay out clear steps for accomplishing the important doable goals of your organization. 

~ Remember you are not alone. You are part of an organization. laying out, demonstrating, making, and doing are group affairs and  doings. Members want to be active. Let them be active. 

~ It is best that a goal members undertake not only be important and doable, but also ought to be attractive, challenging, and a big deal.

~ Set out a goal or two to be completed today. That is you as in you all set out a goal. You all want your orgainzation to be where the "doings" are.

~ Each member deserves a worthy job he or she can work right now. What a power house an organization can be! Your organization is a big powerful group.

~ Make clarifying the "grand vision" of your organization an ongoing activity. A grand vision for me might be the ongoing practice of active self-governance. or the ongoing practice of participatory democracy.

~ Ends, goals, objectives, aims can all be good. However, to be well done is important and the way it is done can be the most important.  

~ Aim to govern yourselves by practicing active self-governance of the whole. Begin with "how to do" teach-ins.

            May these hints/suggestions help you in your action plans.

We have a lot to learn and a lot to do. Its great that there are a lot of us to help with that learning and doing. 

As That Active Citizen and As a participant in a meeting it is fair and useful to:

~ Show up.

~ Speak up.

~ Name the problem.

~ Team up.

~ Find a partner.

~ Frame the discussion.

            That is: be there; address the group; Clarify the topic; Identify those of like mind; make a friend; listen and learn; sum up what the meeting has been about.

            It all starts with showing up and being there.

            Thank you for reading.

 

 

                                                                  RCS

 

 

Your Vocabulary and the Irish Land Wars

Mago Bill: History, Ireland, and word.The Irish Land Wars are the source of the introduction of a powerfully useful word into the English language.  

            

            The Irish Land Wars are the source of the introduction of a powerfully useful word into the English language. In 1850 Irish persons formed the Tenant Right League in Ireland to demand reform to the land law of Ireland. It was a law not of democratic origin. This organization and demand was followed by about 40 years of unrest in Ireland as well as to some learning and reform. 

            The word in question is the surname of a landlord so disliked by his tenants that he was refused labor to harvest his crops, as well as refusal to service shops, laundries, and other facilities. The social excommunication of Mr. Boycott led to his name being used to describe it. Boycotts have worked well as nonvirulent protest measures. 

            Check out the the Home Rule League of Ireland online. Doing so could contribute to your political education. Then go on to check the Irish Land League. Doing so could add to your understanding of political organization. Check out Gandhi  on the use of resistance and organization to achieve social ends. Well reasoned and presented protests have been a powerful social power. The Irish National League may be interesting to check out, but may prove complicated by the source of your information. 

            Due to my background as an educator I feel the need to add, is that one thing you need to learn is that you are responsible for ruling yourself. In Ireland that has been called Home Rule. It does seem best to begin at home. You can blame your father, wife, mayor, or President, but that, I have found a waste of energy. Where you are concerned you are the authority and the boss, and the doing is yours to do. You will have your results.

            We have a lot to learn about politics and our own history. History is how we learn what works and and what doesn't. Its mostly the experience of others, but we each have our own history. Politics can be called how we cooperate to get doings done.

            There are extended meanings of the word "boycott" to be found online. They can be very instructive.

RCS

Our Wars

   Mago Bill: Our wars. The U. S. has a lot of wars in its history, even in our very recent history as well as from 1776.        

                We do a lot of warring. I intended to write little essays about a few of the more obscure wars of the U.S.A., but have lost some of my motivation; still I may yet do so                

          

               The following is an introduction to my intention to write about some of our less known wars.

                 

                 As I write our union has lasted about 244 years. I find that of those years only six have been free of war. I also find that in a great many of those years we have fought more than one war year. I our 238 years of warring many of us have been killed and we have killed many. If we do not hold the record for average number of wars per year, we may soon do so.

 

                The years we have not warred are 1935 through 1940 and 1897. It may well be worth while to learn more about these years.

From 1899 to1934 we had mostly just "Banana Wars;" mostly not only. People of our neighboring countries of Central America may object to my word "just." Those Banana Wars were among the most traumatic happenings in their entire history. In those wars we stepped on their labor movement hard. The people of those republics have found it difficult to laugh about what we have called our Good Neighbor Policy. 

When taking a close look at historic near the U.S. it seems we have hated the people of Haiti the most for the longest time. That we have invaded Mexico only 13 times since 1837 makes it look like we love Mexicans more than we have hated the people of Haiti; but I digress. These doings mostly count as wars.

 

                There are doings related to our wars that are curious and peak my interest. For it is curious why we insist on killing one another when we could be arranging to protect ourselves from comet and asteroid rains, various virus, plagues, solar flares, rising sea levels, and the like. When I have said "we' here, I not only refer to you and I, our fellow citizens, and our fore bearers, but also those who find it convenient to war with us. 

My curiosity extends to wanting to know why part of our Civil War occurred at Gibraltar and why Mysore played a part in that same war. I'd even like to know why Sweden was our allie in our first Barbary War. What about the German Coast Uprising in the Territory of Orleans? Just why did we invade Canada? And like that. And you may agree, that our recent wars of say the last 20 or 30 years, have had their interesting points.

 

                I do not enjoy writing about the killing we do or about the deaths of many of our fine young men. In fact it causes me some very unpleasant feelings. I would like to act in an honorable and legal way to minimize early deaths and killings. Not an easy thing to do since so many of us have abdicated responsibility for the war machine we sponsor.

     

                I have a lot to learn but I do intend to be honest and factual as I write. I hope that you will correct any and all mistakes that you find on this blog. You are welcome to do so in the "comment" section just below.

 

                More to come, slowly.

 

RCS      

Auto de Fe at Mani

Mago Bill history: Auto de Fe at Mani

The auto de fe at Mani may be the first great political/economic scandal effecting both the New World and the Old World.

It frightened the Aristocracy, the Church, the military, and the great merchants and traders in Mexico City, Madrid, Rome, and beyond.

At first it may seem a case of business as usual. A churchman caused a few Indians to be punished and a relatively small amount of their religious and cultural items to be destroyed. A common occurrence between Old Word "conquers" and New world "conquered."

However in this case.....   

Should I continue the story?

Do you want to?

Should we both?

by Richard Sheehan

for Mago Bill and you

Republican: a bit of history

 Mago Bill history. Napoleon Bonaparte, a leading republican of his day, was willing to become Emperor of France. 

    

                France welcomed him as Emperor. There may be a lesson to be learned from this bit of history.

                Napoleon did bring reforms to France and the world in the fields of science, education, and a variety of cultural areas. These works could be called republican.

                The legal system called the Napoleonic Code, influenced much of the West and part of the East. Napoleonic Law is important in the U.S. state of Louisiana. 

                Napoleon was a warrior, a leader of armies. Some say he won a war against Russia. To attack Russia, he left home with a half million men. He returned home with twenty thousand men and the "shirt on his back."  

                He met his "Waterloo" against Prussia and Great Britain, in which Prussia "saved Britain's bacon."  

                After the battle of Waterloo, Britain, Spain, Prussia, Austrian, Russia, and others joined one another in suppression of liberal movements throughout Europe.

 

This is a test:

~ Why do the histories of many revolutions seem revolting?

~ Why might a republican be willing to become an emperor?

~ Why ought the citizens of a republic be responsible?

~ Where is your revolution headed?

~ What is a "loo?" 

 

 

                                                            RCS

Woman and Girl

Mago Bill: EsoExo: Understanding, knowledge, meaning, wisdom,  experience, and learning.

 

             She was young, about my age then. She was speaking with an older woman whom she obviously cared for, but she was saying with some vehemence, "You just don't care."

            The older woman seemed truly fond of the girl. She may have felt some hurt at the girl's words, still, she responded in kindly tones. I remember what she said. She had said, "I have come to see that many things do not matter much and that most things don't matter at all."

            The girl answered, still with some feeling, "You don't care about anything."

            The woman answered, a bit as though she were speaking to herself as much as to the girl, "Once knew a wise old gentleman who didn't believe in "things."

            After a few seconds the woman continued, "Your feelings matter to me very much, but I am not responsible for them."

RCS

For Successful Dialogue Practice

Try the following:

~ Address the group as a whole. Avoid addressing your words to one or two persons.

~ Remember that it is most useful to listen, hear, and understand.

~ Avoid giving advice.

~ Remember that a speaker is probably doing her or his best to be honest.

~ Avoid interrupting another. Your group has a way of dealing with those who would damage your practice.

~ Keep expenses to a minimum. Everyone helps to take care of necessary expenses. Do your part.

~ Really listen to to what another is saying. Improved understanding is a major aim of your group.

~ Learn to listen well and gain greater listening skills.

~ Encourage everyone to speak at each opportunity. The words of each are gifts for us all.

~ Limiting each speaking time to 1 or 2 minutes. It's great to have time to speak more than once at a meeting.

~ Remember that focusing dialogue on personal experience is good practice.

~ In the beginning get 8 or 9 interested persons to commit to 4 or 5 consecutive meetings.

Practice perfects.

More to Come.

 

 

 

RCS

Periodista is What Some Call a Journalist

Mago Bill: First Essay on Colombian Travel, Beginning With Bogota

                Working from The Pocket Guide of Colombian Hostels, I find that the Casa Platypus is a good place to sleep in Bogota. Bogota is a great big city and the capital of Colombia. The Casa Platypus is a hostel. A hostel is a kind of hotel designed for foreign travelers. It is also often a place to get useful information and to have a chance for finding someone who speaks a language you know. The personnel and proprietors of such hostels are often welcoming people from far off lands. You may expect those of the Casa Platypus to be such.

                The colonial(or republican style) building of the Platypus overlooks a plaza called Parque de las Periodistas.

Journalist:   

                "Periodistas" can be translated as "journalists." I find journalists to be an interesting breed which has not quite died out. "Died out" may not quire be the best way to put it. World-wide, journalists seem too often to be killed before they can die a natural death. Assassinated my be the more honest word.

                Journalists around the world are being assassinated for doing their best to inform us honestly. They would like to tell us the truth about what the see going on around us. They used to find out about goings on, happenings, and doings far and wide as well as close to home. They used to be able to us about them without so often having to gamble their lives to do so. Today their odds are worse than ever.

                Journalists have carried on their craft for a couple of hundred years or so. Some of them are still trying to inform us about that which is going on. However, we have been killing, jailing, imprisoning them and hiring fewer of them per capita for decades. So now we have fewer of them and they have fewer employers. I remember, as a Boy Scout, being taught that "honesty is the best policy." Still, perhaps, true. Now for our lack of responsibility or even interest, it has been a death sentence for journalistic honesty. What are we to tell our youth and children? The answer is "nothing," isn't it? Shall we say that raising our children and youth in ignorance is for the best.

                Rather than not getting  the backstory, we get no story at all. Unless it be the watered down fairy tales we are beginning to learn to prefer. We have yet to get from the WWW that which we had from a free press. We are beginning to get some stability of stable reporting on the web, but often just as we source of reporting which we feel we trust, it may disappear.

                There are other "Parques de las Periodistas" in other Colombia cities. I know of one in Medellin. What remanent of journalism do you have in your country?

Gabriel Garcia Marquez:

                This park in the Candelaria section of Bogota has been dedicated to a good and careful journalist whom you may know as a famous modern novelist. That novelist is Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He is an admirer of those who still practice journalism and has backed up his admiration with solid support.

                One can't find a place to sleep in Colombia without learning something interesting there. 

                Tell us where you find your most useful reporting.

                Thank you for reading.

                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                           RCS