Here You will begin to see some posts related to Ireland, Colombia, Mago Bill, blogs, popular posts from associated sites. Affirmations in left-hand column under Pages.
Mago Bill Experience: Experiential differences not all related to age, but experience does take time.
She was a young girl of about his age. She was speaking with an older woman she obviously cared for, but she was saying with some vehemence, "You just don't care."
The older woman seemed truly fond of the young girl, and who may have felt some hurt at the girl's words, still answered in kindly tones. He still remembered what she said. She said, "I have come to see that some things do not matter very 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. "I once knew a wise old gentleman who did not believe in 'things.'"
by Richard S.
for Mago Bill
Cossacks
have been free men and democratic. They have only been known to history
since about 650 AD. They have been active in self-governing communities
for well over a thousand years. They have been open, inclusive, with a
Slavic bent. They knew a world from Siberia to Lithuania and up and down
for many years, but were drawn to a certain land.
The Ukrainian Cossack State was formed in about 1650 in what is now central Ukraine. Their leaders were elected.
Through the years they have been few. Democracy is not easy. They experienced much, and stayed free among strong neighbors such as Poland, Russia, and Lithuania. Among such neighbors they continued to show a strong will for self-governance.
They formed the Ukrainian Peoples Republic in 1917 to 1921, the western Ukrainian Peoples Republic 1918 to 1919, and the Ukrainian Peoples Republic in exile from 1920 to 1992.
They were among the very first members of the Soviet Union with its promise of self-governing citizens. They may have been the first to leave that Union when it showed little will to self-governing citizenship.
They were among the charter members of the United Nations with its promise of a chance for peace and freedom. They have not given up on their fellow members yet.
Ah, yes, I believe that at the breakup of the Soviet Union the were left with one of the greatest stock of atomic weapons on Earth and gave up that stock to the U.N.
They have been few and still are. They are still a mixture of races, nationalities, and religions. They are a free democratic people self selected from that mixture.
We
might mention that while all this was going on they, with the help of a
few viking Norsemen, created Russia. Oh, and they had a modern republic
type written constitution in 1710.
I believe that a history of the cultures most effecting these people could be traced back another 4,000 years. However, before about 650 AD they were little recognized in history as a discrete people. Throughout perhaps a thousand years of their history they stayed freer, more democratic, and inclusive than most. They have had to defend themselves and they have. They have also kept the hope and faith that they could live a free people among free people. They have seen inclusiveness, freedom, and democracy disappear like smoke again and again. Still they hold a vision of that freedom and self governance closer and dearer than do most.
Please
feel free to correct this work or add to it in the "comments" section
below or just to click on a social media button just below.
Ukraine. Ukraine. Ukraine.
Thank you for reading.
rcs
I cherish the creation of public space and services especially health, housing, and the comprehensive education system which dated give many of us ideas "above our station."
~ Francis O'Grady, British Trade Unionist 1959
Anyone who keeps learning stays young.
~ Old Man Ford
Learn, unlearn and relearn.
~ anon.
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
~ Twain
You can't make up an empty mind.
~ McCourt, me, or a newsletter
Let morals and values be an important part of your education. The reality you make your own is even more important.
~ From an Irish news letter I read
rcs
In this video you are reminded of six leadership skills that can take you far and help us all to a better life, a better world.
Do the following:
1. Be there, show up.
2. Speak up, do something, share.
3. Be aware of your visions and your values, share them.
4. Team up, practice partnership, co-operate.
5. Don't give up. making changes is OK, giving up not so much, keeping on keeping on is life.
6. Give back support and credit. Lift others up.
rcs
In
the distant past there were democrats. There were democrats in the
recent past. There are still some democrats. A democrat might be thought
of as a person who believes in people and in their ability to learn and
do. I know little about what democrats are doing at the moment. I do
have a sharp memory of that which some democrats did in my lifetime.
Democrats have tended to promote certain doings. Some of those doings tended to be definitive of their beliefs.
by Richard
for you
One of the prime injunctions of wisdom teachings has been "Know thyself."
Surely
an important part of being includes learning. Learning about the world
around us seems an important move toward self knowledge. I believe that
learning about groups is an important part of learning about the world
around us.
Participation in
a group is a learning experience. That learning and that experience
will be of varying quality. Much of such learning can lead to
knowledge of self. Some groups are more interesting and useful than
others. Some groups may be better for you than those which seems to suit
your present personality.
A
high level of regular participation by members has been important for a
group's effectiveness and longevity. We may call an effective and long
lived group an organization. In such an organization it may b vital
that each member know that she(or he)has an important job or place in
it. A group being a practicing participatory democracy tends to increase
the level of group participation.
Get a group or organization. Enjoy it's power and your growth.
~ Find out who has the authority to implement your organizational plans.
~ Know the action plan for for the long range funding of your organization.
~ Find out who is involved in developing your strategic plan.
~ Know your membership trends.
~ Consider the nature of your organization's benefits.
~ Know who is doing the bulk of the work to accomplish the goals of the organization.
~ Know what people do the work. Where are they? Identify them.
~ Make sure you know the engines of your organization.
~ What questions do you have about your organization and your membership in it?
~ How will you get answers to those questions?
~ What will you do about your questions and answers?
~ What makes it or you operate
~ What motivates you and other members?
Enjoy your growing power and that of your organization and learn more about you!
Thank you for reading.
by Richard Sheehan
A way to practice is to start writing and to keep writing.
For now try this: Write
without stopping to worry, correct, or edit. Write for more than ten
minutes without stopping. You will write some phrases you will really
love. You will find it hard to throw them away.
Be
ready to to throw them away because they probably won't fit the
writing you end up with. If you don't come up with a whole new focus or
angle, you will probably come up with a whole new subject.
Before
you do throw away what have written do this: Read it and pick out your best three or four best sentences. Then reread them. As you do so
consider improvements you might make in them. Rewrite them and save them
for a while.
Richard Sheehan
Another early Mago was Mago Barca of the late third century BCE. He was Hannibal's brother and a Carthaginian general. He was also the youngest son of Hamilcar Barca of the Barcids.
The
Balearic Islands seem to have an Irish connection of some sort. On
Menorca Mago Barca lent his name to the city still called Port Mahon.
Does not Mahon seem to have a bit of an Irish ring? The typical Mahon
egg sauce that has conquered the word is known as mayonnaise! Isn't
there a mayo something something or other on "the old sod?"
I believe that there is a book about this Mago that you may enjoy reading it's by David Anthony Durham, Pride of Carthage
by Richard Sheehan
for Mago Bill
Your organization can make you a more effective citizen. There seems to be a new or renewed urge toward new political organization and active citizenship these days. Many of us have a growing understanding of democracy. We see that more active citizenship brings more democracy.
A new organization is much like an old organization. It takes people to organize, but many of those organizing are new not old. Persons new to organizing, especially political organizing, have a lot to learn. Their energy and enthusiasm will be an important aid to their progress.
An organization may have a beginning in individual minds, but its realization will be in a group. A group of people is most often a mess and a mess of people is not an organization. To become an organization there are doings such a mess of people must do. They can begin with a bit of togetherness and continue with a growing ability to cooperate.
Agreement that a new organization is necessary or a darn good idea can be a useful beginning. Agreement, perhaps tacit, to work together can be another important step. Finding ways to cooperate is important. Old organizers found many ways to facilitate cooperation.
Soon the purpose of the organization must begin to be identified and clarified. Clarification of purpose is an ongoing process and activity. This may often be begun by a small group of leaders, but must be carried on by many others.
Say that the original growing group is made up of citizens who have discovered that they want a brand new political organization. They have some willingness to work together. The also have understandings and misunderstandings to work out. A lot of work.
Members of this very new organization need to maintain an ongoing understanding of the aims, values, and wants of others in the organization in so far as they affect the organization. Not easy, but important to their ability to increase their effectiveness.
An
important benefit of an organization is that which needs to be done,
need not be done by one or a very few, but rather can be shared among
and by all members. In fact the more involved with the important work of
the organization that are all members, the better the moral and
effectiveness of the organization is likely to be.
The members of a well functioning group can feel themselves to be effective doers, and can be those effective doers in fact.
There are some doings and practices which have helped others to start and maintain their organization.
~ Consider how you intend to keep in contact.
~ Begin identifying your goals and aims.
~ Clarify goals and aims.
~ Restate goals and aims.
~ Arrange to have each member help to achieve these goals and aims.
~ Take care of all business promptly.
~ Arrange for the ongoing education for all members.
~ Arrange for members to have opportunity to be educators.
~ Enjoy your participation.
~ Keep in mind that teaching one another is important. Outside help can be very good, but seldom as good as that which we do for ourselves. As we teach, we learn.
~ Demonstrate abundant and appropriate trust of one another.
~ Keep in mind that the fewer the secrets the better. "No secrets" is a good policy.
~ Be inclusive. as a policy, help anyone who wants to be a member to be one.
~ Encourage equality.
~ Remind one another that each of you is important to and responsible for the maintenance of your organization, its philosophy, and its doings.
~ Lay out clear steps for achieving important and doable goals and plans for your organization.
~ Aims and goals ought to be not only doable and important but also be an attractive and challenging big deal.
~ Set out one or two doings or goals to be worked on today. Your organization will benefit by having important things to be done right now.
~ Keep in mind that there is much to be done and that each member ought to help with those doings.
~ Make clarifying the "grand vision" of your organization an ongoing activity. "Learning, teaching, and practicing democratic self governance for all" might be an example of such a vision.
~ Aim to govern yourselves by practicing self-governance.
There is a 'comments' window below for comments on the content of this posts.
Thank you very much for reading.
RCS
The words I now write of the Calusa are few. Even so I expect that will
be sufficient to fix the Calusa people and the name Calusa in the minds
of a few our readers.
In
the 1500s the Calusa still controlled much of the southwest of
Florida. They defended their land against the aggression of other
peoples including European explorers. The Spaniards knew them as
fierce. The Caloosahatchee River, with its mouth on the southwest of
Florida, was theirs.
They lived mostly along the inland waterways and developed them for
transportation and food production. The sea was also a source of food
for them. They left middens of seashells large enough in size to compete
with their great mounds and other earthworks. The fished with nets and
tapped fish.
The Calusa had a strong influence on the tribes around them. That
influence may be because of their wide trading. They typically used
dugouts for use at sea and along their inland waterways. They also
built and used larger vessels. They visited Cuba regularly and probably
sailed much farther into the Caribbean.
Their homes were built on platforms on pilings over the water. Their
buildings had particularly handsome roofing of palmetto leaves. It is
said that some of their 'houses' were large enough to easily accommodate
2000 persons!
They were excellent wood workers and they also did some fine wood
carving. They were excellent farmers, sailors, fishermen, and traders,
They are probably responsible for the construction of what we have
called bayous.
The apex of their culture probably dates well before 100 BC. Their middens and and earth works have been dated to that time.
We have much to learn from and about the Calusa. Please feel free to extend and correct our knowledge of them.
What is you interest in American Indians? Help me write to your interests.
Thank you for reading.
by R.C.S.
Science is the practice of a method of understanding and of communication. It may be called the scientific method. This method can be a great help in self-development and in being a successful human being.
As you become better acquainted with this method of understanding you become a more effective person. You will also develop a better understanding of the sciences in general and of each individual science, even ytterbiumology.
The scientific method generally includes the following doings: observation, identification/recognition, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena. So, a scientist observes a doing or happening and begins to explain it. The method is much about how she does this. That is, how you do it may be more important than what you do.
To start well, lets try to define some of our terms. We can begin with the word 'science.' Starting at the beginning we see that science means knowledge, the business of knowing. Just how one knows is a serious subject. A subject we could check into later. Early in its history science became knowledge gained by study. Science brings its history with it. It still means knowledge and it still means knowledge gained by study. The science quickly came to be the study of particular and specific subjects. In its more modern meaning it has come to mean the technical and mathematical study of a subject. However the basic method of doing science is both a simpler and more powerful attitude then one might suppose.
We already know that "method" means "the way how." So, science is a particular way of understanding, a particularly effective way of understanding. It may be useful to remember that the suffix -ology means study. So anthropology is the study of human species, of humanity in most of its aspects. It has often been a comparative study of behavior, biology, societies. Whereas biology is the natural scientific study of life and of living organisms. It is one of the more nicely developed sciences. Cells and genes are now important factors in this study.
It is important that a person interested in science develop a good grasp on the nature of scientific: observation, identification, explanation, knowing, researching, and theoretical description. Also to develop their ability to recognize and observe natural phenomena is helpful to their use of scientific methodology.
To gain and to communicate scientific knowledge one needs to become familiar with its concepts and vocabulary. As interest is shown, I hope to write more on the topic. I believe that you already have an understanding of the scientific method as a way many have found usful for gaining practical, productive knowledge and of communicating that knowledge.
You probably already have the understanding that science is well begun and carried out with studied and practiced observation.
The ways of scientific observation are important to the development of knowledge. My dictionary says this about "to observe:" to notice, to perceive, to watch attentively, to make a scientific or systematic observation. "Systematic," that implies that there is a system to be learned. It seems that the way of a scientific doing is, at least, as the what.
Observation is the act of observing; that is the act of noting and recording of a phenomena, doing, or happening, perhaps with instruments. Observation might lead to developing a judgement or inference. What are the methods for developing a judgement or an inference!
"Identify" could be our next term to examine. If you would like me to continue some sort of exposition of science, please leave a comment to thar effect in the "comment" window below.
Identifying a phenomena is, in large part, for the purpose of being able to recognize the phenomena yourself and to enable others to also recognize it. There is more to say about the recognize/identify part of of our scientific process, but I will leave it for another time.
Oh, yes. Ytterbiumology is beyond my present knowledge; still it can be studied, known, and used. Its a chemical element with the symbol Yb and atomic number of 70. I may not live long enough to get deeply into the study of this element. Perhaps you can tell us more about it.
RCS