Category: Random Thoughts

Editorial: Liberty requires there be choices

Come October 2025, Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 10. Microsoft says those of us with older devices need to buy new ones. No we don’t! We can switch operating systems!

So, your old laptop works just fine, but come October 2025, Microsoft says your Windows 10 operating system will die, and you must buy a new laptop with an “approved” processor.

Gee, you don’t use your laptop for quantum computing or anything like that. And you would rather replace your 20-year old water heater, than replace a perfectly good laptop. Also, you are finding it stressful to pay subscriptions for all your software, like a basic word processor, spreadsheet, and antivirus.

To make it all even worse, you are starting to resent being told by the Davos elite that “You will own nothing, and you will be happy.” You know that back in the day people paid a one-time fee and actually owned their software to use as they saw fit.

Well, why are you sticking with Windows?

Windows is not your only alternative. You can declare your independence from from Microsoft. You can “own” your operating system, office suite, image editor, financial software, and other applications – all for free.

Welcome to the world of open source.

Open source operating systems and applications designed for the average computer user (as opposed to technology professionals) date back to the early 1980s. Back then, proprietary systems and software with closed source codes started to pop up to the dismay of many programmers. So, in 1983, enter Richard Stallman (programmer with Harvard and MIT credentials), now considered the father of open source. He launched the GNU Project to write a free operating system that anyone could tailor to needs, improve, or debug. Today software developed by GNU programmers is used by numerous systems.

Throughout the 1990s, open source web servers (like Apache), operating systems (like Linux) and applications (like LibreOffice) expanded and became increasingly user friendly, especially by the creation of graphic interface.

Open source has come a long, long way, but has a little more ways to go if it is to become truly competitive with the paint by numbers nature of the current near-monopolistic giants in the software market. Also, today’s users seem to prefer the often inane and irrelevant responses to questions on Microsoft or QuickBooks forums than read the clear and effective documentation on Linux or GnuCash.

There is lots of information on open source software online, and you need to choose what works best for your needs.

My choice

I have two perfectly good workhorse laptops, which are 8 and 9 years old. They both came with Windows installed. That’s the operating system I have been using ever since I gave up my beloved DOS. I have never discarded a computer unless I absolutely had to.

Therefore, rather than cave to Microsoft’s suggested laptops and approved processors, my choice was to wipe Windows OS and Microsoft apps, install Linux Mint, and move my most needed data to the new system.

I chose Linux for my new operating system because of its particularly good reputation. I chose Mint as the version (distribution) of Linux that seemed most user friendly. There are other open source systems, as well as other distributions of Linux (like Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu).

Although there are users that must do their work online, many do not. Also, some users prefer not to be “signed on” all the time. For those users a system like Linux is ideal. You can work offline, and use your Internet to install new applications, update the applications you have chosen to install, and of course the many other things you do like emails, looking up stuff, ordering from your favorite stores, etc.

Linux can do just about everything Windows can. However, Linux does not have its own email provider, like Microsoft has Outlook or Google has Gmail. But you can use Gmail, Outlook, ProtonMail, and other providers on Linux.

My Linux Mint came with LibreOffice suite for everything I needed to do on Microsoft Office 365. Zoom works fine. Gimp works fine for image editing. I am still deciding on a financial software, but leaning towards GnuCash, which looks pretty much like QuickBooks.

All truly open source software is free of charge. However, some users choose to donate to specific development projects or to organizations like the Linux Foundation or the Free Software Foundation.

What does open source software have to do with Suggestions for Liberty?

First, let’s be clear that this article is not an ad for open source, nor did the Just Vote No blog receive anything from anyone for posting it.

What this article hopes to do is offer suggestions that could help individuals or families on a budget, provide an alternative to being chained to near-monopolistic providers, and fight the credo that “you will own nothing” (you “will be happy “ paying rent for your home, lease for your car, and subscriptions for the software in your computer).

Liberty in government, in the market place, in daily life requires that there be choices.

Shakespeare for Valentine’s Day

If Valentine’s Day candlelight dinner or box of chocolates is not in your budget this year, print a copy of Shakespeare’s Sonnet #116 and read it to your sweetheart. Then have a Happy Valentine’s Day!

How are you all celebrating Valentine’s Day? Romantic dinner by candlelight? Box of La Madeline au Truffe (US$25 per gram)? Or doing not much given the high cost of living?

If the latter, here is an unassuming suggestion: Print a copy of Shakespeare’s Sonnet #116 (funny thing about Shakespeare’s sonnets, they go by number instead of title), read it to your sweetheart, then talk a little bit about it. Not a big, deep discussion, please!

Why Sonnet #116? First, this is the most familiar of Shakespeare’s sonnets, so it must be good. Second, for so many folks, Sonnet #116 bursts into an epiphany when read or heard for the first time. Third, many find this sonnet worth revisiting by way of reminder.

So, here is Shakespeare’s Sonnet #116:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments; love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Depending on our age and social milieu we might know couples that still hold hands walking down the street after 40 years together, or we might know some of today’s ubiquitous single parents (some divorced, some never married).

In Sonnet #116, Shakespeare characterized his view of the hand-holding oldsters – once young with “rosy lips and cheeks.” Challenges surely came their way. Certainly, at times one or the other had to stay steady, like a star, and not bend “with the remover to remove.” Chances are these couples will bear it out “even to the edge of doom.”

Agreed, this is not your typical Valentine’s Day poem, dripping with gleeful passion and lovely allusions. You can tell that from the sonnet’s first line which refers to the “marriage of true minds,” not the marriage of true hearts.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Picture: Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher of James City, North Carolina. This picture is from Deep Roots at Home. As of February 2024 Herbert and Zelmyra still held the Guinness record for the longest married couple: 86 years of marriage. Herbert passed away in 2011 at age 105, and Zelmyra followed him two years later also at 105.

Here is an excerpt from Herbert and Zelmyra’s Choice Secrets Of Successful & Long Marriage, Deep Roots at Home, September 14, 2020.

“Together, as young friends and then later when married, they survived the effects of World War I and II, the Great Depression, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and 15 presidential administrations.

During the Depression, Herbert lived off the land and worked for as little as 5 cents a day. They had to raise their own food and ration it for their five children. Unable to afford a car, Herbert got to work as a mechanic the best way he could. Undaunted, Herbert built their home with his own hands in 1942.“

Christmas in a hot climate

I was born in the Southern Hemisphere, where it can get
hot as blazes in December. So, snow-covered trees made no sense to my family. Ah, but wait ’till you hear about our DIY Nativity Scene. Merry Christmas everyone.

For some people, including me, no Christmas ever goes by without remembrance of childhood. Scenes of trees, sleighs and snow, remind me of my Christmases in sweltering hot weather. See, I was born in the Southern Hemisphere, in South America, where December is summertime.

For my family the snowy tree scenes so popular in the Northern Hemisphere made no sense at all. Besides, they said, what do trees have to do with the birth of Jesus?

Ah, also, real trees were expensive for folks of modest means like us, and they only lasted one season. Some fancy people had fake trees, like those shimmering aluminum ones, but that was equally out of our range.

But my Christmases were unforgettable!

The extended family in which I grew somehow managed to instill in all of us kids that experiences differ according to condition. The trick is to understand the condition, accept it, and build rituals of cheerful dedication.

The ritual of Christmas included us kids scouring the neighborhood for discarded wood, the older kids bringing sand from the beach, one of my uncles cutting branches with lovely leaves, and another uncle building the frame of what was to be the most beautiful Nativity Scene you have ever seen.

The gathering and building are what stand out in my memory.

The uncle whose job was to build the Nativity frame expected teamwork and precision (he was a draughtsman for the army). The uncle in charge of bringing the branches collected them from a veritable jungle that stood mysteriously abandoned for decades in the back of his property.

Gathering and transporting sand required deep planning. The gathering had to be when it was not too hot and the beach was not covered with sunbathing folks. Transporting entailed avoidance of market days when lots of people who also depended on the local streetcar brought home numerous bags of produce (and often a live chicken). My Dad, given that he was known for destroying a wall while trying to hammer in a small nail, did not participate in the building of the Nativity Scene. His job was the Christmas dinner.

Once the frame was built, the canopy of greenery was in place, and the sand was spread evenly on the frame’s platform, we kids were allowed to place rocks and other nature items that we felt were appropriate on the sand.

Lastly came the piece de resistance.

The adults cautiously and lovingly unwrapped the Holy Family, the Angel (the Bible does not mention an angel present at the manger, but Nativity Scenes like to have one), the Three Wise Men (the Bible does not say how many there were, but makes sense to say 3 since they brought 3 gifts), the shepherds and their sheep (yes, mentioned), and the cow and donkey (nothing about them in the Bible, but they fit the story so beautifully).

And voila, there was the Nativity Scene, to us a beautiful and joyous scene that seemed to shout “Hey, cooperation and good will can work. How abut spreading them around as far and wide as you can?”

To this day, although I now live where it is cold in December, I set up a little Nativity Scene at Christmas time. I am happy that my little granddaughters cooperate setting up their tiny Scene in their room every year, the featured picture of this Christmas article.

Have a wonderful Christmas or Hanukkah (they fall on the same day this year), or just celebrate the Season. Best wishes for a prosperous and peaceful 2025.

Marcy Berry
Just Vote No Editor

Holy fatcats! Absolute Batman is coming!

Come October 9, 2024, there will be a new Batman in the Gotham neighborhood: Absolute Batman. He is, well, different, and thus worthy of perusal.

Come October 9, 2024, it is said there will be a new Batman in the Gotham neighborhood: Absolute Batman. He is, well, different, and thus worthy of perusal. More so, because the rest of the DC Comics Trinity — Wonder Woman and Superman – will follow Batman into the new Absolute Universe later in October.

Kudos for DC Comics, writer Scott Snyder, artist Nick Dragotta, and colorist Frank Martin for plunging into what could be called a Batman for our times. Not that DC has been shy about creating some extreme versions of Batman for its Absolute Editions, but this new Absolute Batman feels like a totally inverted image of the prime Batman.

This Batman is not one of the multiple iterations of prime Batman. He is not the brooding Batman of the 1930s (hey, there was a depression then), or the lighter Batman & Robin exclamatory duo of the 1950s (war hero Eisenhower was presiding over a prosperous economy), or even the focused-on-justice-for-Mom-and-Dad Batman of 1989 (people were suffering through an economic slowdown again). This oh so different Batman is not even a figment of his own imagination, like in the 2022 Batman Unburied series.

The new Absolute Batman has shed all his original self, for real!

Batman’s wealthy parents Martha and Thomas Wayne were not killed by thugs, as they were in the prime Batman Universe. They are now very much alive and not at all wealthy. Dad is a teacher, and Mom works in the Mayor’s Office.

As it must follow, Bruce Wayne is not the billionaire owner of Wayne Enterprises, but an engineer (or construction worker per some previews). Thugs are not among his shunned and hunted adversaries, since he grew up with them in the heart of Gotham.

From the perspective of the new Absolute Batman, there are bigger fish to fry than thugs and petty crime bosses. His principal adversaries are the powerful within the established system, those (like the traditional Bruce Wayne?) who have the wealth and resources that most citizens of Gotham lack.

This Batman no longer represents a perceived established system that aims to bring order to Gotham. Absolute Batman’s modus operandi is not to bring order where chaos reigns, but to use disorder and chaos to destroy the established order he finds objectionable.

In an interview with Comicbook, Scott Snyder encapsulates the core of the new Batman,

“I don’t want to give too much away but one of the core concepts of the series is that in this world, Bruce will be the small chaos in the system and the villains will be more powerful, have more resources.”

“We want it to feel like Batman, yet brand new,” … “But the core idea, that he is the anarchy, not the system, and his adversaries are more systemic … “

One must assume the new Absolute Batman is a Batman for our times.

The world is not yet Gotham. But how are we doing in the orderly establishment departments, public or private? Everybody feel comfortable with Big Tech or Big Pharma? Is everybody confident with their own safety and the safety of their family in their homes, streets, schools? Everybody feel confident that on November 5th all will go smoothly?

If sincerely answered, responses to the above questions would be “not great” and “no.” The established establishment, public or private, has no credible plan to lower the unsustainable national debt, curb the power of monopolies, make effective public education available to all children, heal the minds of our youth (think teen suicides and school shootings), or end what is becoming universal dependence on public assistance or selective dependence on criminal endeavors (think gang membership and drug dealing).

In the absence of cogent planning and action, we get extreme gibberish — We will end inflation with price controls! I can end a war with a phone call! Medicare for all! We are being run by a bunch of cat ladies! This real-life twaddle feels like the equivalent of the new Absolute Batman’s hulking inelegant frame bringing chaos and calling it remedy. Meanwhile, believers of the twaddle could be compared to the new Absolute Bruce Wayne, who continues to live in Crime Alley among the thugs so he can learn from them how to fight the “fat cats.”

“This is Absolute Batman, going up against the fat cats, the one percenters, the ones who play the populace and make them dance, sacrificing them for their own purposes, and then making them blame each other. This Absolute Batman has been planning for a long time, staying in Gotham to learn rather than travelling the world and doing the kind of jobs that an eccentric billionaire trust fund kid would never do.” Bleedingcool.com, September 12, 2024.

It will be interesting to see if this inverted Batman sells.

Hopefully, DC Comics will succeed in engaging their readers in the new personality of Bruce Wayne and the new modus operandi of Absolute Batman. A quick look at Reddit>Comics, or any of the numerous comics forums will show that readers pay attention to the origins, motives and conscience of their Superheroes. Will they feel that Absolute Bruce Wayne is a bit too average? A bit too much a product of our times? A bit too obviously a diversity and inclusion justice warrior?

After all, today’s readers can too often find chaos and disorder in their own neighborhoods, schools, and sadly their own homes. Will they be interested in someone who – unlike prime Batman who aims for return to order — uses bursts of brute force to simply plow through adversaries? We shall see.

Picture: This is what Batman looked like back in 1939, when he first appeared in the comics. He was slim, agile, sophisticated. When Absolute Batman comes out in October, make comparisons. The picture is from article on CBR.com, Every Single Batman Suit & Costume, In Chronological Order, dated July 1, 2024.

O. J. Simpson: Fallen angel of our times

Random thoughts are sometimes memories triggered by events. The passing of O. J. Simpson on April 10, 2024, brought such memories. O. J.’s fame and subsequent fall warrant reflection.

Random thoughts are sometimes memories triggered by events. The passing of O. J. Simpson on April 10, 2024, brought such memories. O. J.’s fame and subsequent fall warrant reflection.

Way back in 1974, my best friend and I were watching the star-studded movie The Towering Inferno in a movie theater in San Francisco. When O. J. Simpson showed up on the screen – playing security officer Harry Jernigan – there was cheering and applause from the audience. My friend, a season-ticket-carrying football fan was ecstatic. “That’s O. J. Simpson!” she said to me, knowing I would not know why everyone was cheering.

That event felt like an example of down-right reverence. It felt like folks were saying, “Wow, I wish I could be as talented, dedicated to a craft, and as handsome as he is!”

Today, April 11, 2024, the instructor in a class I was attending announced to the class that O. J. Simpson had died. Interestingly, there was an instant of silence and reflection. Then, there were comments, mostly echoing Fred Goldman’s reaction, “No great loss.” The class rightly empathized with the horrific pain felt by all those close to the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

O. J. Simpson’s fall from grace did not stop after he was controversially acquitted in the murders of Nicole and Ron. Other arrests followed, as well as time spent in prison.

In William Shakespeare’s play Julius Cesar, Mark Antony say,

“The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.”

Indeed. Evil is incredibly powerful. It obliterates our natural desire for peace. It demolishes our will power. It erases any good we have done or wish to do.

Someone once said, “You can’t fix evil.” Perhaps so. However, you can try to help prevent evil.

We will never know if kind intervention from family and friends would have mitigated O. J.’s pattern of physical abuse towards Nicole. Nobody seems to have tried.

And evil does not limit itself to the individual level. It takes hold of populations, bringing misery like Joseph Stalin’s “liquidation of the kulaks as a class” in 1929, the “Final Solution” in 1941, and the “economic necessity” of slavery in the U.S. starting in 1619.

The remedy for population evil is the same as that of individual evil: Try to stop it before it grows.

Marcy Berry

Picture: O. J. Simpson in his role as security officer Harry Jernigan in the 1974 film The Towering Inferno.

Jesus: The inclusive prophet

Jesus’ message could be described as one of inclusivity and diversity! He blessed the meek, the poor, and the peacemakers. He associated with sinners. And he even recognized the separate places of religion and the state.

Although Easter is the holiest of days for those of the Christian faith, Christmas on December 25th, Jesus’ birthday, is the day most celebrated. With the celebrations come messages of new tidings, redemption, and rebirth.

The new tidings are not to say that Jesus denied the Old Testament. On the contrary, he said in Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Yet, he delivered a kinder, gentler message than that in the Old Testament. The Old Testament laid down the Laws and warned how the wrath of God would rain upon sinners. The New Testament observed the Laws but added God’s mercy and redemption.

If we were to use today’s parlance, we might venture to describe Jesus’ message as one of inclusivity and diversity! This is the King of Kings (on earth, in the lineage of David; in Heaven, the Son of God) but born in a manger. He blessed the meek, the poor, the peacemakers (Matthew 5:1-12). He drove the devil out of sinners (Matthew 8:28-34). And he jousted verbally with the Devil himself, rejecting the Devil’s three temptations in a most rational manner (Matthew 4:1-11). Interestingly, Jesus even recognized the place of religion and the state: “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21).

A good summary of Jesus’ new tidings would be in his conversation with his disciples during the supper that was to be his last. It is recorded in Matthew 13:34-35.

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another … By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

There were miracles on the first Christmas, the day Jesus was born. An angel appeared in the fields where the shepherds were tending their sheep and told them about the birth, so they could come and see the Baby (Luke 2:8-20). A star appeared in the east and guided the three Kings to Jesus, with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:9-11).

It would be wonderful if at this Christmas time all peoples of the world, regardless of their faith, would experience the miracle of realizing that love for one another makes more sense than divisiveness and belligerence.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Halloween – Ah, the good old days

Celebrating the good old days at some point in everyone’s life is inevitable – like death and taxes. But, hey, Halloween was once fun. Not only for the little ones lusting after candy from the neighborhood, but also for the candy givers. How many kids came to your door this Halloween?

Do kids come to your door Trick or Treating on Halloween? Do you decorate your porch or window with ghosts and goblins? Or do you even buy Halloween candy? In so many neighborhoods, the answer is “no” these days.

Things have changed from the proverbial good old days.

The good old days. That’s when kids played outside until dark, usually unsupervised. That’s when kids decided on their own whether they were going to jump rope, play hide-and-seek, ride their bikes, or walk to the ice cream shop. Kids in the city cooled off at the fire hydrant, and kids in the suburbs drank from water hoses. And Halloween was time to amass bushels of candy from the neighborhood.

Then things changed.

Today, in some small towns kids still play outside, close to home — maybe they have a basketball hoop, maybe a soccer ball. And come dusk, chances are everybody goes inside.

For Halloween, some neighborhoods have developed supervised Halloween gatherings. Some neighborhoods have patrolled “Treat Trails.” But, the old tradition of kids just deciding on their own how they would roam the neighborhood collecting candy and compliments on their costumes is pretty much gone.

What happened?

Did people get mean or loony all of a sudden? Did government suddenly go berserk making up safety laws? Did the scourge of drugs, ripping up minds and soiling communities, turn our neighborhoods into battlefields. Did the bane of social media force itself upon vulnerable young minds, exchanging reality for mimicry?

Who knows.

Regardless. “Happy Halloween!!” Or should it now be the bromidic “Stay Safe.”

Doing the best with what one is given

Merry Christmas everyone! If you do not observe Christmas, have a wonderful time anyway. This season of the year marks a turning point from darkness to light – the Winter Solstice – a good time to celebrate however few or many blessing we have been given.

Merry Christmas everyone! If you do not observe Christmas, have a wonderful time anyway. This season of the year marks a turning point from darkness to light – the Winter Solstice – a good time to celebrate however few or many blessing we have been given.

A story and a song can illustrate:

The Parable of the Talents

A rich man needed to go on a trip. Just before his departure, he gave five coins (which were called talents in the old days) to one servant, two coins to another, and one coin to a third. Upon his return he asked his servants for an accounting of the coins. Two servants had used the bounty well and returned double the amount of coins – 10 and 4 coins respectively. The third servant, uncertain and fearful, had hid his one coin, and that is all he had. (Matthew 25:14).

This parable could be the origin of the saying “What have you done with what you were given.” If blessing are used well, they turn into bigger blessings. If there is lack of faith, distrust, and fearfulness, blessings are wasted.

The Little Drummer Boy

The Nativity Story tells of the great gifts the Child Christ received from three Kings: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. A Christmas carol tells of another equally significant gift. Here are two of the verses from The Little Drummer Boy.

Little baby
Pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too
Pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring
Pa rum pum pum pum
That’s fit to give our king
Pa rum pum pum pum,
…
I played my drum for him
Pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for him
Pa rum pum pum pum,
Then he smiled at me
Pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum

The drummer boy is “a poor boy too,” just like the Baby in the manger who has no crib for a bed. All he has is his drum, which one is left to imagine whether that is his work tool in battle. He did very well with what he was given, though!

He smiled at me … Me and my drum.

Pictured: The Gifts of the Three Kings, gold, frankincense and myrrh. This is a screen shot from a beautiful 18-minute dramatization of the Nativity story, found on the Light of the World website. Watch the movie. Note the subtle expressions of acceptance of circumstances, and determination to rise above by doing what needs to be done.

Read till you come to the end: then stop

Children are familiar with animated film version of classic tales. But how much more interesting are the original books! Even more interesting is the quest for learning to read well.

Has your highschooler read Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass? Not Walt Disney’s or other abridged versions, but the original Lewis Carroll, illustrated with the fantastical drawings of John Tenniel. The original Through the Looking Glass delights with the quirky poem Jabberwocky. Here is a sample,

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!

… and the equally zany The Walrus and the Carpenter — one of the best verses for sample,

The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright —
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.

Cautionary tales

Good heavens, you might say, read such nonsense when there is so much strife and challenges in the world?

Well, yes. If your kid can read Through the Looking Glass cover to cover at his own pace and find it fascinating, then he is playing chess while others are playing checkers.

Also, if the reader uses her imagination to turn the “nonsense” into cautionary tales, then she is ready for life’s challenges! Let’s consider tricky folks one of life’s difficulties – like Mr. Walrus and Mr. Carpenter. These snippets from the poem summarize the situation well,

O Oysters, come and walk with us!’
The Walrus did beseech.
A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each.’

The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head —
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the oyster-bed.

But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat —
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn’t any feet.

Guess what happened to the gullible little oysters.

O Oysters,’ said the Carpenter,
You’ve had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?’
But answer came there none —
And this was scarcely odd, because
They’d eaten every one.”

Alas, innocents that believe in wondrous promises from the powerful.

The mathematician who wrote children’s books

Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, born in Daresbury, Cheshire, England, in 1832. He died in 1898. He is known for Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871), although he wrote other books, short stories, and poems. His other most-often mentioned works are Bruno’s Revenge (1867), The Hunting of the Snark (1876), and A Tangled Tale (1885).

Carroll was not only a prolific writer, but also a mathematician, logician, photographer, and Anglican deacon. He taught mathematics and logic at Christ Church, Oxford, and wrote several mathematical books under his birth name. His mathematical puzzles are sometimes included in puzzle books. His most-often mentioned mathematical book is An Elementary Treatise on Determinants with their Application to Simultaneous Linear Equations and Algebraic Geometry (1867).

A whole lot of Carroll’s writings and puzzles were intended to teach children math and logic. His work can still do so today. The popular website Teachers Pay Teachers is just one of the several that have materials related to Lewis Carroll’s works for younger children as well as for highschoolers. Lesson Planet has good material on Lewis Carroll as well.

Gee, this book is long!

The last chapter of Alice in Wonderland has useful advice for readers of long books,

“There’s more evidence to come yet, please your Majesty,” said the White Rabbit, jumping up in a great hurry: “this paper has just been picked up …” “it’s a set of verses …” “Read them,” said the King. The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. “Where shall I begin, please your Majesty,” he asked.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.“

Alice at the Trial

World without Roe v Wade: Mommy left to die?

Conservatives need to show they are aware that if abortions are completely banned, doctors might have to decide who gets killed – Mom or Baby – and whether or not to risk their medical career by not letting Mom die.

Roe vs. Wade as well as Planned Parenthood vs. Casey might soon be on the chopping block, which has unleashed fury from the left and contentment from the right. The left’s fury is understandable – overturning Roe messes with a lot that women have taken for granted in the last 50 years. The situation on the right seems more difficult to understand.

The majority of conservatives oppose abortion, often declaring that life begins at conception and must be protected from that time on. Great, but whose life? Not all conservatives include in their declarations that there should be exceptions to protect maternal life.

Abortion should be made illegal throughout the United States. No exceptions. Bo Hines, candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, North Carolina.

Perhaps Hines has in other occasions better explained his position, and perhaps he does consider maternal life as important as fetus life.

However, Hines’ statement, as well as those of other conservatives speaking on abortion, are the kind of thing that could upend the 2022 midterm elections. That is, unless most conservative women have not heard of maternal risks during pregnancy either.

Here are three of the most serious potential risks to refresh their memory:

Ectopic pregnancy: No way either Baby or Mom can survive without intervention like surgery to remove the fetus or medication to stop the fetus from growth.

Preeclampsia: This used to be called “toxemia.” It is very high blood pressure and protein in the urine. The only cure for severe preeclampsia is to give birth. If the Baby is viable, all might be well. If it is not, either Mom will survive but Baby will not, or both will die.

Detached placenta: As the name implies, the placenta separates from the uterus, preventing Baby from getting nutrition and oxygen. If severe enough, Mom can only be saved by giving birth to Baby, regardless of gestation time.

These risks are common knowledge. Nothing controversial about them. So, conservatives need to show they are aware that if abortions are completely banned, attending physicians might be placed in the position of deciding who gets killed – Mom or Baby – and whether or not to risk their medical career by not letting Mom die.

As an aside, another issue that conservatives might want to clarify is that Planned Parenthood does more than “kill babies.” It provides education and contraceptives that help the less affluent avoid abortions and plan the size of their families.

Picture: The featured picture above is from a series of photographs by Jon Dominis, published by Life Magazine in its January 31, 1964, issue in an essay titled “The Valley of Poverty.”