Content advisory 12+ We were driving in our Japanese car down the road, xenon headlights breaking the darkness. Suspension, invented by a Scotland-origin man was preventing us from jumping on the bumps. We were driving through the forest to the border through the protected zone.
Back then, in the age of tribes, being banned from your settlement was sometimes worse than a death sentence. Wild beasts, hungry hunters, … Read the rest
Content advisory 12+ There are many talks and speeches regarding the benefits of diversity, yet really few of them truly explain why it actually matters. In short, it widens your thinking horizon, gives you the luxury of less biased choice and helps you to understand the world better; by this, you can develop yourself, because it trains your brain, it stimulates the variety of connections between neurons, which will … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ I once saw a film called "Field of Dreams" which involved a man hearing a voice in a cornfield that told him what to do -- which he did -- and what happened as a result. The idea behind it was simple but profound: how can we find the past again and correct it? Or maybe better would be to ask, "How can we HEAL the past?"… Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ You know, I read a lot of blogs posted by authors great and small, coming from all directions. One source in particular, which I won't mention by name but which in fact does publish some excellent stuff, also seems to be a haven for hard-line feminists and various other typoids and assorted specimens lumbered with a lot of sexual preference issues. Gender is a big, big … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ In a world where we are more particular about appearances than reality, the unrealistic projection of an ideal body has amounted to a long-drawn obsession. However, it is a problem that is now being somewhat addressed as saner minds apparently prevail. Celebrities have spoken up about being “body-shamed” and “fat-shamed” and about eating disorders. The public has shunned photoshopped bodies to the degree of absurdity and appears … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ A guy was explaining to me once how to tell the perfect lie. He said it with a straight face and matter-of-fact expression, almost as if he were expounding on how you can pack the most clothes into a suitcase or the most groceries into one plastic bag at a supermarket.
Inspired by my strict moral upbringing in the Christian Church (hahaha), I felt it my duty … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ Have you ever been falsely accused of doing something bad that you positively and absolutely didn't do? How did you feel? Especially when there was no way to change the minds of those who were accusing you?
It's happened to me a few times, and I can assure you that I was outraged. In fact, I have little doubt that my violent reaction to such injustice was … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ When I was a kid back in America and would watch the sit-coms on TV (which now leads me to reflect "Did I HAVE a life?"), I was always struck by the laughter that would erupt in the background every time someone said something that was supposed to be funny. Didn't matter if it actually WAS funny -- the knee-slapping merry-makers in the television studio ("coming to … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ There is a longstanding question which asks us if we -- given the opportunity -- would prefer to know when we will die or instead linger in the perpetual (until the chopping block moment) suspense of NOT knowing. I haven't taken a survey, but it seems that most people would choose not to know. Me? Well, I'm not sure.
The pros and cons? Obviously, if we understood … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ Although the 2018 World Cup can now be placed in the file of Yesterday's News (and what is deader than the headlines of the day before the day before ?), it is worth a brief look back simply as a way of saying goodbye-to-all-that.
And no matter what your take on sports in general might be-- and regardless of your politics -- I think that only the … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ Really? All these years for nothing? You are still looking for the Woman in Red? Man, look out, there are agents Smiths coming!
Welcome to the Matrix… You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ I just caught Adrita's article about beggars in India. I can only imagine what a nightmare it must be in places like that. Of course, the homeless and hapless are everywhere and must be dealt with one way or the other. As with the prison system, the question involves the push-pull between blame and compassion. Should we despise beggars or try to help them? I used to … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ Without ever having been a surfer, I remember watching a film a long time ago about surfing. It was called ''The Endless Summer" and it showed (endlessly) the magnificent, bronzed guy surfers (Wow !-- if only I were gay !!!) as they sat on the waves, dipping and slanting at just the precise instant, simultaneously gliding, dictating terms to the sea, and then being abruptly devoured, violently … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ So, will the REAL Russia stand up and be counted? That is the question to be answered in tonight's Russia-Egypt football match which will likely determine whether or not Putin's boys advance to the next round. I will be watching and pulling for them, anxious to find out if the 5-0 shellacking of Saudi was a fluke.
Of great interest will be (1) whether or not Mo … Read the rest
Content advisory 16+ So, at last, the long-awaited World Cup kicks off today. In fact, by the time this post hits the board, the Russia-Saudi Arabia match will be underway. Frankly, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't walk across the street to see an encounter between these two worse-than-mediocre sides, but, hey, it IS the World Cup.
A few observations, based on recent World Cups. Look for the most entertaining football … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ (Restricted content) Long ago I stood atop the Empire State Building and peered down at Manhattan far below. I don't remember my feelings precisely, but I am sure that I was in awe of where I was -- you know, the mere Fact of it ("Damn -- this is really the top of the Empire State Building!"). I do recall that we were securely fenced … Read the rest
Content advisory 14+ There were times when libraries experienced heavy traffic as readers pop in to find the latest release. Days when one could hardly go to bed without reading a chapter or two, but what is happening nowadays? More time is spent on leisure and scrolling up and down a screen. That doesn’t mean that books are not treasured. There are few serious readers left. Are you one of … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ My Indian blogging colleague Roopsa has written today on the subject of sex education in India, and this has likewise awakened echoes of my own 'training' in the sphere, which of course happened many, many years ago. It was back in the days when babies really DID come from storks.
Seriously though, I grew up with my grandparents and I was lucky enough to have a grandfather … Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ In the last couple of days, Russian "patriotism" has had its finest hour. First, a famous painting was well-nigh destroyed by a vodka-swilling nationalistic fool at the Tretyakov gallery; and, second, a Russian journalist, well-known for his criticism of the Kremlin, was fatally shot in the back as he tried to enter his apartment in Kiev, where he had fled in fear of his life in Moscow.… Read the rest
Content advisory 18+ I have been exchanging letters with a friend who writes novels. She is a woman of Moscow with long-established connections to New York City. Clever, sophisticated, and talented, she is, in fact, among the most unforgettably beautiful women I have ever seen. Hauntingly so, like the Mona Lisa. Or the Girl With the Pearl Earring. Except better.
Feminist trash-talking being what it is -- if we can … Read the rest
