Stoic Practices: Contemplation of Nature

This entry is part 44 of 47 in the series Journey Through Stoicism

Stoicism teaches that nature is both teacher and law. In a time of rising seas and stronger storms, the lesson feels urgent: to live according to nature now means to remember that we are not outside it.

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Our Ian Experience

I’ve communicated directly with many folks, but I thought I would briefly summarize our Experience with Ian. This one was no fun (not that any of them are), and we avoided a major catastrophe here in the Tampa Bay area, but at the expense of Fort Myers, Port Charlotte, Sanibel, and points south of us. This is kind of my summary of our experience with Ian.

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Donald Trump-Douche Bag of the Day

This entry is part 44 of 54 in the series Daily Douche-Bag

Well, it is generally such an easy and obvious award to make, I’ve tried to avoid making it. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel, it is just too easy. But there were two things recently. The main one being a meeting in the Oval Office in which he starts claiming there are thousands of people already lining for a Dear Leader rally in Pennsylvania, so it would be unfair to cancel that due to a major natural disaster unfolding in the United States.

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Douche Bag of the Day-Donald Trump

This entry is part 37 of 54 in the series Daily Douche-Bag

There aren’t many days I couldn’t give Trump this award, so I try to save it for the more egregious occasions (which, again, could be almost daily). He gets it to day for his response to the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico. Apparently, he believes they don’t deserve help because they are in debt. (Here’s a mirror Don, how many times have you been bailed out?)

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Benham Bros – Douche Bags of the Day

This entry is part 36 of 54 in the series Daily Douche-Bag

I suppose it will come as no surprise to anyone that these two will wind up with multiple DBoTD awards. Along with a number of other fundamentalist nut-jobs, these two are blaming Irma and 9/11 on LGBT people.

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Preparing for Matthew – Round 1

So, I’m pretty sure everyone knows Hurricane Matthew is bearing down on Florida, and then on to Georgia and South Carolina. The current forecast track kind of lets North Carolina off the hook. It’s been, and remains, a pretty devastating storm, having already wiped out Haiti, and now battering the Bahama’s.

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Dark Ages in America: Now?

In the previous century, America, through public and private cooperation and investment built an unrivaled infrastructure. We became the country that invented the things of a new and exciting world, and we built those things. We put in place a social safety net. We weren’t perfect, but we tried, and We looked to the future with excitement and anticipation, but today, we seem to be in a rush to go backwards as far and fast as possible. We fear everything, and demand absolute security, and think it can be found in some nostalgic past.

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United Airlines Epic Fail

Last week I flew to Chicago to attend a professional conference. Due to delays caused by weather, it came out that, despite United being willing to give me $200 to take a flight the next morning if mine were overbooked, they wanted to charge me $75 to give up that same seat, but take an earlier flight that would have actually got me home on time.

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Christmas 2010-A Good One

Well, Christmas 2010 has come and gone. Nothing left to do but pack up the decorations. I’d have to rate it as a pretty good Christmas. I think I managed to stick to a fairly tight budget, and despite a few arguments with Lay, we wound up with everyone getting something they really enjoyed. I got my shopping and gift wrapping done well ahead of time this year. The decorations were up right after Thanksgiving, and the Christmas Cards went out just after that, so I never felt rushed or hectic.

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