To make Comments write directly to Jim at jimt@quixotic.ca
29
Mar
2022
Thursday March 10, 2022
The “Golden Guys” meet on Mondays. Mostly, we talk about what it feels like to grow older.
On a recent Zoom call, we talked about how our lives have changed.
There were six of us:
· One university professor, no longer teaching any students.
· One high-school principal, no longer administering anything.
· One orchardist, no longer tending trees.
· One business executive, no longer running any business.
· One minister, no longer offering leadership in any kind of pastorate.
· And me, the only one of us still doing what I had done most of my life – writing – although at a significantly reduced level.
We all wondered who we were, now that age and circumstance decreed that we could no longer be what we used to be.
Categories: Soft Edges
Tags: Yahweh, Tetragrammaton. names
12
Sunday March 6, 2022
I love coincidences. Coincidences are like bits of information floating on an ocean of meaninglessness until they drift up onto a beach and a passer-by – me – fits them into some kind of pattern.
Today’s coincidence is the name Volodymyr. Or Vladimir, if you prefer the anglicized Russian spelling. As a person who intuitively roots for underdogs, I’ll use the Ukrainian spelling. But it’s the same thing, either way.
There are four Volodymyrs involved in this coincidence.
There’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the comedian with no political experience who came out of nowhere to become Ukraine’s president, and has since shown himself to have leadership qualities many other nations might envy.
There’s Volodymyr Putin....
Categories: Sharp Edges
Tags: Putin, Ukraine, Volodymyr, Vladimir, Saint
Thursday February 17, 2022
The “Golden Guys” meet on Mondays. Mostly, we talk about what it feels like to grow older. On a recent Zoom call, we talked about how our lives have changed. There were six of us:
Tags: God, Moses, Exodus, YHWH, Yahweh, names
6
The last two weeks, I’ve tried to keep up with the changing scene in Ukraine, and our reactions to it. First, Russian forces were merely threatening to invade Ukraine. Then they invaded, but ostensibly to enable two eastern regions to breakaway from the rest of Ukraine. Then they clearly invaded all of Ukraine, from the north, east and south.
I’m shocked. Appalled. Disgusted with Vladimir Putin.
Let me be clear -- I am 100% opposed to the Russian invasion.
I’m less confident about the effectiveness of the western deterrents.
Tags: Putin, Ukraine, shunning, excommunication
Thursday March 3, 2022
Dear Mr. Amazon Prime,
Thank you so much for looking after the best interests of your customers. The other morning, before I was even out of bed, one of your Customer Service Representatives called to inform me that they had detected suspicious activity on one of my credit cards.
Someone in Dayton Ohio had used my credit card to make a purchase of $197.33.
I asked her to wait a minute, while I checked my wallet. Both of my credit cards were safely there. But when I got back to the phone, she had hung up on me.
That wasn’t very courteous of her.
Tags: scams, Amazon, Prime, robocalls, spam