PeterL
Voice of Chaos & Anarchy

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'. From Alice in Wonderland by Charles Dodson, AKA Lewis Carroll

One fundamental element of language is that the words have the same meanings for everyone using that language. On the other hand, metaphorical and ironic uses of words are common and are meaningful, and languages evolve, in part, by people using words in different ways. Some people use words

Read More

I don't meet everyone, but the people that I do run into seem to be less intelligent than people used to be, and they seem to be less willing to accept correction. I fear that Donald Trump is responsible for part of that. When people who have IQ's in the 80's and low 90's saw one of their own as president of the U.S.A., they seem to have gotten the idea that if he can do that, then I should do whatever I want to do, and no one can condemn me. Part of this thinking is that I have been among the lowest

Read More

Humans often ask the wrong questions, then are disappointed when the answers do not work, or work as they would have liked. A realm where that is blinding clear is in regard to the drugs that people use for amusement. Many people ask or wonder about the reasons for drug use, but the answers that they see often related to family, upbringing, environment, socialization, etc., but there is little said about neurotransmitters and hormones. Much drug use is an attempt to get the level of something back

Read More

A few days ago, I wrote a post extolling the virtues of thermal depolymerization for the disposal of the bodies of the dead, and that is a good idea, but since then I noticed many places that had multiple bins for the disposal of trash. It bothered me that there were so many bins, and that people were expected to sort their trash, because it could all go into a thermal depolymerization unit and the organic matter can be reduced to short chain hydrocarbon oil.
The process converts long hydrocarbon

Read More

Apparently, many people do not understand what democracy is, and many of them mistakenly think that the U.S.A. is a democracy. Democracy means that the people rule, from the Greek demos kratos. In a democracy, the people in assembly vote on the laws and how the state will be governed; how much will be paid to whom for doing whatever. That erroneous thinking results in republic and democracy being conflated. A republic is a form of government in which the people choose representatives who determine

Read More