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As my farewell message to this forum, I will start with a true story from my own experience.

I left my small hometown when I was 17 and moved to San Francisco with two high school buddies. One of...

Dictionary.com aside, nihilism to me is the belief that life is essentially meaningless -- grounded in nothingness. Marxist and capitalist ideologues try to invent a purpose in materialism, but they...

Some actions are not a matter of conscious choice. They just happen, like rain in a desert. Regretting them would be second guessing reality, which is pointless.

2005 was a good year for me personally, but I'll remember it as another year of war, a man-made disaster worse than hurricanes or tsunamis.

Proud moments? Every day when I capture the truth in...

Isn't Marxism nihilistic? I always thought so since it never posits a meaning to life beyond the historical struggle to control materialistic factors. In that respect it's just as nihilistic as...

I don't think there's any question the historical man existed. Whether he was the son of God is open to debate.

My question is: does the Christian church have anything to do with his teachings? Or...

"The Loved One" was a real hoot. The film version, too. Mr. Joy Boy and his glutton of a mother were unforgettable.

Aha! Caught your original message before you edited it.

I couldn't help but notice you didn't ask if she made me happy. I guess that is irrelevant to you, but I wonder why.

The 1918 pandemic didn't come from bird flu in Asia, as most ordinary human flu does. It actually originated in Kansas and the source could have been either bird flu or swine flu from domestic...

I stand corrected. How odd that a Russian boy wouldn't be taught Russian as his first language. His parents must have been Anglophiles.

What stereotyped romantic hogwash! I proposed to my future wife on the telephone and she happily accepted.

Mature people don't base their love lives on Hollywood films or syrupy novels.

OMINOUS PROBLEMS

The ominous developments in Turkey show the problems that will be encountered in preventing a human pandemic of avian flu.

Peasants in remote villages in the eastern province...

Well, she actually did some acting in "Bus Stop" and was quite convincing. In many of her movies she just played a dumb blonde, which she was not.

Just when I thought you had a head on your shoulders ... Believe it or not Emily, you will encounter some things in life that are not very pleasant. It's unavoidable, so you might as well get used to...

I agree -- plus it's a musical (which I hate.)

On the other hand, William Inge handled a similar subject (kidnapping a woman to marry her) more sensitively in his play "Bus Stop," which was also...

Another left-handed slur on my moral character. What's indecent about my using a metaphor of sailing jargon to compliment Emily on being level headed? You moderators are so intent on finding moral...

I agree. Nabokov should be an inspiration for writers whose first language is not English. Although he spoke some English before he left Russia, he didn't begin writing in English until years later.

Don't take things so seriously, Scher. Life can be absurd at times. Better to laugh than get upset.

As a fiction writer, Russian-born author Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) was known for his artistry, word play and descriptive detail. His novels include "Despair," (1937) "Laughter In The Dark" (1938)...

By wallowing, I'm sure Scher meant indulging in self-pity. I used her term to describe Plath's writing because I found it full of self-pity, a sense of professional victimhood and emotionally...

I am a master of the written word, after all.

Since Scher has already made an issue out of my post in a PM to me, let me explain my inspiration:

Emily understands what a jib is and presumably...

I beg your pardon -- wallowing? You should be so lucky as to have the talent to write the kind of stories that Salinger has written.

If you want examples of wallowing, read female authors such as...

I like the cut of your jib, Emily. If you were a boat, I would describe you as yar.

Why is my name is being bandied about by this teenybopper?

Your new avatar looks like Mr. Potato Head, Robin. Meaning it fits you.

She WASN'T innocent. Ramona is not her husband's daughter, she's the love child of her and Walt, the guy who got killed in the Army. And she never told her husband.

She may be indulging in...