I’m still attending a consumer law conference in Portland Oregon. After today’s sessions, I took a walk in the dark. As I often do, I brought my small consumer grade camera with me(SD1100IS). Here are some of the things I noticed while walking through downtown Portland tonight.
Who would have thought that you might run [...]
I’m traveling back home after spending an incredibly quiet and stress-free five days on Nantucket. For those of you who are not familiar, Nantucket, part of Massachusetts, is an island in the Atlantic Ocean. October is the off-peak season on Nantucket, meaning that the Island is much quieter than it is during the summer. This [...]
Did you ever notice how evocative moments of silence are? I’m always emotionally moved when the PA announcer asks for a moment. The silence of tens of thousands of people is powerful, indeed.
American culture is usually out-of-control cacophonous. If we aren’t yapping with each other, there’s a TV or radio blaring. We are pummeled with noise everywhere we go, including waiting rooms, stores and airports. We even bring our yapping and music to “quiet” places, such as national parks. We just can’t help ourselves. It is getting much too hard to find quiet places anymore.
That’s why it’s such a joy to be reminded to shut up, even for a moment, even if once in a while. I also appreciated this simple attempt to remind the crowd to be quiet out of respect for Abraham Lincoln’s accomplishments.
Not that this sign worked very well. People still talked, almost as much as ever. Children ran around unrestrained by their parents. People shouted things like, “Hey Bill! Isn’t it about time to go get some hot dogs?”
The Bible version of God doesn’t ring true to me. I don’t believe in any traditional sort of God. I am not that sort of person who finds any purpose in worshipping or asking favors from invisible Beings. I don’t ascribe any emotions or sentience (certainly, no vindictiveness) to any Person or Thing that might [...]
