We all hear the phrase “Have a nice day,” or maybe “Have a nice night,” or
words to that effect. Its become so common the significance has waned.
Here is a suggestion I started a few years back. Use it when someone helps
you out. For example, use it with someone makes you a sandwich at Subway,
or they check you out and bag your groceries. Better yet, at the pharmacy.
From what I have seen over the years, those at the pharmacy are some of
the hardest working sales people. Here is the suggestion:
If you can, catch their eye, then say: You made my day a little bit better.
It will catch them unaware, but they will often be quite pleasantly surprised.
I don't know if anyone else does this, but it is original to me.
Please, give it a try.
Hopefully everyone has heard of Project 2025. My impression is this is the MAGA / Republican plan to eviscerate our government and to outright destroy democracy. Not just destroy the Democrats, meaning the party and its members, but democracy itself.
So, where is Project Democracy?
I looked for it and found this site: https://projectdemocracy.org/lander
https://projectdemocracy.org/lander
It’s a blank site and the domain offered for sale for about $8000 USD. Hmmm, not a civic minded individual.
So,…, I created this site:
https://project-democracy.org/
And I have created the document titled Project Democracy.
Ooops, Not so fast. I have create a starter file / project by that name. If you consider a possible life span, it is not even to the point of being born. Maybe barely out of the germinal stage and into the embryonic stage. Still, I have started something and am now working it. Your assistance if very much wanted here. Please view the site and make comments. Better yet, write a chapter. Or maybe just part of one.
A new bulletin board has been created at https://mbkelly.net/forum. Here is a link:
Forum
The initial purpose is political. But the hope is to add more topics. Please take a
look and consider joining the conversation.
This page contains essays I have written. They are mostly science based, but not necessarily. I am not a scientist or researcher and do not have the education needed for those fields. Still, I have read widely and written about a few things. The top page is here
I went though a short spell of creating a few aphorisms. Several are unique to me. A few are aphorisms I have read and saved. This is a single page containing those items. There link is here
Here is a short set of short stories from a few years ago.
A Walk On The Beach In an acting class the instruction advised the students to be more aware of our surroundings. That autumn weekend took us to a resort on the beach of Florida’s east coast. The weather was windy and overcast. We had hoped for better weather, but then, the advice of the instructor came to mind. In the early evening we took a walk along the windy and cloudy beach, then this story came to mind. A calm and relaxed mood in the midst of a storm. A Walk On The Beach
The Fabric of Society In order to successfully live in a society, the populace must follow many rules of behavior. This is true in societies ranging from ants and bees, to lion prides, to tribes of primates, and yes, humans. Many of those laws are written, but many are not. This essay explores some results of not behaving well and why we should do better. Fabric Of Society
The Eighteenth Hole A short story about one hole of golf. Sometimes things are much better than at first glance. Some ugly language, but things can go that way sometimes. The Eighteenth Hole
The Lightening Bolt One child wanted to watch the lightening storm from the garage. Things were not so well with his older brother. The Lightening Bolt
As this update is being crafted, January 2023, the primary purpose of this web site is the political part. I am in my 70s. From this perspective, the politics of this nation has gone down hill at an ever increasing rate. Now the very existence of our democracy is in peril. Please visit those pages for a more detailed description why this is presume to be true. Those pages are here
Why is so much of this web site devoted to politics? Why is politics so important. Even answering this apparently simple question requires significant space. And invokes the risk of chasing people away before the answer has been completely presented.
Everything in our lives is affected by politics. Some things are not strongly affected, other things are controlled far more than we recognize they are.
A very brief foray into politics is necessary. A dictionary definition:
Noun: the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.
The Urban Dictionary has a series of definitions presenting the worst aspects of politics. Here is the site Google found for me: Urban Dictionary
In my words: Those who are elected are chosen by the people. That process is politics. The most obvious politicians do two things are: control spending, and pass laws by which we live. Spending is, of course, implemented by passing laws. The laws these people create are the direct result of politics. They are the essence of politics.
Those laws control everything we do in life. The money we use to conduct transactions is government controlled. Politics. When we sell or buy goods we must pay taxes. Politics. If we get cheated or we cheat others, people acting on behalf of the government can get involved, punish the wrong doers and, sometimes, make things better for the wronged. Politics.
Even our sex lives are affected by politics. There are laws that control with whom we may have sex. Sex with minors. Sex outside of marriage. Sex with people of the same gender. This list is not exhaustive. Some of those laws are widely recognized as rational and good. Some are hotly debated. Regardless, politics is involved in our sex lives.
All laws are a product of politics.
Our democracy, here in these United States, is a balancing act of politics. An extremely difficult feat. It is the same for every single democracy in the world. As this is written, February 2023, and updated in December 2023, our democracy is in dire danger. An existential crisis. The meaning intended is indeed that the very existence of our democracy is in danger.
Now compare life here with that in countries with governments that are not democracies. Russia, North Korea, China, and the list goes on. When the citizens of a democracy do not care enough to participate in the politics, a democracy will fail.
Well, this is probably too long already. The worry is that the visitors are chased away by the prospect of having to endure some politics. If you are concerned with politics in these United States, please visit those pages here: Politics
The politics of this first page now end.
I struggle with the concepts of how much detail to put in and how much to leave out. And where to put that detail. When there is too little detail, the position is not made clear and easily ignored. Too little indicates that the position of the author is not justified. Too much detail causes the eyes to glaze over and the reader skips everything. I have read multiple articles about attention span.
One conclusion is that in this age of internet and web pages, our attention span has dropped significantly. If we don’t find what we want, right this instant, go to another page. If we don’t like what we find, never mind the credibility, go somewhere else. There is little written about how an aspiring author, web page or otherwise, should respond to this condition
The problem of short attention span is the lesser problem. The more important one is that of ignoring positions that do not agree with what we think are true. Our interest in finding the right and correct information takes a very poor second to finding people, places, and material that agree with us. Regardless of whether our perspectives are supported by the real world; we want to be with people who agree with us. This is a major problem for all of humanity. To be realistic, this has been human behavior for a very long time.
I am more than willing to make changes to these pages. Comments on how to present these ideas will be warmly received and respected.
More will be added here soon. There will be updates to the political web pages here.
Bryan Kelly, Jan 2023 email to webmaster at mbkelly dot net