Coopernundrums

    Today I would like to rant a bit about the overused term BASICALLY.  Seems like everyone from late night talk show hosts to politicians uses the term basically as a crutch or a filler word.  They need to STOP NOW!

    We have a beautiful language.  The English language has thousands of words that roll off ones tongue with grace and fluidity.  I basically want everyone to stop murdering the language.  Basically this is our heritage we are talking about.  A gift that has been basically handed down from one generation to another that should basically be preserved.  Instead, we basically abuse it.  It is basically torture to the ears.

    There are so many descriptive words that people can use to speak in a beautiful, meaningful way. You might be surprised if you stop and explore the extent of your own vocabulary, and the fact that you don’t use it for your own benefit. We all probably know the meanings of many words, but we don’t employ them in our speech or writing.

    My theory is that basically is just one of those words that we use to “sum things up” or to say “well you should get it, its so simple I just explained the whole thing to you in English!”

    So please, for the LOVE OF PETE, try to find some sprightly alternatives to the term BASICALLY. User your mind and come up with better more meaningful adjectives.  Basically, I am saying NO MORE BASICALLY!

    The Druids were the “wise men” of the pagan Celtic society.  Little is known of them with certainty; however it is thought that they played the roles of priests in the Celtic religion.

    Most folks know that the holiday we call Halloween is derived from the Celtic festival of Samhain.  This was one of the great Celtic fire festivals and marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. The Celtic people believed that on this night the gates between life and death were open – or at least poorly guarded.  Part of the role of the Druid priests was to protect the people from the spirits who might cross over.   Placating such spirits is thought to have been the origin of the trick or treat tradition.

    Other information suggests a variation of this idea, that the souls of sinners who had died during the year were held in torment.  They could only be released and given peace if the gods were pleased by the Samhain offerings.

   Since the barrier with the spirit world was thin on this day, Halloween was the perfect time for divination.  The Druids have been said to have been called upon to predict everything from next year’s harvest to an individual’s marriage prospects.

    As said at the outset, little is known for certain about the Druids.  There are only a few contemporaneous textual references to the Celtic religion whose myths were mainly handed down through oral tradition.  Most of our modern image of the Druid is really just Romantic myth, like these.

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    Isn’t it just amazing how people that are meek as sheep when you look then dead in the eye can, oh so easily, turn into vicious hyenas when they are hidden behind the veil of anonymity that an instant messenger, social website, or even a simple telephone provides?  Working constantly in, what could be termed, a customer service industry almost my entire working career has given me some pretty unique insight into this ever evolving behavior.

    I talk to an average of 25 people a day on teh telephone, as thats what I do.  I design websites, do graphical design and do technical support for computers and networks. I have had the same job for nearly 10 years now and have had the pleasure of dealing with people on both sides of the proverbial coin.

    Chatting with folks on the phone they can be callous, cold, curt, blunt, and downright mean.  When you see them in person at lest say, a user conference which I have to teach at several times a year you meet these same people and they are polite, kind and eerily nice.  Strange don’t you think?

    This is not just limited behavior to my industry.  Peopl in general behave this way.  Its my opinion that folks tend to put on a face for public exhibition when they go out, and then behave almost diametrically opposit when they are alone or with a select group of friends.  Its a real shame.  I often feel like I dont really know anyone.

    Take a look around you and see if you dont see what I am talking about.  If you don’t then maybe your one of the folks I am referiing to.  Lets hope you’re the former and not the latter. 

BE YOURSELF ALWAYS! (even if no one likes you for it)