Archive for the ‘conversations’ Tag

01/26/2023 An Unexamined Life #8   Leave a comment

Installment eight continues this series of posts designed to promote discussion and thought through self-examination. I hope it’ll generate some interesting discussions between you, your friends, and partners. Without interesting people in our lives and a lack of interesting conversations things would become excruciatingly boring.

Also, for those of you who are interested, starting today this blog will no longer be posted daily. I’ve decided to cut back a little to allow for more time for other projects. It’s been more than twelve years of daily postings and I’ll miss that part of my routine. I’m immediately cutting back to three postings a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays beginning today. Now let’s get on with Self-Examination #8.

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates

*****

  • Do you usually make a special effort to thank someone who does you a favor? How do you react when you aren’t thanked for going out of your way for someone?
  • Would you like to have your rate of physical aging slowed by a factor of thirty so as to give you a life expectancy of approximately 2000 years?
  • You are invited to a party that will be attended by many fascinating people you’ve never met. Would you want to go if you had to go by yourself?
  • Since adolescence, in what three-year period do you feel you experienced the most personal growth and change?
  • If you were having difficulty on an important test and could safely cheat by looking at someone else’s paper, would you do so?

*****

  • If your parents became infirm and the only alternative to bringing them into your house was to put them in a nursing home, would you do so? What about a sister or brother who suffered a permanently crippling injury and had nowhere to go?
  • If you were at a friend’s house for Thanksgiving dinner and you found a dead cockroach in your salad, what would you do?
  • If you could take a one-month trip to anywhere in the world and money were not a consideration, where would you go and what would you do?
  • Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by five years to become extremely attractive?
  • Given the ability to project yourself into the past but not return, would you do so? Where would you go and what would you try to accomplish if you knew you might change the course of history?

*****

  • How many different sexual partners have you had in your life? Would you prefer to have had more or fewer?
  • Have you ever considered suicide? What is so important to you that without it life would not be worth living?
  • If your friends and acquaintances were willing to bluntly and honestly tell you what they really thought of you, would you want them to?
  • If this country were to suffer an unprovoked nuclear attack and would be totally obliterated in a matter of minutes, would you favor unleashing the US nuclear arsenal upon the attackers?
  • Would you accept $10,000 to shave your head and continue your normal activities without hat or wig without explaining the reason for the new haircut?

*****

ENJOY YOUR DAY

Posted January 26, 2023 by Every Useless Thing in Education, Entertainment, Just Saying, Kill Me, I'm Begging You, Love, Quiz, Sex, Trivia

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07-25-2013   2 comments

I have a long time friend who has slipped in and out of my life for more than thirty years.  He’s just turned eighty but is as spry and active as ever.  He’s a part-time researcher for the History channel and always has his head in the game.  He occasionally sends me interesting tidbits of things that interest him and they’re always fun to read.  Here’s one.

The following information is presented as likely topics of conversations taking place around an office water cooler circa 1955.  To many of you it may seem that 1955 was a thousand years ago but chronologically speaking it wasn’t. I was nine years old in 1955 and I’m able to remember listening to my parents as they discussed many of the topics you’re about to read.  

  • Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging 7 cents just to mail a letter?
  • If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.
  • When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 25 cents a gallon? Guess we’d be better off leaving the car in the garage.
  • I’m afraid to send my kids to the movies any more.  Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.
  • I read the other day where some scientist thinks it’s possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century.  They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas.
  • Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $50,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn’t surprise me if someday they’ll be making more than the President.
  • I never thought I’d see the day when all of our kitchen appliances would be electric.  They’re even making electric typewriters now.
  • It’s too bad things are so tough nowadays.  I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet. It won’t be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.
  • I’m afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign import business.
  • Thank goodness I won’t live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes.  I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to government.
  • The fast food restaurant is convenient for a quick meal, but I seriously doubt they’ll ever catch on.
  • There is no sense going on short trips anymore for a weekend.  It costs nearly $2.00 a night to stay in a hotel.
  • No one can afford to be sick anymore.  At $15.00 a day in the hospital, it’s too rich for my blood.
  • If they think I’ll pay 30 cents for a haircut, forget it.

That’s what’s now being called the “good old days”.  Good in many ways, bad in others but truthfully a much simpler way of life.  I’m sure there are a lot of young parents now who would prefer raising their children in that sort of atmosphere rather than the one we’re living in.

Know your past.

Posted July 26, 2013 by Every Useless Thing in Just Saying, Looking Back, Useless Crap

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