Sunday, September 9, 2012

What's In A Word?



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Whenever I force myself to buckle down and actually think about my penchant for reading all I can find about atheism and trying to absorb the individual Atheist writer's perspective, I then grow more and more confused and undecided about my own beliefs and non-beliefs. How can I know for sure if my apparent thoughts and conclusions are truly mine or are merely the thoughts and conclusions of the authors I have been reading that I happen to agree with?

For that matter, how can I ever know if any of my thoughts about anything are my own or merely my mind agreeing with thoughts of others I have heard or read about?

Sometimes it seems that I cannot.

Not for sure.


One thought (of my own, I'm pretty sure) that recently appeared in my conscious mind is that Atheist writers (especially bloggers) are prone to coining new words and phrases. For example: I encountered a blog entry displaying the curious title -- Needless intrablogular drama-stirring -- and I concluded that the obvious word-coinage (intrablogular) did the job admirably.


Atheist. That word used to simply mean "One who does not believe in God."

No longer.

Now, is seems, an atheist (A) is one who believes that there is no scientific evidence that a god or any other supernatural force exists, so thinking human beings should therefore live their lives free from such ignorant superstitions and pursue instead the dreams and goals of the individual -- and more recently,  (A+) as long as those dreams and goals include and are guided by the lofty principles of liberal and progressive ideals.

Wait. Was that what's nowadays termed a snarky paragraph?

Oh well . . .

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WORD FOR TODAY


pastiche [pa-steesh]
noun
- a literary, musical, or artistic piece consisting wholly or chiefly of motifs or techniques borrowed from one or more sources.
- an incongruous combination of materials, forms, motifs, etc., taken from different sources; hodgepodge.

From Wikipedia --
A pastiche is a work of art, literature, film, music or architecture that openly imitates the work of a previous artist, sometimes with the intent of satire. The word can also describe a hodge-podge of parts derived from the original work of others. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.


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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Colonel Harland Sanders

Born Sept. 9, 1890
Died Dec 16, 1980

"Colonel" Harland David Sanders was an American restaurateur who founded the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fast food chain.



Born Sept 9, 1966
Age 45 years old.

Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer. After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office. He is best known for his comedic roles, such as in the films Billy Madison (1995), Happy Gilmore (1996), The Waterboy (1998), Big Daddy (1999), and Mr. Deeds (2002), though he has ventured into more dramatic territory. In 1999, Sandler founded Happy Madison, a film and television production company that has produced numerous films and developed the 2007 television series Rules of Engagement.



Born Sept. 9, 1952
Age: 59 years old.

Angela Margaret Cartwright is an English-born American actress primarily known for her roles in movies and television. Cartwright is best known as a child actress for her role as Brigitta Von Trapp in the film The Sound of Music, as Danny Williams' stepdaughter Linda in the 1950s TV series Make Room For Daddy (a role she played from 1957 to 1964), and as Penny Robinson in the 1960s television series Lost in Space.




Born Sept 9, 1925
Died Sep 10, 2011

Clifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly. On television, he portrayed retired astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the 1976 adaptation of Aldrin's autobiographic Return to Earth, played a fictional character based on Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms in the 1977 adaptation of John Ehrlichman's Watergate novel The Company, and portrayed Henry Ford in the 1987 Ford: The Man and the Machine. His last well-known film appearances were in 2002 through 2007 as Uncle Ben in the Spider-Man film trilogy.


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Married men live longer than single men . . .
But married men are a lot more willing to die.

--Johnny Carson


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