Capital punishment … is punishment by death. The sentence is referred to as a death sentence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally “regarding the head” (referring to execution by beheading).1 In light of recent corporate crimes […]
Capital Punishment ? Read More »
Perhaps on this historic May Day,† we could profit from mourning these words of Thomas Jefferson: I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country. (Thomas Jefferson ~ 18161)
Mayday? Mayday? Mayday!* Read More »
Yes, indeed! It’s getting better and better—isn’t it? If you don’t believe, or you find yourself asking, “For whom?” take a listen to the Ira Basen documentary, “In The Valley of the Kings”1 [Silicon Valley, that is] (42.06 min.) at http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/sundayedition_20150220_88670.mp3 The world is certainly an over-regulated, mixed-up mess, but do we really think that monetizing
(Re-viewing psychotropic drugs) Washout 4. (informal) 1. a total failure or disaster 2. an incompetent person (http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/wash-out) 3. dose tapering of medication to more safely discontinue its use or to (ostensibly) eliminate its effects before commencing a different treatment regime (source: industry idiom1) But perhaps we should expand the meaning of “washout” as we consider:
On this date—December 14—215 years ago, General George Washington died under the watchful eye of three physicians. They were using the then standard-of-practice of bloodletting,1 but after four bouts of it, Washington’s fate was assured. Perhaps we could say, he was bled to death. And perhaps we are in the midst of a latter déjà
Remembering George ? Read More »
At some future day, say even 100 years hence, will observers look back upon the age of baby-boomers and their offspring as a bizarre time of dizzying technology AND stupefying intransigence? Will someone begin to quote Charles Dickens,1 lamenting: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age
Blinding Paradigms? Read More »
If you were a writer and wanted to hype your income (and had the means), a sure-fire way to do it would be to buy tons of your own books and store them in some warehouse. Then after a short period of time, you could put them back on the market—with a price increase, of