"Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.
But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said."
We are at our best when we serve others. Be civilized.
“People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
– Greta Thunberg
Welcome to the Holocene Extinction, the latest of the last 6 events where 75% of all life on Earth has become extinct.
Obviously, humans are making things worse, but the sad truth is we're just along for the ride for this one with a front row seat. Planet Earth will recover just like it always has, and natural selection will determine who and what survives, just like it always has.
@pinskal Priorities of those making the priorities is what this is. Mass extinction doesn't look like a problem to capitalists, billionaires and their cronies.
“The thing about walking is that it puts you in a kind of meditative state where your mind is free to go off in all kinds of different directions, and that sort of divergent thinking allows for a lot more creativity. You're not stuck in your usual rut, and you come up with new ideas & creative solutions. I found that, in my own practice, when I was stuck in some problem, I'd go out for a long walk.”
@pinskal Image description:
A bunch of white men in business suits around a conference table.
Senate GOP meeting this morning.
"Before we discuss raising taxes on the poor & middle class, adding $1 trillion to the
deficit, taking health insurance away from 13 million, raising premiums by 10%.
defending treason and swearing in a pedophile, let's begin with a prayer."
A moment of sympathy for conservatives in the House and Senate. Their pastors are very very busy people and have little time to guide their flock. Never fear, their faith is working it’s magic as it pushes through the guts US political system
another angle (and I'm guessing this picture was taken early in the morning, since the restaurant is open 7am-10pm, seven days a week, and is popular)
EDIT: I got curious, because I remember it being open 24 hours, and seeing the sign in this picture saying "Open for Take-Out," I'm now thinking it likely this photo was taken during a Covid slow-down.
@pinskal
The Los Lobos song reference's the room next door “305”. I sign a lease today for room 306 two blocks from Carlsbad State Beach in the heart of the Village. Turn 62 next week, it’s a rent controlled apartment- my last address on this Earth.☮️
I don't recall if I told this story here before, but I saw Hunter Thompson standing in a parking lot screaming in pain, 4 months before he killed himself. He'd been signing books at Book Soup on Sunset Strip, then he stopped to go down into parking lot behind the store. I was pretty close to him, not many people watching, but I'm sure we were all wondering why he was screaming so much. Months later I learned he had lot of pain in knees from operation.
Random fun film fact: The crow in It’s a Wonderful Life seen in the Building & Loan that Uncle Billy kept as a pet is the same crow that flew on Scarecrow’s arm in The Wizard of Oz whom he was unable to scare. His name was Jimmy and he was a raven who first appeared in You Can’t Take It With You directed by Frank Capra who went on to cast the bird in every subsequent movie he made.