Category Archives: Serious Stuff

Word Of The Day: Lethologica

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Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever forgotten a word while you were in the middle of a conversation? Did you feel that it was on the tip of your tongue but oh so elusive?

I have, and it just happened to me today! I was chatting with a friend and completely lost the word I was searching for. It was so annoying,

I discovered there’s a word to describe that phenomenon. It’s lethologica, the technical term for the “tip-of-the-tongue” feeling—that frustrating moment when a specific word or name is on the tip of your tongue but you can’t quite retrieve it from memory.

The term combines lethe (meaning forgetfulness or oblivion, referencing the River Lethe in Greek mythology) and logos (meaning word or speech).

Every language seems to have a way to describe it; in German it’s Es liegt mir auf der Zunge (It’s lying on my tongue.)

While it happens to everyone, lethologica is a complex neurological event involving many factors that aren’t completely understood. Scientists believe one contributing element could be sleep levels, as lethologica tends to happen more often to those who are tired. Other factors might include how well the memory was encoded (the base memory of the word) and interference from other memories, which can cause confusion.

Studies have also found a positive correlation with age. Older adults might experience lethologica up to once a day, while younger adults experience it around once a week. The average native English-speaking American adult knows around 42,000 dictionary words; it’s only natural that some are forgotten from time to time.

The most common resolution for the failure to recall a specific word is to NOT think about it, which is often when the word suddenly “pops up” out of nowhere. This is referred to as a spontaneous resolution or one in which the state resolves itself.

Some content curated from: grandezza.seabreezecommunications.com and https://www.verywellmind.com/ Image credit to owner, from Pinterest.

Gentle Affirmations For Anxious Thoughts

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Right now, Earth is a very stressful place for children. They inhabit a world with almost normalized school shootings, active shooter drills, distracted parents, and a lack of calm, positive structure.

Their calendars are filled with sports, after school activities, and playdates — and I wonder why every child seems to have a backpack full of fidgets?

Do you know what fidgets are? Fidget toys provide tactile stimulation supposed to help improve focus, increase attention span, and reduce anxiety or stress. These tools aid in self-regulation, providing a calming effect for children and adults.

How about simplifying our lives so that children aren’t so anxious and stressed out?

In my opinion, contributing to most of the stress initiated when mainstream internet seemed to take over our lives in the mid 1990s. It happened slowly, like a dripping faucet, until we actually can’t survive without it. Do you recall the AOL dial-up sound and how it tied up the home phone? Crazy. Kids have no idea.

Listen:

We can’t even make a doctor’s appointment or pay a bill without being connected along with yet another stupid password to forget. Every single business has a website. Do you know anyone who doesn’t have the internet and a smart phone? Do you freak out when there’s an outage? Have you ever tried to go completely off grid?

Our grandchildren were born into a world that’s ruled by WiFi and social media and it’s changed childhood completely — and in my opinion, not for the better.

Children seem incredibly anxious and focus-less. They don’t really play or socialize like they used to, they’re way too sophisticated, and I think that’s a tragedy. Don’t even get me started on the dangers of video games like the highly addictive Roblox, which I believe should be banned everywhere and forever.

The internet exposes children to severe psychological dangers, including social media addiction, which can rewire the brain’s reward centers. Excessive use significantly increases risks of depression and anxiety, sleep deprivation, body dysmorphia, and exposure to cyberbullying or online predators.

We don’t even read newspapers; we get all of our information from the internet, whether it’s true or not, whether it’s been properly researched or investigated — or not, and a blog like this is just another manifestation of our dependence on fiber optics and invisible radio waves.

I don’t really have a viable solution, or one that acknowledges the benefits of the internet while limiting how much time it consumes from our daily lives, but here are some helpful affirmations for anxious kids (and for grownups, too)…

P.S. Rant over, time to disconnect from the internet and spend some time in the garden.

Pregnancy, Down Syndrome, and Reproductive Rights

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Although I usually cloak myself in a filmy, gauzy haze of positivity, sometimes the real world slips through a crack or two.

Did you hear about the YouTube influencers who documented every part of their pregnancy, up to and including their decision to end the pregnancy?

Jesse Ridgway and his wife Ashley ended their pregnancy, and in a series of posts on the YouTuber’s Instagram Stories, Jesse said that they’d recently made the “difficult decision” to end Ashley’s pregnancy after receiving a fetal Down syndrome diagnosis.

“This week, my wife and I made the very difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy due to Trisomy 21,” wrote Jesse. “The choice was not made lightly.”

Down syndrome, also known as Trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21.

It’s usually associated with developmental delays, mild, moderate, or severe intellectual disability, and characteristic physical features.

Since they town-cried their controversial decision, it stirred up a hornet’s nest of the most vicious attacks against them, as well as from those who support them. People are saying he posted publicly so he needs to deal with the hatred. He tried to get attention and make money off of his unborn child. (However, thousands upon thousands of others document their pregnancy too, and for the same reasons.)

“Down Syndrome isn’t a ‘blessing,’ it is objectively s—ty from a health perspective,” Jesse claimed. “I didn’t realize just how rough it is for the child, let alone the family…more often than not, they would be fully dependent on others for the rest of their life.”

After posting about the loss of their unborn child, the couple was flooded with vitriolic comments, with critics calling them “murderous” and “evil”. The Ridgways were sent a “tremendous amount of death threats” from people across various social media platforms who were outraged by their decision. The harassment became so severe that Jesse revealed he put extra security measures in place. In an interview on TMZ Live, he disclosed that the threats were taken so seriously that his wife had to leave their shared home.

From Reddit: I don’t know why people feel the need to give their input on a situation that doesn’t concern them. People need to mind their own business. The commenters are on their high horse acting as if they have such a high moral compass,

Here’s my opinion…

First of all, this is a distraction from the hell that is going on in our country on so many levels, all due to that orange POS.

Secondly...If Jesse and his wife had kept their decision to terminate PRIVATE (or their whole life private), none of this would have happened. I just don’t understand why so many people feel it’s necessary to put their lives on display for impressions, clicks, and income from YouTube and Instagram and all the other social media platforms.

Thirdly… Literally no one LIKES to have an abortion, it’s not like we women throw parties and do gender reveals, but it’s OUR body and our RIGHT to be pregnant or NOT be pregnant and everyone can stay out of my uterus.

Finally...When I was in the teaching program at university, I started out thinking I wanted to major in special education but after doing some student teaching in Special Ed classes and experiencing their special and exhausting 24/7/365 needs, it’s not something I chose to do.

It’s grueling for parents, siblings, teachers, and everyone else. I would not subject a child of mine to merely exist like that. What happens to them when their parents are gone? It’s not a pretty thought.

I don’t think there was as much comprehensive genetic testing back when I was pregnant with my son as there is now, but if my tests revealed a severe genetic abnormality or birth defect, I’d have a lot of thinking to do, mainly about their quality of life–and mine.

Final thought:
Pearl clutchers and virtue signallers and everyone else with their fake martydom can do what they want with their own bodies, but keep their hands, laws, and opinions out of mine. It’s quite literally none of your business. #reproductiverights

Tragedy At The Islamic Center of San Diego

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As much as I try to never take off my rose-colored glasses that block out bad/sad news, sometimes it’s not possible and reality sneaks in, like what happened yesterday in San Diego where two teenagers are suspected of shooting up the San Diego Islamic Center, killing three before taking their own lives.

Law enforcement reported that several hours before the attack, one of the boys’ mothers told them he was suicidal, had taken multiple guns, and her car was missing. This set off a frantic search to find them using license plate reader technology.

The two teenagers, Cain Clark (17) and Caleb Vazquez (18), attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego. They killed three men—including a heroic security guard (father of eight) who ushered others to safety—before being found dead a few blocks away in a car from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds

Cops say they were interviewing the mother and searching for the teens when the first shots rang out Monday at San Diego’s largest mosque.

According to local news reports, the teenagers met online and shared a “broad hatred” toward different religions and races, authorities said Tuesday during a press conference.
The teen suspect whose mom called police was reportedly enrolled in a virtual learning program within the San Diego Unified School District … he did not participate in any on-campus activities this school year but was on track to graduate at the end of this semester.

Three men were killed in the attack, including a security guard, father of eight children, whom officials credited with preventing a more deadly massacre at the mosque.

The suspected shooters — including the woman’s son — were found dead in a car nearby, the police said.

Hate speech was scrawled on one of the weapons, law enforcement officials told CNN. It was reported that a suicide note containing writings about racial pride was also found.

On Monday, at a news conference only hours after the shooting in San Diego, Taha Hassane, an imam at the Islamic Center, spoke of his shock and grief:

“It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship,” he said. “People come to the Islamic center to pray, to celebrate, to learn, not only Muslims, but we have people from all walks of life.”

According to Mark Remily, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego Field Office, “So far in this investigation, we’ve seized over thirty guns and a crossbow. We’re continuing to process the information from all the locations, and we will provide more information when we’re able to do so.”

From Amy Reichert’s Twitter: The San Diego Police Department Northern Division is where the Islamic Center shooting happened and they were seven officers understaffed today for morning watch. The mother of one of the shooters called PD at 9am to report her son stole her car and the father’s guns and left a note about “shooting up a place.” The CALL HELD for 2 HOURS before an officer went to handle it. The active shooter came out while the unit was speaking with the mom. This whole thing could have been stopped if we had adequate staffing. The City of San Diego has failed us by supporting Defund the Police and not having a balanced budget.

There are so many unanswered questions…

Are you wondering, like I am, why the mom had “multiple” guns at her home? And like me, are you wondering how two families didn’t know what kind of hate rhetoric their children were involved in? Is this the family norm? How did all of this happen without parental knowledge, IF it happened without their knowledge?

So many questions, so much sadness…

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of violence and racism and hatred. We need to be the light that shines into the darkness.

If you’d like to support the victims, here’s a link to the victim-family fund:
https://goodbricks.org/campaign/icsd.org/official-icsd-victim—family-support-fund

What Is Enlightenment

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“Enlightenment is when a wave realizes it is the ocean.”

Photo by Enchanted Seasells

It’s always a good idea to start out a new week with a positive message from Thich Nhat Hanh, even if I’m not 100% sure I know what it means.

I’ll have to cogitate on it because the nuance is a bit elusive right now, like I think I get it, but it’s just out of reach, which is annoying.

Earth Day 2026

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In an alternate universe, I would wish everyone a Happy Earth Day, but today, there’s not a whole lot to celebrate.

Mother Earth is at risk and we’re not doing enough to save her. Or us.

The orange POS and his administration have been focused on reversing environmental regulations to boost domestic energy production, targeting over 460 environmental, climate, and public health safeguards for removal or weakening. Key initiatives include withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, rescinding the EPA’s Endangerment Finding to deregulate greenhouse gases and promoting “drill, baby, drill” fossil fuel policies.

California is battling federal efforts to expand oil drilling off its coast, with lawsuits filed to block the restart of Sable Offshore Corp pipelines near Santa Barbara, which were shut down after a major 2015 spill. While new drilling in state waters is banned, federal plans propose lease sales for new offshore drilling between 2027-2030, raising risks of oil spills and environmental damage.

This appalling administration is actively expanding oil drilling in Alaska, reversing Biden-era restrictions on millions of acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and initiating lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Projects like ConocoPhillips’ Willow and new auctions highlight a push for increased development amid lawsuits from environmental groups and support from state leaders.

Like I said, not much to celebrate. It’d be more accurate to say that we are in mourning…

I attended the very first Earth Day celebration in 1970 at Balboa Park in San Diego with a crowd of about 70,000 people. The weather was beautiful, about 68 degrees, and I must have skipped school that Wednesday.

I can’t remember who I went with or how I got there but I do recall walking from booth to booth looking for free stuff and having an unpleasant encounter with a San Diego cop, probably about being truant.

There is a vague recollection that I swore at him and he got all puffed up and intimidating, threatened to call my dad until I told him to go ahead, my dad was an attorney…and then he walked away. Miss you, Daddy, and thank you!

Video from San Diego’s first Earth Day April 22, 1970

Gaia, known as the mother goddess, was the personification of Earth. She’s described as a caring and nurturing mother figure to all of her children, plants, and other living creatures on this planet.

We’re all children of Gaia, Earth Mother, no matter where we live, and if we take care of Mother Earth, she’ll take care of us.

With this reckless administration of chaos and darkness, they seem determined to destroy as much of our environmental and animal protections as they’re doing to democracy and the constitution, so it’s not such a happy day, after all.

The Impossible Flower

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With news of ships blown up during an illegal faux war to manipulate financial markets, a deranged fraud of a prez, skyrocketing prices, future uncertainty, there’s sanity in the simplicity of a flower that persists against all odds.

When I first noticed it, I tried to gently pry up this volunteer zinnia from between the crack in my driveway to plant in a better location, but I would have destroyed it, so there was nothing else to do but leave it where it grew. The roots are strong, much more so than I thought.

Photo by Enchanted Seashells

I’ve watered it, watching and waiting, and it just bloomed, one single, brave flower.

My plan is to wait until the flower dies and forms seeds so I’ll continue to plant resilience, grit, tenacity, and determination.

I think there’s a lesson here, somewhere…

Cosmic Talk: Rare Four Planet Parade

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I haven’t posted any planetary news for awhile but this seems significant and share-worthy.

A rare planetary parade is lighting up the pre-dawn sky this weekend, and if you wake early enough, you can witness Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Neptune gathered together on the eastern horizon just before sunrise.

These four planets are clustering into a patch of sky so compact you could cover them all with your thumb held at arm’s length. Although they appear close together from where we stand, they are actually separated by enormous distances in space, each following its own orbit around the Sun at entirely different speeds. Yet for a few magical mornings in April, the geometry of their orbits creates the illusion that they are traveling side by side.

The best time to look is between April 18 and April 20. Head outside about thirty to sixty minutes before sunrise and find a spot with a clear view of the eastern horizon. Mercury will be the easiest to spot, shining brightly low in the sky. Mars and Saturn are also visible without equipment if conditions are clear.

Each planet carries its own unique energy. Mercury governs communication and ideas. Mars represents action, courage, and forward movement. Saturn brings discipline, structure, and long-term rewards. Neptune connects us to dreams, intuition, and spiritual guidance.

Together, these four planets are delivering a unified message: think clearly, act boldly, build wisely, and trust the invisible forces guiding you forward.

This is the weekend to take action on something you have been contemplating. The cosmic support is here. Curated from Galactic Council Of Lightworkers  

More exciting news!

April 19 brings a powerful shift as the crescent Moon aligns with Venus and Uranus. This is an energy of love meeting the unexpected, where something can arrive suddenly and feel completely aligned at the same time.

Venus brings connection, attraction, and desire, while Uranus introduces change, surprise, and moments that were never planned but feel right.

This alignment can bring a message or a meeting, Something that felt distant can move closer. Something unclear can become easy to understand. The energy supports movement in ways that feel natural and meant to happen.

Look up!

The Monsters Among Us: No Justice

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I’m sure you heard the news about the wolf in Wyoming, right?

To avoid inevitable nightmares, I tried not to see the photos or read the details of this horrendous crime but I felt that I needed to, out of respect and to honor this wolf’s life.

A beautiful animal should not be subjected to torture and abuse. No one should. This young female wolf did not receive justice. It’s disgusting and absolutely sickening that supposedly normal people could commit and condone torture and inhumane treatment of animals–a trait often found among serial killers. There’s something missing inside of people like this, they’re broken human beings.

I’m so sick and tired of cruelty–to animals, to children, to each other. It’s beyond depressing. What an evil, sad world we live in.

On Feb. 29 2024 in Sublette County, Wyoming, Cody Roberts intentionally struck down a juvenile wolf with a snowmobile, taped the animal’s mouth shut, then brought the injured wolf to a local bar to show off and pose for photos. Afterward, the wolf — still alive — lay on the bar floor, suffering from internal injuries, while Roberts drank in celebration of his conquest. Eventually, Roberts killed the wolf outside behind the bar. Shockingly, nearly all of these actions were legal; Roberts was fined a mere $250 for possessing a live wolf. It’s alarming that anyone could attempt to justify such behavior, but that is precisely what Jeanne Ivie-Roberts, Cody Roberts’ aunt, has done. In an interview with DailyMail.com, Ivie-Roberts stated, “How exactly do you torture a wolf? Wolves are evil animals. They destroy our livelihoods.”

Calling Cody Roberts’ maiming and capturing of a wolf “cruel,” last week a judge sentenced him to only eighteen months of probation as part of a plea deal that will keep him out of prison if he stays out of trouble.Read more at http://www.heraldnet.com/2024/05/01/torture-killing-of-wolf-showed-disrespect-for-life/

I have no doubt that a mental health assessment would diagnose Roberts and people like him as zoosadists. Zoosadism is a type of sadism that derives pleasure—often sexual arousal—from inflicting pain, suffering, or death on animals. It is a form of severe animal abuse, distinct from zoophilia, and is sometimes considered a precursor to human violence. Examples include torture, mutilation, or sexual assault of animals.

This is where the crime happened: The Green River Bar, owned by Cody Roberts’ aunt (Nan Mckeough) and/or mother (not sure), located at 12963 US-189 in Daniel, Wyoming. (307) 859-8225.

Please sign this PETITION to shut down the bar. It already has gathered thousands of signatures: https://c.org/hKsGynYV96

For These Apocalyptical Times: Amazing Grace | Leon Russell

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Did you attend a #NoKings event in your area? In my little beachy town, I heard there were 15,000+ attendees, which is amazing. I wish I could have been there but I wasn’t feeling great; hopefully it’s just seasonal allergies and nothing more serious, so I didn’t go this time.

I still can’t wrap my head around where we are in this country; how our liberties are being decimated and the rights of women are becoming more and more non-existent, almost to the brutal point of Sharia Law extremism, and there doesn’t seem to be a solution or an end to the loss of democracy–or any adherence to the rule of law.

Even though I’m not at all mainstream religious and never have been, there’s a certain yearning to search for a rational reason to explain a deep sense of foreboding and the meaning of this unholy collective evil, like why is this universal dark night of the soul happening NOW? Is Wetiko an answer to the question?

So… it’s time for a little Leon Russell. If you know, you know.

One does not simply “listen to” or “hear” Leon’s music, it’s something you FEEL, deep in your soul on a cellular level. And THAT is the essence of faith, right?

He is SO beautiful…those eyes! The camera certainly loves him, too… the closeups are so CLOSE, lol.