Thought

 If the physical realm is made of atoms and particles and energy, what do you call the realm made of thought?

Am I just being thick-headed or is there a word missing from the English language?

Populism

The word "populism" and its "populist" cousin came to mind recently. It's an unusual word in the sense that although it is rarely used in conversation it always seems to me like it should be referring to something positive even though it is generally used as a negative.

If you look up the definition the one thing that seems common in the various definitions is that it refers to the "common people". It's like something is populist if it reflects the views of the "common people".

So what is it about the "common people" that makes populism negative? In other words how is it that populism is the enemy? Because it clearly is the enemy if you read anything about it. Donald Trump, in modern liberal writings, was brought to power by a populist movement. Even the "common people", the Trump supporters, will most likely agree to that as long as you refer to them as the common people and don't use the "populist" slur against them.

I just did an Internet search on the word and came up with this relatively brief article on the first page of my search results:

What actually is populism? And why does it have a bad reputation?

The article's title seemed right on the mark but reading it only gave me insight into one thing. The word "populist" is not in the common people's vocabulary. It is defined and used by those who do not see themselves as "common". It is defined and used by the elite. In other words, when a self-absorbed elite clique wishes to slander their enemy - the enemy of the elite being the "common people" - they use the words "populism" and "populist" to refer to their enemy.

Once you realize this, it's clear why the words have such a negative connotation. The words "populism" and "populist" are not used or defined by any "common" people. They are used and defined by people who think of themselves as being above us commoners in order to separate from and look down on common people. From a commoner's point of view the words are used by "snooty" people.

A Good Laugh

 I just got a good laugh from this joke:

Ronald Reagan tells joke about Democrats

A Good One

 Wanna hear a good one?

Got your Depends on?

Natural News Bombshell from Friday November thirteenth 2020

Blog Suspended

 With the Biden/Harris victory comes talk of retaliation against Trump supporters. The "Big Tech" wizards are censoring conservative voices. This blog will remain in suspension until freedom of speech returns to the Internet.

Update: Screw that...

I want my freedom of speech back.

The Missing Typhoon

 There's a typhoon taking place right now in the Philippines that they are calling Goni.

Sometimes I open the website windy.com to have a look at the winds during these powerful storms. Yesterday I tried looking for this storm on the windy website but it wasn't showing up on the interactive winds map. There was a depression but no strong winds anywhere nearby. No big deal I guess but odd, strange...

So here I am awake in the middle of the night and the headlines are about how big and powerful this storm is right now so again, over to windy.com, sweep over to the Philippines and voila! Absolutely nothing, no strong winds, no swirl of a storm, nothing.

Well OK, windy.com isn't the only source for weather. Let's check The Weather Channel, open up the radar map, zoom out and sweep over to the Pacific and zoom in on the Philippines and...

nada... nothing, no rain, no storm, nothing even though The Weather Channel is running a current news article about how bad the storm is in areas of the Philippines with videos and tracking maps and everything.

I'm just pointing this out. I'm not commenting any further.

Half an hour later

I must have spoken too soon. Windy.com is now showing the typhoon over the Phillipines. The Weather Channel still shows nothing on their interactive radar map. At sea level the strongest winds on windy.com are just under fifty knots although at altitude there are stronger winds, 2,500 feet winds in the lower eighty knot range.

CNN

 I have discovered this year that talking truth to people who get their "news" from CNN is like talking to a cement wall. The sound of your voice doesn't penetrate. You wind up being the only person hearing what you are saying.