The door was locked. Axel jiggled the handle again anyway. “What? Still no luck? Imagine that.” Martis’s rasping voice, dripping with more sarcasm than blood, was an ever unwelcome intrusion. “Piss off.” Axel kicked the door for the umpteenth time before turning around and scanning the dimly lit broom-closet of a room. The cramped space was made smaller by the…
My only (so far) trip to New York City was for a work convention. The convention was two days and before the trip, I had requested an extra two days of vacation time to explore the city. When I reached the JFK Airport, after an eight hour flight, on five hours of sleep, without having eaten since breakfast, I took…
This is a loaded word more than most others. I only want to spend a couple cents in it now. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as: The condition of having or being composed of differing elements Especially: the inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization an instance of…
Ah, the experts, whoever they are. It’s so nice we have people we don’t know in whom we can trust every aspect of our lives, livelihood, health, religious beliefs, etc. It’s so convenient not having to take responsibility for what we believe or think. Some experts said so, thus it must be true. Case closed, turn off the brain. Don’t…
There are two quotes that both use this phrase (more or less), one from F. Scott Fitzgerald, and one from George Orwell. F. Scott Fitzgerald: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” George Orwell: “[On Doublethink] The power of holding…