FYI…From God

FYI…From God

One of the most ubiquitous abbreviations of the modern era is FYI (‘For your information’ or with sarcastic intent, ‘For your ignoring’).  Use of the latter meaning is especially prevalent among cheeky but timid subordinates who think the boss isn’t paying due heed.  Sometimes they’re right.  [And sometimes they’re just passive aggressive worriers, obsessing over nothing.] Self-appointed prophets of doom may be prone to histrionics and are often proved wrong when the deadlines on their dire predictions expire without incident.  Yet every once in…

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Memoir From Hell

Memoir From Hell

How did I end up in hell?  Can’t see what difference it makes, but I’ll tell you, if you really want to know… One day, I received a summons out of the blue, with a Notice To Appear on a certain date and time.  I was not expecting that.  The timing wasn’t convenient for me, so I set it aside, figuring I’d deal with it later.  It may have ended up in the garbage. I’m not sure.  When I didn’t show on the appointed day,…

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What Are You Waiting For?

What Are You Waiting For?

There is a palpable mood of anticipation across the world today and it is not a hopeful one.  It is one part shapeless anxiety, one part nameless dread of something as yet invisible but just around the corner, and three parts certainty that disaster will soon be arriving on platform 7…or maybe 8.  Please meet your party. Needless to say, it is not a positive energy.  It is less about embracing change than it is bracing for impact.   There is a sense that tectonic…

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Before All Else Fails

Before All Else Fails

In the software development world, conventional wisdom holds that when something new is not working as expected, the trouble can usually be traced to inadequate requirements gathering, faulty design or user error.  In the infamous “some assembly required” scenario, the customer actually gets involved in final “construction” and user acceptance testing. While this approach may have some advantages, overeagerness to begin using the product at once may lead to rushing and avoidable mistakes.  Such mistakes are compounded when in a quest to…

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To Seek And To Save

To Seek And To Save

In colloquial English, figurative use of the word “lost” permeates the lexicon of everyday speech.  Examples like the following spring to mind without effort: When applied to consequential things, the things we value most, the word “lost” assumes much greater significance, taking on a gravity no mere figure of speech can command.  You can all but feel the intensity of the suffering behind phrases like, “My family lost everything when the market crashed” or “I lost my wife last year.”  But as grievous as such…

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A Future Without God

A Future Without God

Some people think they can do without God.  They are wrong.  Their assumption is based on past performance, a form of normalcy bias in which historical trends are projected to continue into the future.  “I have gotten along fine without God thus far” they say, [a debatable proposition, but let that go] “and I see no reason to believe that I cannot keep doing so indefinitely.”  But if experience teaches us anything, it’s that conditions can be counted on to change, often without warning,…

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Without Reservation

Without Reservation

“‘Scuse me. ‘Scuse me.  You the host or whatever?” “I am the Maître d’.  Good evening, sir.  How may I be of assistance?” “I don’t like to complain, but you people have some of the rudest help I’ve ever seen.” “I’m sorry, sir.  Did a waiter or waitress give offense?  The servers are my responsibility.” “That’s just it.  I’ve been waiting for over two hours now, and my party still hasn’t been seated.  The front desk ignores me—” “Guest reception is also under me.  If you would kindly return with…

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Silly Saga Of A Strange Soiree

Silly Saga Of A Strange Soiree

The Smiths were entertaining friends one evening when the front doorbell rang about 10 PM.  Mrs. Smith, an attentive hostess, showed no sign of having heard.  Her husband wondered briefly if perhaps he’d imagined the sound.  He shrugged and went back to shuffling the cards for the next round of play. The bell resumed its ringing—louder, longer, and more insistent than before.  The button was pushed and released again and again, at shorter and shorter intervals.  Whoever this nocturnal visitor was, he or she was clearly…

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The First Skeptics

The First Skeptics

We live, we are told, in a “post truth” world, in which eternal verities are said to be irrelevant and reason, superfluous.  It is a place where critical thinking is neither valued nor practiced, and the good faith exchange of logical arguments in debate is a thing of the past. How did we get here?  By rejecting “absolute truth,” by which facts are distinguishable from falsehoods, fantasies, and errors based on objective, empirical data.  The fixed and finite nature of absolute truth is…

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The Auction

The Auction

The auctioneer took a quick breather while staff cleared away from the sale just concluded and brought forth the next item up for bid.  When all was in readiness, the mustached man who appeared to be in his early fifties, took a swig or two from a water bottle kept for his use on a shelf to the right of the platform.  His presence once more required, he stowed the bottle away, stepped behind the microphone and asked politely for attention. He…

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