dailyprompt
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“Who is John Galt?” That was the repeatedly asked question in Ayn Rand’s epic, Atlas Shrugged. Rand wrote Atlas Shrugged to resolve some of the lingering issues raised in The Fountainhead. Were Ms. Rand alive to write the epic novel today, she might have opted for the title Atlas Sagged, or Slumpled, or perhaps Shit…
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I’ve noticed a new theme afoot in Philadelphia. Littering! Although it’s not novel. Instead, it feels like a reprise of an old nationwide epidemic in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Back then, America was in the throes of her Vietnam initiative, and sinking national pride had become a contagion. When people don’t take pride…
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When, as a much younger man—I was still in high school—I was watching Firing Line, hosted by Willian F. Buckley. The show was a venue for debate and discussion. It was years before the internet and decades before podcasts, venues that provide plenty of room for pseudo-intellectuals. If you were a guest on Firing Line,…
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I played the guitar as a young man. I had reached a point where I could pick and strum like someone capable of mastering the instrument. By age ten, my teacher, Vito Spioto, had me playing Paganini Caprices, although they were abridged versions. Anyway, I had discovered a fondness for classical music, and when I…
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I don’t know what I could add to the banter, but I’d wanna be there to hear it. On second thought, I could explain why I’d be an asset to the Enterprise and end up an interstellar traveler. Notice Mr. Spock isn’t holding a mug of beer. Perhaps he doesn’t see any logic in consuming…
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Often, I would hear an oldster issue the complaint, “When I was growing up, we only had seven channels to watch: ABC, CBS, NBC, three UHF stations, and one public television channel.” Yeah, yeah, yeah, you poor dinosaur, playing with your rabbit ears and antenna; life was so hard. How’d you ever manage? I am…
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Everyone is curious. Some more than others. If you are a curious type, you’re a “lifelong learner” by default. Except for the cat. Curiosity did a real number on that poor bastard. Trust me, the cat’s not learning too much nowadays; his lesson was what you call a real one-and-done session. I, too, had my…
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It should have been a typical Monday night in mid-January: I was seated at my desktop, running through edits, and sipping coffee. An hour passed when I thought, It’s time to hit the gym. I hesitated. I was not alone in the house, yet it was quiet… too quiet. Quietude, although mostly welcomed, has its…
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I’m gonna see the stars on the way to Mars where I’ll build some bars and electric cars, and golf holes with pars, and serve beer in jars. Yeah, I’m the man from Mars, a planetary czar, playing bass guitar, where the Martian-folk are. Wait, what’s that you say: Mars has winds that gust up…
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There are a lot of songs, too many to mention, that never fail to inspire a good mood. But if I’m held to one selection, I would have to choose the song that has put me in a good mood over the longest period of my life: I was a wee lad (five or six)…
