Showing posts with label Normalcy Bias. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Normalcy Bias. Show all posts
Sunday, October 04, 2026
Saturday, September 12, 2026
Tuesday, September 08, 2026
When vulgarity becomes ordinary: What the F-word says about us
Unsplash/Icons8 Team
Why does seemingly everybody have to be using the F-word these days?
You hear it almost everywhere. It pours from television, movies, music, podcasts, social media, sporting events, workplaces, restaurants, and everyday conversations. People who would once have been embarrassed to say it in public now use it repeatedly, sometimes almost unconsciously.
The word is f@#k.
It is, in my estimation, the foulest and most vulgar word in the English language. Yet what was once considered almost unspeakable has become a conversational commonplace.
How did this happen?
The word itself is quite old. Its precise origin is uncertain, though etymologists generally link it to Germanic words associated with sexual intercourse or breeding. Despite popular legends, it did not originate as an acronym such as “Fornication Under Consent of the King.”
For centuries, however, the word remained socially taboo. Respectable writers, publishers, broadcasters, and ordinary people generally avoided it. Samuel Johnson omitted it from his famous dictionary, and from 1795 until 1965, the word did not appear in a single English-language dictionary.
That very restraint gave the word enormous rhetorical force.
Profanity of this degree certainly has its shock value. But when such obscenity is repeated constantly, something curious happens — eventually, it loses its ability to rattle us.
So, the F-word has undergone an extraordinary transformation in our time.
Tuesday, May 05, 2026
Nevada’s hidden earthquake risk revealed as Las Vegas, Reno shake
Items are scattered across grocery store aisle floors in Fallon, Nev., after a magnitude 5.7 earthquake on April 13.
(Kaitlin Ritchie via Associated Press)
May 4, 2026 3 AM PT
A recent series of earthquakes in Nevada has served as a jolting reminder of the state’s seismic risk.
It started with a scary earthquake near Reno, then more unsettling shaking near Las Vegas. Neither earthquake caused significant damage, but it has gotten Nevada talking about the large geological forces that caused them.
Although California is known for its seismic activity, experts say, the danger does not stop at the state line. There are many fault systems that crisscross the California-Nevada border, and one area scientists worry about is the Lake Tahoe Basin, according to Christie Rowe, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory.
“There are some big faults under the lake there,” she said. “They’ve had pretty major earthquakes in the past.”
The latest sizable quake in the Silver State in recent days struck at 1:17 a.m. Friday, a magnitude 5.2 about 40 miles east of Reno. Just two days earlier, a magnitude 4.4 rumbled in the desert about 60 miles north of Sin City, where some people reported weak shaking.
The area east of Reno also endured a flurry of seismic activity earlier in April. The most powerful of that series was a magnitude 5.7 earthquake 45 miles east of the city that was powerful enough to cause moderate-to-strong shaking in the small town of Silver Springs and knock items off shelves and out of cupboards, according to media reports. There were no reports of significant injuries or damage from that quake, which hit on April 13.
The spate of quakes is a reminder that earthquakes are indeed a threat to Nevada — less profound than the seismic risk in California, for sure, but every bit as real.
A recent series of earthquakes in Nevada has served as a jolting reminder of the state’s seismic risk.
It started with a scary earthquake near Reno, then more unsettling shaking near Las Vegas. Neither earthquake caused significant damage, but it has gotten Nevada talking about the large geological forces that caused them.
Although California is known for its seismic activity, experts say, the danger does not stop at the state line. There are many fault systems that crisscross the California-Nevada border, and one area scientists worry about is the Lake Tahoe Basin, according to Christie Rowe, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory.
“There are some big faults under the lake there,” she said. “They’ve had pretty major earthquakes in the past.”
The latest sizable quake in the Silver State in recent days struck at 1:17 a.m. Friday, a magnitude 5.2 about 40 miles east of Reno. Just two days earlier, a magnitude 4.4 rumbled in the desert about 60 miles north of Sin City, where some people reported weak shaking.
The area east of Reno also endured a flurry of seismic activity earlier in April. The most powerful of that series was a magnitude 5.7 earthquake 45 miles east of the city that was powerful enough to cause moderate-to-strong shaking in the small town of Silver Springs and knock items off shelves and out of cupboards, according to media reports. There were no reports of significant injuries or damage from that quake, which hit on April 13.
The spate of quakes is a reminder that earthquakes are indeed a threat to Nevada — less profound than the seismic risk in California, for sure, but every bit as real.
Friday, March 13, 2026
Polyamorous Relationships Rapidly Gaining Gov’t Blessing
OPINION
(Photo: ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Natalie Sandoval
Patriots Writer
March 12, 20265:01 PM ET
A Quiet Coastal Revolution
“Why only two?”
The question, posed six years ago by J.T. Scott, a member of the city council of Somerville, Massachusetts, is at the heart of the debate concerning government recognition of polyamory.
Scott and his colleague on the city council were considering a domestic partnership ordinance. The original language of the draft specified a domestic partnership as being “between two people,” according to The Harvard Crimson.
Councilor Lance L. Davis paused, saying “something didn’t feel quite right,” reports The Crimson. Scott asked the question: “Why only two?”
Davis, in his words, executed a “few simple tweaks,” altering the ordinance to permit groups of more than two adults to register in domestic partnerships together. The city council voted 11-0 to pass the ordinance.
It was signed by then-Mayor Joe Curtatone on June 29, 2020, becoming the first “multiple-partner domestic partnership ordinance” in the United States, according to the Harvard Law Review.
Cambridge, Somerville’s neighbor, followed suit, amending their existing domestic partnership statute to cover two or more persons in 2021.
A Quiet Coastal Revolution
“Why only two?”
The question, posed six years ago by J.T. Scott, a member of the city council of Somerville, Massachusetts, is at the heart of the debate concerning government recognition of polyamory.
Scott and his colleague on the city council were considering a domestic partnership ordinance. The original language of the draft specified a domestic partnership as being “between two people,” according to The Harvard Crimson.
Councilor Lance L. Davis paused, saying “something didn’t feel quite right,” reports The Crimson. Scott asked the question: “Why only two?”
Davis, in his words, executed a “few simple tweaks,” altering the ordinance to permit groups of more than two adults to register in domestic partnerships together. The city council voted 11-0 to pass the ordinance.
It was signed by then-Mayor Joe Curtatone on June 29, 2020, becoming the first “multiple-partner domestic partnership ordinance” in the United States, according to the Harvard Law Review.
Cambridge, Somerville’s neighbor, followed suit, amending their existing domestic partnership statute to cover two or more persons in 2021.
Friday, March 06, 2026
Girl Scouts highly unimpressed after New Jersey troop teams up with local cannabis dispensary to sell cookies
Girl Scouts highly unimpressed after New Jersey troop teams up with local cannabis dispensary to sell cookies
Girl Scout cookie season runs from January through April
Girl Scout cookie season runs from January through April
Thursday 05 March 2026 13:10 EST
Senior leaders at the Girl Scouts are reportedly displeased that a New Jersey troop teamed up with a local weed dispensary to sell their beloved cookies.
Set up near Daylite Dispensary in Mount Laurel last month, the troop’s booth offered the full line-up of treats. Dispensary owner Steve Cassidy said the partnership was a massive success and drew people both to the booth and the cannabis shop.
However, Cassidy said he had spoken to representatives from the organization about the incident, which had been intended as a positive venture, but may have landed the troop in hot water.
“It was about community,” Cassidy told The Independent. “If that means the local Girl Scout troop got in trouble, that is absolutely not what we wanted.” He declined to comment further.
The Independent has contacted the Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey, the Girl Scout council that oversees troops in the region, for comment. It is unclear which exact troop staged the event.
Senior leaders at the Girl Scouts are reportedly displeased that a New Jersey troop teamed up with a local weed dispensary to sell their beloved cookies.
Set up near Daylite Dispensary in Mount Laurel last month, the troop’s booth offered the full line-up of treats. Dispensary owner Steve Cassidy said the partnership was a massive success and drew people both to the booth and the cannabis shop.
However, Cassidy said he had spoken to representatives from the organization about the incident, which had been intended as a positive venture, but may have landed the troop in hot water.
“It was about community,” Cassidy told The Independent. “If that means the local Girl Scout troop got in trouble, that is absolutely not what we wanted.” He declined to comment further.
The Independent has contacted the Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey, the Girl Scout council that oversees troops in the region, for comment. It is unclear which exact troop staged the event.
Thursday, March 05, 2026
Regularisation of migrants in Spain: ‘Every person is an end in themselves'
A man walks the beach in Las Palmas, Spain, a week after arriving from Gambia (AFP or licensors)
World
World
Regularisation of migrants in Spain: ‘Every person is an end in themselves'
Amaya Valcárcel, International Advocacy Advisor at Jesuit Refugee Service, speaks to Vatican News about the Spanish government’s recent decision to grant legal residency to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants.
By Joseph Tulloch
Last month, the Spanish cabinet approved a decree granting legal residency to hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants.
At a time when deportation and detention dominate discussions on migration elsewhere, it was a striking choice.
In Spain, irregular migrants had lived “for years in the shadows,” said Amaya Valcárcel, International Advocacy Advisor at Jesuit Refugee Service. For the estimated 500,000 to one million affected, regularisation means “recognition of their civil existence” and “a step toward legal security.”
Speaking to Vatican News via email, Valcárcel, who is Spanish, emphasised that irregular migrants carry out “indispensable” work in Spain, in sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, construction and domestic work. However, without access to formal job contracts or safety nets, they live “under constant risk”.
Saturday, February 28, 2026
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