Passing Thoughts on Some “S” Topics

Sabbatical - Getting the seventh year off with pay, as opposed to corporate merger where one gets the seventh year off without pay.

Sacrament - A sacred rite that is believed to confer a special blessing. Catholics have five more than most Protestants, thus proving Catholics are more blessed - or more in need of blessing.

Satellites - Man made objects orbiting the earth, originally for scientific and military purposes, but now often for commercial reasons. Earth people’s first forays beyond the atmosphere have also created the first known garbage dump in space.

Sausage - Though it tastes good, supposedly we do not want to know how it is made, lest we be turned off by what goes into it. No wonder it is often compared to legislation.

Science - Not necessarily the opposite of religion, though some people who claim to be religious act as if science is anti-religion.

Score - A comparative measure used in competitions. Most of us live life as a competition, keeping score and comparing ours with others. Constant score keeping and comparison is probably not the best way to live.

Scotus - Acronym for “The Supreme Court of the United States”.

Scrotus - Acronym for “Some Congressional Republicans of the United States”.

Secret - Something I know but you don’t and that I want you to wish you did. Sometimes you do know it, but do not know you know it because you are too concerned with trying to get it out of me rather than finding out for yourself. Sometimes it is non-existent even though some fools insist it is there - such as Saddam’s WMD.

Security - Safe from falling or failing. Our US Social Security system is a wonderful safety net for all participants, though many Republicans, including George W. Bush, would like to see it replaced with something allowing for profiteering by some at the expense of others.

Sense - The name chosen for this Blog. Feeling based on perception. The better the perception, the better the feeling.

Sex - Whether you are a man or a woman. Also, an intimate act you might do with a man or a woman. The intimate acts are a primary concern of religions and governments, though most people, except the Paris Hilton types, prefer to keep such intimacies private.

Shopping - Once only a necessity, this endeavor has now become recreation for many people, which may be preventing them from achieving financial security.

Sibling - A rival, never intended as such by the common parents.

Sin - An Anglo-Saxon word for something evil or wicked, adopted by some religious leaders to make other people feel inferior. Jesus put it well when he saved the “sinful” woman from being stoned by the righteous men, saying “let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone”. Be sure to include the “among you” in this quote, lest you have the situation where a huge boulder comes flying in from Heaven.

Sinecure - A job that pays for not working. Quite rare. Not the same as a person who is paid to work but does not do so. In the US we have sinecure farm land, owned by agri-corporations which are paid by the taxpayers not to farm it.

Skeptic - A doubter, with reason, who knows some things really are too good to be true.

Slavery - Subjugation of one human being by another which, as in most things, comes in different degrees, the worst being based on physical characteristics such as race and having as a basis the belief the slave is a piece of property instead of a human being. This worst type is what existed in the United States and its predecessor colonies for almost 250 years.

Slum - A run down area of a city, occupied by poor people but usually owned by rich people. When the poor people of the slum use free market capitalism to improve their financial situation, as by selling drugs to rich people who come to the slum to buy them, the government of the rich people makes war against them.

Socialism - A form of government in which some degree of common ownership of property is utilized to bring about a more fair distribution of wealth and the fruits of labor. All governments are socialist to some extent, the differences being what property is owned in common and what is considered a fair distribution.

Spam - I actually liked it in sandwiches as a kid, but cannot stand it now on my computer. Spam persists because a few people are stupid enough to bite on it and the smart people who keep the Internet going are not smart enough to figure how to get the stupid people to stop biting.

Sperm - Looking like fish through a microscope, these aggressive competitors have a program of their own and seek diligently to accomplish their mission in spite of defensive attempts to prevent them. Abstaining from launch would appear to be the most effective defense, but it quite often fails, because the launchers are biologically programmed not to abstain.

Spiritual - Not physical. Sensed or felt without perceiving. That which is truly spiritual should be personal to the individual. Much that is called spiritual is not truly personal and individualized, but is instead manufactured in others by self-proclaimed spiritual leaders seeking to benefit by the manufacture.

Spy - Surreptitious information gatherers. The most worthwhile are those who gather information to be used in the maintenance of international peace. The least are those who spy to aid unjust wars, followed closely by those planted on our computers to target us with unwanted advertising.

Standard - Something fixed by which other things can be measured, sometimes to their detriment [not up to the standard] and sometimes for the better [extra special as opposed to the standard variety]. Standards are needed for objectivity, sometimes obviously as for feet and inches, and sometimes when all but forgotten as in journalism [Fox News fair and balanced, by what standard?].

Stars - Go to a mountaintop or observatory to be awed by the universe and humbled by our place in it.

Statistics - Numerical facts, the proper understanding of which is often crucial to our decision making as individuals and as a society. Those who misrepresent and distort statistics to pervert decisions , as the Republicans and Bush Administration have continuously done, most notably in regard to tax giveaways to the rich, should be punished - in the case of public office seekers, by voting against them.

Strike - To hit - or in baseball, to miss when you try to hit, or not try to hit when you should have [no wonder they call baseball a thinking man’s game]. In labor relations, a strike is a withholding of labor as a bargaining tactic. The rich elites have always tried to portray trade unionists as criminal types, so the use of the word “strike”, with its violent overtone, may have been a public relations defeat for unions. I’m trying to think of a better one word substitute. Any suggestions?

Stuff - Our physical accumulations, too important for us to give up. Try this test; hold up successive pieces of your stuff and ask yourself , if you did not already own it, would you pay 25 cents for it at a garage sale?

Surrogate - One who takes the place of another. Currently used most commonly for a surrogate mother, one in whom the fertilized egg of an infertile woman is implanted. One who provides sperm in place of an impotent man is called a sperm donor if he does it through a laboratory, and could be called a lot of other things if he does it directly, depending on the circumstances. The closest thing to a real surrogate father is probably an adoptive or step-dad.

Survivor - I confess to watching this hokey CBS show. What I like about it is the coming together of a diverse group of strangers, each with personal goals ,in addition to the big one of winning money, and the gradual development and testing of relationships based on a variety of human factors. It actually is a lot like life, so this member of the much maligned reality genre actually lives up to the billing in many respects.

Sympathy - Feeling for the feelings of someone else, without actually putting yourself in his or her place. Empathy adds the element of imagining yourself in the place of the other. Hallmark sells sympathy cards. They tried empathy cards, but they did not work well - people kept mailing them to themselves.