Category: Sociology
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Sharon Mitchell: Porn Saint
Discussing pornography like I did recently is probably not a popular subject. It won’t win me any Pulitzers for blogging. But after hearing this story on NPR’s “All Things Considered” I realized that ex-porn actress Sharon Mitchell is as close as one can get to being the Mother Teresa of the pornography business. Born in…
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Porn is Mainstream
When I feel a desire to look at porn there is no better place than the privacy of my personal computer. Thanks to the Internet, Usenet and high speed cable modems porn is available at no real cost (aside from internet access) for those who want it. But I assumed that porn was still dirty.…
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Management: A Blessing and a Curse
For 47 years I’ve avoided management. I’m not entirely sure why. Part of it undoubtedly came from emulating my Dad. He was an electrical engineer and stayed an electrical engineer for his nearly forty-year career. Occasionally he was nudged toward the management track but he always said “no thanks”. Maybe he was a geek at…
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Squishy vs. Non-Squishy: Some Thoughts on the 2nd Anniversary of Sept. 11th
Right before the latest Iraq war started I posted an entry castigating George W. Bush for substituting ideology for critical thinking. It seemed clear to me that he viewed the war on terror as a war of good vs. evil. I don’t know anyone, including virtually all Republicans, who would seriously dispute my analysis. Bush…
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Welcome to the new world of Polysexuality
Polysexuality. That’s what I’m calling it. I claim ownership to the word, even though someone else may have used it before me. I created it because I don’t know what else to call it. I call it loosely “whatever my daughter is going through” in defining her own sexual orientation. I’m still scratching my head…
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Idea: Term Limited Marriages
At first glance this is probably going to sound nuts. To say the least this idea goes against our traditional view of society that a marriage should be “for better or for worse” and should last “as long as you both shall live”. But given that the average marriage lasts seven years and the divorce…
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Weight Loss = Hard Work
It’s not easy being lean. I’m thinking it is unlikely I will ever be lean again. Something happened to me over the years. I think I ate too much and didn’t exercise enough. I joined the majority of Americans who are overweight or obese. I didn’t intend it to be that way, of course; it…
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A Neighbor in Hell
Does life have you down? Do you feel overwhelmed by circumstance and wish you could start over? I often feel that way, not because I really don’t like my life that much nor not love my family. But sometimes even when I think my own personal problems are overwhelming, I can take some comfort in…
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Ruminations on community colleges
Schools out! I teach a class in Web Page Design at Northern Virginia Community College and I gave the final exam today. Just as well because we are off to Hawaii on the 20th. This is the fifth time I’ve taught a course and the fourth time I’ve teached this particular course. My students are…
Occam's Razor 