Straight From The Hart

 For The Love Of Words I love words. All words. But some are especially beautiful to me for various reasons. You will notice I use them more often than others. Ephemera is one. Nuances is another. My very favorite is nostalgia, and I love the story about how it came to be. Nostalgia is a one of my favorite words, rich with meaning. I love the way the syllables roll off the tongue when I speak it, and the way it looks when I type it, and its origins from the Greek language - “nostos” meaning homecoming and “algos” meaning pain or ache. It was sometime in the 17th century that a medical student noticed that Swiss mercenaries displayed strange symptoms when they were away from home in battle. In those days it was considered a medical condition and they called it nostalgia. Nostalgia is a longing for the past, so much so that you almost ache - the pleasurable memories of the good times long ago combined with the pain of knowing it will never be like that again. It is a wistful desire ...

 LEARNERS People who love to learn don’t depend only on classrooms or professors. They seek answers for every question, their minds are always clouded with ‘how’ and ‘why’. They have innate desire to please their inner curiosity and dig deeper until their thirst for answer quenches. What would you call such a person? What would be a suitable expression or word for a person who has passion for searching, researching, learning new things and acquiring immense knowledge. Someone who questions everything, consistently look for answers and in turn learn with deep understanding.  Autodidact According to Oxford Dictionary it means “A self taught person.” Formed out of English word Auto (self) and Greek word didact (teach). In other terms, someone who has acquired knowledge or learned a subject without seeking help from a teacher or formal education institution.  Philomath According to Merriam-Webster it means “A lover of learning: scholar” especially a student of mathematics. ...

  I have been told that I have an epistemophilic personaltiy.  In case you don’t have a dictionary close by, that means I love to learn, that I have an excessive thirst and reverence for knowledge, that I always have an impulse to inquire.  In other words, I am curious, but I like being called an epistemophile better! I feed this curiosity by reading news stories from reliable publications on the internet and of course watching television news.  I can see some of you rolling your eyes, so I will tell you I really do watch news channels other than Fox.  I like to keep my disgust fresh. However, I’m beginning to notice that the more I learn from these sources, the more questions I have. For example, why is Peter Strzok still on the government payroll?   Sure, he has been demoted to the Human Resources department of the FBI, but wait a minute.  That means he recruits, screens, interviews, and places workers in addition to  handling  tasks relate...

  I absolutely love using the computer. I absolutely hate using the computer. Both of the above statements are absolutely true. I remember my first introduction to a machine called a computer. It was an ad in newspaper from Radio Shack. I took it to Milan and told him I wanted one thinking it was some kind of magic box that could give you information on anything by just asking. Kind of like Google but of course there was no google then. This would have been late 60's, early 70s. Then I realized you had to literally put information into it before you could get something out I had started collecting information in the form of ephemera probably in the 5th or 6th grade although I had no knowledge of the word itself. I just called it clippings and I started in shoeboxes, then graduated to large boxes, then filing cabinets. I was good at collecting - recovering not so good. It was like everything went into a black hole so a machine that could find it all for me would be a miracle....

  #RecoveryFromSurgery . I was looking through some things in my old document file today and found this. It has no theme nor merit. I don't even remember writing it, although I remember the things I wrote about. It was written as a bulk mailing to my church family. It is kind of a modified "stream of consciousness" article and was written after I had spent 8 days in the hospital and 2 weeks in the nursing home . I had had "simple" back surgery and was supposed to be fully recovered at home within 72 hours at the most. So this would have been August 2009. After re-reading it, it appears I was still on some strong pain medicine at the time. ************************* For several weeks I have wanted to thank you all for your kindnesses to Milan and me during the past month. We received so many lovely cards and notes, and appreciated them so much. I so hope none of you were offended when I asked you not to come to the hospital. In years past I have done so m...