Your story of taking the train in Belgium reminds me of the line I used to take regularly between Brussels and Eupen. The full line was only little over 2 hours, but you start off in Gent (lovely town), where only Dutch is spoken, while the next stop, 30 minutes later, is in Brussels, which in theory is bilingual but really is French. After a short stop at the airport you are in Leuven, where only Dutch is spoken, before crossing over to Liege, where finding a Dutch speaker is pretty hard. Then off again until you reach the final stop, Eupen, where German is spoken.
In a domestic local train you find yourself crossing 4 language borders in 2 hours.
Here in the US our last summer holiday is coming up in just a week: Labor Day. We don't have a general holiday again until Thanksgiving late in November. although Columbus Day and Veterans Day are federal holiday which government workers and most bank employees get off.
Down here in Florida the real end of summer is some ways off: six weeks more or less until the heat and humidity back off even a little.
Oddly enough, a major factor preventing large-scale Palestinian migration to the West may well be the dogmatic insistence on the part of their left-wing sympathisers that the Palestinians must not leave their historic homeland. Exactly the same people who told us that we must welcome Syrians and Libyans with open arms insist that it would be a terrible injustice if the Gazans left Gaza.
Ed, as a lover of trains and hater of cars you should check out the Georgia State Railroad Museum in Savannah! It is close to the thick of things and a cool place to spend an hour or two.
We don't know at which point the pendulum will stop swinging. Me, I'm just waiting for the opportunity (after all these years) to reiterate my opposition to gay marriage.
I think the excesses of the trans movement have probably provoked a minor backlash on that front, but nothing large enough to create a society-wide re-evaluation. If only because a few gender-critical feminists are inevitably drawn towards a more conservative view of everything.
It's very interesting how gay marriage became the catalyst for the radicalisation of the 2010s. Cancel culture really took off with the Brendan Eich sacking. It doesn't get discussed enough; think I've only read it in First Things.
I don't see SSM leading to any particular radicalisation. rather the radicalisation had already happened (and some time ago) before SSM was even conceivable. All that happened, here in the US, after 2015 the LGBT activists groups segued to Trans Activism as their Next Big Cause in the manner that Do-Good orgs have usually done when once their cause is accomplished but they're not about to shut down and throw themselves out of work (My father used to complain about the old March of Dimes which, once polio was conquered took up birth defects as its next cause). This is a case where A follows B does not mean that B caused A.
(By the way, my spell check is pouting in red due to my use of your spelling of "radicalisation")
Regarding the comments on 'travel', I agree that doing something you wouldn't otherwise do can be a real eye-opener but often not for the reason generally given i.e. that falconry just might become your new best hobby. Instead it's more that the falcon lifts the veil of habit from your jaded eyes. Yet just like the feeling of relief by definition can't last, neither can the sensation of suddenly being aware of the outside world and it's not long before you're back in your solipsistic dreamworld. Then you just have to keep travelling and hope something novel and surprising will come along to make the scales drop from your eyes again.
Your story of taking the train in Belgium reminds me of the line I used to take regularly between Brussels and Eupen. The full line was only little over 2 hours, but you start off in Gent (lovely town), where only Dutch is spoken, while the next stop, 30 minutes later, is in Brussels, which in theory is bilingual but really is French. After a short stop at the airport you are in Leuven, where only Dutch is spoken, before crossing over to Liege, where finding a Dutch speaker is pretty hard. Then off again until you reach the final stop, Eupen, where German is spoken.
In a domestic local train you find yourself crossing 4 language borders in 2 hours.
Here in the US our last summer holiday is coming up in just a week: Labor Day. We don't have a general holiday again until Thanksgiving late in November. although Columbus Day and Veterans Day are federal holiday which government workers and most bank employees get off.
Down here in Florida the real end of summer is some ways off: six weeks more or less until the heat and humidity back off even a little.
Oddly enough, a major factor preventing large-scale Palestinian migration to the West may well be the dogmatic insistence on the part of their left-wing sympathisers that the Palestinians must not leave their historic homeland. Exactly the same people who told us that we must welcome Syrians and Libyans with open arms insist that it would be a terrible injustice if the Gazans left Gaza.
true.
Ed, as a lover of trains and hater of cars you should check out the Georgia State Railroad Museum in Savannah! It is close to the thick of things and a cool place to spend an hour or two.
I will add to the itinerary!
We don't know at which point the pendulum will stop swinging. Me, I'm just waiting for the opportunity (after all these years) to reiterate my opposition to gay marriage.
I think the excesses of the trans movement have probably provoked a minor backlash on that front, but nothing large enough to create a society-wide re-evaluation. If only because a few gender-critical feminists are inevitably drawn towards a more conservative view of everything.
It's very interesting how gay marriage became the catalyst for the radicalisation of the 2010s. Cancel culture really took off with the Brendan Eich sacking. It doesn't get discussed enough; think I've only read it in First Things.
I don't see SSM leading to any particular radicalisation. rather the radicalisation had already happened (and some time ago) before SSM was even conceivable. All that happened, here in the US, after 2015 the LGBT activists groups segued to Trans Activism as their Next Big Cause in the manner that Do-Good orgs have usually done when once their cause is accomplished but they're not about to shut down and throw themselves out of work (My father used to complain about the old March of Dimes which, once polio was conquered took up birth defects as its next cause). This is a case where A follows B does not mean that B caused A.
(By the way, my spell check is pouting in red due to my use of your spelling of "radicalisation")
Regarding the comments on 'travel', I agree that doing something you wouldn't otherwise do can be a real eye-opener but often not for the reason generally given i.e. that falconry just might become your new best hobby. Instead it's more that the falcon lifts the veil of habit from your jaded eyes. Yet just like the feeling of relief by definition can't last, neither can the sensation of suddenly being aware of the outside world and it's not long before you're back in your solipsistic dreamworld. Then you just have to keep travelling and hope something novel and surprising will come along to make the scales drop from your eyes again.