1,000,000 Hits

Today my blog got its 1 millionth hit.

And it only took me a bit over 8 years . . .

1,000,000 Hits

 

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Saturday Comic

Our cartoon for today comes from Big Nate, created by Lincoln Pierce,

Big Nate, June 27, 2012

This strip was published on June 27, 2012.

I guess this tends to be standart comic strip humor regarding bare feet. Of course “Spitsy” stuff can be easily wiped off a foot. However, when wearing shoes, you might not even notice it and end up tracking it all over one’s house.

 

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Saturday Comic

This is from the comic strip Bizarro, by Dan Piraro. The cartoon is from May 9, 2008.

Bizarro, May 9, 2008

The strip usually lives up to its name, taking a bizarre take on the world. Here’s a slightly different twist on the NSNSNS signs.

 

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Saturday Comic

Here is a recent Zits comic, from March 9.

Zits, March 9, 2015

Doesn’t everybody already do this?

 

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A Lull

There may be a lull in new material here for a while. I’m finding that lately I’m just not feeling like doing the work required to research, organize, and write the posts. So, I’m just not going to worry about not writing for a while.

Do check back occasionally to see if I’ve updated.

In the meantime, feel free to consider this an open thread.

 

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Happy Thanksgiving

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Saturday Comic

Today’s comic comes from Mother Goose & Grimm. It was published on September 2, 1989.

Hey, whatever it takes.

 

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Saturday Comic

Our cartoon for today comes from Non Sequitur. It was published last week on September 26. (Click for larger, more-readable version.)

Non Sequitur, September 2, 2014

 

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Light Blogging

I don’t now how it is that I keep seeming to head off to places with minimal internet connectivity, but I’m doing it again. (No place exotic, though.) Anyways, blogging may be light for about week depending on how connected I get.

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Living Barefoot Around the World

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to actually live barefoot? If you have (or even if you do it yourself), you might be interested in this video series with six barefooters talking about doing so.

It was put together through the amazing efforts of barefooter Ben Donnelly.

Ben Donnelly

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Resisting Social Pressure

One of the troubles many barefooters have is the reaction of society. There are all sorts of subtle and not-so-subtle ways that people let us know that we are not living up to expectations. Also, as social beings, it is built into our genes (to some extent) to respond to that pressure. That pressure is important to all of us getting along. It is part of being social animals. In some sense, it helps develop and maintain our sense of what is right and wrong.

However, that social pressure works indiscriminately, hitting the useful as well as the mere conventional. We are all aware of teens obsessing about the latest fad of the day. And we are aware that those who resist it are labeled “nerds” or “Goths”, or whatever, and put under intense pressure to be just like everybody else. Yet, it is so often the unconventional that leads to everyday progress.

Barefooting is actually a way to resist some of that unreasonable social pressure. It’s a good way to train ourselves to analytically look at what we do and why, and to help ensure that there are actually good reasons for our behaviors.

This is not a new concept. Back in Roman times, Cato the Younger was well known for going barefoot along the streets of Rome. Here is how it was put by Plutarch in his “Lives”:

Καθόλου δὲ τοῖς βίοις καὶ τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν ὁ Κάτων τὴν ἐναντίαν ὁδὸν οἰόμενος δεῖν βαδίζειν ὡς οὖσι φαύλοις καὶ μεγάλης δεομένοις μεταβολῆς, ἐπεὶ πορφύραν ἑώρα τὴν κατακόρως ἐρυθρὰν καὶ ὀξεῖαν ἀγαπωμένην, αὐτὸς ἐφόρει τὴν μέλαιναν. πολλάκις δ’ ἀνυπόδητος καὶ ἀχίτων εἰς τὸ δημόσιον προῄει μετ’ ἄριστον, οὐ δόξαν ἐκ ταύτης τῆς καινότητος θηρώμενος, ἀλλὰ ἐθίζων ἑαυτὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς αἰσχροῖς αἰσχύνεσθαι μόνοις, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ἀδόξων καταφρονεῖν.

Translated:

Being dissatisfied with them, Cato would deliberately go against the grain of the attitudes of his times. For instance, when a particularly bright hue of purple became all the rage, he would instead wear the darkest shade possible. Also, he would often go out about the streets barefoot and without his tunic. He was not looking for notoriety by doing so, but was teaching himself to be ashamed of only that which is truly shameful, and to ignore popular opinion otherwise.

So, if you would like to go barefoot more, but are really concerned about what others might think, you can take some advice from Cato.

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