Good morning, ADD Irregulars, WSN Curators, and Crusty Curmudgeons! Happy Monday, Friends & Refugees, Early Birds & Later Dayers, Conversants and Lurkers! Hello again, Misfits, Dawn Patrol, Phamily—and finally my new morning stopover at Outspoken and the Freethinkers gathered there. Good morning to all of my digital neighbors, known and yet to be known. We survived Snow-pocalypse, Stormageddon, or whatever we called it, with about a foot of snow (give or take a few inches here or there). We are very fortunate not to have lost power; I hope and pray that those who did will have it returned soon.
Over at Padre’s, we enjoy the moniker of curmudgeon and curmudgeonessa for the surly and salty souls that frequent that community. While we are not quite as grouchy as the term is often described, there are plenty of questions posed, disagreements with the narrative, and a desire to share humor and commentary on a wide range of topics. I have a few books of curmudgeonly quotes and thought a few would be fun for a wintry Monday. -6° here in outer suburbia Missouri! Happy Monday, digital neighbors!
Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt. — H. L. Mencken
To believe is very dull. To doubt is intensely engrossing. To be on the alert is to live, to be lulled into security is to die. — Oscar Wilde
Melancholy men, of all others, are the most witty. — Aristotle
Allison Batley - Unsplash - Angus, ON, Canada
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
The Beautiful
Said the Disciple to the Lover, “Sir, before I left the world I heard certain men who were held in high esteem and thought to know the will of the Beloved say that those who loved the Beautiful did not love the Beloved but loved idols, yet in the Garden of the Beloved we are ever striving to create beauty for the pleasure of the Beloved. Were they then speaking the truth?”
The Lover answered, “Those who said this had never glimpsed the form of the Beloved nor ever truly sought Him, for all beauty is but the reflection of the beauty of the Beloved, although seen very dimly as in a dark and faulty mirror, even as all goodness is a dim reflection of the goodness of the Beloved. So it is that those who love beauty and goodness recognize dimly in them the form of the Beloved and though often in ignorance those who are seeking the Beautiful and the Good are seeking after the Beloved.”
