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Chortle. At which point we'll have a different set of problems. Society's issue morph across the generations with the solutions to one set of problems in one generation creating new problems for the next. Becoming like the Borg or being replaced by V'ger isn't going to change that pattern...

It is okay to change lodges. If your jurisdiction allows you to be a member of multiple lodges it's even better to fund a life/endowed membership in your previous lodge so you don't need to demit on the way out. Over the years I've funded two and may well do so again. Age 50ish is the gap...

Thanks. This further expresses why I think violence and evil are not correlated. War is violent, but calling war evil is a different matter. The causes of war are too diverse. My ramblings on the topic have to do with pondering that war appears to be a part of human nature. With examples...

Not on a human scale - I did mention millennia for that reason. In civilization, prisons give the violent fewer chances to become ancestors. In hunter gatherer societies studies suggest that the most aggressive 10% of boys are driven out of the band. As pointed out in the article Brother...

The line of progressive officer chairs. One of the best experiences I've had is entering the line from the gate and progressing through the chairs one year at a time.

Just checking that by "posting lecture" you mean the entire question and answer sequence. California memorized mandatory 1 + 2, optional 3 unless you reach a chair that is elected. Allowed to deliver in private. Called "proficiencies" taught by a "coach". Illinios memorized mandatory 1 + 2...

Being an animal, man is inherently violent. I'm not sure that means the same think as being evil. Gradually, over a period of millennia, we breed violence out of ourselves by putting the most violent in prisons. Gradually, over a period of centuries, we value peace more than war. Gradually...

I rather like the view that the 7 start out narrowing then end up expanding, like philosophy and science are intended to. For that matter like boot camp is intended to. Grammar teaches how to organize our words so others will be able to understand us. Rhetoric teaches how to use our words to...

In Navy boot camp I was taught that Mister worked for any cadet and Sir worked for any officer. At the time Ma'm was preferred but not required for female officers. I don't recall being taught a term for female cadets.

Thanks brethren! This sheds new light on the "three letter versus four letter" comments that appear now and then. The four letter ones with that noted exception claim to be a part of the Prince Hall lineage but actually aren't.

Both are valid spellings.

Other than parades I've never been to a non-tiled events where regalia is permitted. Getting dispensation each year to march in a 4th of July parade is a fun tradition in one of my lodges. Other than that I've been in one parade march when a lodge in our district closed their old building and...

Topics like 2B1SK1, Friend to Friend and Child Identification program tend to start in a specific state and when they work they get presented at the Conference of Grand Masters North America. This is one of the main ways that US jurisdictions exchange what works. Whether any one program of...

Outside of the US there are regular and recognized jurisdictions that use the SR version of the scripts for the first three degrees. Inside the US it's not quite only the 10 near New Orleans. California has a French lodge descended from them that retains dispensation to use that first degree...

Is that correct? That all regular jurisdictions recognized by the Conference of Grand Masters Prince Hall Masons Inc use F&AM? http://www.conferenceofgrandmasterspha.org/gjlinks.asp If so that would explain the endless discussions of "three letter versus four letter" that never seem to make...

Any reports of them I've read, they are very similar and are drawn from the same landmark. We seem to have different perspectives on how the events happen and what is expected afterwards. Conferring all three degrees on a mister in a tiled space, then presenting him to get elected into a lodge...

There doesn't have to be anything wrong. It doesn't have to be about that. It's against rules that we knowingly agree to - Right and wrong don't enter into that situation. For or against the rules is not about right and wrong. There is a clear cut favorite in popularity as world wide male...

The letter thing has little meaning as others have posted. What matters is whether your jurisdiction is clandestine and whether either of those lodges are clandestine. It is completely possible to take your degrees in a clandestine lodge and not be told that. Plenty of good men petition...

It sucks when the brothers have zero sense of the dramatic. There have been times when I have been glad to meet a man ... pause ... alone. But the sideliners couldn't tell drama from smooth flow of ritual with feeling. I mean from rote memorized ritual without meaning.

The most famous example of this that I know was then US Senator Lyndon B Johnson who would later become President. He was initiated and told how much work his proficiencies would be. He decided against advancing. Whether he just thought he'd be made and MM none can say. I figure what he did...