“Drawing a Blank”

Where did the idiom “Drawing a Blank.” come from?

Meaning: Unable to recall something.

Background: The phrase “drawing a blank” refers to a lottery. In the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I decided to raise money through a national lottery system. No scratch tickets or plastic balls with numbers on them were involved! Instead, there were two “lot pots” — one with tickets of players’ names, and the other with an equal number of tickets that had prizes written on them. Not all of them had a prize written on it, though, and the phrase “drawing a blank” was born.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/8-origins-of-popular-sayings-slideshow.html#ixzz2LTupAcfg

Reply: How free is Free Will?

I wrote this reply to MAL at My Atheist Life  – “My World View – Free Will”

This is one of the things I am passionate about and I’m glad her blog gave me a jumping off point to explain something that I think is very important.

She describes free will as decisions that people are constantly making, and I disagree with her…

But check her blog out for yourself.   http://myatheistlife.wordpress.com/

My World View – Free Will

Feb 10, 2013

Hello Reader,

How about this idea of free will.  It exists, but humans rarely exercise it.  Free will is not the same as decisions, but it is a form of a specific type of decision.  I base this argument on the survival drive that exists in all life forms from the amoeba on up.  I love amoeba’s, they are fascinating to watch when they test out objects in their environment to find out if they are either food or predator.  Humans do the same thing.  This is not free will. This is the drive to survive.

My First Post

Hello,

My twin sister loves to blog and has encouraged me (strongly!) to start one of my own.  I have now given in and so I’m here writing my thoughts for complete strangers to read.  Wish me luck.

jackie

ps  her blog is called A Christian Overcomer – My Human Journey to God