“Is the thing you claim that is really important, really important? Because if a lot of people actually looked at where their time and attention went, the parts that they do have control over, it would like the most important thing in their life is Facebook.”
- Merlin Mann
Happiness is not merely a feeling.
I’m also still reading Seth Godin’s Linchpin. Godin believes that the new economy values artists. He says, “Art is unique, new, and challenging to the status quo. It’s not decoration, it’s something that causes change.”
He also says, “Most of all, art involves labor. Not the labor of lifting a brush or typing a sentence, but the emotional labor of doing something difficult, taking a risk and extending yourself.” He is not talking merely about making a painting or writing a book. Art can be done wherever you are, even in a cubicle.
In an article about employee training, Techcrunch makes a sad but true observation.
American corporations consider their workforce to be disposable — like ball-point pens and cigarette lighters. Gone are the days when a company would train a factory worker to become a computer programmer or offer lifelong employment. It’s all about quarterly revenue and profits now.
And this is exactly why you should read Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin.
Tags: Godin
Crooks and Liars points to an appalling story out of Nashville yesterday. A (clearly disturbed) man repeatedly rammed another car because it displayed an Obama bumper sticker. A father and his 10-year old daughter were in the car that was rammed. Police arrested Harry Weisiger for felony reckless endangerment.
It should not even be necessary to state how conservatives (including me) condemn this violence. The guy in this story should be locked away for a long time. But here is how Crooks and Liars spins it.
As hate radio, corporate right wing media and GOP politicians ramp up the violent rhetoric against Democrats, the nutjobs who follow them like zombies are becoming more and more unhinged and posing a threat to society. Case in point – a man so enraged by seeing an Obama/Biden bumper sticker on a car that he repeatedly rammed his SUV into it, while a 10 year old girl was inside
C&L provides no support for its claim that “hate radio” (i.e. talk radio), “corporate right wing media (i.e. Fox News), and GOP politicians have used violent rhetoric. No mainstream conservative media outlets have called for violence. Not a single GOP politician has said that Democrats should be assaulted. They universally condemn it.
That is a stark contrast to what happened during the last administration when The Late Show on CBS placed a graphic claiming “Snipers Wanted” over a video of George W. Bush, or the myriad calls for Bush assassinations during left wing protests.
Radicals are on both sides of politics. That is why I believe the political spectrum is circular, not linear. Radicals on both sides converge.
I can’t help but be just as concerned with Crooks and Liars solution to the violence that has become typical of the left: a call for censorship of political views it disagrees with. From the story, “Apparently, that’s what it will take before we see some form of crackdown on the violent propaganda being thrown around by Republican politicians and their media outlets. ”
A crackdown on Republican politicians and “media outlets”? C&L makes this call for action just one day after Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez arrested the last independent TV channel owner in his country. When silencing of the opposition is considered necessary, we are no longer free.
Some are proud because they ride a horse, wear a feather in their hat, or dress in fine style; but what folly! Any glory for these things belongs surely to the horse, the bird, or the tailor.
- St. Francis de Sales
I finished up my first guitar classes last week. Decided it was time to dink around tonight and this is what I came up with. I think it is just long enough to make a ringtone out of. The sound of it reminds me of traveling for some reason.
Jason’s First Song
Surprised by Truth: 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic by Patrick Madrid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
It seemed that I traveled the road alone on my own journey into the Catholic Church. This book proved that many have traveled that road before me.
I was not alone in concluding that Jesus did establish a church, that church is visible, and it has authority. Other former Evangelicals also realized that the belief in the Real Presence of the Eucharist is supported in scripture and has been the historical belief in Christianity.
Interesting to see how other people’s journeys so closely paralleled my own.
Handbook of Catholic Apologetics: Reasoned Answers to Questions of Faith by Peter Kreeft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Excellent treatise on the fundamental doctrines of the Catholic faith. A good book to reference for reasoned explanations on the beliefs of the Catholic Church.
1. Jennifer at Conversion Diary posted picture of her ring in her Quick Takes today. This is mine.
I intended never to take it off after the wedding. Turns out that I can’t wear it more than a day or so without my finger breaking out. I’ve done all the remedies but they didn’t help.
The diamond is from my mother’s wedding set.
2. Last night, I met my wife and daughter for dinner at Sonic. My wife ordered a milkshake. Bailey got to drink some and kept asking for more “shake-milk.” I love having a 3-year old.
3. Although I have a master’s degree, I firmly believe that advanced degrees are not proof of critical thinking skills. An example of why comes from this law professor’s blog:
The President should make clear to the public that the situation in the Senate has reached crisis proportions, and point to Senator Shelby’s latest escapade as a perfect example of the selfishness and insanity that now overwhelms the Senate. Senator Shelby needs to be called out and shamed repeatedly as an example of how a rational legislative process should not work.
Then the Vice-President, as President of the Senate, needs to use his authority as chair of the Senate to insist that the Senate rewrite its rules, or the President of the Senate will begin making rulings from the chair designed to change how the Senate operates in practice.
The writer has no concept that there may well be consequences much more harmful than the “cure” he promotes. The branches of government zealously protect their independence.
If you want to see a constitutional crisis, just have Biden butt in to Senate procedures. That move would be unprecedented. Obama is not that stupid.
4. UFC 109 is tomorrow. My friend and I put out or predictions in our podcast this week.
5. My current favorite indie music group is Pomplamoose. Watch their latest video on You Tube. They’re catchy.
6. Count me as another person who thinks Harry Knox should not be on President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
7. Remove a stripped screw-head with a rubber band.
Honeybun bought me guitar lessons for Christmas. I had my first class on Monday night.
Turns out that today is the 50th anniversary of the Day the Music Died. I was practicing a bit in our basement today. Judging from Honeybun’s response, I can’t say the music is really dead, but I seem to be doing my best at killing it by torture.
