I love New York City. I love it here. Its a great place. Is rent high? Yeah. But where else in North America can you live comfortably / normally without a car, an insurance payment, gas, parking, tolls, etc. to worry about?

I remember once when I was in my teens, watching a Seinfeld episode, and in the course of a conversation on the show, it became evident to me that one of the characters did not own a car. "Who doesn't own a car...how do you live without a car?" I remember thinking. Of course, I had never been to NYC. In fact, my first visit to NYC was to interview for the job that brought me here. It was about a 12 hour stay. My second visit to the city was on my first day of work at the new job. That visit lasted until now, going on 4 years.

Leaving here will be hard. That is for sure. Although, leaving here will need to happen at some point. That is for...pretty sure. I've always said it is for sure - I need a house with a yard and a garage and rooms to paint and power tools and a den and a dog (or 2) and a wine rack and maybe if I'm blessed with it a wife and kids. Maybe with a view of the Rockies, who knows where. But I think I'd really like to have that some day. Although, as time goes by, I soften more and more to the idea of staying here longer and longer than I ever used to think I might.

I remember in my first year here, I told a friend that "I almost constantly feel like I could live here for the rest of my life, and I can't live here a second longer, all at the same time." Its kind of still true, in a way.

Ironically, after nearly 4 years here, I still have not lived on the island. I used to think I never would, but I'm softening to that idea now, too. I spend most of my waking hours in the city, for work, play, rest, or worship. Its not a bad commute in, but it is something that could be easily cut out with a move across the river. I don't look forward to moving, but I'm beginning to think that next time I do, it may be to Manhattan, if only for a little while. I think it may be the catalyst I'll eventually need to move on to other parts of the states.

In the meantime, I'm really enjoying life here. I love Hoboken, but particularly I love NYC. From things to eat, to things to see, from shows to go to, to improv to participate in, from the subways to the cabs, from the skyscrapers of Wall Street to the quiet of the Cloisters, from the offices to the bars. There's seemingly no end to the things there are to discover here.

Over the next few weeks I'll be using Monday nights to celebrate some of those things that I love about this place. Call it Dave's guide to NYC - the things I've been meaning to get around to posting for so very long. The great thing about them is that most of them will defy a point in time such as when I write about them. One of the best parts of NYC is that its alive - the city that never sleeps is always changing.

Missed Friday, but hey...you get anything on Saturday and that's something right there. That's something.

Friday evening and today from 9am-3pm was a pastoral care training seminar at the church offices. Cregan has been wanting the Sr. High leaders to go to this for a while - we have some kids in the ministry going through some pretty difficult stuff, and its been a bit trying for us as we're not always sure what position we're supposed to be taking in certain situations.

Anyway I was sitting in Cregan's office afterwards and saw a magazine on his desk, which had this article in it. Its dead-on. I will say my church is fairly good about addressing issues sexual in nature on a slightly-more-than-average basis, but that's not saying a lot, considering the average is probably between one and zero on a scale to 100. Key quote:

"There’s a lot of emphasis in youth groups on saving sex for marriage,” said Ellen Sweeris, a 24-year-old nurse in San Francisco, Calif., “which I think is great. I largely attribute my unswerving belief that sex is for marriage to the fantastic teaching I received in the church as a teen. However, the teaching and exhortation on this subject sort of dropped off around college. It’s actually a lot harder at this point in my life to be celibate, but I’m not getting the same level of encouragement at church to keep waiting. I have fantastic friends who fulfill this role for me, but it would be nice to have it acknowledged in a more formal setting, other than just a more-or-less silent expectation that we’re not having sex.”

Its another quality over quantity Thursday links. At least...I hope. I haven't really found anything yet - still working at this no-net-access -is-next-door-to-hades client. Until the end of the day tomorrow.

Then its back on the bench next week if I don't work something out before that - which I very well might - had a few phone calls / interviews today for a couple of possible new roles, both of which would require significant travel. Anyway, you're not here for that, you're here for these...

Its been out for a while, but the traffic has finally slowed enough that you can now actually see the trailer for X3. Sweeeeeeeet.

Hoops and Yoyo are like my favorite thing on the internet since Strongbadia.

Kid can play.

Have I linked to Woot yet? If not, I should. It rules.

Copying music you have purchased online to your ipod is illegal, according to the RIAA.

When Avian Flu gets here it will be good to know how to bury our dead.

Well, that's some relative quality. Possibility of Friday bonus links tomorrow, but forecasts are shady right now - I have to close out my last day at the client, then have pastoral care training from 6-9...

No time for love, Dr. Jones.

Haven't had time to read anything but work stuff this week, and so there's nothing much to write about reading this past week. I can't really get into work stuff, for proprietary reasons, but I can say that if all goes well with some interviews tomorrow, I'll be joining the Home Depot project in Atlanta and that will go for who knows how long. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I am sure its a thing. For right now. It may turn out to be no(-)thing.

In the meantime, they have us in a really ridiculous office at the current client. Some kind of over-flow office for VPs who are usually traveling or something. Stocked with drinks and complete with a private bathroom. No complaints.

Thing with the bathroom is that apparently certain people are accustomed to the idea of sneaking into that office when its empty, to use the private loo. So, a few times a day, I'll be sitting there, perhaps alone, perhaps with my manager (we sometimes share the desk when its crowded, which is fine, because the desk is huge and we're at opposite sides)...and someone moseying down the hallway very nearly walks right into the office. Then they stop shortly in surprise, then try to keep walking past the office to the entrance to the actual bathrooms for the general employee populace, just past our office, trying vainly to pretend they weren't on the sneak for a private bathroom escape.

Some of the regulars have started getting wise to the fact that we're regularly there, and so they have a new technique - they pass the office on a slow stroll, but their head is turned slightly so as to guarantee them a full glance into the office to see if anyone is there. Which, I can only assume, affords them the full opportunity to turn on a heel and sneak into the sacred toilet room in the case that the office is unoccupied. These reconnaissance walk-bys occur more frequently towards the end of the day, when hopes are that we've left for the day (we stay later than most people there, on average).

Tonight, though, I got a special visitor.

So I'm sitting here with the door closed, because I had just gotten off an internal call with my career counselor, and all of a sudden this lady just barges right in. I should have pretended I was on the phone so that she would leave, but instead I stare look at her like "What the crap are you doing in here?" - I know this is no one's office in particular, and you would think that someone sees a closed office door on with the light shining out under the crack at the bottom, and would at least have the sense to knock.

Well, when you don't have the sense to knock on a closed door, you do funny things. Like, for instance, the next thing she did. She proceeds to just walk into the freakin bathroom in the office like I wasn't even sitting there 5 feet from the door. At this point I really can't help myself - I'm staring at her so hard, she actually stops to introduce herself, like me listening to her pee in the quiet of the evening will be tempered by the fact that we've shook hands seconds prior.

Turns out she's a pretty high-up VP at the company (I knew from her name) - someone who ironically would never have paid me the time of day when I actually worked at the client (I was employed there before coming to Accenture). Instead, we had a brief conversation about what I was doing there. I gave her my "elevator speech," which is an internal term we use for briefly recapping our value-adding purpose for being there at the client. I nailed it, and she even complemented me on it, and then she closed the door to the bathroom, and, I can only assume, proceeded to do whatever deeds she went there to do in the first place.

I don't know, I faked a call on my cell phone and ran out of there faster than Bode Miller could get DQ'd in the Olympics.

That's all. Now its home and back to work.

Love...always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres...
- 1 Corinthians 13

I've always had a problem with the part of the "love chapter" that talks about how love "always trusts." It just seems a little on the naive side to me, at least on the first pass.

If there's one thing I know about people, its that, sooner or later, everyone - everyone - is going to let you down. The very recognition that there are no perfect people walking around necessitates the fact that in one way or another, the people in your life will betray your trust. The really difficult part of this reality is that those who are closest to you are likely to be the ones who will most betray your trust, because (naturally), they are the ones you place the most trust in.

One of the Psalmists knew this:

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. - Psalm 118

As did the prophet:

Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he? - Isaiah 2

Even the Man himself said it:

This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD." - Jeremiah 17

But does all this mean that love for those on earth should be coy - expecting the betrayal to come and never really offering up a trusting back for the coming stab? Well of course not. But...still the dilemma.

We learn how to truly love others, with a trusting love, only when we look to the one who offered the ultimate act of love, on the cross. You see, Christ loved us with a perfect trust - not a trust in us - He knew (as we do) that the only thing humanity can be trusted to do is to betray. But he loved us, trusting in our betrayal, and trusting that His Father's plan was enough to cover all the shortcomings we could ever offer.

That's what allows us to love another person with a true, trusting love. We know that they will disappoint. But we trust that because Christ knew the ultimate betrayal on the cross - we have been given the ultimate love. And in that sense...nothing can ever let us down.

Its marathon week at work. There at 8am, didn't catch the bus home until nearly midnight.

This qualifies as a blog post. I wrote.

This is from the Edge's world question center "question of the year," which I've talked about before, here. The question this year is "What is your dangerous idea?" This is one of the many responses that I really enjoyed and I've been debating the topic a bit recently. And I'm posting it here, because, like most Fridays, I'm toast, and in no state to write. This is laziness, and it hast to stop. Soon, but not tonight.

No More Teacher's Dirty Looks

After a natural disaster, the newscasters eventually excitedly announce that school is finally open so no matter what else is terrible where they live, the kids are going to school. I always feel sorry for the poor kids.

My dangerous idea is one that most people immediately reject without giving it serious thought: school is bad for kids - it makes them unhappy and as tests show -— they don't learn much.

When you listen to children talk about school you easily discover what they are thinking about in school: who likes them, who is being mean to them, how to improve their social ranking, how to get the teacher to treat them well and give them good grades.

Schools are structured today in much the same way as they have been for hundreds of years. And for hundreds of years philosophers and others have pointed out that school is really a bad idea:

We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a belly full of words and do not know a thing. -— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. - Oscar Wilde

Schools should simply cease to exist as we know them. The Government needs to get out of the education business and stop thinking it knows what children should know and then testing them constantly to see if they regurgitate whatever they have just been spoon fed.

The Government is and always has been the problem in education:

If the government would make up its mind to require for every child a good education, it might save itself the trouble of providing one. It might leave to parents to obtain the education where and how they pleased, and content itself with helping to pay the school fees of the poorer classes of children, and defraying the entire school expenses of those who have no one else to pay for them. -— JS Mill

First, God created idiots. That was just for practice. Then He created school boards. -— Mark Twain

Schools need to be replaced by safe places where children can go to learn how to do things that they are interested in learning how to do. Their interests should guide their learning. The government's role should be to create places that are attractive to children and would cause them to want to go there.

Whence it comes to pass, that for not having chosen the right course, we often take very great pains, and consume a good part of our time in training up children to things, for which, by their natural constitution, they are totally unfit. - Montaigne

We had a President many years ago who understood what education is really for. Nowadays we have ones that make speeches about the Pythagorean Theorem when we are quite sure they don't know anything about any theorem.

There are two types of education. . . One should teach us how to make a living, And the other how to live. -— John Adams

Over a million students have opted out of the existing school system and are now being home schooled. The problem is that the states regulate home schooling and home schooling still looks an awful lot like school.

We need to stop producing a nation of stressed out students who learn how to please the teacher instead of pleasing themselves. We need to produce adults who love learning, not adults who avoid all learning because it reminds them of the horrors of school. We need to stop thinking that all children need to learn the same stuff. We need to create adults who can think for themselves and are not convinced about how to understand complex situations in simplistic terms that can be rendered in a sound bite.

Just call school off. Turn them all into apartment houses.

---

ROGER C. SCHANK
Psychologist & Computer Scientist; Chief Learning Officer, Trump University; Author, Making Minds Less Well Educated than Our Own

Fast and furious linkery, I'm only taking a brief break from work to throw a post up. I literally found 90% of these in the 10 minutes of surfing I've found time for this week. Can you say "withdrawal?"

Ignore MS's "Get the Facts" campaign, get the real facts.

You think the government's plan to spider the entire web (including this blog) searching for potential terrorism material is a bad idea? Well, yeah. But I'd argue that this is a worse one. Google's fighting it.

Meanwhile, Yahoo is sending more Chinese people to Chinese prisons.

Maverick's is a big-wave surfing contest back home in Cali that they call literally a day before the actual contest, weather dependent. Here's the photos from this year's contest, just held.

Remember that Hampster Dance page? Well, not long later, someone did it with Jesus. Christians didn't burn down embassies or riot in the streets or threaten people's lives. By the way, here's the Mohammed Dance.

I in no way endorse doing this to find shows that you've missed. So...I've got my Saturday cut out for me.

This, unfortunately, is the best thing I've been able to find online about that fund to take Bill O'Reilly to Darfur. Again, the e-mail is sponsorbill@gmail.com.

Fascinating article from the New Yorker on the science of social services.

This one is important. Darfur is a genocide in progress that we CAN stop.

That's all. Happy Friday.

Response Wednesday is out the window again thanks to almost zero down-time whatsoever so far this week. MCM on Monday night, then last night and this evening I hit the Veritas Forum at Columbia with Dave and Carolynn. The forum has been dealing with the topic of "Responding to Suffering," and its been quite thought provoking.

Tuesday was "Publishing the Cries of the Oppressed: On the Front Lines of Human Rights Journalism," and frankly - as an aspiring writer - I found it extremely inspirational. This is a form of non-fiction that I really see true meaning in, and would love to be able to do some day. The first speaker was Nicholas Kristoff - a guy who does a lot of Op-Ed for the NY Times - who was mainly advocating on behalf of the persecuted people of Sudan (namely, Darfur) - his recounts of the horror there were strickening: estimates of over 300,000 killed and over 2 million displaced. Then came Benedict Rogers, a journalist from the UK who has taken the cause of Burma (an illegal military regime, rather than a real nation) and specifically the persecuted Karen people there - a regime where 20% of the military is comprised of conscripted children. He too had fascinating and sad stories to tell. By the way, Kristoff is raising funds to send Bill O'Rielly to Darfur, which I think is an simply marvelous idea, especially if they choose to leave him there. You can send donations via PayPal to sponsorbill@gmail.com. No joke.

Tonight was "Who Will Solve the Problem of Poverty: Bono, Bill Gates, You?" with three incredible speakers. Larry Reed of Opportunity International talked about microeconomics and OI's work to secure small low-yield loans for people in impoverished societies, to help them begin supporting themselves. His speaking points were A) You are part of the solution, B) You are not the main part (the poor are), and C) When you serve the poor you connect with the heart of God. Reed was a moving speaker.

Dr. Jeffery Sachs was next, the author of The End of Poverty and one of the best-known economists in the world today - an advisor to the UN and Bono himself. Also moving, he focused on the incredible need seen in Africa today for the very basest necessities of life and the atrocity that it is that we are not sourcing such simple things. He went on to discuss the revolutions that need to take place in a society to make change a real thing: A) a Green Revolution (food, environment, etc.), B) a Health Revolution (medicine, water supply, etc.), and D) a Connectivity Revolution (basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity, communications, etc.).

More stirring than any of the men from either night, however, was the final speaker, Dr. Vinoth Ramachandra - a former nuclear scientist that left a prominent career to become a pastor in Sri Lanka. I need to find his talk on tape, because no description I could type here would do it justice. Long story short, he pointed out in acute fashion how our lavish lifestyles are subsidized by the world's poor, noting how, similarly, crucifixion was the other side of the Pax Romana. His final line, and the way he summed his thoughts and answered all the necessary questions to what he was saying, was as riveting a close to a speech as I've ever heard.

One last thought, from my notes, from the discussion period with Sachs: "We are the first generation where vast poverty is not just a part of the human condition, but a choice."

Maybe that's a bit of a response Wednesday after all.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - Matthew 28

This passage is what is commonly referred to in the Bible as The Great Commission, which Christ gave not only to the disciples immediately gathered, but necessarily to those who would be discipled by the disciples. For that is what we are: disciples, many generations removed, from the original disciples. Jesus didn't tell them to go out and convert people, or lead them to salvation, but to disciple them, so that the great story would continue to unfold to countless more souls as time passes on.

While there's nothing wrong with the Great Commission (hey, I think its great...zing), there is something wrong with how often we mis-read the lead-in to Jesus' direction to his faithful followers. What I'm talking about here is the doubt of some of the disciples.

Rather than responding to just those disciples who worshipped in earnest belief, Christ came to them all - including the doubters. One text I read recently cited this as "one of the great scandals of the gospel...He trusts us with His message."

And so it is that we too believe in Jesus in our own day and age. We worship, but so often we waver in doubt just as often. Sometimes more. And yet, just like the disciples of old, so our doubt too is addressed by the assurance that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. Its with this authority that we are commissioned to go out and make disciples. And when doubt comes...He still is with us always.

Those who believe they believe in God but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself. -– Madeleine L'Engle

I sit down to write and Blogger is scheduled for an outage at the exact minute that I'm hopping on. Typical of my life, lately, but definitely not of my weekend.

Which can basically be summed up by the fact that the Steelers won the Super Bowl. First 6th seed wild-card team to ever do it, first to beat the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ranked teams (not in that order). First 75 yard run for a touch. 2nd youngest quarterback to win the big game. Totally underrated defensive performance on the Steeler's part. Pretty crappy game overall. Great outcome, though. Had Dave and Dave and BJ and BJ's son over to watch the game, ate a ton.

Saturday evening was dodgeball at the Y, in celebration of Darin's soon-to-be-born first kid. Darin is the coach of the b-ball team I assistant coach - who hopefully got their second win this evening (I haven't heard yet - had MCM tonight in the city so I couldn't make it to the game). It was a good time, I dislocated the top joint on my pinky finger (twice), so its been hurting a bit since, but its not the first time.

Sooo...yeah.

I have a TON of email I need to plow through this week. My personal Gmail is hovering around 500, and that's after I killed 250 or so last week. I have a problem deleting email. I need like a support group for it. I don't even have any idea what my work email is at. Gotta be nearing 4-digits.

What else. Oh! Yeah...I hardly ever have dreams but I had a series of bad ones early this morning. One in particular was pretty stark...

Through some strange series of events not fleshed out in the dream itself, I had ended up a fighter pilot in the Bay area of California. Basically my dream job. But this was no good dream. This dream starts in mid-dog-fight over the city of San Francisco, where some nefarious nation's naval forces were seeking to clear the air for their impending nuclear strike (via bomber plane, don't ask me why) on the city. I had fought long and hard, but eventually there was only so much damage one F-16 could take. With fuel and munitions running low, and a mostly shredded tail-fin, I dropped down to the deck and pointed my bird towards the water, leaving the hot-zone over the hills of the city.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the sun-glint off the grey steel of the enemy ships pressing towards the Golden Gate, but my target was the Bay Bridge...seconds later I burned over the Embarcadero and ducked under the bridge, just past the first girder. I figured by flying low to the water, and using the bridge for cover between the girders, I might just duck out of view from the fighters above, and get my plane back to Travis in one piece. It was the right move, our forces were running thin over the city and none of my squadron were left anyway for me to support. I would be up in a new bird in just hours, back in the fray, I thought, and that's when I felt the hot sear of metal passing through my arm.

The first round passed across the cockpit from the upper left corner, angling down and slicing through the top of my right bicep, maybe only half an inch deep, but a fair 2 inches wide - cauterizing a huge gap in my arm even as it passed through and exited the fuselage on the other side of the cockpit. The thought hit my mind a second after the next round - but it had lodged in my seat, inches behind my lower back. Instinct took over and I jolted the plane in the direction of the fire to dodge the next girder and go above the bridge, and I only saw the shadow of the Mig that had found me from the side. He was behind me now, and knew where I was headed, and I had no choice but to stay near the bridge and use it for cover.

He had missile lock before I was back over dry land, but I was close. I wanted to put it down over water so I veered hard-right along the docks on the water and grabbed for the ejection, praying it would still fire as I pulled.

Next thing I'm floating in the water. I'm alive. Its cold, but its still a sunny summer afternoon in California, and I didn't have far to swim. I was kicking on my left side because my right arm was useless, like dead weight. I thought "shark" briefly but realized that I still wasn't bleeding much. (I have no idea if a wound can actually be cauterizied by an aircraft fighter round).

I pull myself up a rusty ladder on an old shipping dock and find people standing around staring at the flashes in the sky, miles across the bay. I don't look back to see what's going on, I know what's coming all too soon, and I start to run in the opposite direction, screaming at people to get as far away from the city as they can, but nobody's listening.

Warehouse district begins to turn into a sparsely populated commercial / residential, and I'm still running in my olive-colored flight suit, holding my arm to my side, starting to dry out a little. I finally come to stop and turn around.

White light. No blue sky. No brown shadow of city on the hills. Just white light, everywhere. I'm blind for at least 5 minutes before I begin blinking objects into view again. I realize I'm still running. Still screaming at people, but now they're actually running with me.

The dream passed on from here into a blurry survival mode of trying to find a truck, using my side-arm to hold up a mom-and-pop hardware / sporting goods store to get a 12 gauge that would serve to help me keep my truck on what would be the longest drive ever from Oakland to Travis. And at one point I end up a little further down the road looking for food in a Home Depot. They had one of those built-in McDonald's, like they do at Wal-Mart, and I was tired, and hungry.

The last thing I remember was screaming at some family that refused to leave their home, all the while pointing at the radioactive plume pushing its way across the bay towards us. And they wouldn't budge.

And then I woke up.

I'm glad I don't dream very often.

(Holy bovine. Not only did I completely miss a Friday post - my apologies - but I totally forgot to actually publish the Thursday links, written on Thursday evening, no joke. Anyway, here they are now, as a bonus Sunday post, to kind of sort of make up for 2 consecutive days of missed posting. My bad, yo. Big weekend recap coming, tomorrow. Steelers make history. Woot.)

Tonight I came home, chilled for a bit, then specifically turned off the television so I could focus on some quality net-surfing time. Good googly moogly it feels good to be connected again. This lack of a connection at Macy's is KILLING me slowly.

That said, here's what I came up with in the past week, most of it in the past hour. Thanks, MeFi.

Lots of interesting reading tonight. Start with satellite tracking. Then the only successful assassination attempt of a member of Hitler's inner circle. This past week saw the anniversary of the Challenger disaster - one of the first "I remember where I was when it happened" moments of my generation.

Lighten the mood up with some reading over at Chewy's blog (notice the URL - classic).

What else...what else...

Student Loan Justice needs a better web page and a bigger voice.

Wish I had a HAM radio so I could hear SuitSat (launches tomorrow).

Interesting music style but really incredible guitar skills.

Hear about those congressmen's aides mis-editing Wikipedia to make their boss look better? Good luck, guys.

Also this past week, the end of an era. What God hath wrought. It strikes me how quietly this day has passed into the night, especially on the internet - the great grandchild of the first means of long distance instant communication.

Speaking of the internet, some interesting information on how we're using it, and how much.

Have you seen those fake Subway Service Change posters around NYC?

Responsibility and being an adult caused me to miss out on my opportunity to play the SOTU drinking game. AGAIN.

Proof that people watch too much TV.

Lastly some media for you. First of all, be sitting down and not holding any drinks while watching this PSA.

Secondly, its time to start getting pumped.

Cheater's post!

I have nothing for Response Wed- nesdays. And its late. And I just got home.

Work, then a work-related dinner, then HFG with Dave, then he drops me off, then he calls me back with 2 very good reasons to head into the city for a couple drinks, so next thing I know its 1:00 on a Wednesday night and I'm just getting home.

And now its AIM convos and booking airfare and buying books and all the other net stuff I couldn't get done during the day thanks to no access from the client site. Still feels weird (but good) calling Macy's 'the client site.'

Have had some interesting situations in which to try to explain my faith to people recently. Not all good, not all bad. But all interesting. Suffice to say, its been forcing me to think about a lot of the base-level stuff that you very often let lie dormant. I'm realizing lately how much of a part of my life it really has become in the last 5 years, it defines me more than most things do.

I feel like I'm really lacking when it comes to my ability to define my beliefs in clear form, and this is one thing that is really pushing Seminary to the top in the current running of MBA vs. Journalism school vs. Seminary (the current seed for top 3 options for where Dave's life is going next - if I haven't mentioned it already).

Also, I've had relative amounts of writing inspiration hitting me at random times lately - mostly in the form of good metaphors, illustrations, and narratives - but I haven't been carrying a notebook with me, and hence - much has been lost. Looking to change that starting tomorrow.

There you go. I've sufficiently turned this into slightly more than a cheater's post. Perhaps.

(Happy February, by the way. 2006 is already 1/12 gone. Have you been making the most of your time?)

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

When questioned, Jesus didn't have to stammer in naming the most important thing that a child of God can do in this world - love God with all that you have. His very next statement was to point out how this can be done - loving your neighbor as yourself. And the focus we usually place in this verse is on loving our neighbors. But in order to love our neighbor properly, we have to know how to love ourselves properly. (Its interesting to note that in the passage, Jesus makes little distinction between the love of God, love of others, and of self. A true life of love is one where all three are in progress at the same time.)

We know how to practice self-love in improper ways - this much is clear, its built into our nature. But what is the right self-love that Jesus must have been referring to? Its a love that imitates the love that He had for us - a love of acceptance. Paul Tillich said that "faith is the courage to accept our acceptance."

"Well that's easy enough. I'm glad God accepts me."

Really? Has the complete acceptance of you, an imperfect and needy person, really changed your heart? Because that's no easy thing. Sooner or later everyone experiences some form of self-loathing: hating the way we look, or the things we've done that we wish we hadn't, plagued by our inabilities or short-comings. Those little unloveable parts of our lives that we haven't become totally convinced that God really accepts.

This is the kind of self-acceptance, the proper love of self, that we need to have - one that realizes our true identity in God's love - so that we can become in our own eyes what we already are in His - accepted. Valued not for what we can do or accomplish or bring to the table, but valued out of love.

There's a point in the movie Toy Story that Woody confronts Buzz Lightyear with the fact that he's not a real space ranger. It takes Buzz a while to pick up on it - but when he does - its rather earth-shattering for him. Woody, though, understood why Buzz still had value: "You must not be thinking clearly. Look, over in that house, there's a kid who thinks you're the greatest, and it's not because you're a space ranger, its because your his." Buzz began to realize that his identity, his purpose, came not from what he could do, or who he could be, but from who loved him.

When we can accept God's love like that, we'll be accepting ourselves in a way that allows us to truly love other people.

The week between the conference champion- ships and the big game. The first foretaste of the next many months that will painfully football-less. I don't know if the fact that my team is in the superbowl makes the weekend more or less stressful.

Friday was the relatively new routine - work, basketball practice with the punk kids, gym, crash. Saturday I watched more of the first season of the Sopranos (March 12th is approaching swiftly) while getting the laundry done and cleaning the room and whatnot. More gym, then poker that evening at Ko's - Matt, Rob, Ko, and myself.

Crap cards. Gave away my first buy in by folding the blinds on all but ONE hand. One. And I split that pot on a straight. Bought in again and kept the second buy in when I finally caught a hand or two playing straight up against Matt.

Sunday was ushering with the kids - Jared got there early again and gave out a bunch of evening service programs - so when church started 100 or so people didn't have the right programs. Other than that things went fine, then we caught a Chinese buffet with the high schoolers - got some more fresh blood - its really encouraging to see how the group is growing over the past couple years.

Later...

Would you have one person killed if it meant saving 100? What if it meant saving 50? 10? What if killing one person would save 2?

I honestly don't know what the right answer is. But its a fascinating question. There are plenty of great illustrations, many in the cinema. Master and Commander comes to mind. Flight 93 - a real-life illustration.

Reading things like this and especially this have had me thinking about this in new ways lately.

Whoever pretends to face death without fear is a liar.
- Jean Jacques Rousseau

No rational person can die withou uneasy apprehension.
- Samuel Johnson

O mighty death! Those whom none other could convince, thou hast persuaded! Those whom all other flattered thou hast despised! Thous has fetched all greatness, all the pride, all the cruelty, power, and ambition of humanity, and covered it all over with these two litte words: Hic Jacet [Here lies].
- Walter Scott

Death used to be an executioner, but the gospel just makes him a gardener.
- George Herbert

Death is the supreme festival on the road to freedom.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
- St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:55

Once upon a time, I had time to surf the net on occasion, and find cool stuff. Sometimes, lots of cool stuff. So much that I never linked to it all - the only stuff I gave out on my blog was the best of the best.

Those days are over now.

Phrases that originated in the Bible.

How it should have ended - I haven't even watched one yet. They're probably crap.

Only in a great country like America could someone come up with a way to make money off of the ridiculous waits we have for airport security. This rubs me wrong. But I'd still pay for it.

Well Josh seems like a nice guy. But he forgets where they say the devil is...

Holy whale puke - I'll never walk down the beach the same way again.

What to do when they ask for your SSN.

What to do when they're grieving.

What to do when you can't get a decent wifi signal.

What to do when you want to write better. And when you're lacking creativity.

What I'll be doing in the not too distant future.

Stupid picture post for Blogger is broken again.

Its response Wednesday (see here if you're wondering why), and once again I've been working far too much to find time to read much of value. We're getting a slow start on the 2 books-per-month goal for '06 (which, yes, I know, is a weak goal).

So, instead, you get shameless self-linking. I've been noticing lately that I've been finding less and less time to sit and write out a quality mid-length post - lately all I've had is low-quality shorties. So in an attempt to begin reversing that trend, we're going to have a flash-back episode of sorts here (you know, the one where everyone sits around remembering previous episodes)...

Way back when I was starting this blog, I was making plans, complaining about a job I hated, and speculating on being single. I remember how I used to write posts even about the undulations on the sidewalks here in Hoboken, that was around the same time I actually still took pictures and put them up.

Between speculating on whether homosexuality is a choice (or not), and blogging my sermon notes on the topic of Anger, there was a good deal of Theological content in my first 6 months or so of blogging.

2004 was a year that ended with me doing a fair bit more reading than I'm doing nowadays, as evidenced in my introspection on not taking pride in my work. (Or perhaps my linking the topics of lust and Santa Claus).

So that was the second half of 2004...leaves me room to pull another one of these together next week if I don't get around to actually reading. Convenient.

It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable...
-- 1 Thes. 4:3-4

The topic of sexual purity has been on my mind, lately - and when something is on your mind, you notice it a lot more - it seems to come up in conversation more, you read more about it, etc.. One thing in particular that struck me (right between the eyes) recently is the whole "how far is too far" question.

Of course, that's the wrong question, and as one great book on the topic of dating puts it, "asking the wrong question will always get you the wrong answer." But still we are tempted to ask this question because it gets us a little closer to where we want to be. We want to think the Bible isn't clear about such things so that, at the very least, if we stumble in this area, its not clearly wrong.

The term that Paul used in his letter to the Thessalonians - a term for sexual immorality is porneia. It appears fifty-five times in the New Testament - so perhaps its relatively important. It describes, in its various usages, all types of lust-driven acts of immorality - not simply that of intercourse - but any act - physical or not - that pollutes sexual purity.

Fact is, if you have even a basic scriptural understanding of what sex really is - you know that its much more than just a physical act. And I do not mean just sex in the context of marriage - sex in the form it was created for. All sex is more than a physical act - it is by its nature mental, psychological, spiritual. The brokenness you see in relationships, in marriages, in families, and throughout the world that can be attributed to sexual weakness proves this to be true. By "all sex" I refer not just to "going all the way" but to anything that takes away from purity. By the very nature of sex, we can indulge in sexual sins without doing anything physical at all.

And, so, I would say that the through-and-through "virgins" in the world can be counted on one hand, with no fingers.

Well, that's quite depressing. Yes, it is. Especially to those who have saved themselves from certain sexual acts (but not others). The typical line drawn here is a physical one - because as I've mentioned, we have the wrong starting point. And to have that "saving yourself" feeling of self-righteousness knocked down a notch or two when you begin to change your definition and realize that really no amount of physical chastity could "save yourself" from sexual impurity...well, its not fun.

But it helps you appreciate the joy of the fact that there was one thought-word-and-deed virgin in history, and when it comes time to stand in front of God, his people will share in that ultimate virginity - a purity that was never marred.

Hitting home: you may never have had sexual intercourse. By the olden-times definition of the word, this would classify one as a virgin. But apply a nuanced understanding of what God, in His word, was really after - not simply an abstinence from a single act, but a changed heart that seeks to be holy and honorable...and suddenly you're not quite as pure as the title would normally imply.

That is not an easy thing to admit to people - that you've screwed up. Repeatedly.

But its all taken care of. And that's something so great, you want to tell other people about it. It takes this kind of inspiration to help you truly bring under control something that your spirit may desire to control, when your flesh is so weak. Not following a rule out of fear of punishment for breaking it, but doing the right thing out of love for the one who loves us completely.

Sometimes every day feels like square one.

Every once in a while you have one of those drastic moments of clarity. Each one is different - you get them at different times and for different reasons. I wish I could think of a better word than zen.

Things just click.

Here's one I had. Every single thought and more, all in that one moment.

Commute home, late. Hit the grocery store for a bottle of jack because a day like today deserves a familiar ending. Stroll home. Check the mail. Climb the stairs.

Turn on the lights, drop the mail, drop the bag, toss the coat. Empty the pockets.

Cell phone. Pen. Keys. Wallet. Cash.

Cash.

The cash is always last. Folded over, no clip, it sits in front of the thin leather wallet nicely when stuffed in a pocket, and there's no fumbling with a small piece of medal when you need some of it. But this means it usually comes out last at the end of the day.

Tonight the cash hit the clutter of the desk and I just stared at it.

I'm that guy.

When you were a kid your dad was that guy, if you had one. End of the day, he comes home, he does his unloading routine. Different things back then, maybe fewer things, maybe more, depending on what your dad did during the day. But after so many days, so many cosmically similar 12 hour periods, a very usual routine. One where dad's brain just shut off as the necessities were walked through.

When you were a teen it was your older brother, or maybe that guy in the movies. The aloof, pessimistic detective, who had a toothpick in the front pocket as part of his routine. Or the jetset Wall Street trader who threw down a wad of cash 9 times the size of dad's. The down-on-his-luck factory worker trying to get one last shot as a boxer.

Then one day you wake up and its you. Your cash. Your routine. Your life.

My cash.

I grew up.

Its Friday night at 12:40am. I'm in Vermont. Rainy, mainly snow-less Vermont. 40% of the runs open tomorrow, with rain starting in the afternoon. And this is the best snow opportunity I've seen so far this season, including my time home at Christmas - it was even warmer there.

Argh. At least the drive up went fairly fast for a Friday-head-north-to-ski weekend. Of course now I know why the traffic was light. Along the way there was a lot of laughing about my continued insistence that Beyonce is my sister, as well as the fact that the job never ends for those guys who have to paint the Golden Gate bridge.

No idea what tomorrow will be like, but we're going to have to come up with something. As for now, I've got an hour or two of work ahead of me, as does Tim, our gracious host. Tim is a friend of Bo - they know each other through work - Bo is a friend of mine, we were in the same orientation class when I started at Accenture. Tim and I were just talking about how pitiful this is that we're both up doing work at this point in the week. I am now thinking that may be the first time I actually mentioned my new employer's name here since I started there. Perhaps not. Can't remember.

Anyway, regardless of what happens tomorrow, we have to get on the road early on Sunday so we can get back into the city in enough time for me to catch the Steelers game.

That's all I've got. The normal blah. But I have come up with a bit of actually creative stuff lately. Not sure if any of it will be deemed good enough to blog at some point, but you never know. Monday might be more interesting than normal. But you never know.

Ok hang on, this one is going to be fast.

This year's idiotarod is already sneaking up on us (in a grocery cart). Didn't make it last year and at this rate I likely won't make it this year.

Great guide to stock images if you're a professional .ppt creator like myself.

Minor Tweaks is the funniest thing I have read in a long time. Careful you don't get sucked in.

I'm a guest blogger on Fabulous Females. For the time being. Smile.

Super awesome Google link-of-the-week is another Gmaps hack, this one helps people share WiFi signals. Simply awesome.

My pastor kind of not-so-much but maybe-a-little-bit-yeah looks like the 2nd one down on the left.

Stuff I'm not sure if I linked to already or not:

Woot! rocks.

You are beautiful.

If you haven't seen this already, check it out. I know it looks like one of those stupid emails people usually forward, but if you take it seriously, I promise you will be shocked by the results.

Wednesdays are supposed to be response day, per last week, but I didn't get around to reading the complete second page of The Edge's question of the year responses - I'm only about halfway through. I have been reading some other stuff though, so here's some pre-linkery to the normal Friday stuff.

Dave Barry's latest book is out, Money Secrets. I have a signed copy, as I was able to make it to a reading he did at the Union Square B&N earlier this week. He remembered me as the guy who he had beers with at the Republican convention. And I FINALLY have a picture of me and Dave Barry.

Speaking of money, today's WSJ points out some good tips for people my age who's baby boomer parents are nearing retirement. Now...my parents were slightly behind the boomers, its more like my dad's older brother's age, but all the same, good stuff. You need a WSJ account to see the article, but I'll recap - basically its an article on how children who work with their parents creatively can help maintain the parent's financial security throughout retirement and (as a natural by-product) help them leave a better estate behind. The five key points were 1) delaying tactics (e.g. delaying taking Social Security until later), 2) trimming taxes (e.g. consider converting retirement accounts into Roth IRAs), 3) sharing the load (e.g. children helping with payments for expenses such as long-term care insurance), 4) taking credit (this one I didn't quite get but it basically involved mortgaging a house with some combination of #3 - having the kids pay a certain amount of the monthly payback), and 5) giving back (e.g. grandparents investing in 529 college-savings plans for the grandchildren if they are counting on their own children to be helping them through retirement).

History of the Post-It Note.

Grabbed a copy of New York Press on my way home, just to reconnect with NYC's alternative media. There's a lot of crap in there (and questionable ads on their website, too), but there are some diamonds in the rough. I enjoyed The Dogs of Gowanus in their current Brooklyn edition.

Interesting new budgeting technique - sounds like one that might work for people like myself. (PDF File, btw)

For I know my trans- gression, and my sin is always before me...

...Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight...
- Psalm 51

Ever screw up? I mean do something bad. I mean real bad. Maybe not something that hurt anyone - nothing that's left a debt of justice in society. Just something that made me you feel like you had really, really let yourself down. But still worse, that made you feel as though you had let God down.

I have.

I think the worst part is that while I feel bad about what I've done, I don't feel nearly so bad about what I perceive to be "lesser" bad things that I've done. I sent an email a couple weeks ago that could have been kinder. I don't feel nearly as bad about that as I do the more terrible (in my limited view) thing I did.

But sin is sin.

Perhaps worse still is the fact that I hardly find time to feel bad at all about the sins of "omission" I walk around with every day. The things that I continuously fail to do that I should be doing (as opposed to the obvious things I shouldn't be doing that I so often do).

And even the righteous things I can do...well we know how those can be classified.

I think when you really begin to get your head around the relatively complete existence of sin in your being, you begin, and let me stress - begin to realize how great your need for an equally complete grace really is. Only when you truly begin to internalize the ways you have grieved God that you see what it would take to stem that grief. And its at this moment that you realize such an effort is beyond your ability.

God had to let Christ down in the ultimate fashion - let Him completely down - on the cross, to cover such a great debt as ours. As mine. What wondrous love is this...

The only response can be a life of daily repentance.

All of the sins that man could do, or even conceive of doing, is like one live coal tossed in the ocean of God's grace. - Madeleine L'’Engle

Weekend schmeek- end. The Steelers have won their division and are headed for a conference game next Sunday. EVERYONE said it couldn't be done. Everyone was wrong. And what a game - it never should have been as close as it was, and now even the NFL is admitting it. Dave and I watched it at our regular joint - Mercury Bar in Hell's Kitchen, which strangely enough was filled with Steelers fans and one table of meek Colts fans. The game left every fan in that place emotionally drained, we were no exception.

Commutes were light today thanks to the holiday. That is all. Its a good day to let better men do the talking.

You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may won ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there fire two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the Brat to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all"

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distort the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I- it" relationship for an "I-thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and awful. Paul Tillich said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression 'of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.

Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.

Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.

I hope you are able to ace the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's anti religious laws... - Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail

You ever see a girl and your first reaction is "I would gladly cut off a finger just to talk to her for 5 minutes?" Yeah, you have. Your next thought is usually "Let's see, that means 10 fingers would get me almost an hour...I wonder what a toe would get me...". Every guy has been there.

Girls, don't even act like you've never had a similar reaction to a man. How do I know? Because I'm a guy. And every guy has had that sickening experience of being with some girl in a "friends" context when she pulls one of those "look...at... him..." things. The difference is, with girls, they're allowed to do it, within reason - I mean not in front of a boyfriend, or something, but otherwise its pretty fair game. Not so much with guys. It gets a little more sticky for us.

But que sera - that isn't where I was going with this anyway.

The other night I was running (6 miles, I'm back in the saddle - go me! Woot!) and I got to thinking. I don't have a huge ego - I'm fairly realistic about the fact that I'm probably pretty average. I'm not exceptionally tall or well built, neither do I have genius level IQ; I'm not exceptionally ugly or overweight, and I think I've proved in at least a few ways to the world that I'm no dummy either. I'm average. That's cool. I do have a great sense of humor and those that know me well know that I feign having a HUGE ego quite well, but its all a matter of keeping a sense of humor and always being confident about who you are. I'm plenty confident about being decently average.

But that's not exactly where I'm going with this either. The other night, running, thinking...and it hit me. Some girl, somewhere, once upon a time, may have had one of those "HELLO what have we here?" experiences about ME once. Little old me. And chances are I never had any idea that she was having the moment while looking at me. I mean I have those moments when I see a girl that fits my particular fancies, is it so unbelievable that it could have happened to some girl where I was the object of interest? I don't think its too ridiculous to say that it is likely that it has happened, at least once. I particularly think this is a reasonable proposition because while I have these "hello" experiences infrequently, I certainly have them every once in a while. So if I have had multiple ones, do the math...and you come to the very reasonable conclusion that I've turned at least one head at one point in my life.

And that's a great feeling. Not so much in stroking the ego - like "Oh yeah, I'm bad..." - its just good to know. Helps you remember that its OK not to be the tallest or the fastest or the richest or the smartest. You can do what you do best, the best you can, and that's enough to please someone, somewhere.

The trick is finding the person that has that reaction to you, and being blessed enough to have it back to them at the same time. If that ever happens.

(Of course, I do realize that love at first sight is pretty pointless without love at second sight, and third, and fourth, and so on...)

The menu is sparse tonight. No internet at the client I'm working at now means no getting ANYTHING done during the day when it comes to the necessary personal stuff - paying the bills, checking the location of the doctor's office or the time of a train, finding a place to meet up with friends after work, you name it. And therefore it necessarily also precludes any surfing for the normal absurdities / useful items. So here's my pittance.


expialidocio.us sounds potentially cool but of course I haven't had any time to play with it yet.

All 3 episodes of the David Sutherland film Country Boys are now available to watch (for free) on PBS's site.

The prejudice map.

Bill O'Reilly on Letterman. Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with Letterman 100%, but its still pretty cool that he broke his normal pandering-to-the-guest character for once.

Would have made a great Dr. Seuss title.

You've probably seen this one already, but just in case you haven't...Mr. Pibb and Red Vines equals crazy delicious.

So wrong.

The Edge has published its 2006 edition of its annual question. They've been doing it for a number of years now. I found last year's question to be particularly fascinating - "What do you believe is true even though you can not prove it?"

I've started reading through this year's question, "What is your dangerous idea?" And, conveniently, its given me a theme for Wednesdays, at least for the short term. Wednesdays are now response day. I'm going to try to take something I've read somewhere else and offer some reasonable editorial. Or unreasonable. Either way. What follows are my opinions on the first page of 12 full pages of the 120-some responses to the Edge's 2006 question.

I've decided to pick a few of these as must-reads, which I'm going to try to limit to 2 out of every 10 or so, and they're clearly marked. You will, however, have to click on the question above and scroll down to find the author / submission in question (on the first page, in particular, you need to scroll about halfway down to get past all the news blurbs). Enjoy.

HOWARD GARDNER
Psychologist, Harvard University; Author, Changing Minds

Following Sisyphus, not Pandora

Interesting - I liked the Albert Camus paraphrase: "...in his portrayal of another mythic figure endlessly attempting to push a rock up a hill: one should imagine Sisyphus happy."

MARTIN E.P. SELIGMAN
Psychologist, University of Pennsylvania, Author, Authentic Happiness

Relativism

MUST READ. Finally someone realizes that maybe relativism might just be a bad idea. "But it might and it is just possible that the great minds of the twenty-first century will absolutize the relative."

DAN SPERBER
Social and cognitive scientist, CNRS, Paris; author, Explaining Culture

Culture is natural

Um, yeah. And? Raised one good point (but didn't really do much else): "Dangerous ideas are potentially important. Braving insults and misrepresentations in defending these ideas is noble."

PIET HUT
Professor of Astrophysics, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

A radical reevaluation of the character of time

As one who loves debating the existence of time, I had a hard time not labeling this a "must read." It just didn't have enough infrastructure to support the fascinating base that it definitely has. Still, this is fascinating: "What if a future scientific understanding of time would show all previous pictures to be wrong, and demonstrate that past and future and even the present do not exist? That stories woven around our individual personal history and future are all just wrong? Now that would be a dangerous idea."

JOHN GOTTMAN
Psychologist; Founder of Gottman Institute; Author, The Mathematics of Marriage.

Emotional intelligence

Points for brevity.

RICHARD FOREMAN
Founder & Director, Ontological-Hysteric Theater

Radicalized relativity

And we're right back to the uber-intellectual that can't see the forest for the trees when it comes to relativism. That didn't take too long now, did it? I mean, honestly: "the most dangerous idea (and the one under who's influence I have operated throughout my artistic life) is the complete relativity of all positions and styles of procedure. The notion that there are no "absolutes"..."

Is he the only one who can't see that he just created an absolute in his own statement?

PHILIP ZIMBARDO
Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University; Author: Shyness

The banality of evil is matched by the banality of heroism

Relatively interesting (hah, get the joke?). Helps to have a basic understanding of human depravity to interpret this one.

Absolutely did not agree with this: "The heroic action of Rosa Parks in a Southern bus, of Joe Darby in exposing the Abu Ghraib tortures, of NYC firefighters at the World Trade Center's disaster are acts of bravery at that time and place." Those firefighters were heroes when they went to bed the night before 9/11, every bit as much as when they went up the stairs the next morning. Firefighters all over the region were racing towards that disaster, I heard no tell of even one who cringed away.

JAMES O'DONNELL
Classicist; Cultural Historian; Provost, Georgetown University; Author, Avatars of the Word

Marx was right: the "state" will evaporate and cease to have useful meaning as a form of human organization

MUST READ. Fascinating to think about. Right on some points but hardly seems plausible as a complete idea.

JOHN ALLEN PAULOS
Professor of Mathematics, Temple University, Philadelphia; Author, A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market

The self is a conceptual chimera

Brief argument for Buddhism. "(Or so this assemblage of beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes sometimes thinks.)"

CLIFFORD PICKOVER
Author, Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves

We are all virtual

Not quite a must read but fascinating. I'm still trying to figure out what he meant by the last paragraph, but for the most part I agree with the concept - this could (and probably will, in some form) happen. But we need to be aware of the dangers of it. Sounds like it could easily turn into something straight out of a movie.

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.

Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
-- Ps. 51

David here realizes one of the most interesting paradoxes of the life Christian.

On the one hand, he realizes that God doesn't care about the outward acts that signify religious obedience. He knows that these are the very mandates that God gave the Israelites, yet he realizes that these sacrifices are not the heart of the matter. The heart of the matter is the state of his heart.

By the end of the Psalm, he is talking again about the same sacrifices and offerings he was decrying just a few verses earlier, but now he speaks of how they will delight God. What changed? His heart: broken and contrite. A changed heart drives him to make these sacrifices and offerings despite the fact that he's already ascertained that they are not what God is really looking for.

David realized that the act of sacrifice is one done out of love - either love of self or love of God. The original sacrifices he spoke of were being made to please God, but not out of love for Him - instead they were being made out of love for self - sacrifices made in order to get something back from God. But a contrite heart is one that's in a state to truly sacrifice in love - to give while expecting and hoping for nothing in return. That's how true, selfless love gives.

In the end, sacrifice in David's day was a true means of grace. In our day, it is still something God seeks from us. But He will never be pleased in sacrifice made with selfish motives. He wants nothing less than the whole heart, broken though it may be.

I had a weekend, but more importantly the Steelers had a win. We are no longer a wild-card team, but a full-fledged playoff contender. Yeah, Indy is going to be a tough game - probably the toughest team left alive right now, and one of the few (only?) teams to beat us really soundly this year. So it will be tough.

I'm watching this special on PBS called Country Boys. Its a David Sutherland piece and it is a depressing show, I'll say that much. I mean these kids in rural Kentucky have it rough. And my big problem is that I can't figure out how to budget a 2-week sailing trip to Belize.

Its not that I'm a communist. I certainly don't feel guilty about the nice things I have. I'm doing ok and that's fine - I fully intend to keep doing well and if I'm blessed I'll do better. Pay the bills, get a house, go on vacations, do the stuff people do. Drink the liquor off the higher shelf and buy the quilted paper towels. But the more I make the more I hope to be able to do for those who have not.

And its not because I'm a good person, either. I don't feel like I need to give to get into heaven, or feel good about myself, or because I want other people to think I'm great. I just do not understand how people can see other humans living in such incredible need and not respond to it. Especially considering the resources we have. It boils down to this: we bring nothing into this world and we're not taking anything with us when we leave.

Kid just asked out this girl and she turned him down. This kid has a drunk for a dad, he gets a social security check at 16 years old, and he's failing high school. And now he gets turned down for a date. I guess there's some problems that you just can't give enough to help out with.

Freakin depressing show. I hate watching television.

“Well, isn’t it fortunate for you that you just happened to be a member of this ‘unique instrument’ of salvation — the Christian church! I suppose you realize that if you had been raised among Muslims, you would make similar claims for Islam?”

Yes…I conceded that if I had been born in Cairo or Mecca that very likely I should be a devout Muslim. But what is supposed to follow from this observation?....A multitude of political options also faces the citizens of any modern nation. Tell Marxists or liberals or Burkean conservatives that if they had been raised in Nazi Germany they would have been fascists. They will answer that they are aware of that fact and what is your point? The undoubted fact that one’s adherence to a system of political thought is conditioned by one’s upbringing is no reason for doubting that some or one of these systems is clearly and markedly superior to its available rivals. And yet any argument to show that the Church’s belief in her own uniqueness was arrogant would apply a fortiori to this almost universally held belief about politics.

[And we should add this]…the members of the Church can take no pride in their unique relation to God, for that relation is His doing and not theirs. But the superiority of one’s political party to the others must be due to the superiority of the knowledge, intelligence, wisdom, courage, and goodness of one and one’s colleagues in the party… – Peter van Inwagen, Non Est Hick

Fast and furious links. I have a hot date with my pillow, and we're getting started early tonight. I've been up til at least 1am every night for like 2 weeks and probably averaged a down-time of 3am. So, I. Am. Tired. But never too tired for links...

World Jump Day

10 Web Trends That Should Die in 2006

Random Chuck Norris Fact: Top Thirty Facts

Anna, one of the DC Grover crew, recently had a book review published in the Washington Times. She also came to spend a couple days in NYC with a buddy of hers, and they made the mistake of deciding to crash at my place and not get the spare keys before heading out for the evening. This was the night of the same day I flew back red-eye, so this was one of the closer-to-1am bedtimes for me. I passed out cold with the phone in the other room, and our buzzer is broken, so they never were able to get in that night. I'm a good friend. But this link is really about Anna's article.

Click Here You Idiot

50 Best Firefox Extensions for Power Surfing (I've been meaning to write my own version of this)

The other night I spent a good deal of time reviewing the topic of English mnemonics. I have no idea why. But if I'm ever on Jeopardy and the topic comes up...boy...

The best blonde joke ever (on the internet).

7 habits of highly effective people

Late night math:



plus



plus



equals

tired guy I am. Congrats to Pauly and his Hookem Horns - looks like going to the game worked, superfan.

Ooooo K... the holiday break is officially over and we are back to normal blogging schedule, which, if you're not aware, is usually Mon-Fri, Lord willin and the creek don't rise.

This is a non-normal Tuesday post because I just don't have it in me this week - which I realize is not a good thing. 2006 is off to a slow start, coming off a slow finish in 05, on the Tuesday front, and that area of my life in general. I need to take some serious time to sit and think this whole situation through and make some changes. You've done well if you're still with me on this...

As of tonight, the Mustard Seed School Rebels are 0-1 in their first season under coaches Kinder and Knowles (assistant coach). We stayed in it through the first half but they pulled away slowly in the second as it was clear they had a deeper bench than we did - not to mention that one of our key starters fouled out in the 4th.

I'm back at Macy's and unable to get net access during the day, which continues to be a painful experience. I need to struggle through to at least mid-February at this point.

Long story short I had a very good New Years weekend. Margy was in town with her buddy Mike, who is a cool dude for partying as late as he did with us (we didn't get home til well after 6am).

That's all for now. Tonight I have lots of other stuff to write, namely a couple articles that I'm working on - one I'm not really sure where I'd submit it, and one that I'm working with the guys at Thrillist on.

Happy Belated New Years, all.