A Random Pattern

Jim Collins.com | Library Rochelle spoke to me repeatedly about the idea of “making your life a creative work of art.” A great piece of art is composed not just of what is in the final piece, but equally important, what is not. It is the discipline to discard what does not fit — to cut out what might have already cost days or even years of effort — that distinguishes the truly exceptional artist and marks the ideal piece of work, be it a symphony, a novel, a painting, a company or, most important of all, a life.

Hmmmm…

Everyone thinks they’re a moderate. You think you’re a moderate. Even if you admit that you’re Right, or Left, you still think that yours is a position close to the center, with other viewpoints ranging far to the right and far to the left. “America is full of Centrists, more than you realize”, some politicians are now trumpeting. Well, of course. We all think we’re reasonable. And except for the most extreme of extremists, there are people on both sides of the political spectrum.

But it really comes down to an even deeper truth: we still think the world is centered around ourselves. Have you taken a look from someone else’s perspective? Have you really tried to understand where someone else is coming from, or why they view the world the way they do?

Take a moment, think of someone whose position you’ve criticized lately – democrat, republican, iraqi, american, israeli – someone whose views you oppose. Now drop your mental guard for a minute, and honestly try to understand their viewpoint. Don’t raise defenses, don’t try to rationalize or condone, just try to understand.

There, feel even more Moderate now, don’t we?

Good to see Tessa loves her sister. And good to see Selah’s getting ticklish.

On another note, Selah often pulls Tessa’s hair now, whenever Tessa gets close enough (which is very often lately). Tessa, knowing the rules when she does something wrong, then insists that Selah say “sorry Tessa”. Of course, Selah isn’t quite up to this yet, being only 6 months old. Inevitably we explain this to Tessa, and inevitably she then uses her own hand to sign sorry on Selah’s chest, while saying “sorry Tessa” for Selah to herself.  

KJ52.com
J-52 is the first to admit that his gig doesn’t make much sense.

“A white dude from the suburbs and inner city of Florida doing Christian rap and driving a minivan?” KJ says. “None of that makes sense. No one says, ‘That’s the formula, right there!’ But at the end of the day, it just proves that God did it.”

The absurdity of his situation hasn’t stopped him from becoming one of the hottest rappers on the Christian hiphop scene..

This artist rocks – he’s got a great song about Mountain Dew (“Oh, what am I gonna do, I’m addicted to Mountain Dew, when I drink like one or two, people say What’s wrong with you…). Seriously, dude’s got some skills. He’s not afraid to have some fun, either. But what’s awesome is he podcasts several times a week. Listen to the “Walmart saved my life” podcast. My wife and I cracked up listening to this!

For the record:

I support the Miers nomination. It’s simple, really. Not to mention that it doesn’t much matter. Not to mention that not only I, but 95% of the people posting their opinions on the web are drastically under-qualified to even comment on Mier’s qualification or lack thereof.

Yes, it is simple. Bush nominated her. Dr. Dobson supports her. And there are plenty of smart, even qualified, people on both sides of this issue. Who’s really surprised, anyways? We all knew this nominee was going to be a huge battle, well before anyone knew who it was. I don’t really care about all the politics, and insulted people, and everyone who wants their opinion counted so they can be a power player. I want the kind of person Bush has promised he’d put on the court – and with every nominee previous to this, he’s apparently lived up to that. Even those sounding off now aren’t arguing that. So why the sudden fear that he’s changed tack or lost heart at the last moment, the most critical decision (possibly) of his presidency? Does that really make sense with what you know of our president?

Nope – that doesn’t fit at all. Too many of you have the weak stomachs you’re accusing the president of – that’s my opinion.

I will add that it’s not without some trepidation that I support her – but were she to have the necessary things in place to remove my trepidation, there’d be almost no way she’d get confirmed. At least no one seems to be understating the importance of this nomination…

Blogger Help : Promoting Your Blog: “Be an active commenter. Try to leave comments on the blogs you read every day. This is in the same vein as linking. Leaving a comment on someone’s post can make their day. Nothing beats getting those email notifications that whisper tacitly out at you from the screen, ‘You’re thoughts have struck me dead in my tracks. I simply must acknowledge you and your greatness.’ (Or something to that effect.) Most comment systems also provide a way for you to leave a link back to your blog which begs a visit at the very least. So if you feel inspired, leave a comment or two in your blog travels. It behooves you.

Pitch your posts via email to other bloggers. This is a touchy technique and should be approached with caution. Blogger Eugene Volokh has published a short treatise on how best to pitch one’s blog via email and it’s filled with great tips and advice. Assuming your blog is actually worth pitching (of course it is), here are some tips from Volokh.

1. Pitch the post, not the blog.
2. Include the full text and your URL.
3. Submit only your best posts.
4. Don’t only pitch to high traffic blogs.”

Since I mentioned this is something I’m going to start working on, I thought I’d share this helpful advice for increasing traffic to a blog.

Rocky Mountain News: Columnists: “Since 1981, Shell researchers at the company’s division of ‘unconventional resources’ have been spending their own money trying to figure out how to get usable energy out of oil shale. Judging by the presentation the Rocky Mountain News heard this week, they think they’ve got it.

Shell’s method, which it calls ‘in situ conversion,’ is simplicity itself in concept but exquisitely ingenious in execution. Terry O’Connor, a vice president for external and regulatory affairs at Shell Exploration and Production, explained how it’s done (and they have done it, in several test projects):

Drill shafts into the oil-bearing rock. Drop heaters down the shaft. Cook the rock until the hydrocarbons boil off, the lightest and most desirable first. Collect them.”
(via slashdot)

You might say, “So how is this bad? This is Great!!” And indeed, if you’re concerned about the gas prices for the next decade or two, this is very good.

But here’s what I think the big picture is: every bit of pain that we save ourselves in the next 30-40 years by methods like these will come back ten times worse (or more) when we really have exhausted every ounce of “black gold” that we can find.

Why? Because it’ll make it that much easier for us to “put off” finding another, more viable, solution for the future. The global economy, or everybody’s standard of living, will be dramatically affected by how the whole energy situation works out. So it’s a pretty important area to focus on – nothing comes for free, and right now we’re using vastly more energy than at any point in mankind’s history. We need to give some real serious thought and resources towards managing that, or we could put ourselves in some real science-fiction-like scenarios by the end of the century.

This one’s specially for Grandma V (who made the blanket that’s capturing the attention in this photo).
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Lifesaver, anyone?
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Black and White – with Attitude. Courtesy of my lovely wife’s newly acquired photoshop skills!
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