Psychological Neoteny

A few months ago I posted an excerpt from Michael Crichton's book Next. I'd forgotten about it until an anonymous commenter dropped me a link to point out that Crichton didn't create the story about psychological neoteny, a theory positing that "...many older people simply never achieve mental adulthood". In fact, Bruce Charlton is a real person and really has created the theory Crichton borrowed for Next. The Discovery Channel article is much more detailed than the portion quoted in Crichton's novel, and is quite interesting. Do you seem to exhibit some of these characteristics? Do you feel as if you're immature? Hmmm...

My Inner European

Your Inner European is Dutch!

Open minded and tolerant. You're up for just about anything.

Who's Your Inner European?

Saw this over at phantasmagorical, loved his sexy boots, and thought I'd post mine here. I have Pennsylvania Dutch family. Ironic? You decide...

I Bear In My Body The Marks...

...of Aesop Rock. My first tattoo was inked this past weekend, under my left wrist. The totally dope P-Nut at Little Blue's Tattoo's in Bloomington did the honors for me, and he came highly recommended by friends and acquaintances. You'll have to ch-check him out should you need some marks for yo'self.

Now, as for the inspiration for the art, just peruse a minute on the lyrics to Aesop's song Labor. Near the end of the record you get these lines: "I am a star really!....And I work till this here little flat line closes the curtains." You can read about the artist here. It's all about hard work and responsibility, without which I don't expect to reach my goals. Peace!

Hmmm...Wishful Hoping?

I read today of an interesting quote by Lewis Smedes in his book Keeping Hope Alive. It speaks of his suggestion that hope "is a combination of wishing, imagining, and believing for things in an unknown future. Hope is the spiritual power for living successfully as creatures endowed with godlike ability to imagine the future but stuck with humanlike inability to control it." A little later he's paraphrased like this: "...our spirits were made to hope, just as our hearts were made to love, our brains were made to think, and our hands were made to create things."

Now, this is personally interesting because it suggests to me that I can have hope in Christ without being certain of even His existence. I can wish the Bible accounts of redemption and such are true, I can imagine that Heaven is a real place prepared for us by a loving Father, and then I can believe that a personal relationship with Christ is possible, all without having any certain proof that any of it is "real".

Furthermore, I'm beginning to think that my personal experience has been that of owning a lemon. If religion is merely the vehicle of spirituality, in which one expresses his/her faith, then the religion I was a part of for a chunk of my life was the problem, and not the spirituality I found there. I've maintained an inward distinction between the form of religious activities I was a part of and the belief I held while participating in them. This has allowed me to believe that what I've experienced is "real", while the bitter feelings I've harbored have been the result of a major engine failure in my spiritual vehicle. Hmmm, the jury, as it were, is still out, but I think I may be on to something for myself here.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

I watched The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford last night. My earlier reflections on 3:10 To Yuma revealed a fascination with western-style films, and now I can add another one to my favorites of the genre. Although lacking in action, the dialog and imagery were fantastic. Even the sometimes cheesy, sometimes tinny soundtrack was exceptional, fitting in with the scenes seamlessly, like the comfortable, though silent, accompaniment of a dog on a walk. The most phenomenal part of the movie for me, though, was the character and acting of Casey Affleck. Wow, what a performance! That he was playing a difficult role is an understatement, and though he was asked to nail it in the shadow of one of Hollywood's biggest names, Brad Pitt, he pulled it off swimmingly. The lingering effect of the story and the remembrance of scene after stellar scene fresh in my mind has created a melancholy pleasantness for me today. The weather today perfectly fits the mood; overcast, chilly, breezy, glum. But alas, I must not overlook the quality of the lead character's portrayal of a neurotic, confused, slightly stupid Jesse James. Brad Pitt played his part without a hitch. I suppose the only reason I'm gushing over Affleck is that it came as a surprise to me. But Brad Pitt, who I expected to do well, sold me once again on his ability. I don't know that it's his best, but I think I can safely say this is my favorite role for him. Bouncing back to Affleck for a second, the one disturbing (if that's not overstated) factor is that I can't imagine him ever being in a movie again. It's as if when the movie ended his acting, and his character, faded to black. I don't mean this in a negative sense, just that he carried it out with such perfection the two, the historical figure and the modern-day reteller, became one. Casey Affleck will certainly emerge on the big screen again, but I'll forever see him in a slightly tattered derby.

Thomas More: Utopia

Just now I've finished the middle section of the 36th volume of the Harvard Classics, Thomas More's Utopia. Having only a minimal recognition of the work prior to delving into it, I was completely unaware of what to expect. The First Book was difficult, but necessary to understand the groundwork of the fantasy island and the role of Raphael Hythloday, the fictional world-traveler who described Utopia. The Second Book, though, was phenomenal. Originally published in 1516, I was surprised to see a variety of striking similarities to modern day issues, such as euthanasia, religious tolerance, seeing a prospective spouse naked prior to marriage (I'm not kidding), etc. I'm going to complete this post with some quotes without comment, but I'll offer a quick plug here: if you are interested in economics, religion, countries at war, politics, ethics or a study in the quality of life issue, among other things, this is a must read at some point in your life. The quotes:

For they marvel that any men be so foolish, as to have delight and pleasure in the glistering of a little trifling stone, which may behold any of the stars, or else the sun itself. Or that any man is so mad, as to count himself the nobler for the smaller or finer thread of wool, which selfsame wool (be it now in never so fine a spun thread) did once a sheep wear: and yet was she all that time no other thing than a sheep. They marvel also that gold, which of the own nature is a thing so unprofitable, is now among all people in so high estimation, that man himself, by whom, yea and for the use of whom it is so much set by, is in much less estimation than the gold itself. Insomuch that a lumpish blockheaded churl, and which hath no more wit than an ass, yea and as full of worthlessness and foolishness, shall have nevertheless many wise and good men in subjection and bondage, only for this, because he hath a great heap of gold. Which if it should be taken from him by any fortune, or by some subtle wile of the law (which no less than fortune doth raise up the low and pluck down the high), and be given to the most vile slave and abject drudge of all his household, then shortly after he shall go into the service of his servant, as an augmentation or an overplus beside his money. But they much more marvel at and detest the madness of them which to those rich men, in whose debt and danger they be not, do give almost divine honours, for none other consideration, but because they be rich: and yet knowing them to be such niggardly penny-fathers, that they be sure as long as they live, not the worth of one farthing of that heap of gold shall come to them.

They reason of virtue and pleasure. But the chief and principal question is in what thing, be it one or more, the felicity of man consisteth. But in this point they seem almost too much given and inclined to the opinion of them which defend pleasure, wherein they determine either all or the chiefest part of man’s felicity to rest....Then if it be a point of humanity for man to bring health and comfort to man, and specially (which is a virtue most peculiarly belonging to man) to mitigate and assuage the grief of others, and by taking from them the sorrow and heaviness of life, to restore them to joy, that is to say, to pleasure: why may it not then be said, that nature doth provoke every man to do the same to himself? For a joyful life, that is to say, a pleasant life, is either evil, and if it be so, then thou shouldest not only help no man thereto, but rather, as much as in thee lieth, help all men from it, as noisome and hurtful, or else if thou not only mayst, but also of duty art bound to procure it to others, why not chiefly to thyself, to whom thou art bound to show as much favour as to other? For when nature biddeth thee to be good and gentle to other she commandeth thee not to be cruel and ungentle to thyself. Therefore even very nature (say they) prescribeth to us a joyful life, that is to say, pleasure as the end of all our operations....But to go about to let another man of his pleasure, whilst thou procurest thine own, that is open wrong. Contrariwise to withdraw something from thyself to give to other, that is a point of humanity and gentleness; which never taketh away so much commodity, as it bringeth again. For it is recompensed with the return of benefits; and the conscience of the good deed, with the remembrance of the thankful love and benevolence of them to whom thou hast done it, doth bring more pleasure to thy mind, than that which thou hast withholden from thyself could have brought to thy body.

Or what delight can there be, and not rather displeasure in hearing the barking and howling of dogs? Or what greater pleasure is there to be felt when a dog followeth an hare, than when a dog followeth a dog? for one thing is done in both, that is to say, running, if thou hast pleasure therein. But if the hope of slaughter and the expectation of tearing in pieces the beast doth please thee: thou shouldest rather be moved with pity to see a silly innocent hare murdered of a dog, the weak of the stronger, the fearful of the fierce, the innocent of the cruel and unmerciful. Therefore all this exercise of hunting, as a thing unworthy to be used of free men, the Utopians have rejected....

Furthermore in choosing wives and husbands they observe earnestly and straitly a custom, which seemed to us very fond and foolish. For a sad and an honest matron showeth the woman, be she maid or widow, naked to the wooer. And likewise a sage and discreet man exhibiteth the wooer naked to the woman. At this custom we laughed and disallowed it as foolish. But they on the other part do greatly wonder at the folly of all other nations, which in buying a colt, whereas a little money is in hazard, be so chary and circumspect, that though he be almost all bare, yet they will not buy him, unless the saddle and all the harness be taken off, lest under those coverings be hid some gall or sore. And yet in choosing a wife, which shall be either pleasure, or displeasure to them all their life after, they be so reckless, that all the residue of the woman’s body being covered with clothes, they esteem her scarcely by one hand-breadth (for they can see no more but her face), and so do join her to them not without great jeopardy of evil agreeing together, if anything in her body afterward do offend and mislike them.

Falling Hot Dog Spills The Beans

This is Patrick. A dachshund. He is owned by a friend of mine, Bill, and was thus named because he was born on St. Patrick's Day. I have another friend born on a holiday, St. Valentine's Day, in fact, but we don't have any pet names for him. That would be weird. Anyway, the other night I watched as Patrick jumped up on a day-bed in Bill's entertainment room, presumably to take a nap. Dogs do that a lot. Patrick does it almost non-stop. He gets up, I'm convinced, for one of only three reasons. Eat. Poop. Go outside to bark at people jogging down the road. That's it, really. But I digress. Back to the day-bed. Patrick had commenced his napping, which of course always begins with some strange ritualistic throwing of blanket up in the air over and over again while simultaneously jumping up and down, and somehow ending up wrapped up like a baby in swaddling clothes. I'm not saying he's god-like, just strange. And talented. On this particular day Patrick awakened after a short time, but was apparently disoriented. He started to back up off the other side of the day-bed, the side with Bill's strange apparatus that is part cabinet, part catch-all, part holder of white beans. This last thing is true, though odd. Indeed there are drawers with see-through glass fronts. The glass is easily unsettled if you're not careful. Inside each of these drawers is a large amount of white beans. Don't ask, I don't know why. Patrick slid off the back side of the day-bed, the wrong side I might add, hit one of the doors with his flailing body, unsettled the glass and when he landed, wedged between the bed and cabinet, a steady stream of white beans began pouring out, ever so evenly, on his head. The dog couldn't move, so I rescued him. But before I did I laughed out loud at the look of utter-bewilderment on his face...and conceived of this strangely-titled, more oddly written, more puzzlingly still published, post. The falling hot dog spilled the beans.

Michigan

I recently read an article by Rich Karlgaard (of the Digital Rules Blog on the Frogroll) called Tackling the Michigan Problem. It is a well-written piece likening the woes of the Michigan Wolverines football team to the dire economic issues of that state. Evidently it is quite an important issue, and one source pointed out that the loss of jobs streak the state is currently experiencing is the longest sense the Great Depression. In an apparent attempt to stop the employment hemorrhage and consequent financial drain, there is a commercial I've seen on CNN urging corporations to consider relocating there. From what I've read in Forbes and elsewhere, they may need to address some taxation matters first. Nonetheless, I didn't really create this post to start a dialog concerning the socioeconomic crisis in the state to our north, but rather I wanted to briefly express, again, my fascination with the writing of Karlgaard. We all have our favorite writers, whether it be fiction or newspaper journalism. I'm becoming aware more and more that it's probably best to latch on to a few that we can "get", and not spend so much time scouring the vast amount of contributors out there. It's a matter of time. Sure, I still believe it's good to read widely, and I'll continue doing so as long as I can, but I believe it's unnecessary to work my way through an article or book that doesn't interest, or more than that, intrigue, me. Do you have any suggestions for managing the worlds reading material? I'd love to hear about it if so.

3:10 To Yuma

I watched the new film 3:10 To Yuma and I was quite impressed. It's been a minute since I've seen a good western themed movie, and I'd say it was worth the wait. Some fav's of the past in this wild-west genre were the Young Guns franchise, Tombstone, and Open Range. I'll not play spoiler, but right up until the frenetic final scene, this was going to replace The Bourne Ultimatum as my fav of the year so far, but thanks to a bit of confusion and a tinge of I-wish-they-hadn't-itus I'm gonna leave this one in second place. The acting was impeccable across the board, and on that note I'm totally sold on Russell Crowe. Damn, he's good. Christian Bale was certainly terrific at his part, too, but I'm relegating him to third fav on this one and giving the 2nd slot to Ben Foster who played Crowe's right-hand-man to perfection. I swear I walked outta the theater bow-legged and whistlin' for my horse. Now where the hell'd I leave my boots....

PS-I forgot to mention it, but I watched another recent release last week, called War. It's worth the $8 to go see, and is def in my top five for the year so far.

Michael W. Smith: Missing Person

One of the more remarkable benefits of walking is looking back and seeing from whence you've come. It has been mentioned in many different ways, but for those walking on a long journey across mountainous terrain speak of looking back at the mountain peaks they've crossed, and having their minds wander back to what they were thinking as they crossed them. Such is it in the mountains, and so it is in life. As I look back upon my life I see profound impacts made by various musical pieces, and one of the more noteworthy ones crossed my path again this past weekend. It is Michael W. Smith's album Live The Life. I remember when it came out there were some in certain Christian circles who balked at it because the names "God" or "Jesus" are not to be found anywhere on any of the songs. (Read here for one ridiculous take on the issue of the album and Smith as a person). It's unfortunate that the album would be discarded because of this, for if ever a set of Christian anthems was produced, this is the one.

The one song that captivated me then, and recaptured me this weekend, is Missing Person. (Hear it to a Yu-Gi-Oh movie here). As you can see from the lyrics below it deals with a lot of what I've been discussing on this blog of late, specifically a loss of faith, among other things. The subject is receiving lots of attention of late due to the Mother Teresa letters. Although I don't have any answers for myself at the present time, I'm certainly warmed to the idea that a state of questioning, doubt, uncertainty and confusion is a common distress among current and one-time believers. For now, the quest continues....

1st Verse:
Another question in me
One for the powers that be
It's got me thrown
And so I put on my poker face
And try to figure it out
This undeniable doubt
A common occurence
Feeling so out of place
Guarded and cynical now
Can't help but wondering how
My heart evolved into
A rock beating inside of me
So I feel such a stoic ordeal
Where's that feeling that I don't feel

Chorus:
There was a boy who had the faith to move a mountain
And like a child he would believe without a reason
Without a trace he disappeared into the void and
I've been searchin' for that missing person

2nd verse:
Under a lavender moon
So many thoughts consume me
Who dimmed that glowing light
That once burned so bright in me
Is this a radical phase
A problematical age
That keeps me running
From all that I used to be
Is there a way to unlearn
That carnal knowledge
That's chipping away at my soul
Iv'e been gone too long
Will I ever find my way home

Chorus:
There was a boy who had the faith to move a mountain
And like a child he would believe without a reason
Without a trace he disappeared into the void and
I've been searchin' for that missing person
He used to want to try to walk the straight and narrow
He had a fire and he could feel it in the marrow

It's been a long time and I haven't seen him lately but I've been searchin' for that missing person

The Micheal Vick Jealousy Fiasco

"It is fitting that the NFL has suspended him," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. "He's now a role model for something terrible, and it's not appropriate that he suit up in an NFL uniform."

The way I see it now, on the heels of the NFL’s suspension of Michael Vick, a big percentage of this debacle is a direct result of jealousy. Vick is an exceptional athlete, an insanely wealthy individual, wildly popular, nice looking, and quite successful as a result of hard work, dedication and resolve. While these things don’t give him a free pass to break the law, they also shouldn’t factor in when it comes to making a decision about his actions. Let me explain.

The sentence quoted at the top annoys me. I’ve never heard of Wayne before, but he seems like a prick. I probably shouldn’t judge him without knowing any more about him than his position and a quote, but then again, that’s about as much as he’s doing to Vick. So, to quote the Holy Bible, and Jesus Christ, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged…” It’s too bad I can’t get quoted on MSNBC and say something like “Wayne Pacelle is a moron, and it’s just not appropriate he be allowed to head the Humane Society any longer.” Why would I say this? Well, I’m sure somewhere along the way Wayne has messed up. Maybe he ran a stop sign, or got a speeding ticket, or perhaps he used profanity once at a soccer game. Fact is, I don’t know. But neither does he know everything about the Michael Vick case. But in spite of that, how does it relate to Vick’s profession as a football star? It doesn’t. Yeah, apparently he goofed. Yeah, apparently he made some poor decisions, not the least of which is choice of friends. But he should never be able to throw a football in the NFL again? Come on. That is blatant jackass jealousy and nothing more. I revert back to the silliness of my hypothetical statement of unfitness concerning Wayne losing his job due to a speeding ticket. It’s absurd, and so is this, so why can’t we see it?

If Michael Vick were a burger flipper at McDonald’s making riding the free bus to work and earning minimum wage, would we be hearing the same things? I don’t think so. It’s because Vick makes an insane amount of money more than those of us in the average category that we want to yank him down from that pedestal. He’s earned that position, and he should be able to keep it.

Now, lest it appear I’m castigating Wayne of the dog pound and winking at the offenses of Michael Vick, I apologize. I’m just peeved and wanted to write an emotional, spurt of the moment post so I can look back on it at a later date and see how it compares to the final judgment. The NFL commish had to make the statements he did, Nike had to drop it’s endorsement, the Falcons had to act as though they were upset, but the truth is every one of those organizations will watch with bated breath the proceedings, and if in fact everything turns out to be less serious than these initial allegations predict, they’ll all, wholesale, jump back on board the Vick train because of the earnings potential. Is that sick? No, I don’t think so. If I could fill stadiums across the country with people who are willing to shell out dollar after dollar on tickets, parking, apparel, food and drink, souvenir, etc., then I’d be worth a multi-million dollar contract. I don’t, therefore I’m living a meager lifestyle at an average wage. And I’m fine with that. I’m trying to make the best of my life, and my career, but I’m not interested in pulling someone who’s reached higher than me down from their post. That’d be jealousy, and that, I’m told, is as cruel as the grave.

***Update***
Here's an interesting take from ESPN contributor Gregg Easterbrook called Vick: Villain or scoundrel...or sympathetic figure?

The Bourne Ultimatum

"After a three days' search, Webb's body has yet to be found."

That's the fascinating final sentence of the latest in the Jason Bourne saga, The Bourne Ultimatum. I'll not be a spoiler and give the foggiest idea what that means, but I will say that when the narrator read those words, and the screen shifted to a (surprisingly very, very attractive) Julie Stiles, well, her character Nicky Parsons, anyway, I exhaled the phrase, "this is my new favorite movie of the year thus far." Wow! I had kept The Departed as my fav all through the first 7+ months of 2007, but this one blows that great mobster film so far out of the water that it's almost imperceptible on yon horizon. It's def a must see...

Intoxicated On Inspiration

Having experienced both, I have come to believe that some religious experiences are just as intoxicating as alcoholic beverages. Let me explain. As is commonly agreed, drinking a certain amount of alcohol in particular circumstances often results in impaired judgment, reduced inhibitions, and a dulling of the senses alongside the feelings of euphoria. It's not the alcohol itself that creates these effects, but rather the way it is used, or as some might say, abused. Religious experiences affect people in much the same way. Let me just state that by "experience" I am referring to the various areas of religions that adherents encounter. Involvements might be a better word than experiences, such as being involved in the reading of holy books, involved in services and ceremonies, involved in educational meetings, etc. Regardless of the word choice, however, the fact remains that there are a number of similarities between the intoxication of religion and that of alcohol.

What got me started on this vein is a book I picked up earlier this week from an acquaintance of mine in the legal profession. He has a set of six books called Great Religions of Modern Man, and in the volume devoted to Islam (by John Alden Williams) I found a very interesting few lines:

The departure point of the Islamic religion, the central article of faith from which all else flows, may be stated as follows: God (the only God there is: al-Ilah, Allah in Arabic; El, Elohim, Jahweh in Hebrew; Khuda or Yazdan in Persian, Tanri in Turkish...Deus in Latin, God in plain English) has spoken to man in the Qur'an.
This divine communication is seen as the final stage in a long series of divine communications conducted through the prophets. It began with Adam, the first man, who was also the first prophet, because he was the first to whom God revealed Himself.

After Adam, God continued to address men through prophets, to warn them that their happiness lay in worshipping Him and submitting themselves to Him, and to tell them of the terrible consequences of disobedience. In each case, however, the message was changed and deformed by perverse men. Finally, in His mercy, God sent down His final revelation through the seal of His prophets, Muhammad, in a definitive form which would not be lost.

The Qur’an, then, is the Word of God, for Muslims. While controversies have raged among them as to the sense in which this is true—whether it is the created or uncreated Word, whether it is true of every Arabic letter or only of the message as a whole, that it is true has never been questioned by them.

The Qur’an was revealed in Arabic. It is a matter of faith in Islam that since it is of Divine origin it is inimitable, and since to translate is always to betray, Muslims have always deprecated and at times prohibited any attempt to render it in another language. Anyone who has read it in the original is forced to admit that this caution seems justified; no translation, however faithful to the meaning, has ever been fully successful. Arabic, when expertly used is a remarkably terse, rich and forceful language, and the Arabic of the Qur’an is by turns striking, soaring, vivid, terrible, tender and breathtaking. As Professor Gibb has put it, “No man in fifteen hundred years has ever played on that deeptoned instrument with such power, such boldness, and such range of emotional effect.” It is meaningless to apply adjectives such as “beautiful” or “persuasive” to the Qur’an; its flashing images and inexorable measures go directly to the brain and intoxicate it.

It is not surprising, then, that a skilled reciter of the Qur’an can reduce an Arabic-speaking audience to helpless tears, that for thirteen centuries it has been ceaselessly meditated upon, or that for great portions of the human race, the “High-speech” of seventh-century Arabia has become the true accents of the Eternal.”

In my opinion, this is a well-written introduction in the study of Islam, and especially telling is the recognition that the Qur’an plays such a pivotal role in Arabic society. I suppose each of the other six volumes in the set depict their various religious case-studies with much the same regard and fascination. To point it out again, religion is intoxicating.

So, in light of my previous studies, most notably of Dawkins’ book The God Delusion, and my conversations with the authors at Just Wondering and The Chimerical Mind, I’m inclined to welcome the thought that although religion has the potential to be just as destructive as the abuse of alcohol, prohibition is not the best way to prevent the damage. Instead, the decision for me at this point in my life is that religion needs to be taken with moderation and respect, much like alcohol. I’m motivated to look a little further into the Unitarian Universalist ideas of my friend Andy, for the thing I see most attractive in his embracing of that society is, in a word, tolerance.

Bible Thumpers Beware, We're On To You

It just doesn't cut it for believers who hold the Bible as inerrant and infallible to claim that it's God-breathed, and anyone who suggests otherwise is just a tool of Satan. I think it's about time for a little proof from them. I read this today, and although I've not read the book being reviewed, I might just add it to the list. For years and years I've been told that the important thing when it comes to holy writ is to just trust the "internal evidence" of its Divine inspiration. Namely such verses as "all scripture is given by inspiration of God", among others, that are supposed to make us just step back and say "oh, well that explains it...okay, it's The Word of God, then!". No, I'm afraid that's not good enough.

Not directly related, but similar in thought is a matter that crossed my mind just yesterday. I was driving up the highway (north, thus not down) and I saw a rainbow. I, as I frequently do, recalled the biblical story in which we're told that a rainbow is a "promise" of God not to ever flood the earth again like he did in Noah's day. Now, I was just thinking to myself a big hmmmmm: if God can put together some colors and we're just supposed to know that it means the rain will only last so long, why couldn't He (or She) just spell it out in the sky in words that we can read? I mean, if He (She) is all into communicating via the ethereal parchment, why not go all out and make it real plain and clear? Seriously, if guys can write words in airplanes with smoke coming out the ass end, surely God can spell out a sentence or two that's a little clearer than a half circle of various colors! I don't mean to sound blasphemous (perhaps), but I'm just a bit peeved at how idiotic we can get sometime when religion is concerned. It's Dawkins' undue respect all over again.

Finally amidst the jumbled debris of this post I want to reference the article linked to above and its' reference to snake handlers. I came across this book last week and upon glancing through a few pages was entranced. For one, I've actually (hate to admit it) been in the church in Austin, IN, pictured in this book. They didn't handle any slithering critters when I was there, and for that I'm glad. I also recognized a few of the other towns in eastern Kentucky referenced in the book, having been to them on Gods business in years past. I was interested to note that (and I'm totally paraphrasing) the author suggests that this snake-handling/Pentecostal phenomenon is the result of people turning away from the intellectual approach of the eastern seaboard preachers and embracing a more emotion-driven worship pattern. This then created the rising up of lay preachers among them, and the rest is history...it spread like wildfire. No wonder there is such an aversion to asking questions and actually trying to think things through among so many of them even today...

Finally, part 2, I am reading another Bill Bryson book. This time it's The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America. This guy is quickly becoming one of my favorite light reading authors. A page or a chapter at a time, it doesn't seem to matter as he's always, and I mean ALWAYS, got something hilariously "OMG!" to say. I'm gonna ask for his books for Christmas...

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

Upon finishing The Deathly Hallows in the early hours of this morning, I have a few personal remarks to make. Before I do, however, let me recommend a visit to Jabel's site to any reader of the Potter series who is interested in technical discussions of the writing.

Here are my thoughts in no certain order:

1.) I was fascinated by the opening scenes, especially the first battle as Harry was being transported from Privet Drive. Jabel put it well in referencing the "chaos" and referring to the event as "horrifying".

2. ) Of all the deaths, I felt that Dobby was the most troubling. I hated to see Mad-Eye go, and the loss of Lupin was quite disturbing as well, but the killing of Dobby at the hand of Bellatrix while the house-elf was rescuing Harry was truly painful.

3.) I am sure she has her reasons, but I think I would have preferred the book not include the "Nineteen Years After" ending.

4.) I would have liked to known a little more about the Malfoy family, especially the (perhaps?) inward struggle of Draco.

5.) I can't help but feel sorry for Snape. I didn't subscribe to the "bad Snape" view of some I know, but I can't say that I'm all too convinced in his goodness, either. I would give him the benefit of the doubt and call him mostly good-partly evil, but I feel sorry for him for not ever fully going for the good.

6.) I've enjoyed the series, but I'm not lamenting the fact that no more of it will be written. I don't feel that I'm missing anything by not knowing of Harry as a parent, a middle-ager, an old man, etc.

7. I'm so looking forward to the movie, especially the battle at Hogwarts.

8. I felt like parts of the hiding out scenes of Harry, Hermione & Ron were a bit drawn out, and the whole days-turned-into-weeks lines weren't satisfying to me.

9. I wonder sometimes if there'll ever be a villain who decides to just go ahead and kill the good guy while he has the chance. I mean, what is up with the whole attitude of delaying the act for a more gratifying time...why not do it and get it over with. It always comes back to bite them in the end.

10. I wanna go stay with Bill & Fleur for an extended vacation.

Dave Meurer: Boyhood Daze

Today I finished reading Boyhood Daze: An Incomplete Guide to Raising Boys, by Dave Meurer. This guy is funny, makes sense, and has taught me a lot I didn't know about boys. Having raised two of his own, Mark & Brad, I easily fell into thinking he could be a pretty good advisor to me as I parent my boys. I'm not disappointed. There are hilarious and poignant matters to be found on page after page, but I think the chapter that tilted the book from quirky to essential, for me, was number 11. It's titled Your Boys-Are They Truly Clueless or Just Ignoring You?, and begins with this paragraph: "A huge portion of your son's life will consist of your supplying him with detailed information that he will not understand, but that you will think he understands because he will nod as you speak to him and even repeat back to you verbatim everything you said while never understanding a word of it." I've witnessed this phenomenon first hand, and now I know it's a common deficiency among boys. But just about the time I was ready to roll my eyes and shake my head with the understanding that "boys will be boys", I came across these two sentences: "Basically, all men are ten-year-olds who are trapped in adult bodies. We may seem mature, but it is only because we have facial hair and deep voices and pretty much run the Senate." Yeah, I think I found out as much about myself in reading this book as I have about my boys. Maybe that was the author's intent, come to think of it. Of the books I've read on parenting, this one has to rank up there in the "required reading" section of my recommendations to parents of boys.

HWOTP Voted "Best" At Londonilly

Christina Aguilera once again has hit the top spot...this time over at the way cool Londonilly site. Check out the post here. I also found some more awesome pics of Xtina recently, one of which is the one from Blender magazine included with this post. Damn. Some of the others I came across I've linked to over on my personal myspace page. Damn. I'm obsessed...

On Finding A Gold Mine In A Thrift Store

I love to read. I also possess a passion to become as liberal a thinker as I can be. A coming together of these facts presented itself to me one glorious day in the month of May, 1996.
I had been talking with a friend of mine named Bruce, and we had agreed that it would be beneficial to broaden our education beyond a narrow track of interests. We posited that by widening our circle of selected reading materials, we could achieve a definite intellectual increase.
I was staying in Coweta, Oklahoma, on a business trip, and met an eccentric man named Rick on an excursion out into the sleepy town of Colcord. I soon discovered that he was as avid a book lover as me, and that he had just procured The Harvard Classics, a set of books put together just after the turn of the 20th century. It turns out he had picked up the compendium at a thrift store and he was willing to sell it. He wanted a certain software title, which I was able to locate for the handsome sum of $90 dollars, and he offered to trade evenly. I still refer to that transaction as the best book investment I’ve ever made.
As I perused each of the books I quickly decided I wished to read the entire set through in numerical order. I began with the first volume, which includes The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and I was immediately struck with awe. I made my way through the book in about a month’s time, and I made plans to continue at this clip until I’d read them all.
There were some missing pieces to my set, one of which I knew immediately, and some others I discovered later. The first and most conspicuous omission was volume 21, I Promesi Sposi (The Betrothed), by Manzoni. But over two years later, after searching fruitlessly in thrift shops and book stores across the country, this missing tome turned up in a most unexpected place. Another friend of mine, David, from Dayton, Ohio, found it in “The Last Chance” section of his local Salvation Army, for a mere 25 cents, and bought it for me.
Later on I added the Reading Guide and The Shelf of Fiction to fully complete my set, and now every volume sits proudly on the top shelves of the book cases behind my desk at my office. Every morning when I walk in, it’s as if I’m being warmly greeted by some of the wisest souls the world has ever known.
I’ve had some monumental experiences along the way, and I enjoy recounting them to anyone who will listen. After starting with Franklin in the late spring of 1996, by fall I was heavily into Emerson. I recall a sense of wonder at reading about his gardens, and I’ve looked at plant life differently ever since.
Then I recollect getting a beautiful glimpse of inward Christianity when I read Confessions by St. Augustine, & The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a’Kempis.
Later, I remember, I was in California when I read Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and his view of economics has made me conscious of every penny spent and earned as I work my way through life.
I’ll never forget digging into Darwin’s Origin of Species and discovering not a man hell-bent on disproving the existence of God by promoting evolution, but a man truly fascinated by all he saw in nature.
Reading Don Quixote ranks as one of the funniest events of my life. Then and there I learned in a most humorous way the danger of becoming quixotic.
Then I could almost taste the salty air and smell the stench of decaying fish as I read R.H. Dana’s Two Years Before The Mast. I long to sail the open seas some day, and that desire has reached a fever pitch thanks to this spectacular journal of a seafarer.
Looking back I see that I’ve not been able to stay consistent with my initial goal of reading one volume per month, averaging instead one every three and a half months. Nevertheless, I remain as determined as I was at the beginning to stay the course and finish the project. I’m thrilled by what I’ve experienced thus far, and I’m eager to see what lies on the other side of the next musty page. My aim is still to broaden my education, but I never expected it to be such a beautiful and fun odyssey.
One thing is for certain, that it’s an interesting conversation piece to tell people that one of the best things I own came from a thrift store in Oklahoma.

*****UPDATE*****

Christopher R. Beha, a writer from New York, started a blog at the beginning of this year called The Whole Five Feet, in which he has vowed to read through the Harvard Classics in a year, roughly one volume per week (sure beats my pace!), and then post an essay at the completion of each. Click here to see his blog...I'm also adding it to my Frogroll. I guess I'm not alone, after all...

Bryson: A Walk In The Woods, Part 2

On June 1 I posted about Bill Bryson's book A Walk In The Woods, and this afternoon I finished it. Described as "travel lit", the work is primarily the result of the author's attempt to traverse the Appalachian Trail, a roughly 2200 mile (I say roughly because, as the book so marvelously points out, the Trail's length is debatable and changes from time to time) course from Georgia to Maine through thick woods and over daunting mountains. This is perhaps the starting point both for the author's intent for writing, and the reader's decision to pick up the book, but one thing I learned is that herein is much more than a journal of a man walking among the trees and critters. I found a boatload of paragraphs that stirred up a sense of environmental awareness, and not a few interesting historical accounts of the eastern United States. I also found quite a bit of philosophy, biology, and anthropology. To be brief in my review, this is one of those books I will feel very inclined to recommend to my friends for years to come, I think. Oh, and by the way, Bryson is one of the funniest men alive. I laughed out loud on more than one occasion, and for me that is quite unusual.

(Note: I have no idea what the picture is all about here, I just found it in a quick google search for a pic of Bryson, and thought it served my purpose.)

Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix

“But they’re older now”. Thus was the brilliant observation of Jabel’s wife upon our sleepy exit from the theater in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Jabel, his brilliant bride, myself & aj ventured out with a room full of school kids (alas, we weren’t the OLDEST ones in the crowd, but we were def in the top 5 or 10) to see the latest Harry Potter movie, The Order of the Phoenix. I had just remarked how “dialoguey” the movie was, and that there seemed to be less magical and spectacular events than in prior films, when the aforementioned better half of my best bud proffered her retort.
And it’s true, you know? Harry, Hermione, Ron & the crew are older, a full year, in fact, and as they navigate the mid-teen years it seems like change is the order of the day. Perhaps it’s the quality over quantity focus that is developing in their decisions to use magic, a sort of magical maturation, if you will.
In the looks category, Ron appears to me to the one who’s “aged” the most, what with his bulkier, more pronounced teenage bulkiness. Harry is just behind him, although he remains quite wispy and apparently underdeveloped, which adds to his role as underdog. Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy both seem to be at quite an awkward stage in their developments, and let’s just say that nature has not been very good to either of them. Hermione, on the other hand, maintains a little girl appearance, which is as odd is it as disappointing. She needs to grow up and get pretty, which I’m sure she will in the last two films. I’m speaking, of course, of the actors that play these characters, but the physical changes are inseparable between the portrayer & the portrayed.
Emotionally and mentally there seems to be an overall maturity being revealed as well. I noticed how Ron was less inclined to act out in a nervous, short-tempered manner, and was rather quite reserved when faced with conflict and aggression. Harry, again, isn’t quite up to Ron’s development here, it seems, still being inclined to lash out and appear overwhelmed at times.
All in all, Phoenix was an enjoyable book and movie, and the role played by Sirius Black in both was a joy to me. I hate that he died, but the ending scene at the Ministry of Magic was my favorite part of the story. The book was long, and the movie was comparatively short at 2 hours, 18 minutes, but the crescendo happened perfectly. Perhaps it’s magic, but this film doesn’t suffer from an anti-climactic ending.

Random Policies

I saw another Dilbert comic today that is just hilarious, and quite true. I thought of a few places where this "random policy generator" seems to get a lot of use. Here's a few:

Work (of course)

Church

Home

The Post Office

The IRS

...

"Sweep The Leg, Johnny"

Growing up as I did in the 80's, one of the greatest movies of all time is Karate Kid and the 373 sequels that followed it. Actually, 1 was great, the rest were just okay. Regardless, today I was made aware of a new band called No More Kings who came out with a great song called Sweep The Leg, in honor of the great line in the movie where Johnny of the Cobra Kai's was instructed to perform an illegal move on The Karate Kid, Daniel (...uh, son). The accompanying video to the song was pointed out to me today my buddy Kief, so check it out here. For more info on the band, click their name above for their official website, click here for their myspace page, and click here for the wikipedia page. Wax on...wax off...wax on...wax off...wax...

*****NEWS FLASH*****
These guys are performing at the Linton Music Fest on September 1, 2007, at 8 pm. The Fest is free, so you KNOW I'll be thurr...

The God Delusion Part II

Today I finished The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, and I am going to list the chapter titles and drop a brief set of the more memorable ideas uncovered in each. At the outset I want to say that I have been deeply challenged by the presentation of his alternative to faith, and although the jury is still out concerning my belief in God, I am seriously leaning towards seeing atheism as a realistic resting place for my worldview. I'm interested in hearing from as many as I can who can either agree with or rebut the matter of the importance (or lack thereof) of religion.

First off, in the Preface, there is a potent paragraph that I think is worthy of inclusion in this personal summary. It states:

"I suspect - well, I am sure - that there are lots of people out there who have been brought up in some religion or other, are unhappy in it, don't believe it, or are worried about the evils that are done in its name; people who feel vague yearnings to leave thier parents' religion and wish they could, but just don't realize that leaving is an option. If you are one of them, this book is for you. It is intended to raise consciousness - raise consciousness to the fact that to be an atheist is a realistic aspiration, and a brave and splendid one. You can be an atheist who is happy, balanced, moral, and intellectually fulfilled."

I have been a firsthand witness to many who grew up in a religion their parents have thrust upon them from infancy and who only went through the motions of faith because they have no idea there is a legitimate alternative. This book, as the paragraph above suggests, presents a most remarkable opt-out.

I. A Deeply Religious Non-Believer
In this opening chapter Dawkins does a terrific job at pointing out the absurdity of how much religion is so often unchallenged. I like this sentence:

"A widespread assumption, which nearly everybody in our society accepts - the non-religious included - is that religious faith is especially vulnerable to offence and should be protected by an abnormally thick wall of respect, in a different class from the respect that any human being should pay to any other."

This, of course, results frequently in a "no questions asked" mentality, and allows leadership to dupe the followers further and further into stupidity.

II. The God Hypothesis
Chapter 2 opens with a bang, and I'll let it speak for itself:

"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, capricious malevolent bully."

III. Arguments For God's Existence
In the 3rd chapter Dawkins writes about the many reasons individuals give for belief in God, such as Thomas Aquinas' 'Proofs', The Ontological Argument and Other A Priori Arguments, Beauty, Personal 'Experience', Scripture, the words of Admired Religious Scientists, Pascal's Wager, etc. I was personally moved by the following lines:

"A designer God cannot be used to explain organized complexity because any God capable of designing anything would have to be complex enough to demand the same kind of explanation in his own right. God presents an infinite regress from which he cannot help us escape."

IV. Why There Almost Certainly Is No God
This is a very lucid chapter and makes such a strong case I was almost convinced to forego belief on the spot. A couple of interesting quotes follow, first a paraphrase of Fred Hoyle, then a good comment by the author on natural selection:

"...the probability of life originating on Earth is no greater than the chance that a hurricane, sweeping through a scrapyard, would have the luck to assemble a Boing 747."

"What is it that makes natural selection succeed as a solution to the problem of improbability, where chance and design both fail at the starting gate? The answer is that natural selection is a cumulative process, which breaks the problem of improbability up into small pieces. Each of the small pieces is slightly improbable, but not prohibitively so."

V. The Roots Of Religion
As Dawkins suggests there are a number of theories concerning both the advent and the proliferation of religion, namely that it gives consolation and comfort, fosters togetherness and satisfies our yearnings for an explanation of our existence. The authors theory can be gleaned from the following:

"I am one of an increasing number of biologists who see religion as a by-product of something else. More generally, I believe that we who speculate about Darwinian survival value need to 'think by-product'. When we ask about the survival value of anything, we may be asking teh wrong question. We need to rewrite the question in a more helpful way. Perhaps the feature we are interested in (religion in this case) doesn't have a direct survival value of its own, but is a by-product of something else that does."

VI. The Roots Of Morality: Why Are We Good?
Concerning the question of why would we be good if there is no God, Dawkins writes the following:

"Posed like that, the question sounds positively ignoble. When a religious person puts it to me in this way (and many of them do), my immediate temptation is to issue the following challenge: 'Do you really mean to tell me the only reason you try to be good is to gain God's approval and reward, or to avoid his disapproval and punishment? That's not morality, that's just sucking up, apple-polishing, looking over your shoulder at the great surveillance camera in the sky, or the still small wiretap inside your head, monitoring your every move, even your every base thought.' As Einstein said, 'If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.' Michael Shermer, in The Science of Good and Evil, calls it a debate stopper. If you agree that, in the absence of God, you would 'commit robbery, rape, and murder', you reveal yourself as an immoral person, 'and we would be well advised to steer a wide course around you.' If, on the other hand, you admit that you would continue to be a good person even when not under divine surveillance, you have fatally undermined your claim that God is necessary for us to be good. I suspect that quite a lot of religious people do think religion is what motivates them to be good, especially if they belong to one of those faiths that systematically exploits personal guilt."

VII. The 'Good' Book and the Changing Moral Zeitgeist
This particular chapter in the book is such a clear explanation of how the Bible is on the same level as other books and NOT the God-breathed document I once so staunchly believed it to be, that I am puzzled how I ever gave such high regards to "the word of God". Consider this:

"To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other, spanning nine centuries. This may explain some of the sheer strangeness of the Bible. But unfortunately it is this same weird volume that religious zealots hold up to us as the inerrant source of our morals and rules for living. Those who wish to base their morality literally on the Bible have either not read it or not understood it..."

VIII. What's Wrong With Religion? Why Be So Hostile?
In this and the following chapter Dawkins points out just how dangerous religion is not only for adults, but children as well. Chew on this:

"More generally (and this applies to Christianity no less than to Islam), what is really pernicious is the practice of teaching children that faith itself is a virtue. Faith is an evil precisely because it requires no justification and brooks no argument. Teaching children that unquestioned faith is a virtue primes them - given certain other ingredients that are not hard to come by - to grow up into potentially lethal weapons for future jihads or crusades...Faith can be very very dangerous, and deliberately to implant it into the vulnerable mind of an innocent child is a grievous wrong."

IX. Childhood, Abuse and the Escape From Religion
There are too many valuable phrases and paragraphs in this chapter to pull one out as a summary, so let me offer this one as a morsel to tempt your better self to read the whole matter yourself:

" 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.' The adage is true as long as you don't really believe the words. But if your whole upbringing, and everything you have ever been told by parents, teachers and priests, has led you to believe, really believe, utterly and completely, that sinners burn in hell (or some other obnoxious article of doctrine such as that a woman is the property of her husband), it is entirely plausible that words could have a more long-lasting and damaging effect than deeds. I am persuaded that the phrase 'child abuse' is no exaggeration when used to describe what teachers and priests are doing to children whom they encourage to believe in something like the punishment of unshriven mortal sins in eternal hell."

X. A Much Needed Gap?
A power-packed final chapter left me with a boatload of questions and fascinations. I like this paragraph as an overview of all that is contained in chapter 10:

"Does religion fill a much needed gap? It is often said that there is a God-shaped gap in the brain which needs to be filled: we have a psychological need for God - imaginary friend, father, big brother, confessor, confidant - and the need has to be satisfied whether God really exists or not. But could it be that God clutters up a gap that we'd be better off filling with something else? Science, perhaps? Art? Human friendship? Humanism? Love of this life in the real world, giving no credence to other lives beyond the grave?"

All in all I'm very satisfied that I've read this book. Much thanks to Andy B. for the recommendation (and the loan!!), and I think the only way I can honestly repay him is to pass along my plug to as many as will listen. If for no other reason I think this book needs to be read to at least get a glimpse of what atheism can be like minus the usual image of the dark, twisted, bitter, pessimistic non-believer so many possess today.

Disturbed

As I mentioned previously, I made a trek to Ozzfest last year with my brother Cory. I plan on going back this year, but it's with a slight bit of disappointment that Disturbed will not be there. I heard these guys on the main stage last year, and I was entranced from the get go. I've been hearing them a bit on Sirius Faction 28 (where I can get an F.U. every hour!) of late, and it got me interested in picking up theiri music, which I finally bit the bullet and did this week. I got The Sickness (2000), Believe (2002) & Ten Thousand Fists (2005), and I'm in sonic heaven (or hell, whichever you prefer). I remember vividly the energy of the songs Ten Thousand Fists & Stricken while at the show last year, and the almost preacher-ific quality of the lead singers rants between songs. Click the picture for their myspace profile and give an ear to the songs they have on the site. I'm hooked!

HWOTP: Pretty With A Pepsi

Christina is looking fresh & amazing, as always, all peacocked out in her new Pepsi commercial.

Watch the clip, and if you're feelin' generous, get me one of those phones!

Be sure to be on the lookout for Ozzy who makes an appearance in the shoot. Interesting.

Check out the Pepsi colored beachwear she sports. Makes me think way back to an older Diet Pepsi commercial (see if you remember this one!) where Ray Charles croons "You Got The Right One Baby!".

Remember This

Trust me, you want to take care of your memory as much as you do any other part of your life. You exercise your abs, you should also give your brain a workout. You take care of your relationships, you should also focus on your memory & mental faculties. How do I know this? I've had plenty of experience with Alzheimer's patients, and it's quite sad and discouraging to watch someone live their life with limited or nearly non-existent memory. All types of dementia are serious conditions, and in many cases can be avoided or at least held at bay with a little preparation and forethought. This post is a bit more somber than my usual rants and half-witted submissions, but I want all my buds to be as healthy as possible, and to keep their memory alive as long as possible. In that light, I came across the following page today with plenty of good ideas about taking care of the noodle. Check it out here.

Robert Burns, Poet Extraordinaire

I remember where I was when I first began reading the works of Robert Burns, Scotland's great bard. I was in Paducah, Kentucky, and I had just sat down in the waiting room of a truck repair shop, getting my trusty ride a little alignment help when I opened up a collection of songs and poems by Bobby and was quickly entranced. Today I found a nifty site that appears to be quite thorough concerning all things Burns, aptly called Burns Country. If you're interested you can see the wikipedia entry here.

One of my favorite poems of his has to be John Barleycorn: A Ballad.

The Song Of The Cebu

It's Andy's fault. He posted a cute and thought provoking poem today about a calf-path, and I wound up mentally revisiting Veggie Tales. One of their Silly Songs creations was a tune called "The Song of the Cebu", which when I first watched I recall laughing hysterically. Click the picture above to watch the segment, or click here for the lyrics. Enjoy!

***PS-Perhaps a lengthy post about the worth of the Veggie Tales enterprise will be forthcoming, but if not I'll say I quite like the shows and songs, and my boys have loved them from the get-go.

It Takes Money To Make Money...Or Does It?

I read an inspiring & interesting post today over on The Big Idea Blog of Donny Deutsch. The post starts with this line:

"Have you ever heard the saying "it takes money to make money"… well that’s not always the case."

That caught my attention immediately, of course, because I've communicated the classic cliche' numerous times. Today, though, my belief in the quip has been challenged, and I thought I'd share it. Read the post here. Find out who in the world Paula Deen is here and here. Go get 'em!

Lifehacker

Per a conversation over an awesome afternoon lunch & catch-up session this weekend with one of my best friends of all time, Jabel, I've added a new link to the Surfin' the Pond list over on the right. He'd mentioned the site, lifehacker.com, to me a few weeks ago, at which time I took a look & actually liked it. Oops! The problem is I forgot about it until he mentioned it again. This time I've added it to a readily accessible place so I can sneak over there from time to time, and perhaps you might want to as well, so I've left the door open for you, too.

HWOTP: Artistic Contrast

Maybe it's just because I have 2 very close friends that are terrific photographers in their particular pursuits, but I'm fascinated by stellar pictures. I'm not sure if artistic contrast is a real term (I'm sure there's something better), but in my mind putting a stunning beauty like Christina Aguilera on a tattered chair has to be near the pinnacle of the mastery of that style. I can imagine adding this shot to my home decor...

Phil Town: Rule #1

I've mentioned this book before, having read it last fall, but I wanted to make another quick reference to it since I've added the Rule #1 Blog to my frogroll today. I first encountered Mr. Town at a Get Motivated! seminar a couple years ago, was impressed, and decided to keep an eye on him and specifically to read his then forthcoming debut book. I like his systematic approach to investing in the stock market, and the fact that he keeps a can-do attitude throughout every step. I went to the Indianapolis Get Motivated! event a few weeks ago and heard Mr. Town speak once again, this time not nearly as impressed, but hey, everyone has a tough time behind the podium every now and then. Especially if you have to share the stage with this modern day Demosthenes, who spoke in such a way the entire RCA Dome seemed completely entranced. But I digress. Phil Town is certainly worthy of perusing, especially anyone interested in making money buying & selling stocks.

Donny Deutsch

I may post more on this later, but I love this show. I'm not a big TV watcher (literally less than 5 hours a week, no joke), but on the rare occasions I do watch something besides sports or music video stuff, I find myself watching The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. I'm twi when it comes to his interview style, and his insanely laid-back demeanor. I pride myself in not getting too worked up over much of anything, and seeing someone just talk and remain calm on a show like this is a huge draw for me. (That being said, I must interject that I also love watching Jim Cramer's Mad Money, as paradoxical as that may seem.) I'm adding his blog to the Frogroll just to keep tabs.

Bryson: A Walk In The Woods

I was blessed to receive a number of books as birthday gifts a couple months ago, one of which is the one pictured here, A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering American on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson. I'm only a few chapters into it, and so far I've been enlightened, educated, challenged & inspired...not to mention the fact of how many times I've laughed out loud at the hilarity of Bryson's experience. I decided I needed to post about it today because I keep coming across paragraphs that give me the urge to write something, and, well, I just didn't have a launching pad. Now I do, so perhaps (who knows!) I'll share a few of the things I discover as I mentally saunter alongside this master story-teller...and his colorful friend, Katz. Oh, and I need to say a few things about Mary Ellen...

Karlgaard: Does Science Destroy God?

Rich Karlgaard blogged recently about the attempt of Presbyterian pastor John Ortberg to debunk the theories of Christopher Hitchens & Richard Dawkins, and the whole faith-as-poison viewpoint. I snickered at this statement supposed to offer credence to Rev. Ortberg, "Professors, scientists, engineers and venture capitalists go to Ortberg's church." I'm assuming if he'd said restaurant workers, janitors, bus drivers & beggers we'd not be nearly as impressed by the man's sermons. Don't get me wrong, I love reading Rich Karlgaard, and perhaps I'm just overreacting, but I didn't care much for the description of Ortberg's parishioners as noteworthy in the debate. Still, it's my first listen to Ortberg (hell, it's the first sermon I've heard in months) and I'm not quite convinced he's right. Give it a listen via the link on the Digital Rules page after reading Karlgaard's take. Dive in here.

Buckle Up, Baby...Another HWOTP Photo

Christina Aguilera has to be one of the most photogenic people in the world, in my most humble, obsessed-with-her opinion. Here's a candid shot I found of her, of all things, putting on a seatbelt. There's not anything really newsworthy prompting me to post a shot of her today, though I did have a "that's my boy" moment earlier this week in which she was the focus. I picked Boston up from baseball practice Monday night, and while driving back home the Sirius Beat remix of "Aint' No Other Man" came on. I proceeded to crank my sound system and say something corny like, "there she is!", at which time Bos said "H-WOT-P!" and laughed. Yep, son, she IS the Hottest Woman On The Planet...

28 Days In The Coke Works

My dad is an aspiring author, and this is his first novel, written a couple of years ago. It was quite an enjoyable read, even if I am just a bit biased. Check out the brief review here.

I used to like Clancy until his books got too technical for my tastes. That's not a slam, it's just when he went that route I lost interest. I like Grisham because he's a master story teller, quite important as a novelist, I'd say. Dad's book is fast-paced and full of make-you-think scenarios. If you're in for a novel, I'd certainly recommend you take a peak at this one.

Front Page Material

I found an interesting link today while surfin' the web during my lunch break (blueberry muffin & Diet Dr. Pepper), and I like it so much I've added it to my Surfin' The Pond section over on the right-hand side of the page. It's a feature found on the newseum.com family of pages that gives a snapshot of over 500 front pages from newspapers from around the world. One of the perks I enjoyed in my previous employ was the travel, and the diversity of papers across the country. With gas prices so high, and my now much-loved life-of-a-homebody, I no longer have to travel to peruse the papers! 'What is so appealing?', you might ask. Well, it's simply aesthetic. Some papers do a really cool job of presenting the same ol' stuff everybody else is yackin' about. I don't look at papers for the content anyway, as I prefer to read about car crashes while there's still smoke rising from the screech marks. I prefer to read about my favorite sporting events while the fans in attendance are exiting the ballparks. The only way to do these things, of course, is to get my news online. But, there is something intriguing about the look and feel of a newspaper. The latter annoys me in my old age, as I can't seem to get comfortable holding it open. The former, though, I can once again enjoy with my new found site. If you're interested, you'd better click my link quick, 'cuz I'm liable to get bored with it and pull it down in about five minutes. I'm random that way sometimes...

The Prodigal Daughtry

I wish to look at three matters: 1) the secular beauty of the Prodigal Son story, 2) the spiritual beauty of Daughtry’s Home, & 3) the staggering beauty of the song & scripture together.

1. The Secular Beauty of the Prodigal Son parable.

Click here for the KJV version of the story. With such a heavy "churchy" background, I've not until recently considered this parable outside of it's perceived intent of illustrating a backslider's return to the the Faith. While vacationing with my two sons over Spring Break this year, however, I was struck with the similarities I currently, and could, share with the Prodigals father. I began thinking about the story as just a secular account of a father with two boys, one of which decides to leave home. I began to imagine how this father, much like me, loved each of his sons individually as much as he did both of them together. My sons have different personalities, mannerisms, likes & dislikes, etc., all mixed in with the many things they share. I love them both, neither more than the other, and tell them each at certain times ("you're my favorite 10 year old boy on the planet" to Boston & "you're my favorite 8 year old boy in the world" to Britain). I make an attempt to look them in the eyes and tell them daily that I love them, and that together they make up my favorite people in all the universe. It seems the prodigal's father felt the same way, even when things changed for them. A lot of things have been added to the story, gaps filled in and what not, but in just looking at what we know, the youngest son left home after getting his inheritance, and proceeded to "waste" it on a lifestyle of excess. As I glanced over some of these things I began to question how I would feel if one or both of my boys decide in the future to not spend so much time with me, and instead began to live in a way that I would perceive to be injurious to them, physically, emotionally, etc. I need not cite examples, I think the imagination is enough to paint a picture of what I'm after, so just think of the things that might make you worry about your own kids. Would I be judgmental, and hateful to them? Would I be deeply saddened and overcome with grief? Would I try to counsel them each time I saw them that they need to change their ways? Would I tell other people how much I wish they were different? I'm not sure, and I don't think I'm fully ready to answer those things until, or if, they happen. What I am certain of is the fact that I want to cultivate in me what most certainly was in the heart of this father. I noticed when the son came home, there were recorded no remarks of judgment from him. There were no "you should have listened to me" comments, or any "I'm glad you finally came to your senses" lines, only a father's happiness that his son who was gone, now was home. That's it. If my sons get involved in hurtful, potentially damaging activities, I think it's my duty to help steer them in a more life-enhancing direction, but I also think there's a time and a place for that, and in the chronology of it all that instruction should probably come after they are convinced my love for them is still the same. And then I thought to myself, if this is the case for the "big sins" they may get into, then why shouldn't it apply to all errors in judgment, regardless of size. My boys get grouchy sometimes, and they whine, and they don't wanna do the things they need to keep a balance. As soon as I see these things, what is most important? To teach them, or to love them? It's a tough call, because I know kids need instruction from time to time, but it is becoming more and more apparant to me that what I want to give to them more than anything is my love, my understanding, my compassion, my admiration, and communicate my utter sense of joy that they're alive. It's just some of the thoughts I had jotted down here a bit loosely, but I think as a summary I just want to express the attitude of the prodigal's father is a great benchmark for our kids' transgressions.

2. The Spiritual Beauty of Daughtry's Home

Click here for the lyrics to this fascinating song, and here for the video. I'm not certain of my amount of belief right now (read previous posts Why Believe? & The God Delusion), but one thing I recall from more involved "churchier" days how beautiful it was to see a life wrecked by sin and vice repent and "make it right" by turning his life around. It was good to see a man return home who had allowed drugs & alcohol drive him from his family and kids. It was beautiful to see a woman rejoin her companion after falling prey to a profligate lifestyle that left her with a bruised heart and empty soul. Perhaps it's memories like these that immediately struck me when I began hearing this song a while back and related it to spiritual matters. Home is a grand picture of an epic spiritual journey back from degradation and despair to dignity and delight. When it begins with "I'm staring out into the night, Trying to hide the pain", I can almost see the wayward soul searching through the fog of intoxication (whatever the source) for a sense of meaning and purpose amidst their regrets. In the line "I'm going to the place where love And feeling good don't ever cost a thing", I imagine how much of a blessing it is to realize there's someone (we could capitalize this) who loves us for who we are, and not for what we can contribute to them. That's one of the most amazing pictures of Deity I can fathom. In the chorus I like the line "home...where your love has always been enough for me". Doesn't that seem like a contradiction? I mean, if the love was enough, why would one leave in the first place? Therein is a most splendid picture of what causes waywardness to begin with...discontent. So many live with a restlessness, a sense of appreciating what I have, knowing it's magnificent, but wondering if perhaps there's something else out there. It takes a lot of maturity to realize that sometimes the risk involved in trying to answer the "is their more out there" question is not worth it, for there are some things indeed that are "once lost, never regained". If what you have is enough, by all means protect it and cherish it, and certainly be very careful not to risk losing it for a phantasm. A little later the song says "I don't know why. You always seem to give me another try." Once again, if I were seeking a portrait of a Divine, this would be a spectacular brushstroke. Grace and mercy are two very pleasant concomitants of a spiritual transformation. Then later still we hear a most profound admonition: "Be careful what you wish for, 'Cause you just might get it all...And then some you don't want." Wow, true indeed. My line of thinking here is like the story of Faust. With the desire for wine, women & song comes the risk of going too far and suffering from the various maladies associated with excess in these things (for song, just think partying, etc.) Here the lesson is simply stated in the first two words "be careful", nothing more needs to be added (for or by me) concerning our choice of desires. Finally, I like the part "these places and these faces are getting old, So I'm going home". I wonder how many would rise above the squalid environ their in if they only knew they could? I read a book a long time ago called Twice-Born Men by Harold Begbie (read it here, if you wanna) in which a host of conversions were portrayed. I remember it warming my heart. It depicted many lives made low by vice brought up to respectability through religious awakening. That makes an attractive story, huh?

3. The Staggering Beauty of The Song & Scripture Together

With these two preceding thoughts in view, is it not apparant how marvelous an illustration of the Prodigal Son can be found in Home? It's almost a ready made movie! We have the script and the soundtrack already provided. If you're in the mood, enter the little cinema-for-one in your mind, read the parable, play the song, and see what images you can witness...