Musings and observations
caught at the peak of formation,
packed, sealed, and blogged.
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December 05, 2003
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People are never what you want them to be.
This comic is so true that it's sad.
1:26 PM
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October 03, 2003
September 18, 2003
September 12, 2003
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Whiz-bang
I love gadgets! Some sites I want to hold onto are:
2:47 PM
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September 01, 2003
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Holiday lighting
Has anyone out there tried el-wire for holiday (Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas) decorating? It looks like less hassle than strings of bulbs. Less traditional, too, but might be fun...
1:34 PM
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August 29, 2003
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Mind your jingles
"Most people say that a bodhran is just a tamborine on steroids. Its
true and it just proves that if you take steroids you will get bigger, but
your jingles will fall off!"
(a bodhran player on rec.music.celtic)
11:28 PM
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Back at you
This is a reply to an open letter written by the Real Live Preacher. I suggest you read his letter first, or this will make even less sense than it already does.
| [aside] | P, this came out a bit strong, but I hope you know it's because I think the virtual world of you, and because I think you are exactly where you are supposed to be.
Or maybe just where I need you to be. ;-) |
Hey preacher, what do you want? You whisper to me, "There is no such thing in all the world as a preacher," and I'll come back at you with, "Bullshit." Are you looking for absolution? A way out? Then quit. Go flip burgers or something. What you have is a job. We all gotta eat, feed our families. We provide goods and services in exchange for goods and services. Your job is a service.
You're a doctor of the soul. Doctors of the body and mind are charged to improve our wellness and heal disease. Preachers do the same. My family doctor growing up was an obese cardiologist. I shit you not. All walks of life have their saints and sinners. The clergy's no different. It's not their job -- your job -- to be a saint. It is your job to heal.
My doctor can't keep me from eating that bacon double cheeseburger, but she can tell me I'm courting death if I don't get into shape soon. She can give me diet and exercise tips and an appointment to come back to check on my progress. My preacher can't stop me from cheating on my wife, from giving in to addiction and depression, or from hardening my heart. But he can talk to me about hope, show me what is real and fake in this world, and give me some reasons and guidance for opening up my heart to love myself and others. He can demonstrate, by his own acts, that ordinary shmoes like me and him, should, can, and even do love like God, at least on occasion.
Don't you tell me there are no preachers. I need someone educated and with the breadth of experience that can only be gained on the job. Do you doubt your doctor because he's mortal? I sure don't doubt you because you sin. (And don't ask me how I know you sin. I just know.)
And if you were sprinting after the Gentle Shepherd, calling over your shoulder to me, you would lose me. You know I'm out of shape. I wouldn't even be able to keep up with you on a disc course. I'm still here, walking and reading, only because you limp, and take the time to bring us all arm-in-arm.
You've picked a tough job -- God knows I don't want it. But from what I can see from here, you're doing fine work, better than most. Keep it up.
And if any of this is news to you, then you gotta learn to listen better.
2:45 PM
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August 22, 2003
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Yet another book to read
Well, $@%&! I don't even have time to write in this &*%#@ blog and here comes yet another book that I really have to read: Beyond Fear
Thinking Sensibly about Security in an Uncertain World
I'm just trying to arm myself for trying to teach this country how to hold onto it's civil liberties, see through the false security of the Ashcroft regime, and learn where the real security lies. (There are things we can do, after all.)
8:37 AM
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August 02, 2003
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New Censorship: How scandals get neutralized
A must read book is coming out in August by Curtis White entitled The Middle Mind, Why Americans Don't Think for Themsleves. Read all about it on Boing Boing.
9:09 PM
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July 13, 2003
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Administrative note: new comment system
As much as the idea behind QuickTopic is cool, I've found it too tedious to make a new thread whenever I post. Instead, I'm going to try Haloscan which is supposed to be able to automate the process for me. Since there hasn't been a single comment in my entire blog apart from one from my mother, I'm going to go ahead and delete them all once I'm sure Haloscan is working. (Sorry, Mom). I hope all of you out there enjoy the change... Hello? Is this thing on?
[crickets]
11:07 PM
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July 08, 2003
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Comics
I love comics. They're the first set of links there over on the left. There are a couple more comics I need to put in there, but one great syndicated one which I just learned about is:
Michael Jantze's The Norm. Head on over and give him a read. Subscribe even!
My latest obsession, though, is with journal comics. These are comic realizations of journal entries. Much better than the usual, uh, "stuff," that people throw up on journal pages. The best portal to these is the Journal Comic Jam. Go there and click around!
8:36 AM
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May 27, 2003
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Disc Golf
Okay, so I'm a stay-at-home Dad and I have no time to take up a sport -- especially one where I have to travel an hour each way just to do it. But Disc Golf has been on my mind a lot lately. I wonder if I could find someone to teach me on Father's Day weekend up at Amesbury Pines? That could be my wife's father's day gift to me. Hmmm..
1:01 AM
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May 23, 2003
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Groaner
“At London's Heathrow Airport today, an individual, later discovered to be a public school teacher, was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a compass, a protractor, and a graphical calculator.
“Authorities believe he is a member of the notorious al-Gebra movement. He is being charged with carrying weapons of math instruction.”
10:28 AM
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PTO
I would like to propose a new acronymn for our common vernacular: PTO. No, it doesn't mean what you think. It's "Personal Time-Out." For those of you who work in front of a computer, it means the time you push your chair back in disgust and/or frustration and go take a walk. For those of us who work with kids, it's the time you step away from them and go log on...
7:57 AM
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May 22, 2003
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Don't have time? Feh....
Author William Gibson figures he averages about 12 hours/year in front of the TV, and that he has done so since he was 15 years old. He admits that it has been so by no particular design but still has had a wonderful side-effect:
I suspect I have spent just about exactly as much time actually writing as the average person my age has spent watching television, and that, as much as anything, may be the real secret here.
9:42 AM
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May 10, 2003
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Graphic Novels
Get to know them. Take a gander at artbomb.net. It's a whole different way to communicate.
12:02 AM
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May 09, 2003
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www = better writing?
First the Mac, then PCs, and now the Internet is bringing the death of quality writing? Not so says Ben Hammersley in the Guardian article, Don't write off the net
11:32 PM
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April 08, 2003
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Who is Howard Dean?
I kept hearing about some guy who was giving Kerry a run for his money. I finally did a bit of googling and found out he's Howard Dean, the former govenor of Vermont. Since the "official" news outlets for politicians are not trustworthy, I like to start by reading the opposition's take. See the GOP's opinion, for instance. Given the kind of criticism he got from the GOP, I think I like the guy! ;-) The only part that gave me pause was about the tricks Dean used to balance the state budget, but almost all states are going bankrupt at the moment. That's why we need big tax cuts for the rich, right? Riiiiiight...
Anyhow, at least it appears that Dean's non-compromising style has pushed Kerry to reconstitute his backbone, at least a little. But really, Kerry's campaign logo should be a waffle.
2:19 PM
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March 20, 2003
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I wish I had thought of that!
A new twist on blogs, audible frequency includes audio snippits along with each entry. Maybe I'll start doing something like this. Found sound has always been a fascination of mine...
7:39 PM
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March 11, 2003
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Spam decoys
Well, spamgourmet doesn't solve the growing spam epidemic, but it may help you to keep some of that spam at bay. Enjoy, with the condiment of your choice.
9:12 AM
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March 08, 2003
February 27, 2003
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Won't you be my neighbor?
Would you spare just a moment, please? Observe a moment of silence in memory of Fred Rogers. Think about what he said and stood for. As for myself, I want to keep him in mind as I take care of my children. He is one of the best role models and proponents of peace I know. Add your memories of Mister Rogers Neighborhood to the comments.
6:32 PM
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February 23, 2003
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Wake-up call falls on deaf ears?
US Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) spoke to Congress ten days ago (on February 12), saying in part:
This nation is about to embark upon the first test of a revolutionary doctrine applied in an extraordinary way at an unfortunate time. The doctrine of preemption -- the idea that the United States or any other nation can legitimately attack a nation that is not imminently threatening but may be threatening in the future -- is a radical new twist on the traditional idea of self defense. It appears to be in contravention of international law and the UN Charter. And it is being tested at a time of world-wide terrorism, making many countries around the globe wonder if they will soon be on our -- or some other nation's -- hit list.
Clearly, North Korea is one of those countries thinking that they are next on our hit list. Please read the
whole speech. It's very well reasoned. When you are finished, get your leaders, congressional and otherwise to read it, too. May we yet see peace.
8:02 AM
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February 19, 2003
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My fellow Americans,
Is it just me, or is the government gaining more-and-more power to do and act without any response from the people of the United States of America. I very much identify with the thoughts and feelings of this woman and her husband living nearby in Arlington, MA.
I'm losing respect for my own country -- but I don't want to leave. I want to be part of the change, but I'm no revolutionary. Besides, revolutions are divisive. I want the USA to be truly united. How about a Renaissance of democracy? I like the sound of that. What would it be like?
4:41 PM
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Hi ho, hi ho...
The webcomic Sinfest has an interesting series running on our probable descent to war. Start here and read on. (Click on "next comic" to see the, uh, next comic.)
I also have to thank Aaron Mcgruder of The Boondocks for finally clarifying Bush's logic in threatening a unilateral thrashing of Saddam Hussein. Naturally, Martin Luther King would support war.
8:08 AM
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February 14, 2003
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If I could only get around to it...
I've always had a problem with procrastination and I've never found success with traditional approaches to overcoming the problem. Now I think I have discovered why: traditional approaches contribute to the feelings of guilt and inadequacy which reinforce the urge to procrastinate. I have just found some light-hearted and even humorous approches that look to have much more potential to help. The best and most thorough is published by the California Polytechnic State University but the funniest is Structured Procrastination by John Perry. Don't discount Perry's essay. I believe his method to have a lot more potential for success than more "serious" pieces of advice. (By the way, John Perry is a professor of philosophy at Stanford University and was just invited into the American Acadamy of Arts and Sciences in 2002. Apparently he's managed to get something done...)
3:38 PM
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February 12, 2003
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Student Loans are for Suckers
College tuition is free or nominal in most industrialized, and many Third World, countries. The United States' insistence that students assume huge debts to pay for their college education is unusual enough that the Chinese government included it in its 2001 report of American human rights violations.
Read this sobering article and think about what we can do to change the US higher education system... Is it even possible to turn things around at this point? What do you think?
8:51 AM
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February 11, 2003
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1984 - the sequel
Sequels are invariably far worse than the originals. This holds true with Patriot Act II. Its proposals for the repeal of civil liberties are frightening and could serve to send us back to the McCarthy era. I'll try to get more thoughts together on this during the week, but here's some homework for ya' in the meantime:
- The Patriot II page at The Center for Public Integrity,
- An article on Patriot II at Slashdot, with a lot of interesting comments (sorted from strongest to weakest), and
- Some recent activity involving the original Patriot Act by the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Don't read this stuff too close to bedtime. You'll wake up in the morning thinking you had a nightmare -- and then realize that it's all real. The good news is that it's not law yet but it will be if you and I don't do anything to stop it. Waddaya say?
(Update: 2/13/03) There may be hope that Congress is waking up. I would assume that they could be spied apon by the Pentagon like any other citizen so they should be cautious -- if only to protect themselves and their reputations...
:-p
11:13 PM
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February 06, 2003
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This is diplomacy?
I came away from reading North Korea threatens US with first strike, truly baffled as to what is being negotiated between North Korea and the US. This has been one of the most bizzare diplomatic exchanges I can recall -- perhaps because the White House has another fish to fry right now. But a first strike against the US? The last country that tried that bit off a little more than it could chew.
3:22 PM
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February 05, 2003
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Yeah but...
When I was a senior in high school, the space shuttle Challenger exploded into a ball of fire shortly after liftoff. I learned many things that day, not the least of which was observing how network television manipulted the raw footage which I saw that morning, into a more "effective" (albeit misleading) clip for the evening news. One thought which struck me then, and which I was reminded of this past Saturday when the Columbia disintegrated, was, "yes but there were so few people aboard."
I know that sounds horrible, and I mean no disrespect to the crew, their families, their friends, and their colleagues at NASA for whom the holes left by the loss of these people can never be filled. However, for the rest of the country and for the world to be obessed over these seven lives strikes me as absurd. In my opinion, it is only the spectacular nature of their death that draws our morbid fascination.
These seven people took an enormous, calculated risk to go up into space to accomplish equally enormous and wonderful goals which were unattainable on Earth. I believe these risks are very well taken and that NASA has and will continue to minimize the risks. However, space travel cannot be expected to be safe. How about ground travel? We do expect ground travel to be safe. Most of us get into our cars and pull out onto the road without the least thought weighing the risk of death versus picking up milk at the corner store. However, consider this statistic:
There were 17,448 alcohol-related fatalities in 2001 — 41 percent of the total traffic fatalities for the year.
National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, Traffic Fact Sheet 2001
Now what do you think about pulling out onto the road. Is it worth it to go out to dinner on Friday night? Perhaps you would rather eat in, safe in your home. Seven lives lost in one Saturday morning are certainly to be mourned, but what about 17,448 lives lost in one year? Where is the public mourning for those lives? Or do they need to die all at once, in a spectacle caught on video.
(There is another take on this sentiment over at the British site, The Guardian.)
4:07 PM
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Please don't make me angry, you wont like me when I'm angry...
It's a slow process, but I'm getting more-and-more mad about Bush Jr. and his cronies. I'm starting to believe he is truly dangerous, and I'm even more concerned about his domestic meddlings than his international ones. To label him as an anti-American may be a hyperbole, but I do believe that he is slowly stripping this country of its greatness. Thus I've added some new sites to my readling list:
3:01 PM
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February 04, 2003
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Here's a great quote from a recent post to Rocketbox Comics:
"Cartooning is a 'fairly' sort of proposition.
You have to be fairly intelligent - if you were really intelligent, you would be doing something else.
You have to draw fairly well - if you drew really well, you'd be a painter.
You have to write fairly well - if you wrote really well, you'd be writing books.
It's great for a 'fairly' person like me."
- 1967, Charles Schultz, creator of "Peanuts"
2:58 PM
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January 30, 2003
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A couple more links
The internet is full of resources, but one thing I've been looking for is an online community to be a part of. I've tried "stay-at-home-dad" lists but I haven't found them very...um...interesting. The fact is that mailing lists tend to be fairly firm about staying "on topic" and I'm not interested in that. I want to know whole people. The problem I've found with many other communities is that they are populated by young singles rather than, um, older married people with kids. ;-). Kuro5hin may have the same problem for me, but it appears to have promise. It's certainly much more diverse in subject matters than Slashdot, which I like to read but feel no desire to participate in. Any other suggestions?
Another resource I keep forgetting about is everything2: an online community which centers around a dynamic multi-faceted encyclopedia. I've never tried using it seriously as a general knowledge-base, but I probably should...
1:54 PM
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January 28, 2003
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Go
Go, or Paduk in Korean, is a game with simpler rules and more complicated strategies than chess. I was interested in it years ago but stopped playing. In reality, I never got very good at it and didn't find any other beginners who were willing to learn with me. I only played against the computer and that stopped being much fun. Lately I've been wanting to start gaming again and maybe this would be the way to "go." I doubt I'd ever be great at it, but on a small 9x9 board the games are brief (about 15 minutes) and could be a nice way to unwind at the end of the week. A fairly inexpensive starter pack is available and some good books that I've put on my Amazon.com wish list. Hmm...my birthday is a long way off, yet... ;-)
1:50 PM
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January 23, 2003
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Squeak!
Hmm...I like Scheme a lot, but it's so much fun to play with the graphics at Squeakland! Somehow I never seem to be able to stick with any one language long enough to be able to do anything useful with it!... ;-)
6:09 PM
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Middle Management
Ooh...The Hacker's Diet! ("How to lose weight and hair through stress and poor nutrition.") I haven't read it yet, but maybe I'll give it a shot... If you have any other diet advice, please email me at cstarrett@mac.com. Yes, even you, Mom! :-)
6:01 PM
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Get rich quick: Scheme
Now that I've finally settled on a place to blog, it's time for me to get back to what I had been doing in my so-called spare time: Scheming!
12:16 AM
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January 22, 2003
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Blog at Blog-City
I had created cstarrett.blog-city.com when I was trying out different blogging services and I've decided to hold onto it for now. Blogspot is my blogging home for the moment, but I want to keep any eye on Blog-city and see where they go.
As an aside, I also like Radio Userland a lot, but because at least at the moment I'm shuttling between two machines, it just doesn't make sense for me... Of course if I upgraded to an OSX-based iBook or PowerBook then I might consider Radio 'cause it could publish to my iDisk. Shweet!
10:12 AM
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January 21, 2003
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Don't think -- do
I discovered a blog by an unusual man. Check him out at A Real Live Preacher. The best of it for me is a bit he writes in The Preacher's Story in 4 Parts:
Love is something you do, not something you feel.
Likewise, we think having faith means being convinced God exists in the same way we are convinced a chair exists. People who cannot be completely convinced of God’s existence think faith is impossible for them.
Not so. People who doubt can have great faith because faith is something you do, not something you think. In fact, the greater your doubt the more heroic your faith.
Word.
11:41 PM
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Waddaya know, I got myself a blog!
This is my first ever blog entry. I want to see if I can keep up with journaling, and perhaps family members and people who complain that I don't keep up with them can read it, too. Hey, if you don't know me and you want to read it, be my guest, but I think more interesting spots are:
Enjoy.
10:41 AM
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