Thursday, April 16. 2009
The Grateful Dead always performed on Persian carpets. Rug Rag takes a look at what The Dead, as they are now known, walk around on.
And speaking of rugs, here's a 5X6 Bakhtiari "flower bed" design I like. I now must brace myself for the rug expert readers to inform me of everything that is wrong with it...Our rug expert readers must understand that our rugs get rough treatment. They are subject to ice-melting salt, dogs, driveway gravel, work boots, mud, and the occasional spilled glass of red wine. Truly special antique rugs would a shame to use and abuse as we do. New-made rugs? Wouldn't touch 'em. Vulgar, garish-looking junk, most of it, with all the character of a Woolworth's velvet kitten picture.
In an interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
"People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with him in heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body - but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity.
This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in Christ-likeness.
This past year of my life has been the greatest year of my life, but also the toughest with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountain, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness: my problems, my issues, my pain. But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or to make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, this notoriety, this influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, ll Corintians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our life style one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I had started the church, and paid it all back. It was liberating to me to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do."
-  Everybody ought to know this stuff too, which we linked last night: Class: A Guide Through the American Status System. Essential reading for social climbers and social descenders. Not necessary for others.
- Corporate and financial jargon and slang, via Latham & Watkins. Everybody should know these terms. (h/t, Tiger)
- Men and women: The things you do wrong. Villainous. Guys: Go out and kill some meat for her, and you will be rewarded - more likely to get lucky. (But did you know that marriage is now termed "opposite-sex couples"? It makes it sound perverted somehow.)
- Another take on Strunk & White, which is at least worth considering. 50 years of stupid grammar advice
Wednesday, April 15. 2009
 The note I wrote in my son’s 9th birthday card today says, “Character is everything,” and I listed the many traits of sound character he has of which I am proud. I’m even proud of his hijinks at school for which he gets in trouble. He immediately takes responsibility, his punishment, and does not lie, evade or implicate others.
After he left for school this morning, I turned to my coffee and local newspaper. The frontpage carried a New York Times article about how Disney is trying to discover what TV shows will appeal to boys, “a group that Disney used to own way back in the days of ‘Davy Crockett’ but that has wandered in the age of more girl-friendly Disney fare such as ‘Hannah Montana.’ “ Disney’s consultant focuses on Black Sabbath T-shirts and such as their key.
Instead, Disney should refocus on Davy Crockett. Disney, and other children’s programmers, used to present tales of heroism and character. Beaver Cleaver and his big brother were to be emulated and not the worse than Eddie Haskells that are the lead characters today on Disney and Nickolodean. Parents were guardians and guides, not dolts.
I looked back at when the change started in the late ‘60’s, the chronological root of many of today’s cultural ills. By the 1980’s, when I had risen high in corporate life, I saw the ramifications as the up-through-the-ranks World War II generation who were my mentors began to retire or be pushed aside by a new breed with big degrees but relatively little experience and even less earned character. They measured themselves and others by smooth talk, quick tricks and personal profit, over the hard truths, diligent effort and contribution to all’s success that their predecessors emphasized and demanded. The new scorecard was perverted.
The current economic fallout is a direct result of this replacement of character with selfish and reckless aggrandizement.
Excellence requires that we provide consistent value, not cut-throat abandon of values.
Investment produces lasting benefits to many, while speculation chases the fastest – and usually elusive -- buck.
Simple, straightforward information delivers meaning, while mumbo-jumbo complexity hides empty promises.
Reasonable, factual expectations leads toward tangible accomplishments, while “irrational exuberance” and greed lead toward being a willing target for schemers.
Looking to honestly satisfy others’ needs creates bonds of lasting trust, while exploiting others’ fears and ignorance creates temporary dupes.
Competing to be best and to earn trust creates standards of worthy behavior, while unearned honorifics and facile words and actions breaks down society’s bonds and future.
Making a positive difference in society and in others’ lives leaves a legacy, while hollow charisma leaves a vacuum.
You can’t have too much character. Character is life’s scorecard.
 Like you care, right? The purpose is really to highlight a novel, Brothers, by Da Chen.
I seem to read novels as 1/3 of what I read, but I will read whatever is put in front of me, and whatever serendipity provides me with. Nothing on TV engages me. I always bear in mind that somebody worked darn hard to write that book.
Da Chen is an American author, raised in China during the Cultural Revolution. Besides being a compelling story, the book offers lots of insight into how China really operates - especially inside the political aristocracy.
One thing you learn right away is that in most Socialist and Communist nations, power and money and chicks and perks and mansions with military guards and vacation homes and the best food and drink and fancy cars accrue to the pols and their kin instead of to the productive. They create their own ingrown, inbred aristocracy with the power of the money, the government, the bureaucracy and the military to support and maintain it. They re-create Feudalism with the Mandarins and the "masses." We, dear readers, are supposed to be "the grateful masses."
(At the time that he writes about, 80% of China's adults were government employees. Not any more, happily. Canada is now up to 20%, last I heard, and headed up. Government employees are easy to control - and very easy to tax.)
Monday, April 13. 2009
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. P.J. O'Rourke
 The Martini Parties are a spontaneous grassroot national movement of the comfortable, but far from rich, edge of the American middle class.
We believe that all working Americans should pay income taxes, and not just the upper 50%. We're the folks who pay the bulk of the American taxes - lawyers, doctors, dentists, engineers, accountants and financial planners, small businessmen, managers, architects, pilots, ship captains, small-town stockbrokers, insurance agents, corporate VPs, B-school profs, consultants, medium-sized farmers, entrepreneurs, contractors, etc., etc. (The very highly-paid need not join and, of course, most household incomes of over $250 include two working adults.)
Our plan, designed over Easter brunch, is to figure out how to get our taxable incomes under Obama's $250,000 tax increase. It's a contest and a game. Since we already pay most of America's bills, we figure we are already doing our part and paying our fair share of the dues.
So our Yankee-based Movement is this: Get a group of friends together and hire some planners and accountants, and figure out a way to get yourself below the bar - even if it means donating more than 10% of your income to your charities (although they are trying to eliminate those deductions too), increasing your mortgage (although they are trying to reduce that loophole too), putting money in trusts, reducing one's charges for loyal clients - or plain old working less.
Let's all of us prosperous non-wealthy do the Limbo Rock and get under the bar - even if it means that we work less and play more like the lazy Europeans - more boating, golf, tennis, fishin', hangin' out in cafes drinkin', and shootin' and huntin' - and more vacation time with less expensive vacations.
I ain't slaving for 36-43 cents on the dollar (which is where I would end up after Fed taxes, CT income taxes in which the marginal rate covers all income if you make over 250, and property taxes. I am patriotic, but not stupid. I do not want to be a victim of plunder. I also tithe to church and charities, but that doesn't count: it's voluntary.
And if I end up poor, no doubt the government will take good care of me.
Sunday, April 12. 2009
At first, I thought this was a Monty Python-esque spoof. It's not. I hope the weapons were unloaded.
And just a thought - how about getting the SEALs to sneak some of this stuff into the water supplies of Wherizzitistan? Might make those Taliban happy and spiritual.
The comments he put on these old found pictures are hilarious. h/t, Insty
Wednesday, April 8. 2009
1. Chicago Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson on being a role model: "I wan' all dem kids to do what I do, to look up to me. I wan' all the kids to copulate me."
2. New Orleans Saint RB George Rogers when asked about the upcoming season: "I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first."
3. And, upon hearing Joe Jacobi of the 'Skins say: "I'd run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl," Matt Millen of the Raiders said: "To win, I'd run over Joe's Mom, too."
4. Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, on his coach, John Jenkins: "He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings."
5. Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann, 1996: "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
6. Senior basketball player at the University of Pittsburgh : "I'm going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes."
7. Bill Peterson, a Florida State football coach: "You guys line up alphabetically by height." And, "You guys pair up in groups of three, and then line up in a circle."
8. Boxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson going to prison: "Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton."
9. Stu Grimson, Chicago Blackhawks left wing, explaining why he keeps a color photo of himself above his locker: "That's so when I forget how to spell my name, I can still find my clothes."
10. Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training regime of heavyweight Andrew Golota: "He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock in the morning, regardless of what time it is."
11. Chuck Nevitt, North Carolina State basketball player, explaining to Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice: "My sister's expecting a baby, and I don't know if I'm going to be an uncle or an aunt."
12. Frank Layden, Utah Jazz president, on a former player: "I told him, 'Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?' He said, 'Coach, I don't know and I don't care.'"
13. Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A&M, recounting what he told a player who received four F's and one D: "Son, looks to me like you're spending too much time on one subject."
14. Amarillo High School and Oiler coach Bum Phillips when asked by Bob Costas why he takes his wife on all the road trips, Phillips responded: "Because she is too damn ugly to kiss good-bye."
15. Bobby Bowden, Florida States football coach, when ask why he didn't invest in condos, Bobby said, I am too old to use them now.
This link can save everybody a lot of trouble in life. It's actually titled Fifty Things every 18 year-old Should Know. (h/t, SDA)
I sent it to everybody in my family.
Tuesday, April 7. 2009
This is a 4x10 "Cloudband" Kazak, 70-100 years old. I think it's a knockout. Asking $6000:
Our friend Nathan thought some of our readers might be interested in "Unspoken (Or What is Said After Death)" by Naftali Moshe.
Nathan says "The basic idea is what do you wish you could have said to someone after you have left; some unspoken words that resonate in your head and it is too late to speak them. Then, imagine the ultimate leaving - death; what if you could speak those words after death. What if you could tell someone whom you loved dearly what you had not been able to say before."
It's the reverse of what people usually talk about - what they wished they had told someone who died. The story is written in the voice of a Kosher butcher who has commited suicide. A quote from Chapter 1:
My last breath, my last precious breath, was the freest breath since I was twelve. I stood in Ulysses' and Aeneas' waters. Like the Baal Shem Tov, I test the Wusthoff's edge with a finger; drew a drop of blood; shed a tear of joy and sadness.
Brief pain as the knife drew across the skin, my throat slipping slightly beneath its edge until the knife could catch, bite. Then through the trachea for that final, but decades delayed fresh breath. The carotids bathe the knife, then my hands in last warmth. The Mediterranean took me.
My son, unlike Abraham over Isaac, unlike God over Jesus, I will not sacrifice you. But through you I, I could breath again.
And now I can speak to you from this dream-ether.
The story is serialized in The International Journal of Psychoanalysis. Here's Chapter 1.
Here's Chapter 2.
Mad about it. Mini DSLR with a fabulous Leica lens which is electronically stabilized and goes from (35mm equiv.) 27mm wide to 486mm telephoto (826.2mm with 1.7x add-on lens). The wide angle and telephoto shots of San Simeon illustrate the power of this lens (the box in the wide-angle outlines the telephoto). At 27mm, it is also f2.8 – very fast for a point-and-shoot. The other photos are of a walnut & wine operation in Paso Robles CA.
This camera will not replace our Canon EOS XTi, but that beauty and its lenses weigh 27 pounds, and are a bit difficult hiking or traveling! Oh, and Abe’s of Maine which we love offers it for $287.95!!!
Here's the Cameralabs review.
Here's the cnet review.
Photo I used it for in San Simeon last week. Go below the fold for more - and to see inside the box:
Continue reading "My new camera - Panasonic DMC-FZ28 from COSTCO"
Monday, April 6. 2009
No, this was not our local Ducks Unlimited banquet. We posted the invitations for this little cocktail party, but (fortunately) not too many guys showed up for the little shindig Theo and I hosted on Saturday night. Right Wing Prof would never attend such a thing, and I know Sippican's wife wouldn't let him come, nor would Tigerhawk's or Gwynnie's - but I was sure Vanderleun would show. He didn't. It was good wholesome fun, but a bit exhausting due to the guy-to-gal ratio. Yes, that is me in the center front, the Yankee Doodle Dandy, reluctantly yielding to dissolute feminine charms:
Thursday, April 2. 2009
Jean-Honore Fragonard's Psyche showing her sisters her gifts from Cupid (1753). This is what I call "French." The remarkable Jean-Honore died broke and forgotten, of course. Artists are supposed to do that.
Wednesday, April 1. 2009
 Simon pointed out that a lot of our (legal) economy depends on heroin, and explains how they do it in Switzerland. (It's the way it used to be done here.)
Related: We are locking up too many people who do not belong in jail. I agree. I want non-violent crims off the public payroll, and paying for their crimes with $ fines. Last I heard it costs us taxpayers around $70,000/year per jailbird.
I would prefer that they pay us for their crimes - with money.
Tuesday, March 31. 2009
 Norm's wife Adele found this good new book site, The Second Pass. She says:
The Second Pass is a new American books blog edited by John Williams. In his introductory message to readers John explains that the loss of book reviews from the pages of the print media and the possible disappearance of many newspapers has prompted him to go online to create a space where many voices can come together to talk about books old and new.
There's a section for new publications, and one for books that have been around for some time, and a brilliant feature called The Shelf which asks readers who come to the website to recommend books in 75-125 words. I am already considering what I might recommend there myself, and I have noted down a George Pelecanos novel called The Turnaround to go on my wish list.
Monday, March 30. 2009
We know that you have been too busy to post much lately. Despite that disappointment, we want to note and celebrate the numerous wonderful career and personal things going on in your life this year.
Everything's coming up daffodils. You are indeed one blessed and fortunate Dylanologist.
Friday, March 27. 2009
Discovery's Mike Rowe on work. 20 minutes. Just wonderful. (h/t, Synthstuff):
Picasso biographer John Richardson discusses the new show of Picasso's late work at the Gagosian Gallery. Multimedia.
Wednesday, March 25. 2009
 Mr. Free Market offers the contents of the Ladybird Easy-Reading series on People at Work: The Policeman.
Sadly, we do not have the contents of the Ladybird "How it Works" book pictured here.
Stolen from Dr. X:
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