I actually like Tony Robbins, and I lean toward buy-in to the basic concept of motivational speaking.
The difference between believing you can do a thing, and not do that thing, matters. I’ve had amazing successes at points in my life, and terrible failures at others. Some of those amazing successes were attended by a deliberately positive mindset, some of the terrible failures were attended by aimlessly negative ones. Continue reading “Toasty Toes at Tony Robbins Event”
If you’ve read my Falling Leaves post on Earth Day, you know I have a somewhat grim view of what’s coming. Based on nothing more complex than the fact that we have no way to control human population growth, and will probably never have a conscious, deliberate way, we are screwing ourselves out of a future. Control will come from outside, via natural forces, and it will be ugly.
On that light-hearted subject, here’s an interesting article from the New York Times: The Ecology of Disease. Continue reading “Death From Above! Sloppy Bats!”
Facebook friend Dave H. used the acronym “LMO” in a political comment earlier today. After I asked about it, he clarified: LMO stands for “Lord Messiah Obama.”
Ack. My reply went on for a bit as I explored how I felt about Obama, and other things. I’m reprinting it here because … well, I wanted the clarification to get a larger airing:
Re: Lord Messiah Obama
I don’t think Obama sees himself that way. I don’t think thoughtful people see him that way. Continue reading “No Secret Here: I’m Voting for Obama”
I’m always afraid of screwing up. Seriously.
That’s especially true when I’m online, because sometimes online reactions can be extreme. One little mistake, and you’re suddenly The Enemy.
I once got on the wrong side of a group of women on a feminist website, and … damn, it got nasty. Some of the nice ladies actually followed me to the comment sections of other websites to point out what a viciously sexist woman-hater I was.
I’ve made disparaging comments about tattooing, and oh boy, you do not want to rile up the tattoo-lovers. “You’re judging people by their appearance! You’re just like every other prejudiced bigot! You HATE people who have every right to express themselves, because you’re EEEEVILLLL!” Continue reading “An Open Letter About the Making of Mistakes”
Whew.
I just stumbled across a link to an Answers in Genesis page, and oh boy, it’s ugly.
In an article posted June 6, 2012, Tim Challies asks and answers the question, What Kind of God Would Condemn People to Eternal Torment?
The beginning lays out the question, but in a way that’s almost comical in its intensity: Continue reading “YOUR Thoughts and Feelings Are Nothing. Wrong. Bad.”
I doubt he would ask for help.
In fact, presented with this piece, I expect to hear from him, and I’m about half convinced he will be annoyed or embarrassed and ask me to take down the post.
(And then, crap, I will have to decide whether to honor his wishes in what really is a personal matter, or … you know, help him against his will.)
But …
I have this friend. He’s a distant friend, an Internet friend, someone I’ve met in person only once. But he’s a Friend, with a capital-F, probably even a Brother with a capital-B, because the world is a better place for having him in it. And goddammit, we need the world to be a better place. Continue reading “Desert Warrior Seeks Millionaire. Sort Of.”
This is from a document entitled “2012 REPUBLICAN PARTY OF TEXAS / Report of Platform Committee
and Rules Committee.”
Assuming I’m doing this right, you can download a PDF of the thing here: 2012-Platform-Final
Believe THIS shit: Continue reading “O Texas, My Texas! Where Did You Go Wrong?”
A long one, here. Sorry.
I’d like to revisit my recent post, Reason Not to Rest, in which I touched on the idea “We won and we can relax now.” I want to expand on that, to look at it from a slightly different angle, and basically reinforce my own conviction that now is definitely NOT the time to relax. So: Continue reading “Lifeboat of Knowledge, Dinghy of Power”
I’ve got this thing I think about sometimes, an observation about religion and how it really is out in the real world. How it works in people’s heads. Not the way Christians think it is, but the way it really is.
I think I’ve mentioned it before — I call it “the 180-degrees thing.” (As in ‘180-degrees-opposite.’ Someday I’m going to come up with a cool name for it instead of this kludge.)
The basic idea is that, whatever Christians say, astonishingly often, there’s something REAL just about exactly opposite. Probably the reason I don’t have a good name for it is that I always find it hard to describe, or point out. You kind of have to look for it, keep it in mind as you watch the workings of Christianity and churches. Continue reading “World Ending! Again! This Time for Real! So Get Right With Jesus, Slacker!”
If you’re in the biological sciences and expect at some point to get published, here’s someone you should know: Carl Buell.
He’s done heaps of illustrations for science author Carl Zimmer as well as cover and interior illos for countless other books and magazines. He has pieces in museums all over the world, and has designed blog headers for PZ Myers, Chris Clarke and a number of others. (And I’ve probably written about him before, but he’s just one of those cool people you can’t say enough good stuff about.) Continue reading “In Which I Brag on My Friend … Again”
