Five Steps to Being More Productive

Yahoo Finance has a great post by Penelope Trunk about ways to be more productive. It's a great list and if you're one of those folks who always thinks you could be doing more, then this is for you. I say that because I tend to think that a lot.

Here is one of the sample steps:

Keep your inbox empty.

Your inbox is not your to-do list; your to-do list is something you compile and prioritize. If your inbox is your to-do list, then you have no control over what you're doing -- you've ceded it to whoever sends you an email next.

Productivity wizards experience less information overload because they deal with an email as soon as they've read it -- respond, file, or delete. Nothing stays in the inbox. Reading each email four or five times while it languishes in your inbox is a huge waste of time, and totally impractical given the amount of email we all receive.

Go here to read the entire post.

The Worst Generation

Here's a post about one man's rant against the Baby Boomer generation. He feels this generation is the most selfish one that's ever lived. His rant is particularly interesting because of the various comparison's he makes.

Here is a sample:

And don't give me this crap about Boomer music. The Beatles were all born before the end of the war. So was Janis. So while the Boomers can claim they had the good taste to listen to gifted pre-Boomers, when it came their turn to make music, the truest expression of their generation, what did they give us?

Disco.

The generation that came before the Boomers gave them Dylan. The Boomers gave us KC and the Sunshine Band. Thanks a lot.

Go on, have a looksee.

Boy as a Human Shield

Here is a shocking photo of a 13-year old boy being used as a human shield by Israeli soldiers. Just when you think a nation cannot sink to a greater depth in human depravity, one finds something like this and stands corrected.

Go here to see a larger version of the picture and read the story.

Death Threats and Scripture

I just read a story about a gay couple in Florida, who upon picking up their luggage at the baggage claim, heard through the loud speakers a quote from Scripture in the Old Testament. The quote was from Leviticus condemning homosexuality as well as calling for those who do to be put to death.

The gay couple to whom the message was directed, immediately filed a complaint with the airport security as well as to the police department. They were not only offended but felt threatened--even more so, they felt there LIFE'S were threatened. Did they over-react?

What do you think? Is quoting Scripture about calling for someone's death freedom of speech? Is it religious freedom? Or, if the Scripture calls for death, could it also be a death threat? On the surface, I guess it depends on how seriously a person who is quoting Scripture is being serious enough.

But there are many folks who take their religion very seriously. We need only look to the extremists in Islam who do use their holy scripture to justify their murdering and killing. The picture in this post was taken when Iran strung up two teenagers caught who admitted to having a relationship with each other. Obviously, Iran takes their religion very seriously.

But honestly, would that ever happen here? I mean, in America it's different, right?

But it does make me wonder: is it imaginable that a person in America would kill another person based upon the readings and laws of the Bible, if that person knew they could get away with it? Of course they would.

Answering such a question in the affirmative might help explain why gay and lesbian activists are trying to ensure that the laws of the land protect all of its citizens including those who are gay and lesbian. If someone tells you that we are fighting for 'special rights', be sure to remind them that we're fighting for 'equal rights'--the right to live as anyone else lives without penalty or threat of life.

Disturbing Quotes

I found an interesting post this afternoon about the 100 darndest things fundamentalist Christians say. Sure, a lot of the quotes seem to center around the evolution debates which also seems to imply that these quotes were gathered by either atheists or agnostics. Still, for moderates, these quotes are both just shocking and even a tad scary--scary to think that some folks may actually believe them. The quotes are interesting at first but begin to wane towards the end. All in all though, the quotes kind of left me asking a lot of questions-- could people really believe this way?

All in all, I was left thinking that if one person believes one way, he or she's opinion probably affects other opinions too. For instance, if AIDS is caused by sin and not a virus (as you'll read in an example below), is that person more or less likely to care about safe sex education or vote for more funding into AIDS research? Probably not--if the "real" problem to them is only a sinful lifestyle, then the money would be better spent on something else thereby causing the virus to continue to spread and kill more people--whereby the person's opinions may continue to be reinforced rather than challenged.

The last quote in my example quotes is just plain scary. Now, I don't have any children--but the justification for this behavior seems to reinforce how this guy views God and how others probably do the same. It isn't any wonder then why some fundamentalists are so unkind and mean spirited when it comes to 'killing those who sin'. If we don't do it, then God will be mad at us for NOT doing it--and we'll be judged and punished as if we committed the same sins ourselves. Sure, this might sound nuts--but I wonder how many people believe it? The number might be surprising.

Here are a few samples of those quotes. You'll notice a smart-allecky and sometimes funny heading followed by each quote.

Fundamentalism In A Nutshell Award
"There are a lot of things I have concluded to be wrong, without studying them in-depth. Evolution is one of them. The fact that I don't know that much about it does not bother me in the least."

Proudly Marching Into the 16th Century Award
"AIDS is caused by immoral behavior, not by a virus."

Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child Award*
(*I changed the original title of this post, the author had something that was offensive to me.)

Dr. Jack Hyles said, "Let the child realize that you are simply representing God in the execution of the punishment. Explain to him that parents represent God before their children and that they are ministers to execute His judgment. Psalm 103:13 says, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." So God is like a father and He chooses fathers and mothers to represent Him in the punishing of little children. Let the child realize that if you as a parent do not punish him properly, you are being disobedient to God and committing the same sin the child is committing. Explain to him that you are a child of God and if you refuse to obey God in the execution of His judgment upon your children, God will pour out His wrath upon you. For you to be a good child of God requires that you be a good parent to the child. Let him understand this. He will get the idea that God is a holy and just God, One Who loves and yet One Who wants us to become out best. For this to be so He must punish us when we are deserving.

Sometimes spanking should leave stripes on the child. Proverbs 20:30 says, "The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil; so do stripes the inward parts of the belly." Our natural man rebels a such punishment, but we are reminded in I Corinthians 2:14 that the natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit. Hence, we have to trust the God Who knows more than we and obey Him.

The spanking should be administered firmly. It should be painful and it should last until the child's will is broken. It should last until the child is crying not tears of anger but tears of a broken will. As long as he is stiff, grits his teeth, holds on to his own will, the spanking should continue."

Go here for Dr. Jack Hyles' webpage on raising children.

Go here to read the 100 quotes.

There Is No Green Dot

Here is a fun eye illusion. After the jump, you will be taken to a screen with flashing pink dots arranged in a circle. Staring at the pink dots, you see pink dots. If you stare in the middle of the circle where the black cross is, all the pink dots turn into one green dot. And if you stare long enough, you will only see one green dot going around in a circle and all the other dots disappear.

Go here, follow the directions and be amazed.

Just when you think seeing IS believing, something like this comes around and changes everything.

A Joke

A wealthy old lady decides to go on a photo safari in Africa , taking her faithful aged poodle named Cuddles, along for the company.

One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long, Cuddles discovers that he's lost.. Wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.

The old poodle thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep trouble now!" Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap the old poodle exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was o one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here?"

Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. "Whew!", says the leopard, "That was close! That old poodle nearly had me!"

Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes, but the old poodle sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.

The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!

Now, the old poodle sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?", but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old poodle says, "Where's that damn monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!

Service Announcement

Okay, so you'll notice the post below this post is my attempt at religious humor. A special thanks to the church member who just sent it. But you'll also notice the post after that, is a post about racism. Just so you, my dear reader, won't say, "Dude, like it's okay to smear someone based on their religious convictions and not someone based on their racial persuasion?" Just so you know, I thought about that before posting the joke.

You'll notice that the religious element in the joke is only an aside to the greed of the old man rather than an indictment between one faith and another. In other words, the greedy old man only "uses religion" to justify his greed rather than living by its conviction.

As I am one who often challenges religious systems of belief, I found this joke both appropriate to my critical self and, a joke that was really, really funny.

*End of service announcement*

And, I hope you find that this joke is funny too.

An Old Irish Joke

An Irish daughter had not been home for over five years. Upon her return, her father cursed her. Where have ye been all this time? Why did ye not write to us, not even a line? Why didn't ye call? Can ye not understand what ye put yer old mum thru?

The girl, crying, replied, "Dad... I became a prostitute...".

"Ye what!!? Out of here, ye shameless harlot! Sinner! You're a disgrace to this family."

"OK, Dad -- as ye wish. I just came back to give mum this luxurious fur coat, title deed to a ten bedroom mansion plus a savings certificate for $5 million."

"For me little brother, this gold Rolex and for ye daddy, the sparkling new Mercedes limited edition convertible that's parked outside plus a membership to the country club... (takes a breath)... and an invitation for ye all to spend New Years' Eve on board my new yacht in the Riviera , and..."

"Now what was it ye said ye had become?" says dad.

Girl, crying again, "Sniff, sniff....a prostitute dad! "

"Oh! Be Jesus! Ye scared me half to death, girl! I thought ye said a Protestant. Come here and give yer old man a hug."

Noticing Racism

It isn't difficult to see, once you start looking. When racism is no longer overt (even though in many situations, conversations, and places it is very overt), you have to look just below the surface of a situation to discover it. Listen to someone's motivation, read the background to a story, or compare how one situation is looked at from a different perspective--or how a story is interpreted when it involves a person of color and a Caucasian.

Take this photo for example. Notice the difference between "looting" and "finding".

Unfortunately, once you start noticing the differences, it becomes absurd how often you see, hear, and witness it.

Ten Dollars?!

Flying couldn't be cheaper now; although where you fly is a bit limited. It seems everything works to or through Columbus, OH. And, everything is bare bones--but hey, its only $10!! Go here for that $10 flight to wherever.

Kurt Vonnegut Quotes

After the jump, you'll find yourself at a webpage devoted to 15 of the post writer's favorite quotes of Vonnegut. Here is one post:

"We must be careful about what we pretend to be."

In Mother Night, apolitical expatriate American playwright Howard W. Campbell, Jr. refashions himself as a Nazi propagandist in order to pass coded messages on to the U.S. generals and preserve his marriage to a German woman—their "nation of two," as he calls it. But in serving multiple masters, Campbell ends up ruining his life and becoming an unwitting inspiration to bigots. In his 1966 introduction to the paperback edition, Vonnegut underlines Mother Night's moral: "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." That lesson springs to mind every time a comedian whose shtick relies on hoaxes and audience-baiting—or a political pundit who traffics in shock and hyperbole—gets hauled in front of the court of public opinion for pushing the act too far. Why can't people just say what they mean? It's a question Don Imus and Michael Richards—and maybe someday Ann Coulter—must ask themselves on their many sleepless nights.

Go here to read the rest.

Predictions from the year 1900

...from the Ladies Home Journal, no less. Who knew they've been around that long?! Anyways, the story is fascinating to read (if true). Go see it and let me know if it is indeed an accurate document. It is filled with things that are funny, many that are true, and some that are strikingly true.

It kind of make me wonder what predictions we're making about life 100 years from now.

Book Art

Follow the jump to some great projects made out of books, of all things.

The Best Debt Management Program Ever

I found this video tonight and found it priceless. It is a way that demonstrates to all of us how to get out of debt and how to stay out of debt.

Snl_dontbuystuff
Uploaded by shosterman

The New Sanctuary Movement

There is a new movement happening across progressive America in which local congregations reach out to specifically help and aid struggling immigrants from Empire's long-arm of the law and uncompassionate heart. That movement is called The New Sanctuary Movement and it is a small but ever growing mission to reach out to the aliens in the land in the name of religious and Christian hospitality.

Here is an excerpt from their pledge statement:
The New Sanctuary Movement is a coalition of interfaith religious leaders and participating
congregations, called by our faith to respond actively and publicly to the suffering of our
immigrant brothers and sisters residing in the United States.

You can go here to learn more about the movement and to ask yourself how you can participate with it.

A Practical Response

A friend of mine wrote one heck of a practical response about Don Imus' on-air racist and sexist comments that got him fired from his radio show. You can read his response as a father of little girls and how Imus' comment shows the ever-constant concern to remind our little girls of their self-worth in a world of such intolerance.

You can also read another constructive response to Imus over at Dolly Mama. The writer of that blog is the pastor at Judson Memorial Church, in NYC (I used to be a member there).

Conan O'Brien went to Harvard?!

Okay, so that isn't such a big thing but what is a big thing is the graduation speech he wrote and delivered to his alma mater in 2000. I found it to be a wonderfully funny and poignant speech. I hope you enjoy it too.

Stop what you're doing...

...and watch this video. Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo Rivera are at each other's throats in a debate concerning immigration. Bill is commenting about a little girl killed by a drunk driver who is also an illegalimmigrant. Geraldo is rebuffing Bill by saying this issue is about drunk driving and not illegal immigration. Geraldo is brilliant and then he says something amazingly profound. It's toward the end.

I should warn you, there is a lot of shouting-- so you'll have to mentally focus. But, in my opinion, it's well worth it.





This video is on youtube.com here.

The Real Issues of MLK, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. has become quite the symbol of racial equality, as he should be. But King didn't just stop talking about discrimination when the Civil Rights Act passed, he continued to discuss the economic inequalities that existed in the 1960's and how race played a huge factor in it. He contended that unless we dismantle and redistribute certain economies of privilege, then racism will never truly be eradicated.

Here is an interesting article that speaks to King's rationale behind his economies of justice. One has to wonder how or what a Christian should do when faced with King's call to justice. So often, America's form of economy is based on a capitalism that seeks to reward those who have much by enabling them to give more to those who are poor through both tax incentives and monetary reward. Our form of capitalism seems to have served America well--although there are a number of folks who are looking for a better system of economic equality that isn't as much communistic as it is communal. A good example of this is called Christian communism, while pejorative sounding in nature, it does seem to draw on the Christian's in the Book of Acts as the primary directive with creating an economic equality that seems to evade the minds of capitalistic Americans.

However it is we examine our economy, one thing is for certain: Few people are going to hear it well. As our political parties have been so eloquent to achieve, many Americans tie capitalism with Christianity is what appears to be an unholy alliance. In some ways, what we are experiencing sounds a lot like what Amos experienced when he prophesied against the economic abuses of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Who will be our prophet now? What will that prophet say? Who will offer up a better way that provides a fair way to provide for all of God's children? Honestly, how does the responsible Christian address economic and justice related inequalities? From the example of MLK, Jr. we must surmise that such an address will not be received well, if at all.