I have just completed a wonderful vacation, yet I find myself so stressed that I cannot think straight and an unclear mind does not lend well to eliminating the causes of the stress. Stress in this regard is a self-perpetuating disorder. Once upon a time, a hunter in the field was met unexpected by a herd of lion too numerous for the hunter to engage. Fight or flight stimulus, aka stress, kicked in and the hunter fled to safety where his adrenaline returned to normal levels and the hunter calmed. In today’s society, our stress response rarely eases and our body and mind suffer. I have been under constant stress for twenty years. I am ready to escape to safety. I want to know calm.
Spider-Evan
Yesterday we took Evan rock climbing at The Climbing Center in Knoxville. He is a natural! Once attached to the rope, he shot up the 40 foot walls without fear. Understanding that his next handhold could be discovered by straightening a bent leg seemed intuitive to him. Noah made it up the wall twice before feigning to hunger. Cathy only had her hand sucked into the ATC (brake) once. My supple skin only lost a few layers of epidermis due to belaying. We had a blast!
Sending her to Costa Rica
My ten year old girl has this wonderful opportunity to travel to Costa Rica. This is where she will be:
Confession
Occasionally I purchase a lottery ticket then refuse to look at it because the thrill of thinking I am walking around with a winning ticket is more fun than the disappointment in verifying that it is a loser.
Out of Balance
Out of Balance
A Harvard business prof and a behavioral economist recently asked more than 5,000 Americans how they thought wealth is distributed in the United States. Most thought that it’s more balanced than it actually is. Asked to choose their ideal distribution of wealth, 92% picked one that was even more equitable.
ACTUAL DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH
WHAT AMERICANS THINK IT IS
WHAT THEY WOULD LIKE IT TO BE
0
20
40
60
80
100
Source: Michael L. Norton, Harvard Business School; Dan Ariely, Duke University
And for the REAL image, look on page 11 of Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely’s report http://www.people.hbs.edu/mnorton/norton%20ariely%20in%20press.pdf (the online version is here: http://pps.sagepub.com/content/6/1/9)
What is this?
Today, a manipulated image of this data is spreading like wildfire through the Internetz particularly over Facebook. The source of the image can be found at MotherJones.com but has been altered to show a baby peeing on a man and a a kitten commenting that "tickle down" doesn’t work. The original image is within a PDF and JPG so I’ve decided to put it here in plain text. Rather than looking at Norton and Ariely’s findings (online version), I guessed at the numbers but they look pretty close to the actual image. It makes the point.
If you are going to share this image today, please share from the PDF from MotherJones or the JPG from MotherJones instead of passing around the one with the cat.
At war with my house
My garage looks like it could do a guest appearance on the television Hoarders. This weekend I declared war on that garage and made significant progress yesterday. Today the battle continues!
Update: I’ve dug out our commercial grade deep freezer! There is food in there that reads "best used by 7/1/09." Yuck.
Update: The garage has gone through a major transformation. I performed archaeology. Found things long since forgotten. Threw away a lot. Created a large donation pile for Ladies of Charity. And transformed the garage from a good candidate for Hoarders to a good candidate for This Old House or the Martha Stewart show. I hope to work this hard on the house every weekend.
Shopping Pain
Took the wife and ten year old shopping during lunch to prepare for my little girl’s upcoming Costa Rican adventure. Now my left ear feels like someone is doing brain surgery through it. Coincidence?
Trade Wars
I feel like the odds are stacked against me. Apparently I’m the guy no one wants to see win.
A Conversation With My 12 Year Old Self
This currently has 309 views and is guaranteed to be the next big viral video on the web. I wish I had his forethought 20 years ago!
Update: Today, 24 hours later: 1,254,053 views.
From the mouths of babes
Evan, 7 years old, talking to Mom: "I thought Daddy and I were still cleaning the garage today. I’m his best helper."
I love that boy so much!
Happy Independence Day!
Today is July 4th. In the United States, this day commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence which declared America’s independence from Great Britain. Today is supposed to be a patriotic holiday celebrating our country. People will celebrate by taking to the lakes for boating and swimming, and having cookouts and family gatherings.
As I ponder the meaning of this day, my thoughts drift to SOPA, ACTA, and CISPA, to AT&T and Comcast, to our youth who seem to be the most fearful generation, to our politicians who seem to have forgotten their role is to represent the people, and to the corporations who have usurped power from the people. Each of these threaten our liberties as we know them. September 11, 2001 terrorists attacked this country. Terrorism is a violent means to bring about change. We said we would not allow the terrorist to change us but they won. I have not known independence like I grew up with since September 11, 2001. Now, instead of being confident in our individual independence and freedoms allotted to the people, I feel we struggle each day to maintain those certain unalienable Rights referenced in the Declaration of Independence. And although I am at political odds with the Tea Party and the GOP, as I re-read the Declaration of Independence, I wonder if our government has not lost its way.
when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism
[Source, Archives.gov, The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription]
This brings to mind the Bush tax cuts, the corporate hold on Congress, and the one percenters. As the middle class is beat down, more power falls into few hands and we move more toward a Despotic nation. I feel my voice falls on deaf ears when I communicate with my elected officials. Wwhen your voice is not heard, and votes in legislation fall contrary to what the resounding public appear to favor, how can one feel the words of the Declaration of Independence reflect today’s society?
Today is a patriotic day. It is a day to be celebrated. It should also be a day of reflection. Re-read (or read for the first time), the Declaration of Independence. It won’t take long to read. Read it and reflect upon your life and your government. (And if you don’t want to do that, here are some pictures of women in American flag swimsuits.)
RIP Plazes.com
Every so often I get an email like this:
Hi djuggler,
Just a quick reminder that Plazes.com is going out of service on July 1.
After that, your personal Plazes data (including your account info) will be erased. So why not move your plazes to Nokia Maps today? Simply visit Plazes.com and follow the easy instructions.
If you have any questions, please contact Nokia Support.
Kind regards
Your Plazes Team
I don’t even remember being a part of plazes.com but sure enough, I have an account albeit very unused.
At the barber shop
Gawker, Gizmodo and related sites break in Chrome and Firefox
I have basically given up trying to read any Gawker Media sites. Most of the time, they look like the picture below in both Firefox and Chrome. How do you read a Gawker Media site like Gawker.com or Gizmodo.com? Use Internet Explorer and that’s just not acceptable.
Good Pledge
