Crazy!

Well now, this explains everything about why I am as I am. (h/t Glenn Reynelds)

From the article, "Scientists have wondered for a long time why madness and creativity seem linked. It appears likely that low levels of latent inhibition and exceptional flexibility in thought might predispose to mental illness under some conditions and to creative accomplishment under others."

Do what you do do well

From the The Positivity Blog, Henrik Edberg offers an interesting counterpoint to all those tips we have read about increasing personal efficiency titled, 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People. [h/t Craig Newmark]

The habits:

1. Not showing up
2. Procrastinating half the day
3. When actually doing something, doing something that isn’t the most important thing right now
4. Thinking too much
5. Seeing the negative and downsides in just about anything
6. Clinging to your own thoughts and being closed to outside influences
7. Constantly on information overload

I’m guilty of four of these. How about you?

The entire post is brief. The site contains a number of other interesting lists.

Seeing the little sparks

The Anchoress offers a wonderful essay/homily on the art of listening.
Depart from here and go straight to her post. It's one of those quick read, long think epistles.

Firsts

This is a happy day. I've been spending the past several days playing Mr. Mom and nurse while my dear bride recovers from surgery for a pair of torn MCLs (yeah, both knees at once.)
Had the post-op check up today and the healing is progressing nicely.
But the day gets even brighter when I discovered that this humble blog has been added to a blogroll for the first time. Thanks Stacy!
Hope to have some fresh material here shortly.

The MBA bookshelf

David Newmark links to an article of interest to MBA types regarding some alternatives to one's "must have" book collection. Click on the article, 10 Overrated Business Books (and What to Read Instead) by Geoffrey James for his reasoning. I have read (or at least skimmed) most of the books on both lists. I tend to side with James.

His Top Ten:

1. The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam by Barbara Tuchman (Knopf, 1984)
2. The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams (Harper Business, 1996)
3. The Art of War by Sun Tzu (various editions)
4. Crazy Bosses by Stanley Bing (Collins, 2007)
5. The Book of Proverbs (in the Bible)
6. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (various editions)
7. The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White (various editions)
8. How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff (W.W. Norton, 1954)
9. The Complete ‘Yes Minister’ by Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay (BBC Worldwide Americas, 1989)
10. A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing by Burton G. Malkiel (W.W. Norton, 2007)

Let this serve as a reminder to me to spend more time reading books instead of the laptop screen.

What I do

I thought I might take this opportunity to share with you a little about my job. I'm a program manager at a university research institute. Our focus is on the use of telecommunication and information technologies to improve the delivery of health care and education to people in rural and under served areas. This clip demonstrates my research "man toy":

The Grammar Police have a new cop on the beat

One of my favorite podcasts is Grammer Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips.
Her posts are brief, entertaining, and informative.
Mignon Fogarty has released a video snippet explaining how she became Grammar Girl.

CNBC-HD+ - high def the right way

The cable business channel CNBC has announced plans to offer a high definition version of their program. That's not news; dozens of new HD channels are up and running or soon will be. What is interesting is that CNBC plans to make better use of all that screen space to provide more information. Media Bistro has details and a screenshot. Broadcasting and Cable offers additional details on the new channel that will appear soon on DirecTV.
While many of the high def "purists" will wail that the main image is simply an upconverted version of the original CNBC, I think the plan to push that video to one side will make for a more useful dispenser of information.

We're not laughing AT you... well, okay, I guess we are

In need of a good chuckle? Better yet, a spew coca-cola out your nose laugh? Crystal at Boobs, Injuries and Dr. Pepper offers up two side stitching posts on the topics of curious husbands (a rerun from last year) and procrastinating teens.

Wedding pictures

I have to share some pictures from our daughter's wedding in July.








Jen and her two dads.



The Daddy-Daughter dance (part 2)

Finally, another raving post

The readership of this blog is modest (one reader, I believe,) and so I can say with some confidence that the demand for a new post has been overwhelming! My apologies for the silence. :)

I had intended to write something about the anniversary of the September 11^th attack on our nation, but so much has been written, and written well, about the attack, the anniversary, and a host of related topics.

Stacy reminded us that we are not the only targets of the Islamic fascists. I had forgotten about the horror at Belsan. http://www.stillstacy.com/?p=1178 Regrettably, it seems the Left in this country has forgotten the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Another of my favorite bloggers, the Anchoress has offered plenty of mental nutrition over the past couple of weeks, both on the topic of 9/11 http://theanchoressonline.com/2007/09/11/what-do-you-remember-about-911/ and on matters spiritual. http://theanchoressonline.com/2007/09/15/sept-15-our-lady-of-sorrows-reposted/ This woman makes helps me think.

Dr. Melissa offered an excellent recap of 9/11 six years later, but it was her posting of September 12^th http://drmelissaclouthier.blogspot.com/2007/09/washington-dc.html that I found uplifting in so many ways.

Betsy provides insight into a wide range of topics, and this post http://betsyspage.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-would-be-victory-in-war-on-terror.html examines the definition of victory over the Islamic [insert your adjective of choice here].

And just across the state of Pennsylvania, ALa at Blonde Sagacity suggests we as a nation have learned little from the events of 9/11/01. http://mobyrebuttal.blogspot.com/2007/09/911-six-years-later-we-have-forgotten.html

Now for my thoughts:

It is extremely disappointing that this battle for survival (and make no mistake, this is a kill or be killed war we are in) has devolved to bad political theater in Washington. The democrats have seen this as nothing more or less than an opportunity to regain power. The Bush Administration and the Republicans have allowed the Left to “write the play” – for example allowing the Iraq war to be rhetorically separated from the larger war on terror.

I am also disappointed in the mutual decision of the MSM to curtail repeated replays of video from the 9/11 attacks and the resultant carnage. They claimed it was out of “sensitivity” for the victims’ families. Such utter bullshit.

We must never forget 9/11; and we must win this war against those who seek nothing less than our annihilation.

Getting an edge on the competition never tasted so good

It's another one of those "why didn't I think of that?" moments.
From the web site Truemors comes word of an innovation in brownie baking so simple, yet so ingenious.
Check it out at Gizmag.
Unfortunately these days I have to forgo such treats (well, once in awhile I can snitch a snack) in order to lose a few (20ish) more pounds.