Oh, my baby..............

Brenton Wood................................Gimme Little Sign

Just a matter of observation...........

Forget solving the mystery..............try to notice all 21 changes.
Tough duty.  Where's my photographic memory when I need it?



thanks

Quote of the month...............

"Oh, Grasshopper ... the construction jobs are coming."
-Bill McBride, dba Calculated Risk

Faithful readers will know that I am a fan of the neat charts posted regularly at the Calculated Risk blog.  A recent post there suggests that maybe, just maybe, the market for new house construction will be improving and with it.......construction jobs.  From his keyboard to God's ears.  I am hoping I don't have to remind you that we have some wondrous building lots available.

Surrender................

"If you let go a little, you will have a little peace.  If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.  If you let go completely, you will have complete peace."
-Ajahn Chah

Boldness.............

From Nicholas Bate and BE BOLD 101:

1.   Solve where others complain;
2.   volunteer when others look down;
3.   be principled and yet flexible;
4.   never give up;
5.   have a plan;
6.   write every day;
7.   stay courteous in all circumstances;
8.   appreciate that which is easily taken for granted;
9.   see tough times as testing-your resilience-and systems;

Emotionally challenged.......?

Jessica Hagy, of index card fame, helps us guys sort out the basic, mild, and intense emotions. Here

Ah, the human element.....................

"Economies do tend to turn around at some point. People all over the world want to make money, and in spite of all the obstacles in their path, they will keep hustling and bustling until something works."


Full essay from Walter Russell Mead on the latest grim jobs news, a re-run of the 2004 election, and the on-going failures of the "ruling classes" is here.

Althouse scintillates................

while enjoying the full spectrum of the English language....here.

Messing with Mother Nature....

Riding the big waves............


thanks jonco

Remember this continually.......

"It was clear to Marcus, as it was to Plato, that men are only brokenly and partially rational, that their reason is seated atop a volcano of seething feelings and desires, and that these lower parts of human nature are continually pushing aside the counsels of reflective foresight.  Such foresight, as a modern evolutionist would put it, is a recent and fragile addition to the complement of human faculties; and, as Marcus insists, we are cousins of the animals in the nonrational parts of our being.  In most men still the animal impulses of hunger, fear, lust, anger, gregariousness, and the emotions that form part of them, dominate conduct and make impartial judgment all but impossible.  It was the realization of this fact of human nature that made Marcus the compassionate mind that he was.  Men did not choose evil as evil; their passions first gilded it for them into the guise of something good, and thus they acted under illusion. " 'No soul,' says the philosopher Plato, 'willfully misses truth'; no, nor justice either, nor wisdom, nor charity, nor any other excellence.  It is essential to remember this continually; it will make you gentler with every one."'
-Brand Blanshard, excerpted from his essay on Marcus Aurelius in Four Reasonable Men

Prosperity..............

"Prosperity is like strawberry jam.  You can't spread even a little of it without getting some of it on yourself."
-Murray Lincoln

Commonalities.................?

     "The EU is a failure of good people whose culture, goals, values, expectations and languages are as diverse as cheese and chalk.
     "Great civilizations become great because of their commonality;"
-Malcolm Berko, as excerpted

On how to make progress........

thanks Jessica

Fun facts (that I haven't bothered to confirm)....

Total outstanding debts from student loans  =
     $1,000,000,000,000

Number of those indebted for said student loans =
     40,000,000

Average debt for those indebted students (present and former) =
     $25,000

Average interest rates on said debt =
     3.4%

Median age for those so indebted =
     33 years

Estimated number of 40+ year olds with student debt =
      16,000,000

all these numbers came from here:
Richard Vedder, from his essay in the recent Imprimis, titled "Federal Student Aid and the Law of Unintended Consequences."

Politicians pushing programs......

"Moreover, both the President and Governor Romney say they want to continue that low interest rate after July 1, when it is supposed to double.  This aggravates an already bad situation, and provides a perfect example of the fundamental problem facing our nation today:  politicians pushing programs whose benefits are visible and immediate (even if illusory....), while their extraordinarily high costs are less visible and more distant in time."
-Richard Vedder, from his essay in the recent Imprimis, titled "Federal Student Aid and the Law of Unintended Consequences."

Seems like it should be higher than that.......

Run on............................

        I Saw a Man
I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped
I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
"It is futile," I said,
"You can never - "
"You lie," he cried.
And ran on.

-Stephen Crane

image courtesy of

Inevitably.......................

Life Its Ownself............

"I was the walking book of braille – not so much examined as read."


Jeff takes a break from treatment...............here

None but himself................

     "A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another.  None but himself can alter his condition."
-James Allen,  As A Man Thinketh
   

Just like the old days...........

On time.............................

"Time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to waste it, kill it, and spend it rather than invest it."
-Jim Rohn

Grateful.........................

Our power is back on.  We deeply appreciate the efforts of AEP's crews who continue to work long and hard to repair the power grid.  A special note of thanks to the crews of Alabama Power who made the long trek to our part of Central Ohio to work 16 hour shifts in some hotish weather.  Cold beers in the refrigerator if you care to stop by.

It is the little things.................

"Hem your blessings in thankfulness so that they don't unravel."

Just wondering................

Little Round Top............

“In great deeds, something abides. On great fields, something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls… generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream; and lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.” 

-Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

image courtesy of

Reckoning............................

“But we had with us, to keep and to care for, more than five hundred bruised bodies of men- men made in the image of God, marred by the hand of man and must we say in the name of God? And where is the reckoning for such things? And who is answerable? One might almost shrink from the sound of his own voice, which had launched into the palpitating air words of order- do we call it? - fraught with such ruin. Was it God's command we heard or His forgiveness we must forever implore?” 
-Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain


image courtesy of

Powerlessness...........

Mother Nature had her way with us Central Ohioans Friday evening. Trees down, roofs blown away, power grid shot all to hell. A few posts were loaded last week, but for the most part blogging will have to wait. Our power company says electric service should be fully restored by the 8th. The 8th! Hope they were underselling and are planning on amazing us with power more quickly than that. Meanwhile, hope you all are having a nice day.

Different and the same.....

"Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths."
-Muhammed Ali

Now, why didn't I think of that...............

Hmmm..........

The hardest prayer.........