Friday, April 29

          Up very early with my wife to watch the Royal Wedding of William and Catherine in the wonderfully gothic Westminster Abbey.  Must be a thrill to be able to say you were married by the Archbishop of Canterbury.  Inspires me to want to read Chaucer’s, Canterbury Tales and go anglophile.  I was taken in by the pomp and circumstance, does anyone do pageantry better than the British?  Despite intellectually knowing such affairs cost too much money and are unnecessarily lavish, plus royalty is such an ancient relic of a concept, it all hit a primal nerve and I was moved by the precision of the ceremony, red uniforms, sounds of the trumpets and ringing of the bells and weight of history, making sure my daughter watched with us so she could have the kind of memories I still have of watching Charles and Diana marry years ago when about her age. I made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast in honor of the festivities and we ate during the spectacle of the traditional first public kiss from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

Thursday, April 28

          Marshall McLuhan said, “the medium is the message”.  Andy Warhol said, we will all have 15 minutes of fame.  With the speed of the developing social medias, it makes me think we will all eventually know everyone.  In fact, the speed of this connectivity is so disorienting to me at times that I feel even the present is already past.

Wednesday, April 27

          What if we let up a bit on constantly trying to improve ourselves?  Might that be liberating?  What if we accepted who we are since God made us this way?  Would we then be less focused on “me”?  Might this open us up more to “you” and considering those around us?  What if God will ultimately fix what we need fixed and deliver what we are searching for as long as we stay vigilant to a godly purpose?

Tuesday, April 26

I wish to build something new by asking novel questions and seizing opportunity.  I see myself as a system theorist making unlikely connections by identifying similar patterns or seeing patterns in apparent randomness.

Saturday, April 23

            I am grateful to those who can take complicated ideas and make them understandable by finding the pattern and presenting them under one comprehensive approach.  Samantha Powers’ book on genocide, A Problem from Hell, did this a few years ago by showing that genocide was occurring more than reported and brought the known cases together for study.  The book was especially helpful in allowing one to understand America’s varying approaches to the issue and why it intervenes at times and not at others.  Isn’t all genocide bad?  Shouldn’t all of it be stopped?  Is mass killing harder to deal with and comprehend that a single killing?  

Sunday, April 24

          The book, God’s Brain, by Lionel Tiger and Michael McGuire point out that there are believed to be 4200 distinct faith groups or religions in the world.  This matches up interestingly I think with the reported 6912 languages in the world.

Monday, April 25

          Mike Daisey appeared on C-Span and reminded me that every now and then you are treated to someone who changes your mental paradigm.  There are two things that struck me about him.  One, is that he is a performer of monologues which is somewhat of a niche art form, think of Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain.  Second, his subject matter is current issues.  He brought one to my attention related to his views of the poor working conditions at Foxconn, a gigantic factory in Shenzhen, China that purportedly builds most of our electronics.  His current monologue is called the Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs and its about the juxtaposition of these state of the art devises, iPod, iPhone, iPad that are made in alledged primitive working conditions.

Friday, April 22

            I am grateful to be in the game, to have a chance to compete.  So many never get a chance to get in the game and test themselves.

Thursday, April 21

               What is the proper competitive nature?  One can compete against oneself, more and more push-ups.  One can then look around and see how many push-ups someone else is doing.  Can I do more than them?  One can compete against a standard.  Can I do more than the norm of people my age and weight?  Push-ups are pretty neutral and do not negatively affect others in terms of how you approach getting better.  What about completion in the areas of money, power or sex?  How far will one go beyond preparations that do not affect others like one’s education and training or looks?  I think it is good to want to be better(not intrinsically but at something) than someone else.  It is a great way to keep improving oneself, grow, stretch and see what limit if any you have.  As long as it is done ethically, in my opinion.  But you have to be prepared and accept losing to those willing to stoop to more Machiavellian tactics.  However, it provides the satisfaction of knowing that accomplishments are the result of doing your best and nothing more.