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Do Video Games Keep Kids Inside?

This cartoon cracked me up! Reminds me how I loved to play outside when I was a kid. When it was cold outside I would play board games inside with my sisters but when the summer came I was outside all of the time playing with my neighborhood pals.

Can you relate to that? Do you think that video games keep kids today from playing outside? Not sure that I do because my son usually just played with his Nintendo when the weather was bad or it was dark. He loved to be outside. Yet I do think that, generally speaking, video games keep kids indoors.

Weightless Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking passed away today at the age of 76. I share this 2007 post to remember him.

I'm taking a few moments this morning, the day after Stephen's weightless ride, to share a few of his quotes:

It was amazing, I could have gone on and on. (about his weightless experience)

God not only plays dice, He also sometimes throws the dice where they cannot be seen.

I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.

The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.

To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.

When one's expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.

It matters if you just don't give up.

Stephen has suffered for many many years from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease). This flight was the first time in 40 years that Stephen moved freely beyond his wheelchair.

The Civility Pledge

In 2010 Mark Demoss wrote a post titled "Why this fear of a civility pledge?" (read it here). Here is the Civility Pledge:

• I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior.

• I will be respectful of others whether or not I agree with them.

• I will stand against incivility when I see it.

I am taking the pledge. Won't you take the pledge with me?

PS: It is interesting to note that The Civility Project website (mentioned in DeMoss' post) is no longer up and running. Perhaps that is representative of how folks have given up on civility. Even so, I wish our candidates would take it.

Reflections on Gandhi's Seven Social Sins

Wealth without Work
I sometimes think that the gold standard should be replaced by the work standard.

Pleasure without Conscience
It seems that Western Civilization has gotten more materialistic and hedonistic.

Science without Humanity
The real question always seems to be not whether it can be done but if it should.

Education without Character
The intellect seems so insignificant when compared with ideas like integrity and love.

Politics without Principle
True leadership embraces humility while political power is all about pride.

Commerce without Morality
Greed is bad. Why do we want more? Why do we want to get the best of each other?

Worship without Sacrifice
Cheap grace is not grace at all. Worship that does not cause us to bow is fake.

... first posted June 22, 2012

Pizza Eating Personalities

Our small group talked about the Enneagram Personality Test this week. So my attention was peaked when I heard that Cosmo came up with personality types based on the way that you eat a slice of pizza. Here is the way that Fox News tells it:

There are 4 distinct personality types—drivers, influencers, supporters, and careful correctors—who tend to have very unique ways of doing things, even small tasks.

Cosmopolitan then applied that same research to people’s pizza eating techniques--and here's what they found:

If you fold it: Those who fold their pizza slice are considered "drivers." They're multi-taskers; they want to eat the pizza fast, and eat it while doing something else.
If you start with the crust: People who eat the crust first are described as “influencers” who are spontaneous and like to be different.
If you use a knife and fork: Those who cut their pizza are known as “supporters.” The research says they approach life relaxed and are warm and friendly listeners who likely let their friends get their slice first.
If you just pick it up and bite: Those who eat it with their hands and bite their slice are known as the "careful correctors." They like to plan ahead so everything turns out as expected. They usually stick with the same flavors and toppings.

I fold it but do not admit to the driver personality. I may be a multitasker but do not think that I eat it all that fast.

So how do you eat your pizza? Do you resonate with the associated personality?

Ego and Embellishment

I can relate to Brian Williams. Albeit not in such a public way. I have allowed my ego to skew the words that I spoke. In retrospect I am ashamed of such embellishments.

I wonder what it is about the ego that compels us to embellish our experiences? What lies deep within us that is not satisfied with them? Perhaps it is simply pride?

Justice vs Revenge

I think that this is an interesting comparison made by Leon F. Seltzer at Psychology Today [read more here].

Revenge is predominantly emotional; justice primarily rational.
Revenge is, by nature, personal; justice is impersonal, impartial,
and both a social and legal phenomenon.
Revenge is an act of vindictiveness; justice, of vindication.
Revenge is about cycles; justice about closure.
Revenge is about retaliation; justice about restoring balance.

I think that the heart of justice is restoration and reconcilation. Consider these passages from the bible.

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:17)

This is what the LORD says: “Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed.” (Jeremiah 21:12)

This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Administer true justice: show mercy and compassion to one another.” (Zechariah 7:9)

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. ( Isaiah 30:18)

I love the way that these verses paint a picture of justice that is restorative in nature.

Open Prison Systems

In Nordic countries like Sweden, which have far lower incarceration and crime rates, prison is about rehabilitation. ... "Our role is not to punish. The punishment is the prison sentence: They have been deprived of their freedom. The punishment is that they are with us," Nils Öberg, director-general of Sweden's prison and probation service.
...
While high-security prisons in the U.S. often involve caging and dehumanizing a prisoner, prisons in Nordic countries are designed to treat them as people with psychosocial needs that are to be carefully attended to. Prison workers fulfill a dual role of enforcer and social worker, balancing behavioral regulation with preparation for re-entry into society.

Even more remarkable than this is the use of "open prisons" in the region. Prisoners at open prisons stay in housing that often resembles college dorms, have access to accessories such as televisions and sound systems and are able to commute to a job and visit families while electronically monitored. Prisoners and staff eat together in the community spaces built throughout the prison. None are expected to wear uniforms.

... excerpted from an article at policy Mic. Read it here.

Labor Day Reminder

Sometimes I forget that many folks are still looking for work. Others have had to take jobs that pay less than they need. Many are working in jobs that are unappreciated and unfulfilling. So on this Labor Day, I suggest we think about folks like these. And maybe say a prayer for them?

Seek to Understand our Hearts

Pastor Bryan Loritts

We will never experience true Christian unity when one ethnicity demands of another that we keep silent about our pain and travails. The way forward is not an appeal to the facts as a first resort, but the attempt to get inside each others skin as best as we can to feel what they feel, and understand it. Tragedies like Ferguson are like MRIs that reveal the hurt that still lingers. The chasm that exists between ethnicities can only be traversed if we move past facts and get into feelings.

Basically there are five levels of communication: 1. Cliché; 2. Facts; 3. Opinion; 4. Feelings; 5. Transparency, with “cliché” representing the most shallow form of communication, and “transparency” the deepest. I will never know what it’s like to be a woman, but I do know that when my wife comes at me with level four (feelings), and I stay in lawyer-land at level two, this never is a recipe for intimacy. I am not denying facts, but I’ve had to learn the hard way that if I am to experience oneness with my bride, I must drop down to level four in an attempt to understand, before I resurface to level two. Facts are a first and last resort in a court of law, but when it comes to human relationships, let us first stop and feel, before we go to facts.The communication pyramid offers a revolutionary paradigm in our journey to understanding.

If you sense exasperation from we African-American’s over yet another news story of a black man slain at the hands of a white man, this is a wonderful opportunity to grab some coffee and seek to understand our hearts. I need my white brothers to know how I felt as I sat in the preaching classes in Bible college and seminary not once hearing examples of great African-American preachers. I need you to know how I felt when I was forced face down on the hard asphalt of Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles, 1993 all because I was nineteen and driving my pastor’s Lexus, a year after the Rodney King riots. I need you to ask how I felt when I walked into a Target recently behind a white woman who took one look at me and pulled her purse tightly.

However, as much as I am an African-American, I am even more so a follower of Jesus Christ. The death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior demands that I subjugate my cultural hermeneutic to my gospel hermeneutic. In other words, my Jesus-ness, must trump my blackness. As Dr. Tony Evans says, “Black is only beautiful when it is biblical”.

Excerpted from a great article by Pastor Bryan Loritts at Christianity Today. Read it here.

Hating the term "Celebrity Christian" by Rachel

How do I hate the term “celebrity Christian?” Let me count the ways!

I hate that it reflects a culture that idolizes success.

I hate that it exposes my own dark desires and unhealthy fixations.

I hate that once someone decides you’re a “celebrity Christian,” they use that as an excuse to treat you as something other than a human being.

I hate that I’ve used it as an excuse to do the same.

I hate that it comes with the pressure to speak more definitively (even when you’re not sure) and lead more decisively (even when you have no idea where you’re going).

I hate that it reduces people to “fans” or “haters” when God only gave us neighbors.

I don't want to live in a world of fans and haters.

- excerpted from a great post about faithfulness by Rachel Held Evan. Read more here.

Vintage Slang

Yagan Shah writes today about 11 Vintage Slang Terms That Need To Make A Comeback at the Huffington Post.

Here are her terms and my thoughts about them:

Groovy. A song by the Little Rascals is echoing in my head.
Swell. Let's leave that one back with Wally and the Beav.
Radical. I have never been one. Pretty moderate.
Scram. I am not a gangster from Brooklyn.
Neat. "and tidy" is what I am thinking about. ツ
Funky. Some sort of weird odor associated with a teen's room
The bee's knees. Something even my grandparents didn't say.
Cool beans. Food that need to be reheated in the microwave.
Tubular. Beats me. But I am not an 80s hipster.
Hot to trot. I just start laughing when I say it.
Wicked. Newish Broadway play about Oz?

Check out the Yagan's original article here to read how the terms were originally used.

I would love to hear any thoughts that you might have about these terms. Leave a comments and weigh in.

Blockbuster Memories

Just heard that Blockbuster Video is closing all of it's stores in the USA. The news caused me to flash back to the days before Netflix. You remember those days. The times before streaming videos and Red Box dispensing machines. Memories of trips in the car on weekend nights to get the latest VCR and hoping that it was not sold out. And then there was the Nintendo games that the kids always wanted to rent. It seems like just a few years ago. Fond memories of a simpler time in my life.

Disappearing in our Lifetimes?

There is a viral message that has been circulating for a few years now. It is usually titled "Things That Will Disappear In Our Lifetime". Here are a few items from the list with my commentary:

Television: Google Fiber is being installed in our building this month. Their service seems to marry high speed connection with TV channels. In the years ahead I think that our culture will complete the transition from antennas to internet connections. Perhaps all TV shows will be on demand in the future?
Paper Books and Newspapers: If you printed this post and are reading it on paper, you may disagree with me on this one. Kidding aside, many people these days are getting more and more information online.
The Post Office: Bureaucratic organizations seem to take a long time to die - the USPS continue to lose money every day but stays in business. That said, I think that things like email and FedEx will cause the postal service to become something different. And maybe stamps will one day be antiques?
Checks: I have to admit that we use these paper vouchers a lot less than when we were young. These days cash, credit/debit cards and auto-withdrawals seem to cover most of the things that we purchase. Even so, I will not be putting a chip in my arm or taking a mark on my forehead. ツ
Land Line Telephones: This month Ann and I are losing our internet wired (VOIP) phone connection and going to only use our cell phones. This seems to be a growing trend in the world. That said, I think that land lines will be here for a long time as people continue to explore VOIP solutions.

What's your take? Can you relate? Where do you see things like this going in the future?

Christian Stereotype Sanity Check

Relevant Magazine speaks to the issue of how Christians, and Christianity, are often marginalized by stereotypical views. Here are a few of those stereotypes with explanations from the article:

Christians are Republican: A 2008 Barna study found 51 percent of Republicans have spiritual beliefs that qualify them as “born again” Christians. Significantly fewer Democrats hold the same beliefs, but it’s still a pretty high amount: 38 percent.
Christianity is Mainly an American Thing: There are 2.18 billion Christians around the world. And only 11.3 percent of those live in the U.S.
Christians Think They’re Better Than Everyone Else / Are Hypocritical: According to a Barna Group study, 51 percent showed Pharisaical attitudes and actions while just 14 percent showed Christ-like attitudes and actions. 21 percent showed Christ-like attitudes but Pharisaical actions.
Christians Don’t Care About Science: A 2009 Pew survey of members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science found 33 percent of scientists believe in God and 18 percent more don’t believe in God but do believe in some sort of "higher power."
Christians Have The Same Divorce Rates As Those Outside the Church: A study in the Journal of Religion and Society found that Christians have a slightly lower divorce rate (37 percent) than non-Christians (44 percent). The rates varied between traditions and were significantly lower among those with frequent church attendance.

What I glean from the piece (read it in full here) is that many of us (I know this is true for me) have embraced these stereotypes and continue to proliferate them. Perhaps this article might help to educate and inform us a bit?

Australians, Guns and the right to Bear Arms

My Australian blogging friend Lynne had this to offer on Facebook when I asked folks if they have ever fired a gun ...

It was never much of a gun culture to start with. Sure there are gun clubs, and farmers have rifles for killing sick animals or things like rabbits (which are not native, for some unimaginable reason some early settlers thought it was good idea to bring them in, and they've been a nuisance ever since) but most of us city-dwellers (over 80% of the Australian population) have never touched a gun in our lives. After the Port Arthur shooting the government instituted a massive buy back, and people voluntarily handed their guns in. You are only allowed a gun licence (and can't buy one without it) if you fit certain tightly defined criteria -- e.g. farmer, member of a gun club etc (and gun club members have to leave their guns locked up at the club). We don't feel vulnerable -- most criminals don't have guns either, because there were never that many guns around to begin with.
...
To put it in some sort of cultural perspective, we don't have a right to bear arms written into our constitution (because no one has ever thought we needed it) and we have never had a war fought on Australian soil. And since the gun buy-back, there have been no more mass shootings,and that was more than 25 years ago. Most of us are completely mystified by American gun laws, but I'm sure it comes down to historical differences -- most Australians feel no need to privately defend themselves.

It does seem to me that our history here in America has greatly influenced our thinking about guns. Some of my friends tell me that they feel a need to protect themselves from criminals - some even feel a need to have a gun to safeguard against a government takeover. My thinking is that I wish we were more like Australia - on this issue anyways.

I just came to see what hate looked like ...

These words were what Country Music star Vince Gill spoke to a group of protesters last Sunday right here in Kansas City. The group were from the infamous Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas and they were there to protest because the Gill married Amy Grant in 1998 after their first marriages came to an end. Here is the reported dialog:

“Vince Gill, what in the world are you doing out here?” a woman on the line asked.

“I just came to see what hate looked like,” he said.

“Well, more importantly,” the woman said, “what are you doing with another man’s wife?”

“I came out to see what hatred really looked like in the face.”

“Don’t you know that divorce plus remarriage equals adultery?” the woman asked. “Jesus Christ said that.”

“Did he?” Gill responded. “You know what else he said? He said a lot of stuff about forgiveness, about grace. You guys don’t have any of that.”

Sad that when folks hear the name Fred Phelps or the name of his church people think about hate. I long for a day when churches, and the people who attend them, are more equated with loving people than hating the things that people outside of their buildings do. And yes, in the words of John Lennon, "You may say I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will be as one." Or maybe just a small part of it?

The Selfie

I am thinking that I have simply been too shielded from Social Media - is that possible for a guy who has been blogging since 2004? I say that because I have never (to my ancient recollection anyways) heard of the term "selfie". Here is how The Guardian newspaper describes it.

It starts with a certain angle: a smartphone tilted at 45 degrees just above your eyeline is generally deemed the most forgiving. Then a light source: the flattering beam of a backlit window or a bursting supernova of flash reflected in a bathroom mirror, as preparations are under way for a night out. The pose is important. Knowing self-awareness is conveyed by the slight raise of an eyebrow, the sideways smile that says you're not taking it too seriously. A doe-eyed stare and mussed-up hair denotes natural beauty, as if you've just woken up and can't help looking like this. Sexiness is suggested by sucked-in cheeks, pouting lips, a nonchalant cock of the head and a hint of bare flesh just below the clavicle. Snap! Afterwards, a flattering filter is applied. Outlines are blurred, colours are softened, a sepia tint soaks through to imply a simpler era of vinyl records and VW camper vans.

All of this is the work of an instant. Then, with a single tap, you are ready to upload: to Twitter, to Facebook, to Instagram, each likeness accompanied by a self-referential hashtag. Your image is retweeted and tagged and shared. Your screen fills with thumbs-up signs and heart-shaped emoticons. You are "liked" several times over. You feel a shiver of – what, exactly? Approbation? Reassurance? Existential calm? Whatever it is, it's addictive. Soon, you repeat the whole process, trying out a different pose. Again and again, you offer yourself up for public consumption.

I do not think that I have ever taken a selfie but maybe I should? How about you? Have you ever taken one?

Ever worn Overalls?

Thomas Edison once said "The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work." I have to admit that I have never worn overalls but I think that Edison reminds me of a time when hard work and industry were valued differently than they are today. I saw that change in the 1970s when people clichéd about working smarter not harder - that statement seemed to subtly disparage the value of the kind of work done in overalls. I like the way that David Brooks begins his column titled "Religion and Inequality" ...

About a century ago, Walter Judd was a 17-year-old boy hoping to go to college at the University of Nebraska. His father pulled him aside and told him that, though the family had happily paid for Judd’s two sisters to go to college, Judd himself would get no money for tuition or room and board. His father explained that he thought his son might one day go on to become a fine doctor, but he had also seen loose tendencies. Some hard manual labor during college would straighten him out.

Judd took the train to the university, arrived at the station at 10:30 and by 12:15 had found a job washing dishes at the cafeteria of the Y.M.C.A. He did that job every day of his first year, rising at 6 each morning, not having his first college date until the last week of the school year. Judd went on to become a doctor, a daring medical missionary and a prominent member of Congress between 1943 and 1963. The anecdote is small, but it illustrates a few things. First, that, in those days, it was possible to work your way through college doing dishes. More important, that people then were more likely to assume that jobs at the bottom of the status ladder were ennobling and that jobs at the top were morally perilous.

I like the way that Brooks goes on to say that the hard work of the working class was once the moral bedrock of our nation. Once people like Walter Judd's father understood first hand that success was meaningless without hard work. I wonder, in these get-rich times, if we can ever recover the idea that working hard is a smart and noble way to live?

Endorsing Coffee Shop Etiquette

This image is one of our local coffee shop that is just a few blocks from our loft. Visiting a coffee shop is usually a great and relaxing experience. Yet sometimes not so much when worker-bees are there. I endorse the points that James Kendrick at ZDNet makes in a post titled "Coffee shop work etiquette". Here are his points with my commentary ...

Take phone calls outside :: nothing is more annoying than someone near to you that is breaking your morning zen by yelling at their phone.
Always use headphones :: not interested in your music or the latest viral video that you think is so entertaining.
Don't be an outlet addict :: really - you are spending way too much time at the coffee shop (or you need a new computer) if you need to plug in.
Befriend the baristas :: good advice. try tipping them too.
Do not conduct interviews in public places :: who wants to see grown people trying to impress lower level managers?
Keep meetings small and quiet :: sometimes it is hard to hear someone across the table from you because of all the noisy (not really) "business" that is being done.
Introduce yourself to other regulars :: my friend and spiritual mentor is an advocate of this kind of interaction - not that you will catch me doing it ... but feel free to talk to me. ツ

Anything else bother you in these places? Do you have anything to add to the etiquette list?

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