E Pluribus Unum

Randy Paush is dying but he wants to tell you what he's learned about living.

Randy is a professor at Carnegie-Mellon University. In September, he delivered his "Last Public Lecture", entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." This talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk", i.e., "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?"

In Randy's case it wasn't hypothetical -- in August he was told he had 3-6 months left to live a "normal" life.

Since giving his lecture, the video has been downloaded over 1 million times. It runs about 90 minutes (the first 8:30 are introductions and testimonials). Settle in and watch it -- it is deeply moving but, at the same time, upbeat and inspirational.

On October 22, he appeared on Oprah's show and delivered a 10 minute version of the lecture.

Take some time out of your busy schedule right now and listen to what Randy has to say. It will stay with you far longer than anything else you'll hear or see today.

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Categories: Family , Humor , Random thoughts , Video

...Live in a world where you needed a quarter to get into every bathroom (including the ones in your home)

...OR...

...where every bathroom only had one square of tissue?

(From Zobmondo! The outrageous book of bizarre choices, Workman Publishing, 2001)

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Categories: Random thoughts

From StoryEvent:

[First,] you indicate that you're interested in buying a big fat warranty...

...then ask ask the sales assistant to lower the item's price. Since big box electronics stores are often pushed to sell warranties, they'll be willing to budge on the price of your item - especially if it's got a big price tag.

[But wait, there's more...]

Then when checkout time comes, you have a change of heart on the warranty. Simple enough.

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Categories: Random thoughts

Go to any town square in middle America and you will witness an interesting architectural phenomenon which speaks volumes to our collective cultural history.

Holding a prime piece of real estate will be a large, impressive church that has been standing for well over one hundred years.  It may even have a plaque designating it as a protected historical building, but you can be sure it has been in continuous operation servicing a dedicated congregation for generations.

Looking across the street, usually in the center of the square, will be the courthouse. Often this building enjoys historical significances as well. Originally it was the center of all government power, whose functions have long since outgrown their original building -- outsourced to taller, box-like structures ringing the square.  But you can get there from the unmistakable old courthouse whose employees are more than willing to tell you where to go.

I marveled at this as a young lawyer, traveling to a city I hadn't been to before, and instantly recognizing where to go simply by heading to the center of town, parking close to the building that looked like it was where I should be, and as long as I was in the proper uniform -- suit, tie, briefcase in hand -- i would politely be directed to my designated cubbyhole via signs and helpful security.

However, over the last several decades, another garish building has dominated the center of the city. Literally overshadowing the quaint courthouse and high spires of the church is the county lock-up.

It seems a truly sad commentary on American society that an ugly, cinderblock monstrosity, a jail, is now the dominant building downtown -- literally overshadowing those other icons of our growth as a nation.

Seven Million in Prison: US Has Most Prisoners in World: "Tough sentencing laws, record numbers of drug offenders and high crime rates have contributed to the United States having the largest prison population and the highest rate of incarceration in the world, according to criminal justice experts. A US Justice Department report released on November 30 showed that a record 7 million people - or one in every 32 American adults - were behind bars, on probation or on parole at the end of last year."

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Categories: Random thoughts

The Washington Times wants Speaker Hastert to resign. To do so would be to capitulate to Democratic-activist-induced and MSM-abetted hysteria. Not only should Hastert not resign, he should use every opportunity to swing back hard at a MSM deeply compromised by its ideological extremism and a Democratic Party committed to retreat and defeat in Iraq and fecklessness in the war generally.

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Categories: Random thoughts

Rosemary blows her whistle and demands that everyone come out of the pool!

"Who on the Right advocated the killing of journalists?"

Well, for starters, she ought to look around her own home -- she's living under the same roof with one of them. And she's got a book on her nightstand from another one.

But that isn't the only thing that's bugging me:

Is she suggesting that killing journalists is worth a comment or two but killing of your political enemies is not?

And lastly, why are these people so angry and vicious? Don't they know that their side controls everything that happens in this country? Talk about sore winners!

God help us all -- here and around the world -- if they lose the next election.

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Categories: Random thoughts

Torture is OK but blow jobs are beyond the pale.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Random thoughts

Glenn Greenwald:

When it becomes commonplace to hurl accusations of treason against domestic political opponents, or when calls for imprisonment and/or hanging of journalists and political leaders become the daily fare -- all of which is true for the pro-Bush blogosphere -- those are serious developments. And they merit discussion and examination by the media.

...[L]et us read about the extremist rhetoric, vicious character smears, and deliberate incitement to violence that has become the staple of the largest pro-Bush blogs --Malkin, Powerline, Instapundit and LGF -- along with the bloggers whom they tirelessly promote [Ed. Note: and the bloggers who tirelessly promote them back].

Hundreds of thousands of people each day, including pundits and television news producers, are reading this material. The journalistic value in examining it and reporting on it ought to be self-evident.

UPDATE: Nitpicker wants to know:

Why is the opposition of a candidate [Lieberman] considered an "Inquisition" from the left, but death threats from the right get ignored? Why is it worth covering an in-house Kos spat, but not the calls to violence by frequent guests on national news programs like Michelle Malkin and David Horowitz?

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Categories: Media , Random thoughts

Rasmussen says that Bush's uptick in their poll (into the low 40's) "is the result of his base coming home."

Translation: his base loves it that we're mortified at the thought of 2+ more years of this:

They like to call it "Bush Derangement Syndrome," (a term coined by the self-important and ghastly pundit-psychiatrist Charles Krauthammer). But honestly, what does it say about "his base" that they look at Bush and feel pride?

P.S. Speaking of polls, Fox News has Bush's approval rating dropping 5 points (into the mid 30's again) over the last two weeks.

"It is important to remember that the president got his bounce after the killing of al-Zarqawi in Iraq," comments Opinion Dynamics Chairman John Gorman. "While administration officials were careful not to overplay the significance of this, it naturally created hope that things would get better. Several weeks of bloody footage from Iraq have pretty much dashed those hopes."

Stay the course!

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Categories: George W. Bush , Politics , Poll , Random thoughts , Republicans

Glenn Greenwald:

My post yesterday concerning the hypocrisy and inconsistency of those right-wing bloggers ... doesn't seem to have been very well-received by the Right Blogosphere.

In less than 24 hours, they swarmed together to spit out the most petulant wave of childish insults and substance-free foot-stomping that I have seen in quite some time -- a frenzied wave of ad hominems and bitter personal insults...

IJS.

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Categories: Random thoughts

He had a pretty brief career although his legacy was substantial. No one really knew the nature of his mental illness (I've heard schizophrenia and even Asberger's). His mates loved him and took care of him for the rest of his life, faithfully sending the royalty checks.

And maybe he found some peace at the end, maybe not.

MSNBC:

[In later years,] he reverted to his real name, Roger Barrett, and spent much of the rest of his life living quietly in his hometown of Cambridge, England. Moving into his mother's suburban house, he passed the time painting and tending the garden...He was a familiar figure to neighbors, often seen cycling or walking to the corner store...

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

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Categories: History , Music , Random thoughts

Report: CIA unit that hunted bin Laden closed

I don't believe that for a minute.

I think this is disinformation designed to fool that wascally wabbit into thinking we've given up. Just wait -- he'll pop his head out of the hole and -- BAM! -- wabbit fwicassee.

George W. Bush -- as crafty and devious a genius as we've ever seen.

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Categories: Random thoughts

And now it's come to this:

Hitler Cats!

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Recently, the military reported that a milestone was passed -- 2500 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines killed. Logic tells us that is a very low number compared to other wars. The White House Press Secretary even went so far as to call it just "a number."

However, inexplicably, the public has long since turned against the war effort, saying the entire venture is simply not worth it.

Why? Are the American people mistaken in their logic? Or are they being very logical? Or is there something else behind this momentum against the war?

Last night, Miss Julie and I watched a documentary from the American Film Institute called "The 100 Most Inspirational Films." One of the films was Braveheart, starring Mel Gibson as William Wallace, Scotland's greatest patriot.

Here's Wallace rallying his troops before a climactic battle:

"I am William Wallace. And I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny! You have come to fight as free men. And free man you are! What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?"

"Two thousand against ten?" - the veteran shouted. "No! We will run - and live!"

"Yes!" Wallace shouted back. "Fight and you may die. Run and you will live at least awhile. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our freedom!"

Did you ever see Spartacus? Or Gandhi? Or Glory? Or Mr. Smith Goes To Washington? Or Schindler's List? Or absorb ANY story about one man fighting for a lost cause or a hopeless quest? How about the story of the Founders of this country?

Where's the logic in ANY of that? It isn't there. And yet we do it because it is who we are.

Like Gandhi said, "Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth." To me, that means logic isn't enough. You must speak from (and to) the heart.

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Categories: Random thoughts

A newly-contrite Ben Roethlisberger apologized to the Pittsburgh Steelers, fans and his family on Thursday, saying he was fortunate to be alive and pledging to wear a helmet if he ever again rides a motorcycle.

Just. Shut. Up.

What an idiot!

[crickets]

OK, that was harsh. I should remind myself that guys like Roethlisberger do perform a public service: they are organ donors on wheels.

And besides, eventually all motorcyclists will be smart enough to wear helmets because the stupid ones will have culled themselves out of the gene pool.

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Categories: Random thoughts

A new study suggests that people may think that the happiest days of their lives are when they're young, but that belief doesn't jibe with reality.

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Categories: Random thoughts

You could follow the Hillbilly Housewife's plan or you could eat Monkey Chow.

Yes, you heard me...Monkey Chow.

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Categories: Random thoughts

If you are reading this, you probably have heard something about pundit Ann Coulter's recent comments addressing the families who lost loved ones on 9/11.

Up to now, I haven't written about her comments. Not because I don't know where to start. I'm afraid that once I got started I I simply wouldn't know where to stop.

So I'll just say that Keith Olbermann speaks for me.

On the other hand, what I can't fathom are the comments from our friend Rosemary Esmay:

I saw her defend herself and I think that she made some really good points....Lots of people lost [loved ones] on 9/11 but these 4 women are acting as political operatives and using their 9/11 widowhood as a shield from debate/response.

As for these women using their pain as "a shield against debate/response," I haven't seen or heard that -- have you, Rose? If so, let's have it. As far as I know, no one (not even Coulter) has been prevented from saying whatever they want about these women.

You know what I think? I think that for years the exact opposite has been ocurring right under your nose, Rosemary.The Bush administration and its loyalists have used 9/11 as a shield against any criticism whatsoever of their policies and performance in office. Anyone who dares to criticise Bush has been labeled a terrorist sympathizer and a traitor, a coward, or worse -- now they get accused of (get this!) enjoying the sight of their husbands being burned to death. Is that one of the good points you think Ann Coulter made?

P.S. Rose: you call yourself the Queen of All Evil, but I think Ann Coulter just ate your lunch. And you didn't even put up a fight.

For those of you who would like to read the response from the women that Coulter attacked...

Continue reading "How (and why) does anyone defend Ann Coulter?" »

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Categories: Random thoughts

9/11 was an election day. Today is an election day. Today is 6/6/06.

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Categories: Random thoughts

Pssst -- it's on the gas gauge...

More on this...

Regarding the gas gage, the tank if often on the same side of the car as the gage is of the instrument cluster. So if you look at your gas gage and it is on the right side of the speedometer, your gas tank is almost ceratinly on the rioght side of the car. If it isn't, it almost always has the arrow....

Foreign cars typically have the gas tank on the driver's side - US cars on the passenger's side. (This isn't a 100% rule, but its its pretty common).
Next time you get off the Jersey turnpike (or similar freeway) and there's a lot of long lines for gas, you might notice that for the most part American-made cars are in the long lines, while foreign (and more often European than Japanese/Korean) don't have to wait that long because the gas tank is on the opposite side....

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Categories: Random thoughts

As faithful watchers of The West Wing know, the incoming President has 18 months, tops, to get anything done. So his/her campaign has to focus on what that is -- and leave the rest for later.

That said, I was interested to see this list of issues that Democrats in Blogville have reached consensus on.

Scan the list and tell me -- which one of these you would campaign on?

Atrios:

I think the "liberal netroots" does have a fairly clear consensus on a number of issues. I'm not going to claim every liberal blogger or blog reader agress with everything on this list - that'd be ridiculous - but nonetheless I'd say there's a pretty obvious general consensus on the following:

• Undo the bankruptcy bill enacted by this administration
  
• Repeal the estate tax repeal
  
• Increase the minimum wage and index it to the CPI
  
• Universal health care (obviously the devil is in the details on this one)
  
• Increase CAFE standards. Some other environment-related regulation
  
• Pro-reproductive rights, getting rid of abstinence-only education, improving education about and access to contraception including the morning after pill, and supporting choice. On the last one there's probably some disagreement around the edges (parental notification, for example), but otherwise.
  
• Simplify and increase the progressivity of the tax code
  
• Kill faith-based funding. Certainly kill federal funding of anything that engages in religious discrimination.
  
• Reduce corporate giveaways
  
• Have Medicare run the Medicare drug plan
  
• Force companies to stop underfunding their pensions. Change corporate bankruptcy law to put workers and retirees at the head of the line with respect to their pensions.
  
• Leave the states alone on issues like medical marijuana. Generally move towards "more decriminalization" of drugs, though the details complicated there too.
  
• Imprison Jeff Goldstein for crimes against humanity for his neverending stupidity
  
• Paper ballots
  
• Improve access to daycare and other pro-family policies. Obiously details matter.
  
• Raise the cap on wages covered by FICA taxes.

I'm sure I could think of a few more things. I left off foreign policy because I find that most people who write about it imagine they're playing the game of Risk. It's nice to have nice bumpersticker doctrines which are ultimately meaningless, but basically "put grownups in charge" is my prescription. Kick the petulant children out.

...adding a few more things which would be obvious if we weren't living in the Grand and Glorious Age of Bush:

• Torture is bad
  
• Imprisoning citizens without charges is bad
  
• Playing Calvinball with the Geneva Conventions and treaties generally is bad
  
• Imprisoning anyone indefinitely without charges is bad
  
• Stating that the president can break any law he wants any time "just because" is bad

...oh, and I meant to include:

• Marriage rights for all, which includes "gay marriage" and quicker transition to citizenship for the foreign spouses of citizens.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Business , Constitution , Democrats , Economics , Energy , Faith & Religion , Health + Wellness , Health Care , Immigration reform , Iran , Iraq , Jobs , Law , Military , NSA , Politics , Random thoughts , Terrorism , War , War in Iraq

Bruce Reed makes a great observation:

What do you get when you mix a Bush 41 speechwriter with a Sunday celebrity from Fox? Well, if Peggy Noonan and Terry Bradshaw had a grown son together, he might sound a lot like Tony Snow. To paraphrase Stevie Wonder, baloney and irony go together in perfect harmony.

It's too early to predict whether these talents will combine for greatness or disaster. But so far, the results look promising. Asked by Cox News whether he would be frank with the president, Snow delivered this gem:

"They want people to express their opinions. You're not coming here to drink the Kool-Aid. You're coming here to serve the president. And at this particular juncture I think what you want is as much honest counsel as you can get."

In just four sentences, Snow managed to refer to himself in the first, second, and third person – even switching back and forth in the same sentence. When he said, "I think what you want is as much honest counsel as you can get," he referred to the president in the second person and himself in the first person and (implicitly) the third.

But here's the clincher!

Even Yogi Berra couldn't go from first to third on a single quote.

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Categories: Notable Quotes , Random thoughts

Legal Battle Brewing Between Dwarf Kiss Tribute Bands, MiniKiss v. Tiny Kiss...

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Categories: Random thoughts

From the LA Daily News:

Mayvis Coyle, 82, was shuffling with her cane across busy Foothill Boulevard while a traffic police officer watched and waited.

And watched and waited.

Even before Coyle finished crossing the intersection at Woodward Avenue, he had scribbled a $114 ticket for crossing against a don't-walk signal. "I entered the crosswalk, it was green," said Coyle, of Sunland, who is fighting the infraction issued Feb. 15. "It turned red before I could get over. There he was, waiting, the motorcycle cop.

"He said, `You're obstructing the flow of traffic."'

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Categories: Random thoughts

You know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking that this country has come off the rails. The usual coalitions have broken apart. The electorate is disgusted. Congress is paralyzed. Bush is clueless. Everyone is fighting each other. No one is in charge.

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Categories: Random thoughts

If mainstream America remembers Gordon Parks at all, it remembers him as the director of Shaft. But Parks had a long and distinguished career in a number of other fields before he got to Hollywood.

Michael Wilmington:

Parks, who died Tuesday in his New York City home at the age of 93, was a true Renaissance man who had an astonishing array of gifts and talents. He excelled in many areas and lived an improbably full, inspiring and productive life.

Above all, he was a photographer, one of the legends of his profession. He was the first African-American staff photographer for Life magazine, and later became the first black to direct a major Hollywood movie.

Parks' perfect eye and sensitivity to light and dark revealed themselves in many other fields as well. He was a novelist, poet, journalist, composer of both film scores and classical music (including the 1989 ballet "Martin," about Martin Luther King Jr.) and even, for a while, a semi-pro basketball player.

All his great gifts however, especially his genius for photography and writing, came together in his work in film.

He was a giant and a huge influence on me. Rest in peace, Mr. Parks.

P.S. If you get a chance, read Parks' The Learning Tree and/or Choice of Weapons. The first is a novel (based on his own childhood) and the second is an autobiography.

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Oddly enough, number 3 on the list is one that I wrote nearly a year ago -- and it gets some page-views even now.

1. Here are a couple of tough issues that you need to consider
   February, 2006

2. Top Ten Chuck Norris Facts
   December, 2005

3. Marbury vs. Madison
   April, 2005

4. Face Recognition Software: I look like Fidel!
   January, 2006

5. Movie trailer mash-ups
   February, 2006

6. Mixed bag
   January, 2006

7. What Terrorists Do (and how Karl Rove & Chris Matthews are helping)
   January, 2006

8. Krewe du Vieux says 'C'est Levee'
   February, 2006

9. The "Pragmatist" of Hamas
   February, 2006

10. I favor the separation of Church and War
    February, 2006

    
    

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Categories: About Me , Marketing , Random thoughts

Keith Olberman:

Buck O'Neil [is] a living link to the great stars who were prevented from reaching the Major Leagues because of the color barrier that would not fall until 1947. Himself Jackie Robinson's teammate with the legendary Kansas City Monarchs, later their manager. Even now, at the age of 94, one of the great ambassadors of any sport. And yesterday, baseball might as well have told Buck O'Neil to get lost.

Yesterday was the day the game elected to its Hall of Fame, 17 heroes of the era of the "Negro Leagues." The last such election scheduled. Ever. And Buck O'Neil was not elected.

[He was a] first baseman on four pennant winners and manager of five more in the old Negro Leagues, the first man of color to be a coach in the major leagues...

At 94, Buck O'Neil is our last living link to an age that will pass away forever when he is gone. It was the least they could do to honor him during his lifetime.

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Categories: Random thoughts