Poor word choice reveals super-bias

No, seriously, don't worry; our beloved leader has redeemed the economic woes facing our country! Retail sales this month (the biggest spending month of the year) rebounded with an increase, no a leap of -- that's right -- 1.3%!!!!!!

Read the article here.

Compare that with last October's 1.4% increase over September retail sales, and that's actually a decrease in growth. But that's a statistical-interpretation that messianic-liberal newspapers only use in regards to things like unemployment filings; i.e. "New jobless claims have dropped 20% this quarter" -- which means that 80% as many people as last quarter lost jobs this quarter, but the wording makes it sounds like jobs opportunities are on the rise.

The speed at which our economic troubles are increasing is decreasing, and the speed at which our retail sales are increasing is also decreasing; it looks like everything is coming to a standstill.

Good news! We're not all dead

Today, officials in charge of the Large Hadron Collider have announced their Hadron Collider's claim on the World Record for highest-energy particle accelerator.

Many scientists were worried that powering up the monstrous machine would, in fact, create a black hole that would destroy the earth. I'm still here, so I guess it didn't. Thank you.

End of an Era

For ten years, I have coached the boys' cross country team at the high school where I teach. On Thursday, I announced to current and future team captains that I will not return to coach next fall. This has been both the easiest and most difficult decision I've ever had to make.

I'm sure there will be days next fall when I question my decision, but the early-afternoon laughter of my two young sons will (and already does) overpower such doubts.

I have told my Cross Country boys again and again that "Life is a series of decisions you have to make about your priorities, and you must choose; indecision will cost you everything."

I have chosen my priorities, and it will be worth it.

This just in: Chocolate leads to violence!

I'm sitting unmolested at my table at parent-teacher conferences (8 total hours, 12 total visitors), reading the news (I visit several news aggregators to find stories that interest me), and here's the one that grabbed my attention.

To sum up the article: a new UK study hypothesizes "that excessive confectionery consumption increases the likelihood of violence in adulthood." The author of the article goes on to ridicule the hypothesis, but I think it brings up some reasonable ideas. Is there a correlation between the laxity of discipline at home that leads to "daily sweets consumption" and the transfer of that same instant-gratification mentality to other areas?

I'm not convinced that commentary here is necessary. Just give me my Thin Mints!

On Depression

Last week, I attended the bi-weekly "Beer and Theology" group that my church tangentially supports, where we discussed Depression -- the causes, results, and potential responses for the church. Here's the article we read.

I think I had known before that I'm depressed, but this discussion has really brought it into some kind of focus. How does one get help when one doesn't have time to get help? Why can't I just get over it? It's not as if anything is really wrong here, right? I'm just lonely, feeling inadequate, unwanted, and unappreciated.

Oh well.

"Ukraine's Got Talent" winner.

It's worth your time to watch this commemoration of WWII - when 1 in 4 Ukrainians died. The following text is from my friend Beth Cutter: "The winner of this year’s edition of “Ukraine’s Got Talent” was Kseniya Simonova, a sand artist. Her real-time animation depicted the Nazi invasion of Ukraine in WWII. It begins with a couple sitting on a bench, holding hands. Soon warplanes appear, the idyllic scene is destroyed, and in its place we see a woman crying. warplanes arrive again. As images morph from a weeping widow, to a monument to an Unknown Soldier, to a mother and child bidding farewell to a man with his hands pressed against the glass, you can see members of the audience weeping"

Book Review: North! or Be Eaten

You may recall from a previous post (Here) that I am a reader of books, and occasionally read one that I wish to recommend to friends.

You may also know from personal conversations or from vibes emanating from the collective unconscious that I'm a big fan of the singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson (his Albums Love and Thunder and Behold the Lamb are some of the best I've ever listened to), and what follows is my review of his book North! or Be Eaten, book two in The Wingfeather Saga. Like all archetypal hero tales, North! follows its heroes, the Igiby Children (who in book one discovered their royal heritage), across vast and varied dangerous landscapes as they just keep out of reach of their pursuers, including the vicious Fangs of Dang.

If you're looking for a truly original plot-line, you might be disappointed -- it's the Archetypal Hero's journey to be sure; but just as the kids in front of me in line for LOTR said "That Gandalf is just a rip-off of Obi-Wan Kenobi" yet loved the movie, you will find that it's the retelling of the classic journey (through the Igibys, their devious and dangerous pursuers, and the vast land that AP has created) that will keep you reading.

In the interest of full disclosure, I think that almost everything of Andrew's I've ever read or heard was fantastic, and I volunteered to read this book with the express purpose of writing a review, but the book has its drawbacks.

1) I'm not a footnote guy -- in fact, I'm irritated at the frequent numerals that interrupt my reading -- and this account has more than its fair share. The footnotes are occasionally important, almost always clever, but decidedly in the way. Placed as footnotes rather than endnotes, the reader feels obligated to read them all, because sometimes the piece of information really helps, but it's irritating.

2) Blaise Pascal allegedly prefaced some correspondence by saying "Forgive the length of my letter; I hadn't the time to write you a short one." I'm afraid that North! suffers for the same reason. Yes, I went to a college where they named the library after James Michener, whose work is said to sell by the pound, but that doesn't mean I like it. You will find no shortage of description in this book, but at times it was more than I was looking for.

Despite these pet peeves of mine, this retelling of the story of the ignorant heirs, discovering their true heritage, pursued by those who would do them harm, traveling into exile to survive in order that they might restore the kingdom to rights is worthy of a place on your bookshelf.

Is it on par with the Chronicles of Narnia, the Lord of the Rings, or The Great and Terrible Quest? Nearly. Would it make a great gift for a fan of fantasy fiction? You bet. Would reading book one be helpful first? Probably.

I look forward to the third book and getting to finish the journey, and I hope not to get too sidetracked by the footnotes that will undoubtedly be a part of the third volume.

World's Strongest Man takes Helicopter Ride

Well, it's official: my brother Mr. Cool is the World's Strongest Man, and for proving this, he was awarded a helicopter ride from the middle of nowhere to Loveland, Colorado.

My brother rolled an ATV onto himself on a camping trip this morning. His camping buddies were not within earshot, so he had to remove the ATV, put it upright, and then drive it back to camp - on a double-compound-fractured left leg and with a hairline fracture in his collarbone. He's out of surgery now, and still has a chance of attending my other younger brother's wedding this Saturday.

At least he didn't have to cut off an arm because it was trapped in a boulder.

P.S. - The humor in this piece is my defense mechanism, as I very nearly lost it in the dentist's office this morning as I was overcome with something akin to fear, and not of the drill.

Expectations...

My brother and his wife are expecting a baby...any minute now.  No seriously, it could happen right now.  Or now.  Or ... now.

I'm sure I'll find out by the time you actually read this.

Update: 3:30 a.m. today (May 28, 2009).  6 lb. 8 oz. Baby Boy.  Name to be released once permission has been secured.  His name is not Lord Mountbatten Alexander Ignacius (despite my loud protestations).

Christmas Letter

It's almost time for our annual late Christmas Letter.  It goes to press this week, but we don't have room enough (or cash enough) for all of the photos we wanted to include, so we created a website with photos for you to check out: curtisandclark.blogspot.com.

Enjoy.

De-friending your facebook "Friends"

So if you read my last post (immediately below this), you'll find that perhaps the ideal number of close friends a person could have is five.

I joined the evil facebook on a friend's recommendation, and I suddenly had 50+ "friends" and numerous requests for "friend"-ship from people whose daily goings-on I really don't want or need to know.

So I un-friended a lot of people and managed to get my circle down to 20.  I'm sure it's a little evil.  I'm sure some people will be facebook "mad" now that I'm no longer their facebook "friend," but seriously how do people manage a group of 700 "friends"?  I'm certain I don't know.

I un-friended every woman I was "friends" with.  That was easy.  Besides, I'm "friends" and actual friends with all their husbands, making our friendship unnecessary.  I even un-friended my sister-in-law and my sister-in-law-to-be.  I un-friended people I went to high school and college with whom I don't see, won't see, and wouldn't stop by and visit if I were in their city.  I also un-friended every person who sent me a facebook "cat."  This, I believe, will now be my personal rule: send me a cat, I de-friend you.

Anyway, my circle of friends is now 20.  It will take some soul searching for me to narrow the list some more, but I'm sure I'll need it as I continue to get requests and still try and keep my group down to a reasonable, manageable size.

Circle of Friends

Matt's blog recently featured a discussion about the pros and cons of social networking sites/technologies, and this morning I ran across this story from the BBC News about a recent study on the "optimum" number of friends a person should have.

The article suggests that as people become more busy because of the demands placed on them by modern technological life and yet still have more "friends" that those friendships become more superficial.  Perhaps 5 close friends is the ideal?

Happy Birthday, World Changers!

Today is the 200th anniversary of the births of two men who continue to impact the world today.

So what's the difference between Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln?

One freed people from slavery to misguided dogmatism and the other was Charles Darwin.

Clearly the joke can be turned, but it's funny to me either way.

StrengthWheel.com

I picked up the first order of StrengthWheels from the print shop on Monday, and the StrengthWheel website (www.strengthwheel.com) is live and ready for action.

In case you don't know, the StrengthWheel is a simple circular calculator that takes the guesswork out of establishing training loads in the weight room.

It's been in the works for a little while and is covered by the same patent that I wrote for The Original PaceWheel - the distance training calculator that has helped me achieve my dream of becoming a Thousandaire.

I'm trying to increase my Google Ratings, and one of the ways that Google ranks search results is through links to a site, particularly those links hosted on a Google-family website.

An increase in links to www.StrengthWheel.com correlates directly to the popularity of The StrengthWheel website as a search result. Hopefully, with the right meta-tag listing and a number of links to the site, StrengthWheel.com can move up in the listings when someone searches for weight-training or a related idea.

"How can I help?" You ask. Many of you have a blog, and I would appreciate it greatly if you would give me some "link-love" by setting a link to www.strengthwheel.com on your site. The more places it exists, the higher the ranking; the higher the ranking, the more hits I'll get; the more hits I get, the more orders I'll receive, etc. Also, if you have friends who'd be wiling to jump on this bandwagon, I'd appreciate it.

I would love your help in this guerrilla marketing technique, and I hope that you can join in.