A Freebie...

Okay, I'm not going to regale you with lots of stories and statements about how great Mark Joyner is and about how you should buy this or that. Frankly, I'm of the opinion that you can gather information and make a good decision on your own. To that extent, I fit Ron Paul's philosophy perfectly.

What I can say is that Mark Joyner has made a lot more money than me, and, as I understand it, he's made a lot of money period. And if he's giving away something for free about how to make money online (and you have any interest in doing so), it's probably not a bad idea to check it out.

That being said, here's the info they want me to paste and that tells you how to get it if you want it (and that allows me to get my copy for free):

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

- John

Currently listening to:
The Passenger - Siouxsie & The Banshees
Heaven Sent - The Mighty Wah!
My Life - Dido

Gun Control? P-lease!

I read part of an article today on a gun control bill. In it was this quote:

"'This bill will make America safer without affecting the rights of a single law-abiding citizen,' said the Senate's chief sponsor, New York Democrat Chuck Schumer."

Now, please tell me, who in their right mind believes that this is going to reduce violence or in any way prevent those who want to commit crimes from doing so? The issues isn't gun control; the issue is people. And you can't prevent those who choose to be violent (whether because of mental health problems or other reasons) from being violent.

And as for Senator Schumer's statement that this doesn't hurt anybody and actually helps us all: frankly, Mr. Schumer, I see the government trying to keep me safe kind of like asking the fox to keep the hen house safe. We have every reason to be concerned about the reaches of government into our everyday lives, but no reason to believe that whatever information that you have about us and control you have in our lives will be used for anything but the personal interests of politicians and bureaucrats to stay in power and keep their jobs and nice pensions.

With all due respect, why don't you leave D.C. and try slogging it out in the everyday working world (which you've never done. See biography here.) because we both know the artificial world of the government isn't the reality the rest of us know.

- John

Currently listening to:
Money - Pink Floyd
Black - Fell Venus
The Wild, Wild Sea - Sting
One of My Turns - Pink Floyd
I Fought The Law (live) - The Clash

Lack of Conversation

My friend, Blair (who doesn't post near often enough, in my opinion), just posted about our lack of conversation in society today, and the tragedy that it is (he's also talking about some movies he really loves).

And he's right.

I heard recently that writing is the work of thought. It takes effort to organize thoughts into meaningful, non-nonsensical combinations of words and ideas. And I think good, deep conversation is the same way.

And that's why I crave it. And, I also think, why I see it all too infrequently.

Our quick-results, instant society too often wants to have something in our head (hey, I'm an info junkie, too), rather than analyzing to come up with some conclusion of our own, to have thoughts and ideas of our own, to have anything ideologically that (gasp!) wasn't planted in our head by another person putting it out there into the public arena.

Good conversation... so rare... so loved... so missed.

Have you had a good one lately?

- John

Currently listening to:

My kids playing.

Bioshock

I tend to stay away from really good video games for two reasons:

1. I simply find them incredibly addictive, and

2. Hey, I can find free games in lots of places (here and here, for example).

Going back to the first reason, addictiveness is a huge problem for me when I find a good one. For example, I've completely stayed away from buying any of the Tomb Raider series after getting loaned a demo for Tomb Raider 2 that gave full access to the first three levels (the closest thing you'll easily find to it is here). In my house, my wife has never been a football widow, but she was a Tomb Raider widow for a few weeks as I'd come home from work and turn on Tomb Raider and play it until 1-2 A.M., go to bed, and repeat the next day.


Having said that, I tried out a new game at my brother's house the other night on his Xbox 360, and, dude!, I'm hooked! Bioshock, very simply, is completely addictive, and now I'm finding myself searching ebay for cheap ways to buy it.

My poor wife, if ever I get it...

- John

Currently listening to:

Public Image Ltd - Rise
Celldweller - Symbiont
Margaret Becker - Cave It In
Loreena McKennitt - Santiago (live)

Jim Palmer

I don't know Jim personally, but his blog has some really interesting and thought-provoking posts on it. I highly recommend it.

And, if you think you're big enough to handle it, read this excerpt from his new book, Wide Open Spaces. I think I'm going to have to buy and read this one.

- John

Now listening:

King's X - Human Behavior

Don't Waste Your Life and Christian Hedonism

I don't know a lot about John Piper, but I find that I am liking him a lot. And I think I like most that he seems to get to what, to me, is the essential core of living a Christian life is about: finding your joy in Him and allowing that joy to come out through you.

I haven't read a lot on these two websites (there is lots of stuff here and here!), but what I've seen is worth passing on, including a complete download of the book, Don't Waste Your Life, and the workbook, too.

Some very, very good stuff.

Now, I think I'll go back to reading the Oswald Chambers biography that I'm working on.

- John

Currently listening to:

the fan on my computer

Watch out!

I'm completely distrustful of anyone other than God who says that they have the complete solution for any situation. I'm much less distrustful than that of anyone who has something to gain by creating and/or publicizing a "potential" disaster who then offers solutions.

It's kind of like the IRS saying with IRA's that "Sure, hold onto your taxable money. We'll give you a tax break on it," and then them failing to mention that when you withdraw your money from that IRA you'll be taxed at whatever the tax rate is at that time (which, chances are, will be much higher than current tax rates based on the fact that our tax rates since the 1980's are the lowest they've been in the 40 or 50 years before that). It's kind of like the fox watching the hen house. (Okay, so I'm in the financial services business, so this kind of thing annoys the heck out of me.)

Well, it seems someone else who has something to gain is making dire predictions about the internet crashing and burning. Check out an enlightening commentary here.

You need to be aware of this. Just because it's in print doesn't mean it's true.

- John

Currently listening to:

My kids

Hysterical

Some of Hugh's cartoons are hysterical. And some will offend you.

But I like reading them anyway, and I recommend you do, too.

- John

Currently listening to:

My kids playing

Let's see how many people I can offend with this...

Maybe I'm on a quest to see how many different "forbidden" areas I can comment on in as short a time as possible. I guess we'll see with the next few posts...

Anyways, I've thought for quite a while that the American school system is broken. Irreparably. Should be completely dismantled. And parents should be responsible for their own kids. And people should be responsible for themselves.

Having said that, here are some links to read: here, here, here, and here.

John Taylor Gatto is right.

Unless you have a way to refute what he has to say, you are the one responsible for the damage to your kids and those you sentence to those prisons called public schools if you ignore what he says.

- John

Currently listening to:

Fool You - King's X (from the best album they ever recorded IMO)
I'm Afraid of Americans (V1) - David Bowie
Melting Alone - Sixpence None the Richer
Will You - P.O.D.
Redhands - Ballydowse (brilliant group. Miss these guys.)

This is disturbing....

I don't know if the accusations are true, but, regardless, this situation has done nothing but leave a black eye on those who are identified with Christ. It disturbs me.

But, I think, there's an underlying problem here, too: why have we allowed anyone to have control over this much of anything that is supposed to belong to God? Wait a minute, I thought it all belonged to God. And, why should we expect that giving a person this much control over anything wouldn't taint many or most of the people who have that power and authority.

What happened to Him owning it all? What happened to the idea that we are just stewards? What happened to the idea that they will know us by our love?

I'm just disturbed that these accusations have come out. I can't say that I'm terribly in favor of either side of the issue. One is accused of financial mismanagement and abusing the privileges of office (Should we even have offices? What's wrong with us humans that we are clamoring for little kings in our lives? Look at Saul, for crying out loud!) and the other files suit against the school. What happened to "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord" and not to take another believer to court because it shames the name of Christ? Whose stuff is it anyways and whose fight is it anyways?

God help us all to see things from His point of view.

- John

Currently listening to:
Asia at Odd Hours - Splashdown
This Land is Mine - Dido
Island of Souls - Sting
Daughter - Pearl Jam

There is no try, only do....

I appreciate Jamie Smart. The stuff I read from him and the material that I hear from him is consistently good, and, unlike some people into psychology and, specifically, NLP, he doesn't float off into a bunch of New-Age kind of fluffy stuff. He stays on track with practical, useful information.

I recommend checking him out here, and check out this short video (1:15) on trying vs doing here.

Good stuff.

Have fun.

- John

New (to me) Artist

I came across this girl for the first time today (okay, yesterday. It's 2 A.M.). Good stuff. What little bit I've heard I really like. I'm having flashbacks to Bob Mould's "Workbook" and the Jennifer Knapp's "Kansas" with something else thrown in.

I like it. Check it out.

Click here.

And check out this live performance video, which was the first song I heard by her. It REALLY rocks.

Click here.

- John

What is the nature of power?

We all know what power is. Or, at least, we think we know. But what is it really?

I think power is the ability to accomplish something, and, like any other tool, it can be used for good or bad (which gets into a whole other discussion about what is good and what is bad and situational vs non-situational ethics. Anyways...).

The most interesting question for me is when is the use of power good and when is it bad? And more specifically, when is the power to influence others good or bad?

I think most people agree that manipulating someone for purely personal gain is bad (unethical, in this case). But is it ever unethical to persuade someone to do something that you feel is in their own good but that you also profit or benefit from?

I'm still chewing on this, so I don't have a good answer at this point, but I welcome your thoughts and comments.

As a side note, my friend Blair Warren has some very interesting posts that touch on the use of power (in this case, persuasive power) such as this one.

Check them out.

- John

Maybe I'm back....

Can't tell if anyone missed me. Certainly, no one commented. Then again, I didn't really post anything previously, so I'm not terribly surprised.

My life is beginning to give me just enough room to breathe again to begin thinking about things and, thus, to begin commenting on things.

All kinds of things.

I expect I'll be posting on religion, theology, psychology, nlp, music, art, creativity, Maslow's Hierarchy of values, life, love, the pursuit of happiness, and the intersection of all of those things and more. After all, it's that intersection and inter-relationship that really interests me anyways.

That being said, maybe a few of you will read this before Thanksgiving (coming this Thursday to a USA near you), and, if so, I hope you have a great one. (If you read this afterwards, I hope you had a great one.)

Have lots of fun. Drink a really good brewed beverage (I recommend a nice Papua New Guinea roast), and think about the thought for the day:

Do you really think that Jesus did anything he didn't really want to do?

- John