Life On A B-I7

Day #284

There appears to be a local ordinance in Redmond Oregon making it mandatory for all beards to be three inches long or longer. Tattoos are optional, not required by ordinance, but there is a movement afoot to present legislation to that effect.

Day #283

There’s nothing better than jumping on a motorcycle and going downtown to have a beer and a slider. Alright, there might be a few things better than that, but not very many.

Day #282

Always seek the advice of your physician or medical professional. Nothing I say here should be construed as advice or even necessarily smart. That’s called equivocation — I’m very good at that. Another reason why you should not take my advice: Sometimes I don’t take my foot off the gas soon enough when driving. I’ve been told that’s a bad thing; however, I’m not too concerned about that because that tends to be a problem shared by most men.

Day #281

You are the cause of whatever you are feeling. Rarely is your pain caused by another. It is you allowing yourself to feel pain.

Day #280

We all work hard to make today a good day, to fulfill our obligations, to be a good friend and partner to the ones we love, but what are we doing today to build a better future, for ourselves and for the world?

Day #279

Please give me the strength to browse less and read thoughtful material more. While you’re at it, remind me that I don’t need to use cruise control while driving. Being present in my surroundings is a good thing.

Day #278

Keep a tight rein on your tongue. Get over yourself. You are not special enough to hold yourself over other people. If you not looking out for other people, your not being responsible.

Day #277

The Ear of the Universe

The ear of the Universe is listening
Everything you say is being heard
Think carefully about your thoughts
before you give them voice.

Day #276

If I had to have a brother… I would choose the two of you… Now all you have to do is figure out if I’m talking about you, or someone else…

Day #275

Getting old is a bitch. The best way to get old is to stay young. The only way to accomplish that is to keep your mind actively pursuing new ideas and new ways of addressing the world. The body will age. The less we focus on that the better.

It’s also a good idea to avoid car washes. If your too old, the man at the entrance to the car wash with the sign that directs you “Left,” “Right” or “Forward”, is likely to hold up a sign that says… “Idiot.”

Day #274

The United States has come closer than any predecessor Democracy in achieving “a more perfect form of government.” We should continue to learn from our ongoing experience. To that end, we should consider that life appointment to the Supreme Court is not an ideal practice. I suggest it would be better if appointments were made by recommendation from a committee of Senators composed of equal representation from each party.

Day #273

James Madison, whom I admire greatly, as much for his role in the establishment of our country as for his sheer brilliance, stated in the Federalist Paper #51 (the following is my paraphrasing) that when a government is formed the first priority is to give that government the tools to guide and protect the governed, in other words, laws. The second priority, and possibly most important, is to give the government the structure required to guide itself.

Day #272

“If we don’t win this election, I don’t think you’re going to have another election in this country.”

That is a scary statement. Never in our country’s history has someone running for office worked so hard to normalize violent rhetoric, or blatantly misrepresent not only our history but also reality in general. Of course, the violence in that sentence is veiled. This candidate is a master of that technique. Don’t let this nonsense lull you into thinking he is not serious about the use of violence, he is not only willing to use violence as a political tool, but he is intentionally positioning himself so he has an excuse to use that very tool.

The other pattern in his rhetoric that is important to point out is his habit of revealing precisely what his plans are, by accusing others of having that same plan. The intent is to make it sound like he is the savior when in fact he is the perpetrator. This is the very pinnacle of shallowness, but it seems to be a persuasive strategy in the eyes of many people.

Another way of putting this is… If you vote for this candidate, you are making yourself his “Apprentice.” That is the reality for anyone who chooses to follow him. He is making younothing more than a pawn.

Day #271

There is nothing quite like seeing the country from the seat of a bicycle.

I have crossed the country on a bicycle twice and I hope to do it at least one more time. To say there is nothing quite like the experience is probably an understatement. Don’t take my word for it, give it a try.

Day #270

Any man who speaks angrily to you and succeeds in making you angry is manipulating you. You have fallen into a trap. You are being manipulated for personal gain. No man speaks anger for righteous purposes. To move people for a righteous cause, the good man will speak truth and reason.

When a society loses the ability to discern between the man who has virtue and the self-serving man, that society runs the risk of collapse.

Day #269

I stole this entry from my Journal…

Keep moving, keep learning, keep growing, pay your debts, live within your means, you don’t need two of everything, lemon bars are not as good as they look, be like the people you admire, read good books, listen to good music, don’t let the cat tell you what to do, don’t eat at IHOP, vote for good people, don’t vote for people that you need to make excuses for, pray for snow, don’t leave the water running, don’t drive too fast, listen to your creative self, go to bed early, get up early, ski as long as you can, take naps, be kind, smile, don’t look for compliments, if you receive a compliment be gracious, only eat when you are hungry, stay in the here and now, don’t drink too much, tell your inner critic to go look elsewhere, be patient, don’t stress out, at the end of everyday examine your day, watch baseball and keep score, remember that age is a state of mind, you can always edit your life, simplify, organize, focus, when you can’t use facts and information use kindness.

Day #268

I’m pretty sure my cat is motivated by food more than anything else. He has learned to ingratiate himself with me as a means to get me to put food in his dish. Rarely does he come to me when he is not hungry and make it known that he is choosing to do so voluntarily, without ulterior motive, simply to spend time with me. But he does on occasion. That’s what puzzles me. It’s as though he knows he has become too aloof and needs to give me a consolation prize to keep me in his clutches. I don’t care. He’s a joy either way.

He also knows when it’s bed time and he almost gets onto the bed before I do. I likes being close at night.

Day #267

We make lots of choices in life. Some of us choose to learn and think, some choose to listen, and some choose to do neither. The result of those choices can lead to dire events. Especially when the choice of one or the other is endemic. By endemic I mean, when enough members of a society choose to follow the path of least learning, the impact can be catastrophic. I understand this may be a simplification. When we look at the many democracies that have come and gone in the past, there appears a common thread. When the populous chooses to discard learning and instead listen to one individual, allowing that individual to do their thinking for them, that leads to a fundamental disruption. A disruption that in most cases is the precursor to even worse events.

Our founders believed they had designed a type of democracy that had the institutional strength to resist the sort of tyranny that misguided masses can wreck upon their government. While they came closer than probably any democracy that preceded the one they established, we now know that there is no sure thing that can guarantee the preservation of a government, even one as perfect as our own. The key lies in two things that are never guaranteed. The willingness of the populous to think for themselves and participate in their government, and the willingness of their elected leaders to choose the good of the society over their personal preferences. Whether their preference is for power or whether it is for the imposition of their morals or their religion, in either case the will of the populous being ignored, the government is likely to fall into chaos and corruption.

Day #266

I have only 99 entries to go to reach 365 entries in 365 days. It’s an accomplishment of sorts, I suppose. This is what I set out to do. What have I learned so far? I’m not going to tell you. You’ll have to go back and read the previous 265, and then hang around for the next 99…

Day #265

Ray Bradbury wrote a thousand words a day starting at the age of 9. The first work he felt truly satisfied with he released when he was 25 years old. Given the fact that I write only about 500 words a day and have been at it now for 5 years, I will likely be 98 years old before I have produced a piece of writing that truly satisfies me.

That does not discourage me. I’m not Ray Bradbury. I don’t have his skill with language or his creativity, but that’s okay. We bring to the table what we have to offer. If what we bring is the best that we can produce at the moment, we have done our best. The real point is to keep going. The only goal I have for myself is the channeling of my creative expression. That’s enough. That, and good handwriting.

Day #264

As an expansion of the idea expressed in the previous post, I offer the following quote which expresses the idea that fairness and opportunity should be applied to all equally and that to ostentatiously display one’s wealth is not the proper road to happiness: It is “With an ill grace from a man, who parades out streets with a coach and four horses when it is known his exorbitant salary enables him to make this flashy parade, and the money taken to do so comes from the pockets of the industrious part of the community.”

This quote was from an article in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette in 1796 about Supreme Court Justice James Wilson. Justice Wilson was a man deeply in debt and living from loan to loan. This is a situation not unlike a very similar one we see being played out daily today.

Day #263

It is unlikely that perpetual happiness will be the fate of more than a few persons. (That’s the unhappy view.) Frugality is the best course of action if happiness is truly desired.

Why?

The less you have to worry about in this life and the more thoughtfully you live your life, the better your chances of obtaining happiness.

So I’ve been told. I’m hoping there’s something to that.

Lady Liberty

“These are the times that try men’s souls.” Those words, spoken by Thomas Paine united the country behind the idea that freedom and democracy were worth fighting for. Today we face a different sort of trying times, a time when the founders vision of Democracy has been largely forgotten, or at least largely ignored.

Despite this chaos, there can be found reassuring ideas and images. I’m in New York and I had the opportunity to see Lady Liberty first hand yesterday. It reminds me that I must not give up hope that the American people will see their way through to keeping the flame of democracy burning, despite the efforts of many, now in positions of responsibility, to do the opposite.

Day #262

In a study conducted by Carroll University in Wisconsin, cat owners demonstrated higher intelligence than dog owners. Cat owners also scored higher on the non-conformity scale. On the downside, cat owners demonstrate less “liveliness” than dog owners, but they show more signs of being introverted and sensitive (which I consider a plus). For every 6 “dog fans,” there is only 1 “cat fan.” That roughly corresponds to the “intelligence ratio” found in the general population…

Naturally, I’m a cat owner.

Day #261

The Stoic Philosophers asked questions about “the good.” These are classic questions that all stoics contemplated.

1. What does it mean for something to be good?
2. What qualities make a person good?
3. What makes someone’s life a good life?
4. Does being a good person ensure you will live a good life?
5. Is being a good person enough to say you have lived a good life, even if that life was filled with adversity?

What follows is my humble attempt to grapple as best I can with answers to these questions…