Archive for February, 2007

Change a Bulb. Change Everything.

I recently discovered a new Yahoo site called “18 Seconds.Org“, but it is probably easier to get there by going to http://green.yahoo.com. The site is designed to encourage people to switch their incandescent bulbs compact fluorescent bulbs to save energy and money.

Thanks to Paul Stamatiou for pointing this out. As a right-wing conservative, you might already think I’m betraying the cause by pointing this out, but I don’t think so. Here’s why.

If No One Reads Your Post

If a Blog Falls

Seth Godin breaks his pattern of deep analysis and asks a simple question: If no one reads your post, does it exist? He goes on.

What do most people get out of blogging? After all, most blogs are virtually unread by outsiders…

The act of writing a blog changes people, especially business people. The first thing it does is change posture. Once you realize that no HAS to read your blog, that you can’t MAKE them read your blog, you approach writing with humility and view readers with gratitude.

My Lack of a Problem with G.K. Chesterton

Dr. George Grant recently posted the following story on his blog. On the off-chance you don’t visit his blog and read it directly, I’ll repost it here, but I encourage you to subscribe to his blog at your next convenience.

My friend James Sauer writes, “I’ve got a problem with Chesterton. The problem is that I think he is a wonderful, wise, witty, and pious man; after reading his works, I never leave the page without feeling edified.”

So, “Why is that a problem?” you just might ask.

Speed Linking

I’m loathe to start a speed link section like so many other bloggers, but I’m ensnared by the possibility that information that some readers might want to know about is passing them by while I wrestle whether to write a long or short post about some of these items. So here is my first attempt at speed-linking with brief explanations.

Enthusiasm

Saw this great quote at WorkHappy.Net, by a man named Charles Kingsley:

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”

I didn’t know who Charles Kingsley was so I went to Wikipedia and discovered he was an English novelist who wrote the novel Westward Ho! He died in 1875 so I thought that made the quote even more interesting. Apparently, there was enough people back during the 1800’s who were trying to keep up with the Jones’, that Kingsley felt the need to make this distinction about the proper direction to take in life. This was an attempt on his part to help his fellow man.

Garrison Keillor Update

If you are a Garrison Keillor fan, you should read this. If you aren’t, then you should try (try!) and become one. I really love to listen to Garrison and the only tragedy in life is that my enjoyment of his readings, his show, (and his recent movie), is tempered with the knowledge that life is too short. He’s been doing this for 30 years. I’ll never catch up.

But, Lifehacker has reported that Keillor’s “News from Lake Wobegon” is now available as a free podcast (which means you can download it and listen to it on your computer or a portable MP3 player, which might even mean your cell phone if you have a fairly new one). I don’t think I’ve heard an episode yet that I didn’t laugh at and get a little more insight into life.

I’m Not as Bad of an Asshole as I might have Thought

According to Guy Kawasaki’s Asshole Rating Self-Exam (ARSE), I scored an 11. I don’t know what the highest score could have been, but I thought my rating would be worse. I feel I perhaps have hope of making a turnaround if some good friends could see their way to hang in there and wait for the new and improved Lawrence to evolve.

Here’s a good idea for my friends (and enemies!). Take the quiz, too. If your score is higher than 11, then maybe we can consider that you are the problem - not me. If we are tied, we’ll have to settle our differences with an arm-wrestling contest (in which I will use nasty tricks) or one of those IQ test books you can buy at Barnes & Noble.