I didn’t think anyone could be more headstrong than my second child. The pictured cutie with Gene Wilder hair—my third—proved me wrong.
“No!” she answers without fail, even if it’s something she wants. She does it so often, I often mutter under my breath, “Don’t tell me no. I’m your father.”
It’s futile. I realize this. But it’s a coping mechanism.
Someday, however, I’d really like to speak my mind. “Stop telling me what to do!” I’ll say with authority. “I’m bigger than you!”
She’ll then look up to me with bright eyes—her face about to break into a cry. And I’ll cave.
How can something so small—a tenth of my weight, even— wield so much power?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCMykkcoyu8[/youtube]
I’ve listend to this album more than a dozen times after discovering it last week. Probably twice a day on average. Whole thing is good, from song 1-12. I’m not familiar with previous Kooks albums, but this is a gem—for certain to finish as a top 5 albums of the year.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PF0h7oqUEQ[/youtube]
I’d be a Mormon even if one of the most poetic, influential, and “let’s bring keyboards and saxophones back” rockstars of the last decade wasn’t.
Plus, if I wanted to align myself closer with celebrity thinking, there are a lot more popular, less demanding belief systems in existence to boost my status.
Still, it doesn’t hurt to have Brandon Flowers of The Killers publicly casting his lot with mine. If anything, he rocks a religious promotional video better than other celebrities.
Of course, religion, following Christ, or believing in God will never be cool. Nor should it be. Depending on the community, persecution rightfully comes with the territory. (How else would deity test the faith of its followers?)
Nevertheless, it’s nice to have backup. Superstar DJs very much included.
We now return to regularly schedules jokes about magic underwear, big love, how religion (not greed) ruins the world, why educated people have a harder time believing in God than uneducated people, great and spacious buildings, how successful people often get prideful and turn into jerks, yesterday’s news that Joseph Smith was a controversial man since he was entitled to agency like everyone else (including other purported prophets), why neither atheist nor believers have faith-shattering proof of anything, and Christians calling other Christians non-Christians because the second group worships in a different way. Go figure.
See also:
If there’s one writing habit I simply adore, it’s seeing a writer use “back in” when referencing previous years or months.
For example: “Back in 1845…” or “Back in December.” In such instances, the leading “back in” solidifies my otherwise horrible sense of time. Without that “back in,” I’d be completely lost.
Just today, reading a cryptic “In 1997” left me utterly confused. Since I have no concept of past, present, or future tense verb usage, I wasn’t 100% certain the writer was referencing history.
Worse is when a concise writer references a previous month without the oh-so-enlightening “back in.” After all, it’s not like the reader can assume you’re talking about a previous month, especially since you didn’t also reference a year. Case in point: Is “In July” talking about past July or next July? It’s ambiguous. I mean, next we’ll be asking writers to say “next” when referencing the future. It’s unheard of.
So remember writers: Never assume a reader understands chronology. As such, always say “back in” when referring to the past. It’s not wordy or presumptuous at all.
… than whipping your phone out at the alter. “Nothing’s official,” she said, “until it’s Facebook official!”
True story. Incredibly stupid. But true. The bride even had a pocket on her dress to hold her phone.
We now have the attention span of flies.
At my daughter’s request, I read James Rumford’s Don’t Touch My Hat (a family favorite) to her kindergarten class.
I tell ya: I felt som’n fierce having 15 pairs of innocent eyes look up to me from a cozy reading rug while showing and telling the story. As I read, there was a sanctity and innocence in the room I haven’t felt in a very long time—maybe not since leaving grade school.
Admittedly, I’ve done a lot of satisfying things this year. I’ve even managed a few professional coups. But this is unexpectedly near the top of my “most gratifying” list for not only this year, but previous years as an adult and father.
More than anything, I’m humbled and honored that my daughter invited me. Magic is soaking my spine. And Rumford is dead on: It’s your heart that counts, not your hat.
PS — Vampire Weekend, you have no idea. The kids do stand a chance. I’ve seen it in their eyes.
“There are two types of companies: those that work hard to charge customers more, and those that work hard to charge customers less. Both approaches can work. We are firmly in the second camp.”—Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of the Seattle-based Amazon.com, now going on seven consecutive years as my favorite website.
From a CNN article on Why men are in trouble:
In 1950, 5% of men at the prime working age were unemployed. As of last year, 20% were not working, the highest ever recorded. Men still maintain a majority of the highest paid and most powerful occupations, but women are catching them and will soon be passing them if this trend continues.
The warning signs for men stretch far beyond their wallets. Men are more distant from a family or their children then they have ever been. The out-of-wedlock birthrate is more than 40% in America. In 1960, only 11% of children in the U.S. lived apart from their fathers. In 2010, that share had risen to 27%. Men are also less religious than ever before. According to Gallup polling, 39% of men reported attending church regularly in 2010, compared to 47% of women.
If accurate, those are some depressing figures.
Here’s why: 
“I don’t read novels. I’m a novelist, but I don’t read. I don’t like reading. I love comics. I love reading comics. I can still read comics and write… But I come from a TV background.”—Gears of War 3 writer Karen Traviss, via Tom Chick
Nice to hear. For a while there I thought high-profile video games would start hiring writers who liked reading. Talk about dodging a bullet.
PROVO, Ut.—The legendary Smooth Harold and his adorable offspring were enjoying a delicious J Dawg last weekend, when they overheard two insecure women bragging about how “busy” their respective husbands were.
“My husband is soooo busy,” said the first obnoxious woman, in a desperate attempt to show how important and needed she was, merely by association. “Oh, I know,” countered the other. “My husband is beyond busy. He wakes at five, skips breakfast, works through lunch, then returns home exhausted. After wolfing down dinner, he studies all night. At this rate, he’ll probably die early. It’s great.”
When asked to confirm the account, an innocent bystander said, “It was the most riveting conversation I’ve ever eavesdropped. Certainly not something you hear often, so it was totally a discussion worth having, not to mention repeating.”
Following the news, competing one-uppers scrambled to rehearse their dull, predictable, and one-dimensional chronologies planned for upcoming family events, weekend gatherings, and chance encounters. “We’re expecting another busy week,” city officials said.
Thanks to Frontier’s new route “with service to Provo,” Lindsey and I haven’t had to use Salt Lake Airport—nor make the 80 minute round trip drive to it—at all this summer. Since June, the savvy airliner has been flying into my backyard. A quick 50-minute connection to Denver, and we’re off.
While I normally prefer flying direct, the connection actually takes less time than driving to and enduring Salt Lake security lines. I can show up to Provo Regional Airport 30 minutes before departure and still make it to my gate with more than 20 minutes to spare. Security takes less than five minutes, if that. Admittedly, with two flights I’m still exposed to more cancelation, but so far, so good. As a bonus, the flight is significantly cheaper.
What’s more, the route is operating at 90% capacity, enough to justify a westbound flight to either Vegas or LA, officials say. Party on, Provo.
I suppose it’s only logical that profiteers would move to high school basketball, having already compromised professional and collegiate hoops.
That said, the below is a must-read summary for any athletic parent, youth coach, or sports fan:
A jarring look at youth basketball: Part 1 | Part 2
Note: The above story is a review of the eye-opening Play Their Hearts Out by George Dorhrmann.
A three year examination of what happens when we die, conducted by a doctor who wrote a book on the subject.
The thesis found that phenomena occur after we die, such as the mind retaining verified memories for prolonged periods of time, even after the brain stopped receiving blood.
Findings should be fun.
Back in my day, dentists relied on x-ray to detect cavities!
I have my teeth professionally cleaned and examined at least once a year. Twice if my teeth are feeling extra grimy, which is usually every other year.
Three years ago, my old dentist probed my teeth with an “explorer.” This handheld device supposedly beeps every time it detects a cavity and did once for me. My visual and x-ray exams, however, came back negative.
Of course, instead of saying, “Blake, you have a cavity and I recommend filling it,” my dentist told the hygienist in short hand, “O-6” or something of the sort. You know how they do.
Continue reading…
Notable feature stories I’ve written recently:
Do you have a hard time finding information online?
I don’t. If anything, there’s too much information online.
Which is why I scratched my head this morning after reading what the founders of YouTube are remodeling. In short, they bought an old web linking website in hopes of turning it around.
“Twitter sees something like 200 million tweets a day, but I I can’t even read 1,000 a day,” complained YouTube’s Steve Chen. Seemingly in between bouts of “Mine! Mine! Mine!” he added, “There’s a waterfall of content that you’re missing out on [and] a lot of services trying to solve the information discovery problem, but no one has got it right yet.”
Information discovery problem?
Maybe a few thousand Silicon Valley nerds have that problem. But the vast majority of us have no problem finding information online.
As I’ve said before, “Whether online or off, the cream of life always rises to the top. The best status updates and news transcend the Internet.”
What more do you non-contributing zeros want?
See also: Everything’s amazing and nobody’s happy
Similar to Madden NFL, the cable sports network now highlights the playmaker with a under-ring (as seen 1:05 into video). Me likey.
In 2009, I started running in the ugliest shoes ever. The first time I did it, my calves and feet ached in places they hadn’t before. The second time I did it, I knew I’d never run in cushioned shoes again.
With the exception to select frozen days of winter, in which I run in Nike Free 3.0s to stave off frost bite, I’ve run in Five Finger Classics (pictured) or KSOs ever since. Here’s why: Continue reading…
A nerd got on to me recently for categorizing Lord of the Rings as “science fiction.” He cried foul like this: “That’s not science fiction, it’s fantasy!!!”
To which I replied: “Listen punk. If a warlock shoots a magical beam of destruction from his bow staff, it’s science fiction. I don’t care if it’s a counter-factual period piece, futuristic space war, or modern day fantasy—it all goes against scientific reality.”
Nerds.
Writer Niven Busch lying on sofa with a newspaper over his face as he takes nap from screenwriting.
Bought the biggest one they had and hung it in our living room.
Makes me want to doze off every time I fall into the sofa.
WASHINGTON—Following the latest surge of violence in Iraq, a Pew Research Center poll released Monday has found that a substantial majority of Americans now believe the continuing bloodshed in the country almost makes it seem as if the 2003 U.S. invasion might have actually been somewhat pointless.
Approximately 83 percent of Americans surveyed said recent incidents such as a car bomb explosion that killed 40 in the city of Kut, the executions of seven worshippers outside a mosque in Youssifiyah, and a series of other attacks that have left scores of Iraqis dead and wounded were the kinds of events that, if they didn’t know better, might make them think the lengthy occupation really wasn’t worth it in the slightest.
Forty-three percent of Americans said if someone wanted to, they could very nearly make the assessment, based on current conditions on the ground, that perhaps the United States wasted valuable resources on an unwinnable, nearly impossible endeavor.
Continue reading…
Read it here.
PS – Is it possible to build a company as influential as Apple without sacrificing ones’s personal health and well-being? I wonder.
PSS – I suspect this guy is right in his prediction that Jobs will continue to pull strings so long as he’s alert.
It’s called Mountain West Burrito. It’s in a freaking gas station. It’s my new favorite restaurant.
Basically, it’s our version of the Chipotle craze sweeping the nation, only better for the following reasons: Joe, the owner, takes orders and waits tables like you wouldn’t believe. Dude is everywhere; serving chips, giving out organic lollipops to my kids, clearing my table. He knew my name after two visits. Impressive.
Not only that, but the tortillas, meat, produce etc are all locally sourced. Place even claims they don’t own a can opener! My taste buds concur.
So if you’re ever in Provo — “I think you’d dig it. You could do well here.” — run, don’t walk, to MWB.
It’s called When Animals Stare by The Black Ghosts. It’s like Black Keys + Band of Skulls + Magnet. Which is awesome. And it doesn’t fade halfway through like most albums. Double Awesome.
Thanks for sharing, David.
See also:
My heart sank when I read the print edition of this story yesterday. In short, $360 million of U.S. taxpayer money, intended to fund the military, was outsourced to Middle East criminals, terrorists, and even the Taliban, the very organization that money aimed to disrupt.
Here’s how I processed the news.
- I’m thankful to live in a country with a free press and democratic government willing to share such corrupt news. Neither are perfect, but reports like this are proof that there is still good in the world; good enough to let this kind of stuff come to light.
- $360 million is a fraction of total defense spending, and thankfully, as far as we know, much of it still falls in the right hands. Unfortunately, 1/3 of a billion is an incredible amount of money for criminals and mountain-dwelling terrorists intent on building bombs and blowing things up. It’s inexcusable.
- Why can’t the U.S. military enlist cooks, truck drivers, security convoys— virtual everything— from within? You know, like the good ole days, when soldiers worked in mess halls etc. Stop outsourcing our military, and we’ll minimize said corruption.
- Stop awarding closed defense contracts or open contracts to non-U.S. suppliers. What advantage does this bring? I understand President Obama awards contracts to Afghan companies in an effort to stabilize their economy. But is that the purpose of defense spending? Shouldn’t it be defense, not economic development? It’s counterproductive.
- Can we pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq already, Vietnam style? Just do it. I know there are cronies in those countries who don’t want the sugar daddy to leave, but it is high time. Then reinvest half of the savings into intelligence operations to thwart and outsmart terrorism as best we can, as opposed to occupying nations.
Did I miss anything?
Recent feature stories I’ve written:
This is a great piece by Neal Gabler on how original thought has taken a back seat to being informed. Teaser quote to make you click:
It may seem counterintuitive that at a time when we know more than we have ever known, we think about it less… While (Facebook, Twitter, iPhones, etc) may change the way we live, they rarely transform the way we think. They are material, not ideational. It is thinkers who are in short supply, and the situation probably isn’t going to change anytime soon.
It will if we decide to reflect more on our surroundings, noting what we don’t like about them and how we might fix them. To do that, however, we have to regularly remove ourselves from the information trough.
It’s difficult for the brain to think if it’s always capturing data.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZVOU5bfHrM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
I suppose the above is possible, but why might the Earth’s population decline after reaching 9 billion in 2050? Deficit fertility rates?
In any case, check out the follow-up shorts as well: Offsetting low fertility rates, Food: There’s lots of it, and Why poverty isn’t caused by overpopulation.
Pretty convincing thesis.
From NPR’s book review of Scorecasting:
When they examined attendance data for the Cubs, one of the unluckiest teams in professional sports who have not won a World Series in 102 years, the authors found it to be remarkably stable — around 90 percent — no matter if the team was at the top of the league or on a losing streak. Fair-weather fans, it seems, actually incentivize a team to win; team owners and coaches will work harder to win games so they can sell more tickets.
Not only are fair-weather fans better for the organization, though. Being one is better for oneself, as fair-weather fans are more at liberty to chose entertainment options that “work for them,” as opposed to staying involved with a mediocre (aka boring) team.
In other words: Go, Cougars! (So long as they’re winning.)
Fun story on recycled pop culture, based on a book by a man who claims we’re engrossed in unhealthy levels of nostalgia right now.
The take-away: Nostalgia is only good if you learn from it. And money-making adults—not senior citizens or youth—rule the roost when it comes to demanding the supply of retro pop culture (or at least what they thought was pop culture in younger years).
Almost like something Orwell would write fiction about. For example, derelict buildings devoid of capitalism. See more
Because that’s what you get when you buy a Samsung Wi-Fi Chromebook.
Admittedly, it’s not a perfect analogy. The Macbook Air is skinnier in the front and capable of 1080p playback, whereas the Samsung Chromebook can only render 720p HD. The former is also made of industrial titanium, whereas the latter uses high-end Macbook-like plastic. And in terms of startup and resume times, the Chromebook is faster—near instantaneous. Continue reading…
Newspapers are outdated, irrelevant, and useless technology.
Or are they?
I decided to find out first-hand by ordering a daily subscription two weeks ago. After 14 issues, here are 10 surprising things I learned so far: Continue reading…
As seen near my house in Utah. Beautifully tall. Natural barrier-like trees. Love ’em. What kind are they?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTx3G6h2xyA[/youtube]
The kid who made this is only 17 and hails from France. It’s a remix of 39 pop songs. Dubbed Madeon, he’s purportedly already signed to a label and releasing an extended play album this summer. It’s seriously some of the best live sampling I’ve ever seen.
Says a friend, “I see this sort of thing and basically give up on playing music. I’m a no-talent hack compared to this guy…” which is why this kid will have a long career in music.
Mangnifique!
I can count the number of country albums I like in the order I discovered them on one hand: Patsy Cline’s greatest, Garth Brooks Ropin’ the Wind, Hank Williams’ greatest, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, and Jimmy Buffett’s greatest (if you can call that country).
Truth be told, I think the genre may be the second most cliche and boring kind of music ever, after industrial, of course (with exception to Pretty Hate Machine and Downward Spiral).
But I digress. I now have a new favorite country album: Brad Paisley’s This is Country Music. Whether you like country or not, know this: Brad Paisley is a phenomenal musician, songwriter, Telecaster guitarist, and one of the best lyricists in modern music. Of any genre. Seriously, he could give Brandon Flowers a run for his poetic memory. He’s that good.
So if you ain’t scurred to try new things, click on the above link. Not only will it make you want to buy a 10-gallon hat and a pair of wranglers, I’m pretty sure one of the following eight highlight tracks will speak to you when listened to in their entirety: This is country music, A man don’t have to die, Camouflage, One of those lives, Toothbrush, Love her like she’s leaving, New Favorite memory, and Don’t drink the water.
For reals, this album is stacked. It’s in my running as album of the year. No lie.
As adherents of the Word of Wisdom, my family tries to avoid drinking tea — more specifically, anything derived from the Camellia sinensis plant (which results in black, green, white, yellow and oolong tea).
I say try because we used to suck down Chai like it was nobody’s business. That is, until we discovered that it contains black tea, in addition to delicious Indian spices. (Ignorance is bliss, people. Should have never read the label.)
But fear-not, non-tea drinkers. There are still a lot of tasty herbal alternatives, some of which are even better than the real thing. Continue reading…
A year and a half ago, I ignorantly called e-readers The Emperor’s New Clothes.
Today, it is I who stands naked before you.
To be fair, I still buy printed books. But only because I’m a cheap skate and I like being able to pass my favorite books on to friends and family—can’t do that with my Kindle.
That said, e-readers are a great way to own hundreds of classics for free, not to mention the occasional contemporary book bought on discount. Not only that, but Kindle is a wonderful way to read literature.
New prediction: E-readers, will in fact, replace the majority of books (but not all, they will stay niche like pencils).
I have. On many occasions, in fact.
It all started in college. I’d head to class early to get a jump on my studies, get bored within 30 minutes, then open to whatever novel, biography, or paperback I had bookmarked for personal enjoyment. In the course of my four year, 63-credit undergraduate education, I’d do this several times each semester.
Once I remember ditching an entire day of classes — Neverending Story-style — just to read Dan Brown. I had only planned to skip my first lecture.
Oops.
I’ve even been know to play professional hooky from time to time. Deadline at work? Too bad, I gotta see how Tom gets out of his latest pickle.
Just today, I slotted in a few minutes of And Then There Were None underneath the backyard maple tree, after eating a delicious meatball sandwich (thanks, Lindsey). Once my mental clock chimed in telling me to get back to work, I consciously dismissed it just so I could see how soldiers five, six, and seven died.
(The book is bloody brilliant, btw. Not only that but it’s remarkably written.)
Admittedly, my boss is a softy and does a horrible job in tracking my time. But I can’t think of a better way of grabbing life by the horns than reading a book when you really should be doing something else.
That or an afternoon baseball game, whichever comes first.
See more: Books I’ve blogged about
See.
Self-Correcting Golf Balls That Always Fly Straight (Fox)
The money quote: “In the 75-year history of the wire service era, CBSSports.com research showed that it is nearly impossible to win a national championship at the highest level in major college football without cheating. Among the schools that have won titles since 1936, when human polls became the accepted form of determining the sport’s champion, only BYU has never had a major violation in football.”
Go, Cougars!
Pay them.
Great video, particularly from 2-5 minutes.
Fascinating book. To the point and practical.
For example, the best way to describe a retail bank is to call it a piggy bank. The best way to describe an investment bank is to call is a casino, which is precisely what each are.
Who knew a book about high finance, banking, and The Great Recession could be such a fun read?
More here
With the 10th pick in the NBA draft, a lot of people became Sacramento Kings fans last night. I’m one of them.
Above is the kings.com homepage, updated a couple hours after Jimmer was selected. Nice welcome.
“See Jimmer live all season!”
From one of the most brilliant minds of our time comes…
… on the impending irrelevance of Blackberry. This coming from a six-year Blackberry user (but I’m in the minority, and only use it for texting and voice calls now — no portable apps or Internet for me).
In other words, I use a dumbed down smartphone, so I’m not a target candidate.
