Who Am I?

Weekend Update 08-13-2011

Posted: August 13th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Weekend Update | 2 Comments »

These two posts, here and here, by LaVonne Neff should give my “conservative” Christian friends pause. Should. But probably won’t. (Even if they bother reading them, which I don’t expect.) Hmmm. Maybe we could fund these essential programs by denying them to the ultra-conservatives who “hate” them. That would be a way of shortening their lives, at least. But honestly? I can’t really advocate such an approach.

Krugman has a great column on the S&P downgrade and our real problem. His closing conclusion of our real problem is precisely right. “The real question facing America, even in purely fiscal terms, isn’t whether we’ll trim a trillion here or a trillion there from deficits. It is whether the extremists now blocking any kind of responsible policy can be defeated and marginalized. “

This study seems like a no-brainer to me. But then, I thought I was largely asymptomatic until I was diagnosed by the development of serious, but relatively silent health issues. It was only after adopting a gluten free diet that I realized how many of the other aches, pains, and complaints I had been feeling were not simply a normal part of growing older. If you are producing auto-antibodies that are causing inflammation on a continual basis, it stands to reason that’s not healthy. Celiac can produce immediate severe symptoms, or it can be a slow creeping disease like I experienced. In either case, the end result is the same. My kids were all tested and two of them inherited celiac disease from me. They were asymptomatic, but had very high levels of the celiac specific antibodies and their small intestine biopsies showed inflammation and damage. By following a gluten free diet, they’ll be able to avoid experiencing what I experienced. If you’re diagnosed with celiac disease, insist that your children, at least, are tested.

In programming terms, we call this an infinite loop — no exit condition. Generally that’s a bad thing.

This poll shows a new trend. Americans not only want to “kick the bums out“, a majority want to kick their bum out of office. Of course, given the way most districts are gerrymandered, it will be interesting to see how that plays out over the course of the next year. Is it a general election threat, a primary threat, or a mixture of both.

This is great news for our celiac family. Navigating the grocery store will be a little easier for us all. Although honestly, living in the Austin area has always made it easier for us to manage than it is in other parts of the country.

Soylent Green is Corporations! Seriously, though, the post makes an obvious point that should be blatantly obvious to all Americans, yet somehow isn’t. “right now corporations are sitting on huge piles of cash; why imagine that making those piles bigger would lead to more job creation?” A good friend of mine and coworker for a couple of decades and I used to go on walks together regularly. (We now both work from home a lot, so not so much anymore.) One day he commented that he had observed that every time I approached a streetlight, he could see me deciding on which side of it to walk. He told me that he thought that was a good and simple illustration of the way I approach everything. Most people would decide left or right once and just follow that course from then on. I guess I don’t do that — even on the simplest level. I’m constantly evaluating everything. Nothing is immune from it. There may be things, like sticking to my marriage through thick or thin, that I firmly decide. But I also constantly reaffirm that commitment. Most things, though? They are always up for reconsideration any time I learn something new. Even when I haven’t, I’ll reevaluate what I thought I knew. Most people decide something — based on good evidence/authority or bad — and simply never change unless placed in a crisis situation. I’m not really sure if my friend was accurate in his evaluation or not, but that conversation has always stuck in my mind. And in the current debate, I think we see a lot of people who “know” what they know even when all the evidence controverts their knowledge.

What do you think of NPR’s top 100 science-fiction/fantasy book list? Many of my favorites are on it and I’ve read the majority of the books on it. I also have many favorites that aren’t on it. But I read a lot.

The leaked AT&T memo demolishes their own case for the merger, weak as it already was. I hope it’s enough to derail the merger, but I’m skeptical. As a long-time happy Sprint customer, I’m unamused at the possibility of being forced into a Verizon/AT&T duopoly. From my perspective, both of those companies provide sub-par service and charge an arm and a leg for it.

Wow! An Orthodox Bishop who really speaks out against the ultra-conservative ideology (essentially idolatry) that has gripped American Christians. Great context for considering Rick Perry’s political “prayer” rally.


2 Comments on “Weekend Update 08-13-2011”

  1. 1 Scott Lyons said at 9:05 am on August 13th, 2011:

    Good video – especially near the end. Thanks for sharing it, Scott.

  2. 2 Scott said at 10:08 pm on August 13th, 2011:

    I was really impressed by it.