Here they are, all many many of dearest Jonathon’s nicknames.
He has so many, in fact, that I’m not sure which one to use on the blog…
Which nickname should I use to refer to Jonathon when I mention him on my blog?
When we look at a preschooler, a person who can’t:
We say, “look at how much potential is contained in that life!” Or “I think (s)he will really change the world.”
But we look at an adult who we dub a ‘loser’ or ‘underachiever’ and we write them off as someone who will never amount to anything.
When really, we can make as much of an impact in an adults life as a childs life. It might be harder (for everyone) since most skills are more easily learnt at a young age, but potential is only gone when we’re gone.
From: Seth Godin on Accepting Limits
Isn’t it absurd to
focus so much energy on ‘practical’ skills that prep someone for a life of following instructions but
relentlessly avoid the difficult work necessary to push someone to reinvent themselves into becoming someone who makes a difference?
I would propose that you are blessed. You are highly favored or fortunate. You have divine favor.
You might disagree. Maybe there’re a couple of things about your life that you don’t like. Maybe you were dealt a rather more unfortunate hand of cards. Maybe you’re at the bottom of the trash can. I sympathize with you. I really do.
BUT. You are blessed.
In fact, that’s not an assumption. It’s a statement of fact.
A ‘blessing’ is
Something promoting or contributing to happiness, well-being, or prosperity; a boon.
To be ‘blessed’ is to be
highly favored or fortunate (as e.g. by divine grace).
To be blessed is to be given more than you deserve.
If you aren’t constantly being eaten by maggots, burning alive, and throwing up at the stench of it all, you’ve got more than you deserve.
“And then they’ll go out and look at what happened
to those who rebelled against me. Corpses!
Maggots endlessly eating away on them,
an endless supply of fuel for fires.
Everyone who sees what’s happened
and smells the stench retches.”
My feelings are not God. God is God. My feelings do not define truth. God’s word defines truth. My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceives. And sometimes–many times–my feelings are out of sync with the truth. When that happens–and it happens every day in some measure–I try not to bend the truth to justify my imperfect feelings, but rather, I plead with God: Purify my perceptions of your truth and transform my feelings so that they are in sync with the truth.
That’s the way I live my life every day. I hope you are with me in that battle.
- John Piper, Finally Alive, pages 165-166
[via Feelings Do Not Define Truth on JoshHarris.com]
Basically? I hate them. If the dog has a tag or is well behaved, I might just dislike it.
But when the dog follows me all the way while I walk Molly and JoJo?
And when the dog is small enough to slip through our gate and into our yard?
Or when two larger dogs decide Molly is intriguing and keep sniffing Molly?
And when Molly doesn’t even like these dogs?
And when the dogs keep tripping me?
Of course, these dogs rarely have collars on, and never have tags. Which makes it impossible to call up their owner and say please take your dog back.
And that is why I hate stray dogs.
P.S. Although I always hate stray dogs, I hate them more when Molly is in heat, because they get about three million times more annoying.
From Luckily, My Sons Had Lunch Today on Kouri Family Update
I look at it this way: there are certain things that should be guaranteed in this world. I know, this is a sinful world, and there are no guarantees for anything. But for children, I think there are exceptions. Having a family (whatever the color or make-up of one looks like) should be one of those guarantees.
So the idea that my son is “lucky” or “blessed” to be a part of our family is like saying my son is “lucky” to get to have 3 meals a day. My son is “lucky” to get clothes. My son is “lucky” to have shelter.
(Now as a side note, the way I see it, guarantees in life and rights shouldn’t go beyond childhood. In fact, I have removed the word “deserve” out of my vocabulary. You’ll never hear me say that you “deserve a vacation” or a break, or a Dr. Pepper and queso. We don’t deserve anything good that we get. Children are the exception to this.)
Does anyone deserve any good thing they get? What about children?
Specifically, what do (all people if they deserve things or just children or whatever group you’d like) deserve?
From Title and Registration by Death Cab for Cutie
I like how random yet true the main premise of this song is. And I like how it leads to deeper thoughts. Because I think that’s the way we think.
The glove compartment is inaccurately named
And everybody knows it.
So i’m proposing a swift orderly change.Cause behind its door there’s nothing to keep my fingers warm
And all I find are souvenirs from better times
Before the gleam of your taillights fading east
To find yourself a better life.I was searching for some legal document
As the rain beat down on the hood
When I stumbled upon pictures I tried to forget
And that’s how this idea was drilled into my headCause it’s too important
To stay the way it’s beenThere’s no blame for how our love did slowly fade
And now that it’s gone it’s like it wasn’t there at all
And here I rest where disappointment and regret collide
Lying awake at nightThere’s no blame for how our love did slowly fade
And now that it’s gone it’s like it wasn’t there at all
And here I rest where disappointment and regret collide
Lying awake at night (up all night)
When I’m lying awake at night.
I propose a new HTML tag…
sarcasm in hereThis would work wonderfully on people’s weblogs to convey this important verbal communication which is very often lost on print.
From Things to Think About — The Garret
I have suggested using the tilde ( ~ ) for this punctuation mark.
How many time have you gotten angry, or confused by a typed post because it’s was being sarcastic? How many flame wars could have been ended sooner?
A lot of what is sarcasm is verbal tone and body language. Difficult to capture in writing, especially in IMs, and blogs where the writing is immediately back and forth.
Fadtastic — Friday Fun: The sarcasm tag
I call for the
tag.
Of course every new tag needs a default rendering style by the browsers. And as sarcasm is a form of humour, why not render in bold Comic Sans like the following? (assuming you have this great font installed)The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog
And there we go. Sarcasm solved.
From Slate — A Giant Step Forward for Punctuation¡]
It is time for the adoption of the sarcasm point. Why the sarcasm point? We have a mark that conveys that we mean or know something. We have one that says it with volume and force! We have one that communicates that we don’t know something, don’t we? We need one more: to do for language what shade did for drawing, what color did for television, and what eyebrows did for expressions—introduce finesse.
See, there are people who are relentlessly sincere. So, what are they supposed to do when they’re trying to sound a bit bitter?
And then there are people who are relentlessly sarcastic. How do we know when they’re being straight?
From Fluther.com — Who else thinks we should have punctuation to denote sarcasm?]
Sarcasm is indeed very difficult to convey properly in written form. Especially friendly, genial sarcasm, because it invariably gets interpreted as mean and hostile.
About the only punctuation I can think of is to add a wink smiley at the end, ;-) or maybe >:^>. (Of course, that’s only useful for the friendly, genial sarcasm. For hostile sarcasm, no smiley at all… and, even then you hafta hope that the intended recipient is smart enough to pick up on it.)
via Language Log — Punctuation, now with heightened indifference!
No punctuation mark currently exists in the English language which connotes a feeling of mild joy, vague happiness, or heightened indifference. … A new punctuation mark is required for this new age where we are defined by our lack of true highs and lows.
Ambrose Beirce long ago suggested a mark.
There is already a Sarcasm Mark and an Irony Mark, but I’m not convinced by either.
Is a sarcasm mark absurd or useful? If a mark would be beneficial, what should it be?
Poodle’s website is up and running. Check it out for some serious tie-dye vibes.
It’s quite a bit different from moogy.org over here, but it’s definitely cool.
Look at the Early Office Museum‘s History of the Paper Clip for pictures and descriptions of every paper clip from the first patented in 1967.
The first bent-wire paper clip was patented by Samuel B. Fay in 1867. This clip was originally intended primarily for attaching tickets to fabric, although the patent recognized that it could be used to attach papers together.
Why were bent-wire paper clips sold in so many different designs? Many designs were initially protected by patents. As a result, other manufacturers had to come up with different designs. Also, no single paper clip design is optimal for all purposes. In marketing paper clips, suppliers emphasized the superiority of their designs on one or two of the following characteristics:
1. Does not catch, mutilate, or tear papers
2. Does not get tangled with other clips in the box
3. Holds a thick set of papers
4. Holds papers securely
5. Is thinner and takes less space in files
6. Is easily inserted
7. Is light weight and requires less postage
8. Is cheap (e.g., because it uses less wire)
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