Policy Change

Not that anyone on this lightly-read blog is going to care, but I made a small adjustment to the commenting policy.  This is actually becoming a bit more common among the more intelligent outposts on the net, and I think it is a good trend. 

From now on, no more anonymous posts under pseudonyms will be accepted - they will be deleted without even being read unless you are already known to me (real identity).

Thinkers who want to hide behind the screen of Internet anonymity....well... are just not thinkers and are not welcome here.

Quiet !

Just simply...Quiet.

This book review has been a long time in coming...for reasons I outline in the review. (From Goodreads):

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh crap...now I have actually finished this book, and I have to write a review...but I am not sure how exactly. Let's try this:

Wow
Double Wow...even Triple Wow occasionally

It took me an extraordinarily long time to read this book given my usual pace. But that is because of the work that it is. It is subtitled "The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking". I could have almost stopped there and savored that alone...but I am glad I didn't.

I was introduced to Susan Cain (as were many others) through her TED Talk. I bought this book immediately after seeing it and coincidentally at the end of a very bad experience for me of being a 'pseudo-extrovert', not so much to please others but because I do have a somewhat adventurous spirit when it comes to new challenges. Although I came out of it OK, this time it almost cost me.

So reading this book, there were many times where I simply had to set it aside for awhile (sometimes a few weeks) and let my subconscious mind work over what I had read.

It is that kind of book...full of what probably seems in hindsight like common sense...but it escaped us who were living the life of introverts in a world that for most of the last 30 years or so has valued noise, glamour, and extroversion.

The book gets a bit technical in the middle - Susan did her research, but even there I found a lot of very interesting and valuable nuggets to mull over. Her concluding chapters bring it all together into a combination message of "here is who you really are...and don't be ashamed of it" and "here is how you can learn to live".

The devilish part of me wants to add to that last "or if you are one of the inferior extrovert caste....read this to see who really rules the world". (Sorry Ms. Cain if you read this -- too many public school incidents welling up!).

This is NOT Susan's message at all. She points out repeatedly throughout the book that we need both types to make a living, functioning society, and that indeed there may not be very many pure "types" at all in reality. This is something I agree with very strongly, as I am certainly a hybrid of the two, though leaning heavily toward the "intro" side and much more comfortable with it particularly now that I have read this book.

View all my reviews

Thank you, Susan Cain!

I'm Calling BS!

There is a lot of backslapping and congratulations on the "bipartisan budget deal" that President Obama signed today.  The sound of politician's arms patting themselves on the back is almost deafening, but in reality this is still light years from where how the budget process is supposed to work.  There are specific dates in law that are to be met for the Executive to submit to Congress a budget request for the next year.

Throughout all of this recent mess the Executive branch has been doing quite a lot better at meeting its dates than Congress.  Congress just never bothered to pass any kind of a budget for the years 2011, 2012, or 2013 (law requires them to pass it by April 15)...instead relying on a bunch of "here's a check to tide you over" resolutions that shut down large parts of the government (but left the profligate money-spewers at the Pentagon largely unhampered). 

Instead of any congratulations...all 535 members of Congress should be slinking off home to write their resignation letters, for the crime of perpetrating fraud on the American citizen and taxpayer.     

In other words...BS to the "miraculous budget deal"!

Pay Attention to What the ACA is Really About!

There has been so much smoke and bile over the front-end application process for the Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA) that a lot of things have gotten completely lost:

This act really only affects people who did not have healthcare coverage before, or whose employers have recently dropped it.  Unfortunately the latter group has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last decade (pre-ACA) as the death panels (excuse me...health insurance companies) entrenched their abilities to buy new yachts and vacation homes every year through premium and deductible increases, while providing no real cost control to the market.

It got so bad that the US was the worst (the worst, bar none) of any 'first-world' or 'civilized' country in providing very basic healthcare to its citizens.  You could have moved to almost any one of 80 or so other countries (including some 'second world' countries and done better).

The other thing that has gotten lost aside from just availability is the advantages the ACA brings to the healthcare consumer.  Unfortunately it does not get rid of the death panel's influence and greed, only requiring that everyone be allowed to be gored by the political money-grabbing lobbyist and health care profit machine equally hard.   The right thing, of course would be a single-payer system like the rest of the civilized world enjoys, but that would put one of the largest money sources for Congressional reelection campaigns out of business (boo-hoo).

Still, it means that there is likely to be a much smaller percentage of completely uninsured citizens in the US, which should serve to drive down costs once hospitals start to realize that the majority of people walking into their emergency rooms are no longer largely made up those that cannot/are not going to pay.

This column from the Center For Public Integrity outlines just how much real information you may have missed by just watching cable news:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/12/23/14051/obamacare-yes-theres-plenty-it-you

The Internet Thinks We Are Stupid...and Illiterate

And it is really starting to p*ss me off!

Have you noticed the increasing ratio of news stories that seem to come in "video only" form? 

First of all...this is offensive as h*ll to me.  It seems the publishers of said news items don't think I am capable of reading it on my own (I have a beyond-college vocabulary and comprehension, so I don't need some almost-literate bimbo to read it to me....at least not for another thirty years or so I hope!).

Add to that the fact that said video is always 1) preceded by some brain dead advertising aimed at the sixth graders in the audience; and that 2) the "reader" when they finally get around to it either misses or just ignores some very salient facts; 3) or adds a lot of fluff to the story that has no value at all. 

It has gotten to the point where if I click on what appears to be a news link and it pops up a video...I just kill it immediately.   I hope we are not becoming such a stupid nation of "feed me your version of the news" that this becomes a normal delivery mechanism. 

Revolving DC Door Works Both Ways

The "revolving door" in Washington usually refers to people in DC "retiring" to cushy lobbyist or advisory jobs from posts of influence (or sometimes only a lowly Congressperson). 

But this particular spinning door actually works both ways...as this Center For Public Integrity article notes when an industry insider gets to "oversee" the industry he was an "insider" (and partier) to. 

The folks at CPI do great work and you should read their reports regularly (and support them if able), but sometimes it must seem to them like such an uphill battle.... 

Another Sarah Kay Piece

This piece from my favorite spoken-word poet Sarah Kay seemed appropriate for the holidays when we tend to think of family matters and want to draw those important to us close:

Some Material For Thinkers

Some very thoughtful comments on Nelson Mandela, and President Obama's desire to finally begin to address the great income inequality problem in this country. Happy thinking!

Nelson Mandela 1918-2013

Most people's lives are deserving of some sort of an epitaph. Others transcend that and seem worthy of more than we can possibly give in remembrance.

The last page of Nelson Mandela's speech in 1964, just before he spent 27 years in prison.

Rest in peace, President Mandela.  I am the poorer for never having met you, but may your work continue to inspire me and those who follow...

No Way to Dress This Up Folks!

The US continues its race to the bottom in terms of knowledge/achievement levels for its high school students. 

Not only are we plummeting to the bottom and contesting countries such as Lithuania and Croatia for position, we have the "states rights" folks who seem determined to drive us even further down this road, each with their own narrow-minded ideals, like the folks in Tennessee who tried to declare that 'slavery never really happened'.

We have got to get our act together people -- the countries who are 'cleaning our clock' in education (like China, Japan, Canada, Australia....heck everyone) are all beneficiaries of a strong centrally administered education standards process that applies to everyone in the country (kinda like Common Core?).

Land of Oppportunity? Not so Fast

If you are open-minded enough, here is a presentation that tells the economic story of America today in concrete, factual terms.  I checked the data behind this, and it is pretty accurate.  For links to the references behind the presentation, go to the YouTube page and open the 'References' section:

This is What Thinkers are About!

I am this Thanksgiving weekend grateful for many things, not the least of which is the single most intelligent conversation to be heard on public airwaves.  I refer of course to the weekly Shields and Brooks meeting on the PBS NewsHour.  

This is a very pleasurable end to my week and I hope it becomes a habit of yours.  This week the meat of the discussion and the real 'thinking material' starts about 5 minutes in, after they have a relatively mundane discussion about the Iran agreement.