Pragmatism vs. Idealism

photo credit: graymalkn
I’m an idealist. I don’t believe the ends justify the means, and I am a big fan of concepts like “doing the right thing,” “personal responsibility,” and “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
I’m also a pragmatist. I think this is partly personality, partly profession, and a good deal of being married [...]

Expand Your Mind (And Your Experiences)

Marilyn (”The Toymaker”) relates a list of seven “ways to develop breadth” and “avoid becoming stagnant and boring” from an old textbook:
1. Wide reading outside one’s special area,
2. Cultivation of associates and friends outside one’s special area,
3. Varied recreational and cultural participation,
4. Travel,
5. A cultivation of broad interests,
6. A persistent relationship with the world of [...]

I’ve figured it out!

Okay, that headline is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, because I know my own tendency to change my mind on a whim. But I’m also somewhat serious. I think I’ve figured out what I want to be when I grow up.
I want to be a philanthropist.
I’ve been reading Bill Clinton’s excellent new book, Giving. [...]

If you want gas prices to go down, use less gas

I’m both amused and annoyed by the various schemes going around by email to lower gas prices. I got two today: one that’s calling for a don’t-buy-gas day and one that’s calling for a boycott of a specific chain.
Clearly people don’t really get the whole supply-and-demand thing. Demand is still demand, regardless of [...]

Found through (very) random searching

Probably the most profound example of 16-year-old writing I’ve seen in a while. So sensible!

A reminder about my personality

Just in case I forget (again), I’d like to state for the record (and hopefully for future reference before I sign up for something contrary to this note):
I do not like open-ended projects. I like finite tasks, things that can be checked off a list and marked “done.”
Any chance I’ll remember this the next [...]

Wow, they really DO sell everything!

I wear my sunglasses at night…

Vocabulary review: “humbled” vs. “honored”

Why do people think these words are synonymous?
Look them up: humbled vs. honored
Funny, to me they seem to be kind of… um… opposites. And yet…
The response has far surpassed our expectations and we are extremely humbled by the huge interest.
That quote seems typical lately of the kind of stuff I see by developers of [...]

Microlending and the Nobel Peace Prize

Long time readers will remember that I’m a big fan of microlending, so you won’t be surprised when I say I’m excited about this news: Muhammad Yunus (who Tom Peters calls “the father of microlending”) has just been declared the winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
(Hat tip to The Thinklings)