Possibly fun event for those who like Seth Godin and his thoughts and who happen to be near Chicago, Minneapolis and a few other places. http://www.squidoo.com/sethroadtrip

"The influence of politics and policy is usually swamped by the influence of culture, ethnicity, psychology and a dozen other factors....If you combine the influence of ethnicity and region, you get astounding lifestyle gaps. The average Asian-American in New Jersey lives an amazing 26 years longer and is 11 times more likely to have a graduate degree than the average American Indian in South Dakota.
When you try to account for life outcome differences this gigantic, you find yourself beyond narrow economic incentives and in the murky world of social capital. What matters are historical experiences, cultural attitudes, child-rearing practices, family formation patterns, expectations about the future, work ethics and the quality of social bonds....So when we’re arguing about politics, we should be aware of how policy fits into the larger scheme of cultural and social influences. Bad policy can decimate the social fabric, but good policy can only modestly improve it...Most of the proposals we argue about so ferociously will have only marginal effects on how we live, especially compared with the ethnic, regional and social differences that we so studiously ignore."

Here's the article, full of good supporting research and details.

And yes, the first post in a while. I think I finally found something I want to use it for. I'd love to have discussions about the things I post here and intend to respond quickly to comments that contain a question.

I wrote about something that Jon wrote about something. The community of learners lives on.

http://technosabbatarian.blogspot.com/2009/01/thinking-about.html

I give you: a nice big problem in a nice big nutshell. The video that is linked to in the article to "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics" is worth getting through, even if watched piecemeal.

Twitter haiku

I don't know if Reinhardt intended this:

Fallen leaves 

in piles leave

curb endings ambiguous.

Bullet points

Windows, Doors and More Outlet

• My former part-time employee is no longer with me.  He was doing very well and deserved more money than I could afford to pay him and about a month ago I was able to get him a full-time job elsewhere.  We still communicate and I think he will continue to progress.
• I was able to hire a new part-time guy. He will eventually be in charge of all the framing for us.  He's learned very quickly and was able to frame a double out-swing door by himself over the weekend with only 3 phone calls to me and 1 minor, easily fixable error.  Thank you Lord!
• The new warehouse that we're planning is held up in red tape.  The Holy Spirit has the scissors.

Household

• Paul Nathan Barrett was born August 30th. I think that makes him the youngest citybuilder.
• New weekly (or bi-weekly or some iteration of weekly) calendar goes into effect Monday
• Many of us have made trips to MN and IN for celebrations centered on folks making the covenant of the People of Praise for the first time.  I very much enjoyed being present at both events and thereby trebling the number of times I recited the covenant with my brothers and sisters.  The Kingdom has advanced.
• We now have an mp3 player that can take Rhapsody out into the kitchen and cars and chores and framing etc. A nice addition.
• Tom, Nathan and I have been doing PT and personal prayer together and Tom and I have been doing night prayer together as well, all of which was Nathan's idea.  My life is more full of Christ now.
• The Deakins were gone for a bit on vacation and I'm glad they've returned. Patti and I shared stories about Joel Kibler and Gerry and talked about landscaping. It's good to have them back!

Some reflecting

• I've had fun remembering that there's a camera in my phone. Trying to imagine enlightening perspectives of events that are important to me is fun. As is imagining helpful photos to take, such as the locations of dishes in our drawers and cupboards.
• I got a fresh batch of sunflower seeds.  My five gallon bucket from the summer is all gone.
• Thanks, Jon, for clearing up some writing ideas! 

Non-geographic community

Thanks to the People of Praise, non-geographic community is possible for me. I'm living a life in Shreveport, Louisiana that looks very much like the life friends of mine are living in Portland, OR, South Bend, IN, Minneapolis, MN, and even friends who are traveling to schools or jobs but still belong to PoP.

Over the past hour, I've heard a talk given by a friend in Minneapolis, played correspondence chess with a friend in Indianapolis, and chatted with a friend in South Bend. Glory! Technology knitting the world together.