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Sunday, 02 August 2009

Monday, 29 June 2009

  • Odd advice from the President?

    Earlier this afternoon President Obama made a show to celebrate the passage of the Cap-and Trade bill in the House Friday. For those of you who do not know, this is plan to issue credits for CO2 production which can be traded among companies as a way to limit greenhouse gases which some believe are responsible for climate change. (for an opposing view watch this.)  Anyway, the President extols California as a good example of how we should do things:


    The problem is California is in the worst financial crisis of any state, even worse than Michigan, Because of high taxes and excessive regulations (like those for climate change) businesses are leaving the state in droves (along with jobs) so actual tax collections can't pay for everything they want to do.

    The bottom line is that the things California has done which have cost them jobs and destroyed their economy are now what the President wants us to do in the rest of the country. Fortunately for me I invest in a fund which invests in Asian companies, which will pick up the jobs which we are giving up with this new law.

    Also, as an aside, the President says that he wants judges to be "empathetic" but, from the tone of his statement on the sentencing this morning, he doesn't seem to mind that the judge had no empathy for Bernie Madoff, the swindler.   

Thursday, 25 June 2009

  • Soulmates? Callings? Are they part of God's plans?

    Since I was a little boy in Sunday School at Wesley UMC I’ve been told that God watches over my every move. From time to time I’ve also been told that He has a plan for my life. While I still believe the former I’ve come to doubt the latter. This has been at the front of mind for me for a bit of time now. Just after graduation last month I had a conversation with a young lady of my acquaintance. She had just broken up with a boy and was lamenting not having found her “soulmate.”  I think I may have undermined her faith when I mentioned that I do not think the idea of a soulmate is Biblical. I know there are many Christian teachers on TV and radio saying that God has one special person out there for you but I’m hard pressed to find that in the Bible. I know the Gospel talks about “two becoming one” but I do not think that is a reference to a predetermined pairing by God. In one of his letters Paul talks of “becoming one flesh” with a prostitute as defilement. Also, in the Gospel According to Matthew Jesus, when asked about the resurrection, tells us that people will not be married in the afterlife so the thought of an eternal soulmate seems wrong. The first time I came across the term it was reading new-age gurus not the Bible. I did not want to rub in the point with my young friend but I have known people who have stayed in abusive relationships or left (and destroyed) their family because they had “found their soulmate.”  Am I wrong on this idea? Otherwise I need to start looking.

    The other thing that has me wondering about God’s plans for my life is wondering if I have a calling. I know some people who are truly called to their service but I do not know if God would like me to do something more than what He wants everyone to do (Love Him and our neighbors) Before I went to college, some six years ago, I was obsessed with this idea that God had a calling for me and I went through a long period of prayer, study and even fasting to try to find out what that was. I went back to school knowing that was not God’s will but figuring He would know where to find me if He wanted to reveal it to me. Now that I’ve completed college and I’m looking for something to do for the rest of my life I’m wondering again if I have a calling. Does everyone have a special calling from God?

    I’ve always been fascinated with this idea of God’s Providence, this idea that even though we have free will God is in control of everything. I wonder if I have a choice in God’s plans for my life/


Tuesday, 09 June 2009

  • Some thoughts on graduating

    Graduating has found me at an unusual loss of words. I wold like to write something profound but it has been something less than inspiring. This time around has been more like a war of attrition meaning I lost all of the battles but still wore down the opponent, thus winning the war. One thing I think I learned is that studying success can only take things so far. Last weekend I watched a very long (three hours) interview of political and educational gadfly William Ayers. It is scary that Obama praised the man as an advisor for educational programs since he advocates the type of educational malpractice I was the victim of when I was 10. He did the common academic trick of looking for anecdotal evidence and cherry picking examples which confirm his conclusions. So he continues to push a style which has a very bad history because there are a few examples that were not as terrible.


    While not quite as blatant as Ayers cherry picking, the business school relies on studying “Best of Breed” businesses and the case studies we read stressed best practices. This misses at least half of the action in the world. I started out in the engineering program and the biggest difference they have with the business program is the stress of failure analysis as part of an engineering education, They spend a good deal of their time analyzing why some things do not work. I think that a drive to study best practices is of limited value if those practices are just layered on top of a bunch of worst practices. What was missing from the business curriculum was how to identify and root out bad practices which may counteract the best ones. I am afraid that my fellow graduates will be frustrated when they get out into the real world.


    On a lighter note; all that time I spent in the cafe in the library on the downtown campus paid off...I graduated Magna Cum Latte :)

Wednesday, 29 April 2009

  • Which caused which?

    Your Birthday's Wisdom is Individuality
    Life has required you to go your own way and do your own thing.
    You've been taught to rely on yourself. You don't feel comfortable relying on others.

    You are highly motivated and aggressive. You have no problem getting things done and getting what you want.
    You feel like you have to look out for yourself, because no one else is.

fugu62

  • Visit fugu62's Xanga Site
    • Name: Deadly Pufferfish
    • Birthday: 8/22/1962
    • Gender: Male
    • Member Since: 12/11/2007

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