Steve Pilgrim: Faith

A NIGHT AT THE BALLPARK

The Memphis Redbirds play the Tacoma Raniers in AAA baseball tonight at Autozone Park. We're taking the night to regroup with friends, family and the hot dogs.

9:30pm Update - A muggy night for baseball in Memphis. Redbirds won in 8th with a single by the DH with one man on, two outs and a full count.

Will Rogers. "Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate; now what's going to happen to us with both a Senate and a House?" [Quotes of the Day]

Unknown. "In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

Benjamin Franklin. "If you wouldst live long, live well, for folly and wickedness shorten life." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

GOIN' FOR FOUR

Armstrong wins stage and yellow jersey [USA Today : Front Page]

Sir Winston Churchill. "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." [Quotes of the Day]

STORIES LIKE THIS ONE

strike some kind of vigilante justice nerve somewhere within me. Prosecution seems too good for one who would do this sort of stuff. Anyone with children must know the sickening feeling Rob mentions.

Sick individual. Furious. That's how I feel right now. A man kidnaps a five year old girl and kills her. The police had better find him before the general public does, otherwise there may not be much of him left to prosecute. Sickening, just sickening. [Rob Fahrni, at the core.]

William James. "The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

Henri Matisse. "Derive happiness in oneself from a good day's work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

SYMPATHY IS HARD TO MUSTER
But, desperation can be an ugly thing

Silicon Valley Without Trimmings. Having already gone from boom to bust, many dot-commers are coming to something worse. Now, in Silicon Valley, a part of the dot-com class is being defined by what it needs to return. By John Markoff and Matt Richtel. [New York Times: Business]

Harrison Ford. "We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

A SECOND FIND FOR THE DAY

Sainteros. Just discovered Sainteros via Rebecca (where there's more recent good stuff).... [Blur Circle]

Oliver Wendell Holmes. "Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

ENOUGH ANGER TO GO AROUND - SEVERAL TIMES!

Let's throw in a little...humor!. Mike Sanders has joined the conversation about anger. In particular, I found the following comment to be quite fascinating: Much of my blogging about terrorism has been negatively affected by anger. The feelings were "How dare that blogging friend not... [Burningbird]

STILL ONE OF DOC'S 'BEST OF ALL TIME' IS THIS!

Small Pearls, Loosely Joined: There is a lot of beauty in the world. Butterflies and kittens and rainbows...and Doc Searls writing about his kid. It's all a matter of attention. [Time's Shadow]

A TIME TO EVERY PURPOSE

WHILE I WENT ON VACATION, the Christian-Pacifism debate continued, mostly (natch) among Christian bloggers. Here's a recent post with links back to others. [InstaPundit]

Abraham Lincoln. "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." [Quotes of the Day]

ANGER RISES
as a topic of much discussion

More Angry Voices. Interesting comments in the the Value of Anger posting. As I expected, this is not a subject that people treat lightly. However, I was surprised at how personally some people took this posting. For instance, Dave Rogers disagrees, strongly, with... [Burningbird]

ANGER ESSAY CONTINUES TO HIT NERVES
Warning: Long post & strong language

We are what we believe. That is to say, much, if not all, of how we view ourselves is tied into what we believe about ourselves, life, the world and the other people in it. It seems to me that this is why it is sometimes so hard to change someone's mind about anything that is important to them. I don't value anger. I don't believe anger is a useful emotion...

...Right now I'm angry at myself because I am wholly inadequate at expressing to you the fallacy of your belief and the danger it poses and the damage it causes. I'm going to have to work on this one for a while. [Time's Shadow]

SOMETHING WEBLOGGING IS DOING FOR ME
Learning to endure some filth and discomfort to uncover some gems

For much of the last 20 years, I've been a person who would (sometimes too) quickly assess whether another's point of view was consistent with my own or not. From that point, I had a tendency to then tune that person in or out for the rest of time. It was often a variation on the "what you are shouts so loudly, I don't hear a thing you're saying" school of thought. Examples include numerous liberal politicians who, once rejected over an issue, remain rejected without a hearing on all subsequent issues.

Early in this (almost) six month old experiment in weblogging, I took a similar position. Quickly, I thought I could assess whether a given weblogger had values I shared or not. However, as time has gone on, I've found that I've left some subscriptions in my news aggregator because I truly want to know what some of the "most read" people on the web are saying. I'm finding specific points of view where I agree with a person with whom I don't share a single additional value.

This approach now reaches beyond the individual to the subject matter. I've spent much of my life deciding what to put in my mind and what to leave out. Lately, I've succumbed to sites about subjects I have little or no interest in. It has been amazing. I've found some incredible resources just by cracking the mind open a little more. So far, there's been no lasting damage! Don't be misled. I continue to be rather guarded in what I elect to read, watch or focus on, but letting in a few contrary opinions hasn't hurt!

Thoreau and the Search: I've been sort of following an ongoing analysis of Thoreau's Walden Pond at In a Dark Time, a weblog of, I dare say, exceptional, value. Read the entry for the 4th of July. I would only quibble with this: How many millions of dollars are spent in psychotherapy to learn about the self? Foolish reliance on others to help us permits little progress. In the end we are the ones who must create change. If only we were strong enough to heed Thoreau's suggestion that we are all capable of exploring our own "streams and oceans." Yes, a foolish reliance on others is counter-productive. But a guide can be invaluable. Even a guide can only help, ultimately it is the one seeking who must do the work. Nothing worthwhile is ever won without effort. You must do the work. But know also, that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. [Time's Shadow]

TRYING TO LIVE A HEALTHY LIFE

I think this got started with Burningbird's post about anger followed by several responses. When time and sanity prevail, I'll take a look at these. Instinct tells me there are times when anger is the proper response, although some of these posts seem to be saying that's not the case. I'm assuming that documented evidence says those who remain relatively free of anger live longer. What will be interesting is whether or not any of these posts mention prescriptions as a solution to anger or the ultimate in anger management. Is the conventional psychiatric diagnosis and prescription, "you're angry-take some Prozac?" Does anger stem from depression? What's the difference in frustration and anger?

With the New York Times essay on fat, "Dave" quitting smoking and all of this talk about anger, I'm reminded of three things I've heard prescribed for successful weight management throughout a lifetime - proper food intake, proper exercise and proper emotional balance. Getting there in any of these areas isn't always easy. Managing emotional balance in the face of so many challenges can often be more difficult than the other steps. When something we feel strongly about (OS X-Windows, Conservative-Liberal, War-Antiwar, ProBush-AntiBush, etc.) gets trashed thoroughly by a TV commentator or a weblog or an associate, some people react quickly sending their blood pressure through the roof? Are they angry or not?

Another Voice on Anger: Michael Webb has written something on anger, far better than I ever could. Worth reading. [Time's Shadow]

Albert Einstein. "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." [Quotes of the Day]

Dorothea Dix. "In a world where there is so much to be done. I felt strongly impressed that there must be something for me to do." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]

PACIFIST TRIPE - JUDGMENT PROBLEMS IN THE FIRST TWO SENTENCES
The comments are worth reading, though

Enough of this insanity. These plans for invading Iraq have gone far enough. In our country, which is a republic, the leaders need a mandate from the people. [kuro5hin.org]

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Duckling Rescue Service. On the way to work on Wednesday I stopped to help rescue several ducklings who had fallen into a sewer grate, and got my shirt very dirty. The mother duck was walking on the curb, and the ducklings were... [Caveat Lector]