Aug 13

I’ve watched more than my fair share of this year’s Olympic games, and I’ve also listened to more than my fair share of lackluster commentary. NBC is just doing a horrible job at announcing these Olympics - there’s no real sense of humor or fun (although I will give them cheesy, even though it’s delivered in total dead pan - as though they don’t even realize they are trying to be funny).

The best Olympic commentary I’ve heard was during the Sydney games in 2000. The announcers had a sort of unified enjoyment of (and healthy disrespect for) the Olypmics, and it came through in their comments.

Not us. NBC is just way too straightlaced in it’s approach. There’s no humanity to anything they do. I find it so… well… lame… that I think that the IOC should yank their contract and hand it to someone else - someone with a modicum of experience in announcing sporting events, someone like… oh, I don’t know… like ESPN. The folks over there just seem to have such a joy for sports that they couldn’t help but enjoy themselves as they hosted the Olypmic’s US television presence. Maybe we’d enjoy them a little more too.

Aug 7

As an American, I tend to live life without any margins. Urgent things get priority over important things for the simple reason that they are time sensitive and someone is screaming in my ear. This is a really bad situation: not only do my ears hurt, if I redline my life long enough I eventually explode.

My friend Jay has helped me sort out how to make room for life. He boils it down to remembering four things:

  1. You have limits.
  2. All of your time will be spent.
  3. Urgent things with crowd out the important things…(unless)
  4. You get the important things into life first.

You have make the decision to make the important the imperative. And then put it on your schedule.

Aug 4

Brilliant series on the consumerism that wracks our culture.

Jul 22

Jul 8

Those Improv Everywhere guys are freaking awesome:

Jul 2

So…. come to find out that, at least for males, that not getting married has the equivalent life expectancy impact as smoking two packs of cigarettes a day (6 years). Well… crap.

Jun 26

Stunningly Beautiful

Eerily Still

Breathtakingly Serene

Silent World

Jun 5

Treehouse

You know, I always wanted  a tree house - but those KommonVolk in Germany don’t dream, they do.

May 30

No doubt, the politicians who came up with the idea of subsidizing the diversion of grain to the production of bioethanol did not intend to starve the world’s poorest people; but the fact that the consequences were unintended does not absolve them of responsibility.

read more

May 28

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