Show Worth

Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth. - Aesop 


And only fools and the young think people can't tell the difference.


(Other posts on Character) 

Convincing Others

Convincing yourself doesn't win an argument. - Robert Half


Similarly, convincing yourself that you are God's gift to the world doesn't convince the world.


(Other posts on Superiority) 

Changing Direction

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. - Lao Tzu 


If you do not have a direction you will end up where you are.


(More posts on Goals) 

Want a Pay-Raise?

If you are only doing what you are getting paid for, and doing it no better than the average employee, then your pay is most likely right where it should be. - Bo Bennett


An employee earns pay raises.


(Other posts on Money) 

Looking for Work?

Many people quit looking for work when they find a job. - Unknown


What they were never taught was that getting a job is an opportunity for getting a better job.


(More posts on Opportunity) 

Paid by the Hour

You don't get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour. - Jim Rohn 


I sure wish they would teach this in school.


(Other posts about Work )

Pet Peeves

Peeves do not make very good pets. - Bo Bennett


And no one would probably notice if you got rid of them.


(Other posts on Perfection)

Competent Imagination

Competence is not the same thing as imagination. - Seth Godin


And to a certain extent they are mutually exclusive. It takes both kinds but when you find the one who has both - hire them.


(Other posts on Imagination)

Liberty for All

I will not attack your doctrines nor your creeds if they accord liberty to me. If they hold thought to be dangerous - if they aver that doubt is a crime, then I attack them one and all, because they enslave the minds of men. - Robert Green Ingersoll 


Unfortunately political correctness does not make such a distinction.


(Other posts on Liberty)

Impossible Partnerships

A fact never went into partnership with a miracle. Truth scorns the assistance of wonders. A fact will fit every other fact in the universe, and that is how you can tell whether it is or is not a fact. A lie will not fit anything except another lie. - Robert Green Ingersoll


Kind of makes you wish wonders would cease.


(Other posts on Truth)

Too Small to Matter

It is not too small to meter but it is too small to matter. - Adaptation by Chris Anderson


Many of life's problems fall into this category.


(Other posts on Problems)

White Lies

Those that think it permissible to tell white lies soon grow color blind. - Austin O'Malley


Hum....why do politicians come to mind?


(Other posts on Honesty)

Good Teaching

A poor teacher complains, an average teacher explains, a good teacher teaches, a great teacher inspires. - H. Narasimhaiah


When the teachers Union strikes for something other than wages and benefits (like books or computers) I will think about supporting them.


(Other posts on Education)

Priceless Dreams

So I have nothing? Ah, you're wrong. Why I have all my dreams - priceless are my riches when my brain with fancy teems. - Dorothy Snowden


Be careful when you mess with peoples' dreams.


(More posts on Wealth)

Broken Hearts

There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts broken by love, but what really broke a heart was taking away its dream - whatever that dream might be. - Pearl S. Buck


Be careful when you mess with peoples' dreams.


(Other posts on People)

Judging Worth

Most people know no other way of judging men's worth but by the vogue they are in, or the fortunes they have met with. - Francois de La Rochefoucauld 


Not the wealth in their pockets nor the number who recognize their name but the virtue they have demonstrated through their actions.


(Other posts on Success)

The Short View

If each of us hires people smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. - David Ogilvy


It's hard to see farther standing on the shoulders of dwarfs.


(Other posts on Talent)

Important Problems

If you do not work on an important problem, it's unlikely you'll do important work. - Richard Hamming


So what are the important problems in your line of work?


(Other posts on Work)

Learning Compounded

The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity - it is very much like compound interest. - Richard Hamming

Keep on learning.


(Other posts on Learning)

Only Twenty Things

There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; its what we do with them that's important. - Jim Rohn


What has been done with them is amazing; what will be done with them is exciting.


(Other posts on Achievement)

Uncertain Times

Every economy is uncertain. Referring to this or any economy as "uncertain" is an unnecessary and pessimistic redundancy. - Bo Bennett


The only thing that is certain is uncertainty.


(Other posts on Change)

Civil Commerce

Commerce is the great civilizer. We exchange ideas when we exchange fabrics. - Robert Green Ingersoll


The giving of alms does not likewise civilize.


(Other posts on Ideas)

Doing it Wrong Hurts

If you think something's supposed to hurt, you're less likely to notice if you're doing it wrong - Paul Graham 


He's talking about being taught that work is torture but his thought applies to lots else.


(Other posts on Work)

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say:

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. - John Adams

Our quest for comfort and security have lead us to where we are.

I write this in an election year where the presidential ads are running free and loose. When you are in this situation make note - Liberty is never mentioned! Freedom might be mentioned but not liberty. What is the difference? Liberty applies to governmental restriction while freedom is the more general term. One may not be "free" to discuss a particular issue because of personal reasons or your attorney said you shouldn't. If you are not at "liberty to speak" that means some governmental body is forbidding your speech on the matter.


Why is "liberty" rarely, if ever, mentioned? Well folks, I'm sorry to say this, but we have lost a lot of our liberty. If you look at the local laws, ordinances, rules, regulations, you will find they are directed at restricting Liberty. They are never, or almost never, aimed at protecting individual liberty. They have been enacted in order to restrict actions by individuals. Restriction of actions of an individual is restricting the liberty of that individual. "But, but, but..." you say! We can't allow people to just go around doing as they damned well please! I say "Why not?" I may not like what they do, but if it does not infringe on what I do then let 'em go ahead.......they might not like what I do.


My neighbor is at liberty to build an ugly house - I will grant them that without question. I am (or should be) at liberty to raise pigs at the property line between us. Perhaps we can come to a neighborly agreement before it comes to that. Perhaps being a friend to my neighbors (and they to me) would be of mutual benefit. Perhaps we could think of ourselves as a "community" without the need for a governmental body making decisions on our behalf!


People are perfectly capable of thinking about what the neighbors and community think. The current problem is that we have created a governmental structure so that rather than thinking about what the community thinks, we think about whether it is "legal" or not. If the community doesn't like it (or those who make the decisions don't like it) then it is made illegal - a restriction on individual liberty. I defy anyone (and I mean anyone) to craft a resolution, law, ordinance or regulation which can't be circumvented in some way. Of course those who like going to meetings and like telling people what they can and cannot do count on this (subconsciously at least). Once a rule is in place and someone figures out how to get around it then the goal is not to get rid of the rule, but to "improve" it, or make it "fairer." 


A perfect example of this are the rules implemented to make influence pedaling less pervasive in the governing bodies. Have you ever heard anyone suggest perhaps if the legislators did not have the authority they do then there would be no need to try to influence them? Not until now I bet!



So what is to be done? First we all should learn to recognize or loss of liberty and when another jab at it is coming down the pike. Next we need to speak up. I don't mean yell - I mean to question and discuss. Question whether the establishment of a new rule or program is really a veiled restriction of individual liberty. Question, don't assume, that governmental solutions are needed. (Did you know Houston Texas has no zoning laws?) Then teach others about Liberty (especially your kids - they won't learn about it in school).



Be creative. Support people who are creative. Think the way to help poor people is to give them money? Look here.

Writers' Influence

The difference is slight, to the influence of an author, whether he is read by five hundred readers, or by five hundred thousand; if he can select the five hundred, he reaches the five hundred thousand. - Henry B. Adams

This is still true today but it's probably more difficult to get the 500 to take the time to read your writing.

(Other posts on Ideas)

Failure's Path

Failure is the path of least persistence. - George M. Van Valkenburg, Jr

I like this much better than the old "try, try again" cliche.

(Other posts on Failure)

Shallow Vision

A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into. - Ansel Adams

Not just photographs; most everything is given a cursory glance.

(More posts on Art) 

Losers Argument?

The long term versus the short term argument is one used by losers. - Lord Acton

I'm not so sure of that.

(Other posts on Persuasion)

Risk Assessment

A professor called it Compulsive Risk Assessment Psychosis, otherwise known as CRAP. 

Definition:

            Compulsive – Irresistible impulse.

            Risk – The possibility of suffering harm

            Assessment – To make a judgment.

            Psychosis – A mental disorder.

 If you obsess about what might happen you are suffering from CRAP.

(Other posts on Fear)

Security or Opportunity?

Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death. - James F. Byrnes

Move, but look both ways.

(Other posts on Opportunity)