Fans and Their Objects

Nobody writes better, more sensible songs—and plays a more-muscled, yet articulate, acoustic guitar—than Darrell Scott. His Kentucky holler roots feed his songs and create a knowing rapport with his fans. I would love to have been part of the audience at this intimate performance of one of his best— "It's a Great Day to Be Alive." It must be so heartening for singer-songwriters to realize that their fans know the words to their songs.

In the song above, Scott plays a lovely koa Taylor guitar, but in this one he plays one of Stefan Sobell's gorgeous acoustics. He is a fabulous guitar player!

It's No Wonder . . .

It's no wonder thousands and thousands of women read Dee Drummond's blog every day (and some men, like me). She writes, and lives, "funny" and "funnier."

Why I Like FORBES

I like Forbes magazine for many reasons, and have for years. The magazine is not afraid to integrate a biblical worldview into their capitalist commitments, knowing that only capitalism allows the creation of excess to fuel charitable and other non-profit efforts. (As is often said, capitalism is the worst system in the world—except for all the others.) They print a favorite Bible verse, sent in by readers, on the back page of every issue. Rich Karlgaard, the publisher, is an active churchman who often mixes his spiritual insights with his business sense in his editorial column.

And they are willing to publish articles like this: "The Christmas Conspiracy: Spending Less = Giving More" by Keith Levy—an article that champions movements like Advent Conspiracy and Living Water International:

English Christmas

Amazed Again

I posted this video back on February 3. I recently emailed the link to a friend (we were discussing a magic trick) and in the days following I got tons of blog visits from people that he shared the link with and who they shared the link with, etc. It really is an entertaining magic trick if you missed it back in February. Just for fun, if you like it send the link to some friends so I can see how the virus spreads over the next few days. Once people see this they seem compelled to send it to friends: "Hey, watch this!" (P.S. I saw a video on YouTube that explains how the guy does the first trick -- and here's how he does the card trick.)

THE Question of the Ages Answered: What Is the Opening Chord to "Hard Day's Night"?

Best Way to Spend a Half-hour a Day

Link.

A Gaggle of Angels

I'm not sure what a group of angels is called—a multitude, a host, a flock, a gaggle? I kind of like gaggle so I'll go with that.

These gorgeous paintings of angels are by the wonderful artist Jane DesRosier (until recently of North Carolina, now Washington state). Actually, these are prints of her original paintings (couldn't have afforded the originals even if they'd been available). Six of them were mounted on birch plywood when I bought them from Jane, and four I mounted following her instructions. I think they are captivating—so reflective of the different personalities angels surely have.

Here's the group before I got them up on the wall:

And here are some close-ups—Jane does incredible amounts of layering and texturing; the colors are so deep. If you look closely on the third picture below you'll see a portion of Scripture text that's been layered into the paint:

And here they are grouped on the wall (I could have used some art direction here, but did the best I could):

I've posted this beautiful video of Jane in her studio before, but I'll post it again here so you can see this amazing artist at work painting "Jesus and Mother" (accompanied by Patty Griffin's song "Mary" -- gorgeous): Link. (Warning: when you land on the page, scroll immediately to the bottom of the page and turn off the music that plays automatically as it will conflict with the music in Jane's speed-painting video.

And here's another artist's (Katherine Labbe) portrait of Gritty Jane (as Jane DesRosier is known) herself—it looks a lot like her!

Thanks to God for Jane's great talent and to Jane for sharing it abundantly.

Winter Greens

Stopped by the Matthews Farmers Market this morning and came home with some beautiful winter greens: two bunches of collards, a bunch of regular spinach, two bunches of Bordeaux spinach (red stems), a giant head of Romaine lettuce and a head of red leaf lettuce. The temp was in the mid-30's this morning (lower overnight), and our local organic growers are still producing this beautiful produce:

I've been fortunate to have an abundant supply of Swiss chard growing in my own front bed. These chard plants are all from seeds from a plant that went to seed last year. I picked a leaf 21" long the other day (the leaf only, not counting the stem) and 10" wide to make a wrap for lunch.

Steve Jobs: Postmortem

One of America's best-known plant-based doctors, Dr. John McDougall, did a significant amount of research on Steve Jobs and the cancer that killed him, and offers some reflections on what caused his death—his vegan diet likely kept him alive longer than he might otherwise have lived, and the surgery he regretted not having sooner would not have saved him. Link.

What Are We Paying You For?

How to Google

Great primer on how to use Google to search for maximum advantage—including using Google to perform math functions and metric/standard conversions. Here.

Oops! Chris Matthews Has Gone off the Reservation

Bicycle Friendly

Here's a great idea arising from a great story:

The cycling team at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Kentucky, takes regular, long training rides on the roads surrounding the college. They were approached by some local residents who said (paraphrasing), "We like seeing the cycling team come by on their training rides and would like to support the team. We'd like them to know that if they ever need any assistance, especially in more rural areas—food or water, a phone, medical or mechanical help, directions—they are free to knock on our doors and we'll help them any way we can."

So together, they came up with the "Bicycle Friendly" sticker above. It's large—about 6" in diameter—to affix to the mailboxes of homes that are "Bicycle Friendly." When cyclists see the sticker, they know there are "friendlies" living there who will welcome the opportunity to assist them if they need help. And local businesses have gotten on the bandwagon—coffee shops, restaurants, and others who welcome cyclists are displaying the stickers on their storefronts.

In a day when cyclists are viewed as a nuisance by many folks, it's encouraging to find people who, even though they don't ride themselves, are still "Bicycle Friendly."

You can learn more about the program here, and order your own "Bicycle Friendly" stickers for your own mailbox or storefront. Ordering info is on the web site, or you can send a PayPal payment to grigsbyd@lindsey.edu. Stickers are $1 each and $1 for s/h for every 25 stickers ordered. That's obviously a break-even price, but proceeds support the Lindsey Wilson College cycling team. I've ordered some and plan to take a few by the two bike shops near me to encourage them to participate in distributing them.

They've already sold the first run of 10,000 stickers with more on order!

Needed: Economic Freedom

John Mackey, CEO of Wholefoods, has a great Wall Street Journal opinion piece on the need for economic freedom in America—i.e., economic reforms that would get the American economy moving again. From his editorial:

So why is our economy barely growing and unemployment stuck at over 9%? I believe the answer is very simple: Economic freedom is declining in the U.S. In 2000, the U.S. was ranked third in the world behind only Hong Kong and Singapore in the Index of Economic Freedom, published annually by this newspaper and the Heritage Foundation. In 2011, we fell to ninth behind such countries as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland.

How Apple Makes Money

Apple's secret weapon for making money is to control the supply and production chain—from manufacturing to retail. A Bloomberg Businessweek article provides a jaw-dropping look at how Apple controls how its products are built, shipped, and sold. Just amazing.

When College Presidents Were Eloquent

In his November 9 column, George Will discusses the financial power of college football—how teams are switching conferences, and traveling thousands of miles cross-country for games, in pursuit of ever-larger television and bowl appearance payouts. As a contrast to the current state of affairs, he cites the refusal of Andrew Dickson White, Cornell University's first president, to allow Cornell's football team to travel to Cleveland to play Michigan's team in 1873:

"I will not permit 30 men to travel 400 miles merely to agitate a bag of wind."

That's the kind of elocution one expects from a college president!

How Cats Use Computers

My daughter and her cat, Trina, are bunking with me temporarily after relocating here for a new job. Here is how Trina uses my daughter's iBook—as a be-hind warmer, apparently. If Trina was a Lab, a Vizsla, a German Short-haired Pointer, a Weimaraner, or Rhodesian Ridgeback, she would have had the computer open reading Drudge, making trades, or setting up a night of poker with her pals. But not Trina. As far as she knows, the white plastic thing is a hotplate just for her. Cats.

The Ultimate Tweaker

If you don't have time (or interest) to read the just-released 600-page biography of Steve Jobs, a condensed version of Job's personality is at The New Yorker here. It's a quick read, but captures the darker side of the man who many know only as conquering hero. I confess to feeling much differently about Jobs after reading the biography. Before the book, I saw him as a genius with quirks. After the book I saw him as a deeply flawed man who I wonder if I would have enjoyed knowing.

This article uses the paradigm of the English Industrial Revolution as a way to think about Jobs. He was not an inventor but a tweaker—the most obvious example being his implementation of the technologies developed at Xerox's PARC center that appeared in the first Macintosh, and which the world thought Jobs & Co. had invented: the GUI (graphical user interface), the mouse, and more. There were portable music devices and cell phones before the iPod and iPhone—but Jobs tweaked what existed and made it great. And drove people crazy in the process.

He was such a perfectionist that it took eight years for him to begin furnishing the house he and his wife bought—he insisted they discuss the "purpose of a sofa" for a long time before buying one. Same with a washer and dryer. In the hospital he rejected nearly three score nurses before he found a couple he could tolerate, also rejecting the oxygen mask and finger BP sensor because of their poor design. These and MANY other examples are in the book—and there are enough in the New Yorker article to flesh out an accurate picture of the man.

Perhaps the saddest example of his perfectionism came near the end of the life (this story is in the biography, not in the article): He only got half-way toward deciding whether there is a God or not. In one of his final interviews with his biographer, Walter Isaacson, Jobs said he wasn't sure about the existence of God. He figured there is a "50-50 chance" that God exists. Taking eight years to decide about furniture is one thing. But taking a lifetime to decide about the existence of God is a far more weighty gamble—and an unnecessary one in light of the evidence:

"But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse." (Romans 1:19-20, The Message)

I can only hope that Job's perfectionism—the demands that he made on those around him—didn't carry over to his contemplation of the existence of God right up to his final moments of life. The verse just quoted says there is enough evidence to decide. But perhaps not enough for those who demand complete compliance to their standards.

African-Americans, Diabetes, and Veganism

The American Diabetes Association says that 14.7 percent of African-Americans over the age of 20 have diabetes. A new study from Loma Linda University found that vegan African-Americans have a 70 percent reduced risk of being diabetic, while lacto-ovo African-American vegetarians (those who eat dairy and eggs but not meat) have a 53 percent reduced risk of being diabetic.

With the Centers for Disease Control saying that one-third of American adults (all races) could be diabetic by 2050, you wonder why this vegan/vegetarian solution is not being shouted from the government rooftops. Can you spell m-e-a-t a-n-d d-a-i-r-y l-o-b-b-y ?

Read the article here. (Thanks, Daniel)