TIME POWER: TODAY…
0001 by Jeff HessToday, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: Interruptions are not your worst time wasters; disunification is. p. 39
30 March 2008
29 March 2008
29 March 2008
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2030 by Jeff Hess
When foreign students study in American universities, they take home more than the knowledge learned in their classes, they return to their families with the historical lessons and principles of human rights, freedoms and self determination. They learn to be revolutionaries. They learn about independence, or in one case, kornkaw.
From the Indiana Daily Student:
IU freshman Ying Lao”s first word in Shan, her region”s native tongue, was “independence.”
To her, it was a foreign-sounding word whispered discretely among the villagers in her small community in the Shan state of Burma. Ying Lao, who learned Burmese at an early age, heard an older man murmur the Shan word “kornkaw” when she was in 10th grade.
The first time she heard the word, she asked her father, the headmaster of a primary school, about the meaning of “kornkaw” and why everyone was afraid to utter the word above the level of a whisper.
“It means ‘independence,”” her father said. Continue Reading »
29 March 2008
29 March 2008
MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…
1400 by Jeff Hess
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Creating a weekly meal plan.
29 March 2008
29 March 2008
WHAT THEY SAID…
0956 by Jeff HessAt a client meeting this week, I was taken aback when he deliberately chose to describe the current economic outlook in the UK with the word “depression.” I have become used to talking to colleagues and clients alike about the coming recession, but a depression is entirely a different matter. I’ve never lived through one of those! This client is the CEO of a financial services group and extremely well connected in UK banking circles. If he’s thinking and talking this way, so, too, I bet, are the heads of many other sizable financial institutions. Tom Peters
29 March 2008
29 March 2008
WHAT THEY SAID…
0848 by Jeff HessAt the risk of repeating myself, Obama is the liberal opponent I want. He will force us to make the case for conservatism-a case I believe is strongest in civil debate. He will not accuse us of wanting to starve children or make old people eat dogfood. Granted, he will accuse us of letting special interests keep us from embracing liberal policy. But there is a potential here for vast improvement in the quality of debate. Good debate benefits conservatism. It always has and it always will.
If the Democrat party remains in the claws of Clinton; or if the Sean Hannitys of the world remain the voice of “conservatism”, true conservatism will continue down the road to extinction. Instead of inspiring people about freedom and prosperity, we will continue to try to frighten them with monster-under the bed stories and bullshit scandals (some true; some made up-never forget the Clinton body count garbage). Hal_10000
29 March 2008
IF YOU DIE IN AN ACCIDENT, YOU’RE STILL DEAD…
0841 by Jeff HessFriendly Fire, I think,
burns like any other.
Flames are no less searing
when ignited by a brother.
From Guest Poet by Joan Hoagland Milder.
29 March 2008
MY COMMENTS…
0824 by Jeff Hess
Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.
0820 my own tent
29 March 2008
FROM MY DAD…
0800 by Jeff Hess
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. This week he brings us all a reminder that we complain to much: From My Dad.
29 March 2008
GOOD AFTERNOON MYANMAR…
0430 by Jeff HessThere is an exchange in the Talmud between rabbis Tarfon and Akiva over which is more important, the study of Torah or the performance of good deeds? R. Tarfon supported actions and R. Akiva study. But the rabbis concluded that R. Akiva was right because study leads to action. Thaung Htun appears to have reached the same conclusion.
From the Globe And Mail:
It was Hannah Arendt who wrote that “Under conditions of tyranny, it is easier to act than to think.” While none would accuse Burma’s Saffron Revolution of being unthinking, the sense of those words hold true. There is a time when thoughts must give way to action.
Yet, just as this notion holds truth, so too does its reverse. That is to say, without the conditions of tyranny, it is easier to think than to act. This appears to be the position of many around the world, who have the privilege of remaining disengaged while seeing images of violence at a distance. Continue Reading »
29 March 2008
FROM MY CHAPBOOK…
0400 by Jeff Hess
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
This is a passage I copied from Midrash and Literature edited by Geoffrey H. Hartman and Sanford Budick.
Peroration: 1 : the concluding part of a discourse and especially an oration 2 : a highly rhetorical speech- perorational \9per-0-8rÀ-shn0l, 9p0r-, -sh0-n0l\ adjective [106] Perspicuous: : of acute mental vision or discernment : KEEN synonyms see SHREWD- perspicaciously adverb- perspicaciousness noun- perspicacity \-8ka-s0-tÎ\ noun [142] Petihta: Hebrew [107] Pleonasm: 1 : the use of more words than those necessary to denote mere sense (as in the man he said) : REDUNDANCY2 : an instance or example of pleonasm- pleonastic \9plÎ-0-8nas-tik\ adjective- pleonastically \-ti-k(0-)lÎ\ adverb [24] Polysemous: : having multiple meanings- polysemy \-mÎ\ noun [129]
29 March 2008
29 March 2008
TIME POWER: TODAY…
0001 by Jeff HessToday, as I go about my tasks, I’ll think about: The more you can pull performance into line with unifying principles, the more self-unification you have, the better base you have for reality testing and the better able you are to make decisions. p. 39
28 March 2008
WHAT THEY SAID…
2105 by Jeff HessI played out that scenario with about a dozen prominent Democrats recently, from various sectors of the party, including both Obama and Clinton partisans. Most said it was extremely unlikely … and a pretty interesting idea.
A prominent fund raiser told me, “Gore-Obama is the ticket a lot of people wanted in the first place.” A congressional Democrat told me, “This could be our way out of a mess.” Others suggested Gore was painfully aware of his limitations as a candidate. “I don’t know that he’d be interested, even if you handed it to him,” said a Gore friend.
Chances are, no one will hand it to him. The Democratic Party would have to be monumentally desperate come June. And yet … is this scenario any more preposterous than the one that gave John McCain the Republican nomination? Yes, it’s silly season. But this has been an exceptionally “silly” year. Joe Klein
[Update — 0918.29.3.8 — People do not think this is a good idea.]
28 March 2008
GOOD MORNING MYANMAR…
2030 by Jeff HessI love how on the Internet we get 36+ views of every event. Yesterday I wrote about one aspect of General-For-Life (just kidding) Than Shwe’s speech before 13,000 troops in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw. Today, Iran’s PressTV picks up the story and asks differeent questions and takes note of the general’s very real fears.
Senior Gen. Than Shwe made the remarks in a nationally televised speech on Thursday, after an annual military parade to mark the holiday, which celebrates the army’s strength.
The junta launched a deadly crackdown on Buddhist monks and pro-democracy protesters six months ago.
Than Shwe, however, did not address the crackdown in his 15-minute speech. Instead, he called on his troops “to join hands with the people to crush internal and external destructive elements sabotaging stability and progress of the state.”
The military seized power in 1962 prompting the international community to impose embargoes on the resource-rich nation.
The September crackdown sparked global outcry and revived demands for further isolating the junta.
If the general were to succeed in crushing all internal and external destructive elements, who will be left?
28 March 2008
28 March 2008
MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…
1400 by Jeff HessI’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is A 12-Step Program to Eating Healthier Than Ever Before.
