WebMD sums my philosophy on life.
Surprisingly enough, in an article on “Children’s Health” entitled Raising a Resilient Child.
I can’t speak at all to the actual medical science in the article. but I can say that the second-to-last last paragraph hit the nail exactly right on the head:
I want to give my children the gift of resilient optimism…to teach them, wherever they may find themselves, to ask, “What is the best way forward from here?”
That, to me, is just parenting pwnage. The exact thing that I, as a parent, want for my kids. It is what I believe my parents were (somehow) able to give to me. I don’t know how they did what they did, but I’m hoping fervently to be able to replicate that bit of parenting.
To take that a step further, to me the “best way forward” is a way of logic, and reason. Take as much guesswork out as you can, understand what you are personally responsible for and what is outside your control. Think it through. Make a decision. Never be afraid to stop at some point, look around, and say “Okay, I was going this way, but from right here, right now, what is the best way forward? Is it still the same way?” Own that for yourself.
[/soapbox]
on August 17, 2008 on 3:48 pm
What a phony and fraud!
Where’s your “resilient optimism” when it comes to your government or free market economics?
“you are personally responsible for and what is outside your control.”
That’s right, you study how our government and free market works with all its quirks and commence accordingly. If you can’t prosper in this economy then you deserve whatever ugly fate that befalls you.
“pwnage”? How old are you? That’s kiddie jargon. Netspeak is for losers.
on August 17, 2008 on 4:20 pm
Oh noes . . . troll has followed me home and doesn’t like what I write! How terrible! I will lose so much sleep over this!!
Oh, no, wait, I won’t.
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with such a low level of reading comprehension that isn’t . . . a child? Suffering from a learning disability? Simply illiterate?
I have great faith in free market economics, which if you read, well, anything I’ve written that would be quite obvious to you. Well, it would be quite obvious to anyone with a high school equivalent level of reading comprehension. My complaint is consistently that the U.S. is not free market enough. We have abandoned our free market principles and are sliding towards socialism.
It isn’t that I don’t know how to take advantage of the current system, I just think the system is headed the wrong way. I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything more from an animal, that merely reacts within its own limited world view, and has no opinion or principle on how things might work better for everyone–which would be more free market, not less.
on August 17, 2008 on 4:35 pm
“My complaint is consistently that the U.S. is not free market enough.”
Oh poor you. What a pity your parents never taught you to be satisfied with what’s already been given to you. That’s right, the free market is the country’s gift to you.
Right, your the big populist hero, the champion of the common man, I’m witnessing your heart bleed for those who can’t play the system for their own ends.
If anything sounds socialistic, that does. Only socialists care about the collective good.
I’m entirely self-interested. How about you?
on August 17, 2008 on 4:44 pm
Typical thought process of a small-minded, short-sighted, uneducated individual, considering economics a zero-sum game. Calling someone who advocates more free markets a socialist.
The best thing for me is for you to keep talking. Really. With every successive comment you make, you show both the intellectual, moral and principled bankruptcy of your philosophy as well as stunning levels of ignorance on aforementioned subject matter.
By all means, keep going.
on August 17, 2008 on 10:27 pm
Why am I not surprised to be conversing with another Jesus freak?
on August 17, 2008 on 11:44 pm
Here is one of the things I can’t figure out.
Whether you get off on being wrong:
http://fierycanadian.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/fire-on-your-head-episode-32-objections-to-christianity/#comment-1071
Or whether you’re just that stupid:
http://myrddinsworld.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/i-admire-pz-myers/
Yah, typical Jesus freak would have Pharyngula on his blog roll, right?
Oh, wait, Pharyngula is about science, meaning there is, what, a <1% chance you’ve ever read it or heard of it.
Just let me know any time you get tired of being wrong. You’ve been wrong on so many things so far, so consistently, it’s really quite an accomplishment. At least you still have something you can be arrogant about–no one is as consistently wrong as you are! Substitute “wrong” with “ignorant” or “uneducated” as the post dictates.
on August 18, 2008 on 3:08 am
Just you saying it doesn’t mean anything.
Did you, or did you not, write this?
“I was raised a United Methodist, active in the church. I’ve been a member of the United Methodist church for pretty much all my life.”
Yep, that’s a Jesus freak .
Since you haven’t lived that long, back in the 1940s and 1950s, people were predicting the collapse of this nation after WW2 from nuclear devastation. I remember civil defense drills and “duck and cover.” It didn’t frighten me because my father said it would never happen. It’s a scare tactic to keep people in line and promote national defense, he said. He was right, as it turned out.
Paranoids fear all kinds of things that never come true.
Include yourself among the latest generation of paranoids.
My father and my uncles were men that I admired. They came to this country after Kristallnacht in 1938. With a few dollars between them, they started a garment manufacturing business in 1940. In 1986, they sold the business to Jones NY for 35 million dollars and retired to Florida.
So don’t tell me this country’s free market system isn’t “good enough,” you dumb and whining schmuck.
Your little middle class nest egg of being just ahead of your stupid equally middle class neighbors isn’t impressive. Real money is F.U. money.
Do you know what that is? It doesn’t come from playing the nice guy and worrying about your neighbors’ welfare.
on August 18, 2008 on 3:33 am
You betray the system that benefited your father and uncles. That free market system that from the 1940s to the Reagan years doesn’t exist any more. Reagan was the last small government conservative to hold the Presidency.
All that life you have lived, and not to have learned jack shit. To end up nothing better than an animal, with no higher values than which dick to suck next for a few more bucks.
Sad.
Keep comparing yourself to Einstein though.
AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
on August 18, 2008 on 12:17 pm
Funny how you Jesus freaks are always looking for a “savior” in some form politically. First it was Ronald Reagan, now it’s a loser named Ron Paul.
Reagan is long gone. The world has changed. Islamo-fascists are flying jets into skyscrapers. The Middle East must be democratized. Israel must be protected. The world must be made safer. The USA is the only country that can lead that charge
How do you think that’s supposed to be accomplished? Money must be spent.
I would rather our money be spent on national defense and foreign interests than being spent on domestic social programs for crackheads and welfare moms and other weak underclasses.
on August 18, 2008 on 2:17 pm
Spending money on a “new colonialism” policy (which is exactly what spending all of this money on “foreign interests” is all about) will be just as disastrous to the U.S. as it has been to every empire in history. Given the level of knowledge you’ve displayed in other areas, I am shocked that you would feel confident to express any opinion at all on foreign policy.
Amazingly enough, we actually agree that domestic social programs are failures, although I suspect for different reasons. As economics is not a zero-sum game, I believe that the benefit to the economy resulting from actual free market policies and fewer social programs (smaller government in general) would result in more private philanthropic efforts, which are more efficient than government social programs.
btw because “great minds think alike”, do you agree with Einstein’s 1949 article in The Monthly Review on socialism where he said:
“Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.”
and
“The issue is socialism versus capitalism. I am for socialism because I am for humanity. We have been cursed with the reign of gold long enough. Money constitutes no proper basis of civilization.”
I certainly don’t agree with his defense of socialism, and China proved conclusively in my mind how dismal of a failure “planned” economies are.
on August 18, 2008 on 5:50 pm
Hey HK, I didn’t know you were a Jesus freak. You had me fooled, I must admit
on August 19, 2008 on 12:05 am
Well, he does admit to being a life long member of the methodist church.
That’s a Jesus freak where i come from.
on August 19, 2008 on 12:29 am
cliff, on this one I’ve just let him feel like he’s got it right. I mean, it’s . . . it’s all he’s got at this point. I kinda hate to take it away from him, you know?
Despite my rather acidic tongue (usually only employed in an “in kind” response), I’d be happy to chew economics with ya since you’ve been a more than gracious host on your site.
If you’re at all curious where the troll followed me home from:
http://dougwead.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/youre-next-ron-pauls-warning/
Also a coupla gems here:
http://dougwead.wordpress.com/2008/08/13/smokin-some-weed-with-ron-paul/
on August 19, 2008 on 1:11 am
Can you get restraining orders on blogs?
I don’t know if I’d be much match for you on the economic front (not that I was elsewhere). I don’t know that I’m very intelligent when it comes to economics but we might find we have a lot that we agree on when it comes to my dollar and the government. But, for what it’s worth, here’s a smorgasbord of what I think about money, politics, etc.
1. We have a free market economy and it should stay that way. Well, in part we do. That is, we’re also more a socialist state than we like to admit in that we have a pretty good bit of wealth redistribution, which I disagree with, not to mention lots of social problems. However, I do think there are certain segments of society that we have an obligation to take care of (i.e. crack baby with lots of health needs and no parents to be found, unfortunate genetic defect baby whose parents have no insurance, etc.). Either way, there’s too much of an attitude of something-for-nothing and “I deserve it because…..”
I come from where you get what you work for (and of course what God blessed you with). If someone thinks Obama and McCain are really going to change this much, I think they’re living in la-la land.
2. We should be energy independent. There’s no reason that the nation that sent men to the moon (OK, some people still don’t believe that) and continue to explore outer space can’t find a way to use less gas, use more windpower, use alternative fuels, etc., etc. In Colombia, for example, where I lived for a year, a large percentage of private vehicles run on compressed natural gas which can be purchased just about everywhere. In Brazil, they grow sugarcane and use it for fuel production. If nothing else, why in the world have we not been able to have more cars getting over 40mph?
3. While I think the government is too big and puts its nose in too much, I think we do need some serious healthcare reform that unfortunately, might only come by means of the government. I have a friend who went to an orthopedist who charged him $600 to buddy tape his finger. Another got charged $2000 by an ENT to remove a peanut from his ear. Well, you can come to my office, die, and I could spend two hours resuscitating you, shocking you, using all kinds of medicines, save your life, watch you die again and save you again and wear out the brainpower and the most I can charge is about $200. Something’s wrong with that.
Otherwise, the government needs to be limited, pork spending has to go and there has to be some real accountability. Government is so wasteful, in part because it doesn’t matter how much they spend – it’s a bottomless pit. In private industry, $ are controlled and monitored very closely, at least in profitable companies.
4. You’ve probably figured it out, but if not, I’m pro-life.
Well, there’s a little bit more of where I stand.
on August 19, 2008 on 1:18 am
oops, point 1, not social problems (although we do), meant to say social programs
on August 19, 2008 on 1:52 am
Creeps like you will only post to blogs where you will be treated to a mutual suck-up fest. Creeps like you would never post to a real conservative’s blog run by someone who doesn’t give a damn about toeing some ideological line to appease others.
A “troll” to you is someone who doesn’t buy into your paranoid Losertarian bullshit.
Again, Losertarians have no voice, no power, and little governmental representation of note. All they have are blogs like this one and idiots named Bob Barr and Ron Paul to lead them. Losertarians are relative cyphers and I’m not above reminding them of it.
Dogs deserve to be kicked when they won’t go away.
Being an “anti-imperialist” is just another way of saying isolationist. I’m sure at some point you’ve whined about how much money the US has spent on Israel since 1948
on August 19, 2008 on 2:54 am
cliff,
I am very excited to hear about the advances that are being made in energy technologies. In the past 6 months, the students and faculty at MIT have made some great strides in solar efficiency. Very soon that technology will be truly market-ready and competitive. It would be nice to even be able to sell energy back to the grid.
I am disturbed about the government’s intrusion into the ethanol market. First, ethanol is tougher to transport. Second, it doesn’t burn as cleanly so it isn’t good for global warming (given that we have other alternatives available). Third, it turns out that ethanol can be made from a lot of different bio materials, but since corn was developed early on and the government wanted to make sure it looked like it was doing something, it set up subsidies and programs for corn and now other, even better alternatives are struggling to develop. Good luck to the people trying to take a subsidy away from the corn lobby,
Bottom line, the government has always distorted the free market for alternative energy because of how it treats big oil, and now they are carrying that momentum into alternative energy sources, which is worse for everyone because it is dampening good, profitable alternative energy projects in favor of those who have political clout. Not free market at all.
Health care is a tough one. People like to blame the current situation on the “free market”, denying or ignoring that the government has been distorting the free market in health care in substantial ways for decades. I don’t agree that universal health care aka socialized medicine is the way to go, but I understand how and why some people think it is the way to go.
As for taking care of the less fortunate segments of society, I truly believe that private charities and philanthropies would do a better and more efficient job than our government’s social services have done. But that would take a movement of politicians willing to reduce the size and services of government so you could actually return a substantial amount of taxes, especially to the upper middle class and upper class, to generate substantial momentum for the kind of private giving that it would take. Chances of that happening? Damn-near zero. Still, it is definitely worth the fight because it helps shape the debate.
We can totally agree that the difference we’re going to see between McCain vs. Obama is minimal, at best. We’ll have to disagree on pro-life/pro-choice, but then again lots of people do disagree on that issue.
Glad you stopped by. Makes me want to start updating more again. Not as much as you have! But more than I have. ‘course, I also update a private family blog with a lot of pics and videos of the kids to keep the family up to date. Technology is awesome for that stuff.
on August 19, 2008 on 1:05 pm
About biodiesel, I read recently about Jatropha biodiesel, never heard of it before. http://www.jatrophabiodiesel.org/ It might not be best for us, but just shows one more area where there’s reasonable potential. The government just needs to get out of bed with big oil, corn farmers, lobbyists, etc. and just govern – probably won’t ever happen though.
I hope we never have socialized medicine. Most places I’ve seen socialized medicine, the people generally aren’t as happy or well cared for, not to mention long waiting lines for specialized treatment. At least in a free market, if you don’t like a doctor or think he’s good, you can choose who you want to go to.
Probably won’t ever change your mind about pro-life, pro-choice but at least it’s not above your pay grade to come to an opinion about it.
Yeah, update your blog. You never know who’s reading.
on August 20, 2008 on 2:33 am
And what are you all about. telemacher, except for losertarian paranoia disguised as pseudo-intellectualism?
Sorry, I’m also not buying into your pretentious faux admiration for PZ Myers and that geek level twaddle he’s pushing.
Perhaps this is what passes for “smart” where you live in Hicktown, USA.
I accept the world for the foul and festering sty that it is. You see the world for what it could or should be like.
I am the realist. You are the idealistic fool. I guess for your part, that arrives from a lifetime of membership in the methodist church?
If you had an actual pair of balls, you stray from blogs where you are always treated kindly and venture into a pit of hell like mine where NO ONE is given a free pass, especially evangelicals, losertarians, liberals, Democrats, etc.
No pseudo-intellectual bullshit and no attempts to educate or inform there. Just pure unfiltered opinions.
on August 20, 2008 on 2:35 am
“I have a friend who went to an orthopedist who charged him $600 to buddy tape his finger. Another got charged $2000 by an ENT to remove a peanut from his ear.”
What kind of pathetic people do you associate with? Why didn’t they take care of their own problem?
on August 20, 2008 on 2:38 am
“The government just needs to get out of bed with big oil, corn farmers, lobbyists, etc. and just govern – probably won’t ever happen though.”
TRANSLATION: “I’m too clueless to profit from these federal programs so I’ll whine and complain like a populist loser.”
This is what you people are all about. Little nobodies with no power or connections to the really Big Money in this world.
on August 20, 2008 on 2:55 am
“If you had an actual pair of balls, you stray from blogs where you are always treated kindly and venture into a pit of hell like mine where NO ONE is given a free pass, especially evangelicals, losertarians, liberals, Democrats, etc.”
I notice you didn’t put conservatives on that list. Probably too busy circle-jerking each other unless someone different from them ventures onto their “turf”. That’s all you animals respect, right? Marked territory. Are they all such geniuses as you? With such a devastating grasp of economics, political science, history and foreign policy? I’ll just bet they are. A bunch of Einsteins, for sure!
Your life is sad. Anyone with any level of reading comprehension sees that you have long ago given up arguing the issues completely, because you are incapable, impotent. All you have is inconsequential trolling, and everyone sees it, everyone knows it. Do you have an inherent feel for how inferior you are when people actually discuss issues, or does it all pass over your head?
on August 20, 2008 on 1:27 pm
I should have put PALEO-cons on my list, those old Wendell Wilkie John Birch era conservatives that hate Jews and Israel, the kind of conservatism espoused by Pat Buchanan.
Nope, no circle jerking on my blog. Just my opinions and observations and others trying to bash them.
So I bash them back. It’s very entertaining reading.
on August 21, 2008 on 1:41 pm
“I should have put PALEO-cons on my list”
Then I should have been specific and said “neocons” instead of “conservatives”.
on August 22, 2008 on 3:24 pm
Life is a matter of zero sum gain, sparky, wake the hell up!
on August 22, 2008 on 3:34 pm
You forgot to say “Bah humbug!”
on August 22, 2008 on 3:37 pm
Scrooge was misunderstood, but because he was a concoction of British populist tastes of the mid 19th century, he was emotionally coerced into something he wasn’t meant to be.