Business Insider had a recent article on the most generous cities in America. Check out the top three:
3. Salt Lake City, UT
2. Ogden, UT
1. Provo, UT
I’ll just say it. Freakin’ Mormons. Why am I not surprised?
Society
Is American Journalism Dead?
I think I might be fading into that fabled silent majority of American conservatives. Where I used to get into heated debates with folks in my cohort about their liberal beliefs, I mostly now just shake my head and try to get back to earning a living. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
But I still see stories, now and then, that just irritate me to no end. Here’s a collection. First, there’s all the journalists who jump back and forth between journalism and working for the Obama administration. The Washington Times gives us some numbers: “The current count of press turncoats varies from a low of 15 reported by The Daily Beast to a high of 24 as reported by The Atlantic.” Then there’s old battlehorses like Bob Woodward or, more recently, Seymour Hersh showing up as the only guys willing to go to bad against the Obama administration (short of conservative pundits, of course). Woodward is famous for covering Watergate and Hersh is famous for covering My Lai and Abu Ghraib. Now Hersh says Obama is worse than Bush and castigates the NYT for “carrying water for Obama than I ever thought they would.”
And then, to give a specific example, here’s an obscenely bad story from CNN purporting to do some “mythbusting” about the impact of Obamacare.
Aussie Pig Steals Beer, Gets Drunk, Fights Cow
From The Independent:
A booze-pilfering drunken feral pig has caused chaos by running amok at an Australian campsite and starting a fight with a cow.
The belligerent porker went on a drunken bender after stealing and drinking three six-packs of beer that had been left out by campers at the DeGrey River campsite in Port Hedland, Australia.
In the predictable series of events that followed the animal went on to ransack rubbish bin bags to find some late-night snacks before starting a fight with an innocent eyewitness cow.
Following the boarish rampage the pig decided to swim out into the middle of a river before collapsing drunk under a tree and falling asleep.
Gadling adds this detail of the fight with the cow:
And just like anyone 18 beers in at a rural dive bar, the pig got big-headed and decided to start a fight with a cow, resulting in the cow chasing the pig around a car.
Oh, Australia.
Brave Toddler Confronts Terrorist in Kenya
I have been following the horrific news from Kenya closely, but not too closely. Close enough to know what is happening, but so close that I’m overcome with the sadness and horror of what is going on. I think people should know about the story, however, because I’m not seeing very much coverage yet. The short version is that over a dozen armed terrorists stormed a mall in Kenya, executing non-Muslims (identified by who could answer questions such as “What is the name of the mother of Mohammad?”), and fighting stubbornly against Kenyan attempts to retake the mall. That combined with the relatively low death toll (tragically, 62 deaths so far is low relative to what it could have been) lead many analysts to believe that the primary goal of the attack is to drag it on as long as possible. Since the crisis is now in its fourth day and witnesses report ongoing gunfire and explosions, that aspect of the plan appears to be a success. Individual stories of survivors and victims are now trickling out, including a British ex-marine with a concealed handgun who helped 100 unarmed citizens escape and this heart-rending tale of a 4-year old boy standing up to the terrorist who shot his mother. From The Independent:
After apparently seeing his mother shot in the thigh, young Elliott Prior is said to have confronted the gunman shouting “you’re a bad man, let us leave”. Incredibly the gunman in understood to have taken took pity on Elliott and his six-year-old sister Amelie, giving the pair a Mars bar each and allowing them and their mother to leave the chaotic shopping mall in the middle of the terror attack.
The boy’s mother is a hero, too. She took two more children (besides her own) as she escaped. This contrasts with stories of adults who climbed over frightened children “like animals” to escape the gunfire in the initial attack on a children’s cooking contest held in the mall. The tragedy is still unfolding, and I’ll be praying for the survivors and families of the victims.
The Importance of Economic Freedom in 6 Graphs
The Fraser Institute recently released its Economic Freedom of the World: 2013 Annual Report, which reveals the continual decline of the U.S. (#2 in 2000, now #17). Some may object to the term “economic freedom,” seeing it only as a pretty-sounding Trojan Horse for the evil bourgeois system of capitalism.
Guess what: it is.
But rhetoric is important (as economist Deirdre McCloskey has explained) and “economic freedom” is, in my view, a more accurate description. And far from living up to its caricature (i.e. a system of power and greed that exploits the poor), economic freedom–as shown by the graphs below–does more to raise the living standards of all involved, rich and poor alike, than any other economic system yet discovered. Descriptions are at the bottom of the graphs.
Parenting: Get Your Game Face On
I try very hard to do two things in my day to day life:
1. Be on time.
2. Protect my kids’ childhood by not constantly rushing them from Appointment A to Appointment B.
As you can imagine, these two goals are often in conflict. My general approach is to build in lots of extra time. I try to get to my kids’ school with enough time before gymnastics class that when Caleb wants to check out all the dandelions or Sophie wants to finish her drawing, I can say “yes”. Better still: I can stand back, smile, and just watch my children being children. I treasure those moments, and there are never enough of them.
Sometimes it doesn’t work.
We were on track for an 8:20 departure this morning despite the kids deciding to have breakfast twice. They have weirdly erratic appetites, and sometimes I can’t get them to eat a single bowl of cereal in the morning. Even if it has marshmallows. Today, they had an entire bowl of cereal, said they were done, and then decided they needed oatmeal as well. They ate all the oatmeal, too, so I’m glad we had the time. (Hungry kids = unhappy, poorly behaved kids.)
Anyway, 8:30 is the real deadline if I want to be sure they get to school on time, but heading to the car at 8:20 means that I have time to calmly mediate any disputes about who gets to sit on which side of the car, that I have time for them to buckle themselves in at young-child pace, and that I don’t have to worry about getting stuck behind a school bus or something. But just before I say “Let’s get in the car,” Caleb decides he needs to go to the bathroom right now. No big deal, I think, but then it ends up being one of those #2s where he just sort of hangs out on the toilet indefinitely. Even with all the gentle cajoling I can muster while keeping a smile on my face it’s a full 10 minutes before he’s finally ready to go again.
But when we get downstairs, Sophie is nowhere to be found. “Where’s Sophie?” I ask. “I’m in the bathroom,” she responds. It’s 8:27, and she has also decided that right before we leave for school is the optimal time for a #2.
How do you plan for synchronized poo? You don’t. There is no planning for synchronized poo.
Awesome Street Art
Here’s an article with the best street art of 2012. So, yeah, I’m a bit late but I’ve never seen these images before and they are great.
Thug Notes Does Hamlet
Would you like Hamlet explained in hip-hop style? YouTube has that.
The analysis is actually really solid, especially at the very end.
Found out about this from The Independent, which has more info.
Tipping $200: Another Reason I’d Like to be Rich
OK, “I wish I was rich” is probably not the intended response to this feel-good video, but I think we all daydream sometimes about winning the lottery, right? I have at least, on and off since I was a teenager. Maybe that makes me a hedonistic materialist?
Here’s the thing I’ve noticed, however. When I was a kid I primarily fixated on the awesome stuff I would get to pimp out my room and my computer. I was basically fantasizing about the ultimate man-cave. The older I’ve gotten, however, the more I find myself thinking about the feeling I’d have when I gave large sums of money to people who I know could really use it.
The reality is that I have a pretty comfortable, great life as a middle class American in the 21st century. It would be fun to have more expensive toys, but I’ve purchased enough gadgets in my life to know the buzz fades quickly. The real impact would just be a sense of security. But then again, that just makes me feel like I’m not living my life with as much faith as I should be, if money in the bank is what I need to feel at ease. It’s a call to greater effort on my part, really.
The point I’m making is just this: giving away money would be really fun. I don’t imagine I’d get out a camera to record it (although it was nice that these folks did), but I certainly do think I’d do similar stuff. I’d have a “give away budget” just for that purpose, and it would be awesome.