freckles make me strong.

Month
Filter by post type
All posts

Text
Photo
Quote
Link
Chat
Audio
Video

June 2008

The paradox of our time

I just learned that this was not written by George Carlin but instead by a former Seattle pastor, Bob Moorehead.  When searching for the original text, I was horrified to learn that Moorehead stepped down after being accused of sexual assault by some 17 members of his congregation.  Whether or not the allegations are true it sure puts a damper on the wisdom.  A large part of me wishes I could go back in time when it was “written” by George Carlin, however unlikely and uncharacteristic its tone may be.  

You can read Carlin’s response here.

“The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

 

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

 

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

 

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

 

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

 

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. ..”

Jun 30, 2008
Jun 30, 200838 notes
Play
Jun 30, 2008
Jun 30, 2008
This weekend high v. low

High Fives:

  1. The batman marathon is rolling right along just in time for The Dark Knight (RIP HL)
  2. I moved my bed and dresser to my new room by MYSELF (yes, I do feel like She Woman)
  3. The weather was beautiful! Sun, I almost forgot about you.

Head-Shaking Lows:

  1. I FEEL like I moved my bed a dresser by myself (Alieve, I should have brought you along, little buddy)
  2. I completely missed the Pride Parade. 
  3. Moving is sort of sticky when it’s actually summer in the Northwest.  
Jun 30, 2008
July 6: Seattle Tumblr Meetup!

daryn:

Sunday, July 6th, 4:00pm

External image

King’s Hardware ( map )

That’s right, we’re having our first Seattle meetup on Sunday the 6th! Come join us at King’s for delicious food and drinks, an excellent jukebox, and a sunny patio (and they have skeeball!)

So far, karion, suitep, and daryn will be there, how about you? Reblog and spread the word!

(photo from The Kozy Shack on flickr)

 I’m in!

Jun 30, 200815 notes
“If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green products and alternative technologies will prosper and expand. (Just look at the market for hybrid cars.) Consciousness will be raised, perhaps even changed: new moral imperatives and new taboos might take root in the culture. Driving an S.U.V. or eating a 24-ounce steak or illuminating your McMansion like an airport runway at night might come to be regarded as outrages to human conscience. Not having things might become cooler than having them.”—Michael Pollan in his NYTMagazine article entitled Why Bother? (via dihard)
Jun 29, 20089 notes
Jun 29, 200812 notes
House OKs overhaul of wiretap laws. ACLU pissed. Terrorists neutral.

(via whatthefuckdoineedtoknow)

Jun 29, 20082 notes
Barry Obama

karmcity:

I’ve noticed a couple people calling Barack Obama “Barry.” I guess that is the short form of Barack. It just sounds a little strange, like calling Shakespeare “Bill.”

Jun 29, 20082 notes
Jun 29, 20087 notes
Jun 27, 2008
Jun 27, 2008
“When the words ‘financial’ or ‘economic’ are typed into YouTube’s search box, the site automatically suggests pairing them with the words ‘collapse,’ ‘crisis’ and ‘depression’ as the most commonly searched-for phrases.”—

Real Time Economics blog in the WSJ (via dihard)

The sky is falling chicken little, duck.

Jun 27, 20087 notes
Jun 27, 2008
Jun 27, 200810 notes
Jun 26, 2008
“There were so many typos in the divorce papers that I lost all respect for him.”—My coworker Patty, on why she doesn’t use her divorce lawyer to deal with her ex.
Jun 26, 2008
Jun 26, 20084 notes
“Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God’s will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all. Now this is going to be difficult for some who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, as many evangelicals do. But in a pluralistic democracy, we have no choice. Politics depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. It involves the compromise, the art of what’s possible. At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It’s the art of the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God’s edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one’s life on such uncompromising commitments may be sublime, but to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing.”—Barack Obama (via azspot)
Jun 26, 2008102 notes
Kicking the Amazon.com Habit

jordanlyons:

I’m trying to ween myself off my Amazon.com abuse.

I recently got a Working Assets credit card, which donates a few cents to nonprofits with every purchase.

I feel like a better person for using it instead of my Amazon credit card, not only on account of those contributions, but because it prevents me from accumulating a TON OF CRAP from Amazon, all of which has to be shipped, and creates a lot of packaging (read: garbage).

Now that I’m on the online bookstore rebound, I’ve found a great new bookstore: Better World Books.

Again, some of the proceeds from each purchase support charities. These ones all support literacy, though.

Shipping is free in the United States (can’t say the same for used books on Amazon), and they offset the carbon from each shipment!

My first purchase was E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, and a used copy was also cheaper on Better World than Amazon.

The selection isn’t quite as extensive, so I’ll still have to use Amazon for some things. But it’s great to have an alternative, especially one that’s so satisfying to my bourgeois, consumerist morality!

Jun 26, 20081 note
Jun 25, 2008
Jun 25, 2008
“When I met you I thought: “This girl has beauty, fiercely intense passion, and a soothing blanket of kindness to kind of wrap it all together- and with all that: she wants to change the world and won’t let anyone or anything stand in her way.” And so, I didn’t.”—

Someone.

About me and why it never worked out.

(via ladysadie)

(via missbrightside)

Jun 25, 200816 notes
“Eva is of age and consumes moderate amounts of tacos in social settings.”—Eva (mocking herself for putting this legalese on a reference regarding my alcohol consumption and mocking the fact she really loves tacos)
Jun 24, 2008
Jun 24, 20088 notes
“Chick wanted to see what the world was like when you were relaxed, so he put on his bathrobe and slippers and took a walk through his neighborhood. He carried a paper cup of orange juice. He wanted to feel like the world was a hospital solarium and the doctors were very pleased with his progress.”—Jonathan Goldstein, Lenny Bruce is Dead
Jun 23, 20081 note
oh that's cool.

heyitseva:

Kelsi and I were just at Franklin Park having some beer and tacos, and we started chatting with this sort of cute dude with a basset hound at the table next to us, because he was by himself waiting for his friends.

Somewhere during our conversation about Swedish meatballs at Ikea, he slipped in the fact that he has a girlfriend.

“oh, that’s cool…”

whatevs.

Best fish tacos ever.  Thanks, Chavellas!

Jun 23, 20081 note
Jun 23, 20082 notes
Jun 23, 2008908 notes
Play
Jun 23, 2008171 notes
Jun 22, 2008
Jun 21, 2008
Jun 20, 2008
Jun 18, 2008
Simplified Politics

streeter:

The difference between Republicans and Democrats in social policy is as simple as this: Republicans want to choose how you live your life, Democrats want you to live your life how you choose.

hear hear.

Jun 18, 20086 notes
Jun 18, 20088 notes
Becoming a completely different person

In recent years, that I have contemplated becoming a completely different person more often than I care to disclose.  I don’t mean that I would change everything about myself, but that I would change something that is so much a part of me that it would be a dissimilar person all together.  

Moments in my life that provide the opportunity to start entirely over abound.  New job, New Year, new haircut, etc. all equal new opportunities for self invention or intervention as the case may be.  Repeating themes in my quest for resolution include big changes like becoming more of a reader, a morning person and more organized as well as smaller tasks like reading the paper everyday, wearing fancy shoes more frequently and going to art museums monthly.  

The thing is when it comes time I never stick to them for longer than a week and a half and I let these opportunities race past me.  

The question is this: Do I have a depressingly weak resolve or a striking sense of self-authenticity?

Jun 18, 2008
#original
Jun 18, 20081 note
“You know, she’s just the kind of person that everybody worries whether she has a ride home. And, I guess, I’m just the sort of person people assume can walk.”—

Julia Whelan, Once and Again  (via thoughtsdetained)

I have been talking my way around this theory for a couple of years.  I am glad to see it so neatly summed up.

Jun 17, 20082 notes
Jun 17, 20082 notes
Jun 17, 2008
#original
Jun 16, 2008
Manners still matter when you're poking on Facebook | Oddly Enough | Reutersreuters.com

missbrightside:

1. You don’t have to make friends with people you don’t know. Think before you poke.

2. Wait 24 hours before accepting or removing someone as a friend. The delay will help you gather your thoughts.

3. Birthdays, engagements and weddings are not “virtual” events. Always send cards or phone friends when there is an important event.

4. Think before posting a friend’s photo what you would feel like if it was you.

5. Think carefully about your profile picture. Would you want it to be appearing in your local newspaper?

i feel like these are things people should already know and do.

Relevant for all e-social networking. Commit these to memory.  

Jun 15, 20081 note
90% of Americans will pay less income tax under Obama than McCaindailykos.com

Another entry on the Obama v. McCain high five tally.  Once again this one goes to Barack.  Well done.

Jun 15, 2008
Jun 15, 200814 notes
NBC newsman Tim Russert diednpr.org
Jun 13, 2008
“Most candidates are not eager to present themselves for Tim’s incisive scrutiny, which is fed by his prodigious study and preparation. But they have little choice: appearing on ‘Meet the Press’ is today as vital to a serious candidate as being properly registered to vote.”—

Mario Cuomo (via highlow)

RIP  Tim Russert (5/7/1950 – 6/13/2008)

Jun 13, 20081 note
#celebrity RIP
Jun 13, 2008
Jun 13, 2008
Next page →
20142015
  • January
  • February
  • March
  • April
  • May
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • November
  • December
201320142015
  • January
  • February
  • March
  • April
  • May
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • November
  • December
201220132014
  • January
  • February
  • March
  • April
  • May
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • November
  • December
201120122013
  • January
  • February
  • March
  • April
  • May
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • November
  • December
201020112012
  • January
  • February
  • March
  • April
  • May
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • November
  • December
200920102011
  • January
  • February
  • March
  • April
  • May
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • November
  • December
200820092010
  • January
  • February
  • March
  • April
  • May
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • November
  • December
20082009
  • January
  • February
  • March
  • April
  • May
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • November
  • December