And Then Some News

Thursday's Essay Preview

The first paragraph of Thursday's essay, "Help! I've been outsourced," reads as follows:


 I was aware of the problems of outsourcing in general, and I had used call centers in Mumbai regarding computer problems.  I had never had any problems with the contacts I made; in all cases, the assistants there solved the problems I had accurately and quickly.  They were well-informed, cordial, respectful, and incredibly efficient.  In general, however, the problems that have been discussed in articles on outsourcing had to do with the reliability and quality of the information. 




Thursday's Essay Excerpt - from the last paragraph of the essay

My response to her request for information read: “Things have proceeded smoothly and on schedule.  I have, indeed, been pleased with the production process --- copyediting, proofreading, and paging.”  The formatting, pictures, charts, graphs, marginal boxes, front matter, and back matter all looked superb.  Indeed, Aptara Corporation and Antima Gupta should be commended for producing a high-quality, attractive, competitive textbook.




And Then Some News

The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World

By Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher

http://www.amazon.com/Amish-Way-Patient-Faith-Perilous/dp/0470520698/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1294957120&sr=1-1

 Book review by Richard L. Weaver II

Having directed a dissertation on the Amish, I have a good background on Amish ways—especially in Ohio.  Also, I have read other books on the topic as well.

This book is outstanding for a number of reasons.There are at least 14 pages of notes, and 6 ½ pages of references.  Each of the three authors has a Ph.D.  Kraybill is a senior fellow at the Young Center of Elizabethtown College, Nolt is a professor of history at Goshen College, and Weaver-Zercher is a professor of American religious history at Messiah College.  In addition, they are the authors of the very favorably reviewed and successful book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy, which describes the response to and reaction of the Amish community to the shooting of ten schoolgirls at Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, in October 2006.  Together, the authors have over 50 years working with the Amish.

All of the above paragraph supports and proves the authors’ credentials—the first reason why this book is outstanding.

The second reason this book is outstanding is that it is superbly written.  The authors tell wonderful, endearing stories that are engaging, insightful, and instructive.  If you have read nothing about or have no experience with the Amish prior to reading this book, you will be enlightened.  If you are part of the secular world, your eyes will be opened in shock and amazement.  Yes, the book is gentle, respectful, sensitive, and understanding, but it discusses a society and a way of behaving that is so contrary to “normal” society that it is scarey.  Fortunately, the authors offer a readable book that is well-crafted and entertaining.

The third reason this book is outstanding is its organization.  It is organized around the topics of spirituality, community, everyday life, Amish faith, and the rest of us.  From the authors’ descriptions and explanations, you get a wonderful picture of the details of Amish life as well as an overview of Amish reality.  Because of the authors’ approach, you come away with a nearly complete look at what it might be like to live in the Amish way.  The rules by which they live, alone, are so specific and detailed that little in their daily life is spontaneous or free.  They are bound by their faith.

The fourth reason this book is outstanding is that it answers many of the questions those who are not Amish ask about them.  For example, do the Amish accept non-Amish converts?  How do Amish adolescents decide to be Baptized?  How are the strict rules of the Amish enforced?  What constitutes infringement of the rules?  Why (and how) is the practice of shunning used?  Why do Amish attend church only every other Sunday? To what degree does the Amish bishop wield authority? How do the Amish view modern society?  Technology?  How do the Amish hold onto their young people who get a taste of the outside world?  What do the Amish do when they move into an electrified home and yet want to strictly follow Amish rules?  So many questions are answered.

The fifth reason this book is outstanding is because it really makes your heart go out for Amish people.  Why?  First, because of the very hard life they live.  Second, because of the many sacrifices they must make.  When you consider all the devices, tools, and equipment we in the secular world have to make our lives easier — with new technology being offered to us on a daily basis — it is just amazing that anyone would or could give it all up to live a simple, faithful life.  

Because of the authors’ manner of presentation, as well as the positive features of this book discussed above, readers cannot help feeling a profound, whole-hearted, and compassionate tenderness regarding the Amish commitment to faith, family, and frugality.  This is a sensational book.


The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World can be purchased at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Amish-Way-Patient-Faith-Perilous/dp/0470520698/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1294957120&sr=1-1

Men should not marry

by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

It may not make much sense to you at first, but hear me out.  Allow me to make the argument, and then you be the judge.  The point of this essay is simply that for men, marriage goes against every natural and learned trait they possess and, thus, marriage is (and should be, considering everything) a foreign, unnatural, and improper act, and anyone who expects a marriage between a man and woman to work is dreaming, fantasizing, idealizing, romanticizing, or simply stupid!
   
Let’s begin with the basics — the natural (congenital or inherited) traits men possess.  You can consult the studies, read the books, or simply base your judgment on observation, but the conclusion will likely be the same.  Men are, by nature, unemotional, active, rugged, strong, dominant, leaders, crude, bigger, spontaneous, independent, unwilling to share (uncooperative), adverse to communicating, and have a need to be right.  Women, on the other hand, tend to be emotional, loving, empathic, accepting, positive, quiet, nurturing, loving, attached, respectful, listeners, who are smaller and weaker than men.
   
Now, answer the question: how would you expect those who are naturally strong, dominant, crude, independent, uncommunicative, unwilling to share (uncooperative), and with a need to be right, to be the kind of people who would or even could make a marriage work?  Marriage, for it to work, demands cooperation and communication.  It could even be said to be a sharing existence.  Further, marriage is like a showcase for women’s traits: positivity, empathy, commitment, acceptance, love, and respect.
   
For men, without making major changes or offering significant concessions (“selling out”) or simply learning and demonstrating new traits (it won’t happen!), marriage, for men, cannot work.
   
Turning now from the discussion of “natural traits,” the romantic notion of marriage, of husband and wife sharing ideas, talking out problems, doing things together, and getting along seamlessly, is just that: a romantic notion.  It is fantasy, a delusion.  Let’s take this romantic idea of marriage to a practical, applied level.  It is, I am certain, a romantic notion to have a beautiful wife, smart, attractive, active, healthy children, a home that fulfills every possible dream (or fantasy), and a job that brings in more than enough money  (as well as happiness and fulfillment) to satisfy every need, accommodate every desire, cover any emergency, and provide a life free of difficulty and distress of any kind.  I’m right, aren’t I?  That is truly a romantic notion.
   
And yet, as romantic as that notion is, it is insufficient to make some who possess it happy enough to remain married.  Can you believe it?  Men, basically, are unfit to be married!
   
There are other reasons, too, why men should not marry.  Let’s look at marriage from a very practical, down-to-earth point of view.  It’s an old, tired, well-worn cliche  that when driving men never want to stop and ask for directions.  The underlying cause for this behavior is, 1) a need to be right, 2) a need to do it by themselves (independence), and 3) a need to avoid dependence on others.  All of these underlying causes, when extended to relationship behavior, argue — at their base — against everything a marriage stands for or should be:
    1.    How can you solve problems mutually when men always need to be right?
    2.    How can you make mutual decisions when men always want to do it (make decisions) by themselves (independence)?
    3.    How can you operate on a daily basis with men who have no interest in being dependent on others (any others!)?
   
There are, too, other reasons why men should not marry.  Men are control freaks!  No marriage can last long if the man controls everything.  Unless women are willing to give up total control, unless women are willing to be doormats for all of men’s wants, desires, and needs, and unless women are willing to be totally submissive, marriages cannot work.  Does that sound like any kind of marriage you would want to be part of?  Does that sound like any kind of marriage at all?
   
It is, too, a cliche  that men do not like to communicate — especially when it requires a show of emotion or when it is about a relationship.  If you closely observe male-female relationships in informal settings, you will discover females do most of the talking.  At the PBS (Public Broadcasting) home page, a quotation from the book, Language Myths (Penguin Press), states, studies reviewed by Deborah James and Janice Drakich, conclude that, “Women, it seems, are willing to talk more [than men] in relaxed social contexts, especially where the talk functions to develop and maintain social relationships.”
   
Women’s talk treats subjects that draw people together, promote relationship harmony, and enhance and encourage communication.  Men tend to talk about matters that are not relationship oriented: events, objects, and things.  Just from their conversations alone, it should be clear that men are not naturally oriented to having close relationships with others, becoming emotionally involved, or communicating their feelings.  There is nothing here that would suggest that men are marriage material.  They want partners for sex, but the desire for sex alone is insufficient to sustain a marriage and, too, does not even require marriage.
   
In addition to everything else discussed in this essay, in relationships men are weak and insecure.  If women are unwilling to massage and stroke men’s egos, relationships are unlikely to last.  Can you imagine marriages in which women must spend their time involved in and dealing with men’s feelings: whether they are depressed or hurt, whether they are getting the respect they think they deserve, whether their partner really loves, trusts, needs (you fill in the word here) them?  Such behavior is immature, unnecessary, petty pampering, and yet, men (with their insecurity) require this sort of “affection.”  It is like dealing with babies unable to stand on their own two feet, dependent on silly nurturing, and requiring childish coddling.  Men are not fit to be married.
   
Whether you look at it from the side of male traits, or whether you look at it from the female side and what is necessary on their part to make marriages work (because you cannot depend on men to participate in a marriage!), marriages make no sense for men.  There is nothing that make men compatible with or well suited for the true concept of what marriages are and should be!
- - - - - - - - - -
“Stephen Baskerville, Ph.D., is assistant professor of government at Patrick Henry College and President of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children. His book, Taken Into Custody: The War Against Fathers, Marriage, and the Family, has just been published by Cumberland House Publishing.”  Baskerville has written an essay, “Advice to young men: Do not marry, do not have children” in which he offers another reason men should not marry: divorce (and the divorce laws).

“Top Ten Reasons Not to Get Married” offers these reasons: 1) Marriage is forever, 2) Marriage is the end of taking risks, 3) Marriage often fails, 4) Marriage is the end of sex, 5) Marriage is constant compromise, 6) Marriage is the end of spontaneity, 7) Marriage is just paperwork, 8) Marriage is expensive, 9) Marriage is the end of options, and 10) Marriage will make her let herself go.

My essay, "Women have superior leadership traits" (December 2, 1010) reinforces much of what I have said in this essay with respect to men and women traits. The very characteristics that make women better leaders than men are similar to (if not the same as) those that make them better at relationship maintenance and sustenance. (When you get to the andthensomeworks.com website, click on the "Blog" icon in the top navigation bar.)

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Copyright February, 2011, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.

Establish a tone that is yours.

SMOERs: Words of Wisdom"Your character and nature are continually observed and felt through the mood, manner, and spirit by which you live your daily life."  ---Richard L. Weaver II   Day #297 - Establish a tone that is yours.

SMOERs: Self-Motivation, Optimism, Encouragement Rules! - Daily Reminders for Outstanding Living An everyday guide full of quotations to uplift your spirits.  This is one of four motivational quotations for Day #297.  

Free 30-Day sample: smoers.com

And Then Some News

Thursday's Essay Preview

The first paragraph of Thursday's essay, "Men should not marry," reads as follows:

It may not make much sense to you at first, but hear me out.  Allow me to make the argument, and then you be the judge.  The point of this essay is simply that for men, marriage goes against every natural and learned trait they possess and, thus, marriage is (and should be, considering everything) a foreign, unnatural, and improper act, and anyone who expects a marriage between a man and woman to work is dreaming, fantasizing, idealizing, romanticizing, or simply stupid!



Thursday's Essay Excerpt - from the last paragraph of the essay

Whether you look at it from the side of male traits, or whether you look at it from the female side and what is necessary on their part to make marriages work (because you cannot depend on men to participate in a marriage!), marriages make no sense for men.  There is nothing that make men compatible with or well suited for the true concept of what marriages are and should be!



And Then Some News

Manthropology: The science of why the modern male is NOT the man he used to be

By Peter McAllister

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003P8PEI2/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0733623913&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1H61SJNMZS9CEA27G7CD

Book review by Richard L. Weaver II

Wow!  I feel totally feminized and emasculated, and if you are a man and read this book, you cannot come away from it without feeling the same way.  One Amazon.com reviewer put it well: WE SUCK!  What a one-two punch in the gut McAllister delivers here.  This book is not for the feint of heart.

I enjoyed the author’s use of alliteration as he chose titles for each of his chapters: brawn, bravado, battle, balls, bards, beauty, babies, and babes.  There are 8 pages of endnotes and 14 pages of bibliography, leaving 290 pages of text.  I thought McAllister’s addition of dark-gray boxed examples were well-selected, informative, and interesting supplements to the text material.

His use of examples throughout the book is superb and easily hold readers’ attention.  How he went about selecting and then researching his comparative examples is fascinating and certainly reinforces his expertise as both a paleoanthropologist and journalist (he’s an archeologist and science writer from the University of Western Australia).  Having taught there myself some years ago, I can vouch for their high standards and academic credentials.

Now, from reading the book, you get the impression McAllister has it in for men.  That’s the basis for my “one-two punch in the gut” comment above.  If one can accept his selections from ancestorial artifacts (and some certainly may make you questions their relevance—in other words, that he selected some simply to make his point), then I think he makes a good case.  Of course, it is a case I already accept, and McAllister simply reinforces my point of view.  Modern man has gone soft!

If you are simply looking for a “smart, informative, surprising, and entertaining” (from the front flyleaf) book, then this makes a good choice.  I have to tell you, however, in advance, that some of his examples are grisly, gripping, bloody, and stomach-turning.  He minces no words (perhaps he did!), but that is truly what makes this book a good read.  I loved his sense of humor and his tongue-in-the-cheek approach.  He’s a fine writer, and this is a fine book.

Manthropology: The science of why the modern male is NOT the man he used to be can be purchased at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003P8PEI2/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0733623913&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1H61SJNMZS9CEA27G7CD

LAUGH . . . And Then Some!

A Pole goes to the ophthalmologist who shows him a card with the letters

'C Z W X N Q S T A C Z'.

"Can you read this?" he asks.

"Read it?" the Pole replies, "I know the guy!"

Laugh Like There's No Tomorrow: Over 2,000 jokes from the Internet, Volume 2

From Day #10 in a second complete manuscript compiled by Richard L. Weaver II

Motivate your life

by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

    
I am often asked, “how do you write so much?  Or “how do you come up with so many ideas?” or “what is it that keeps you going all the time?”  My answer is one that I tell fifth graders when I give my talk to them on the topic “Writing.”  As much as you can, whenever you can, you move as fast as you can, to capture the emotion of the moment.  We are all filled with emotions (they are omnipresent in our lives), and they often occur rapidly and sometimes intensely.  To go with the flow (the existence of the emotion) makes sense for that is the key to motivation — that is the stimulus, the inducement, and the inspiration that creates the enthusiasm and determination to do something.  It is, basically, what moves us to action.
    
For me as a writer, I simply try to capture in words the feelings I have.  Often, that is why I must write essays soon after (or even when) having the actual experience.  For example, I try to write my travel essays while on-the-go — traveling.  Not only in that moment do the words flow more rapidly, but the intensity of the feelings produce more and better adjectives to describe and explain the actual experience.  In other words, intense feelings produce a larger number of language choices which not only makes writing easier, but it makes my writing more vivid as well.
    
Now, I realize that most people are not writers.  And it may be, too, that most people do not have the wide range of experiences I have.  Nonetheless, most people do have an interest in motivating their lives — that is, they have a need to get their lives off dead center.
    
One of the keys to self-motivation is a change in attitude.  I often talked to my students about being the teacher.  That is, instead of taking the position that learning occurred to them as a result of an outside stimulus such as a teacher or a textbook, they should adopt a new attitude that learning occurred as a result of self-pursuit, self-stimulation, self-determination, and self-discovery.  The teacher, indeed, was inside of them not outside of them.  This simply means that the teacher is within them, and it puts the responsibility on their shoulders for the learning that takes place.  What they received from any experience was totally up to them!
    
There are many writers who offer suggestions for motivating your life; however, if the key just discussed (putting the teacher in yourself) is not adopted, it doesn’t matter what the suggestion is, it won’t work.  This can be an incredibly important awareness because it opens up the doors of knowledge, education, enlightenment, understanding, and even wisdom.  It makes you a student of life and a student of this world and everything in it as well.
    
At the web site Motivation and Money, the essay, “What Motivates Your Life,” (September 19, 2009), lists the five most common of life’s motivators: 1) Guilt: “[People] live their entire lives running from regrets and hiding their shame.” 2) Hatred and anger: “[People] hold on to hurts and never get over them.”  3) Peer pressure: “[People are] always being disturbed by what others might think.”  4) Materialism: “[People’s] desire to acquire becomes the only motivation of their lives.”  5) Fear: “[People’s] fear may be a result of a traumatic experience, unrealistic expectations, growing up with extraordinary strict parents, or even genetic predisposition.”
    
Fortunately, there are important positive motivators as well.  Certainly one of the ways to help erase or overcome guilt, hatred, anger, peer pressure, materialism, and fear, is through positive action and behavior.  For example, for me, I always focus on the end of a project.  Much of what takes place during the production of a college textbook can only be characterized as tedious, dull, and boring.  But, knowing the influence that my ideas can have on students, knowing what a beautiful and useful product McGraw-Hill delivers, and knowing how satisfied instructors are after using my textbooks, I focus on that result to keep me going.
    
When I don’t have an ongoing project, another way I have to motivate myself is to choose a goal.  For me, any goal works.. I recognize my own needs, limits, and aspirations. The point is simply that I want a goal to focus on now.  Many of these are lifted directly from my “to do list” (or my “honey-do” list!).  Maybe it’s cleaning my study or organizing the garage.  It could just as easily be losing ten pounds in a month, avoiding junk food, working through a new activity added to my regular exercise routine, or anything else I have a need or desire to attain.  
    
Once I have selected a goal, I break it into steps.  When I taught this process to my students, I would break the process of developing a speech (the final goal) into steps for them. For example, as the first step, I had them select the topic.  They would choose three, and I would then select the best one. Their next job was to frame their topic as a proposition. Next, they had to collect evidence to support their proposition.  Following their research effort, they had to organize and outline their speech.  The final step was to present me a complete, fully-written-out manuscript for the speech as they came before the class to deliver it.   
    
Someone choosing to lose weight, would break their exercise routine into daily units and even map out their healthy eating habits.
    
At the end of every successful project, I invent an appropriate reward.  Often, it is time off for good behavior, engaging in another likable project, going to the library, reading (and reviewing) another book, taking a short vacation, or having an extra beer at the end of a long day.  Everyone has his or her own desires that can be used for rewards.
    
I have always found that one of the joys of keeping a “to-do” list is checking things off that I’ve accomplished.  Often, that check mark alone is sufficient reward.
    
Nobody on earth has the same interest in your success as you do.  Motivating your life is a result of habit.  Bad habits such as procrastination and laziness stand in your way, but the best way to break bad habits is by replacing them with clear goals and careful planning.  Every reasonable thing you want in life is possible if you change your attitude.  Capitalize on your positive emotions.  You will gain confidence from small victories, and small victories lead to larger ones.  Remember that the most successful people in the world are not always the brightest, or the best looking.  It will be your success over both small and large tasks that will motivate your life, give you confidence, and allow you to move forward with perseverance, strength, determination, and conviction.
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Erin Falconer, has a great essay, “How To Motivate Yourself – Self Motivation,” at the Pickyourbrain web site, in which she says that the primary reasons we lose motivation is lack of confidence, focus, and direction.  She claims: “There is no simple solution for a lack of motivation. Even after beating it, the problem reappears at the first sign of failure. The key is understanding your thoughts and how they drive your emotions. By learning how to nurture motivating thoughts, neutralize negative ones, and focus on the task at hand, you can pull yourself out of a slump before it gains momentum.”  I loved her emphasis on emotions; hers is a terrific essay.

At Lifeorganizer, Donald Latumahina has a great essay, “Self-motivation: How to motivate yourself,” says, “If you want to excel in life, self motivation is essential. You must know how to motivate yourself. You must be able to keep your spirit high no matter how discouraging a situation is. That’s the only way to get the power you need to overcome difficulties. Those who are discouraged in difficult times are certain to lose even before the battle is over.”  He offers six methods: 1) Have a cause.  2) Have a dream. A big dream.  3) Be hungry.  4) Run your own race.  5) Take one more step.  6) Let go of the past.
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Copyright February, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.


    
    
    
    
   

And Then Some News

Thursday's Essay Preview

The first paragraph of Thursday's essay, "Motivate your life," reads as follows: 
 I am often asked, “how do you write so much?  Or “how do you come up with so many ideas?” or “what is it that keeps you going all the time?”  My answer is one that I tell fifth graders when I give my talk to them on the topic “Writing.”  As much as you can, whenever you can, you move as fast as you can, to capture the emotion of the moment.  We are all filled with emotions (they are omnipresent in our lives), and they often occur rapidly and sometimes intensely.  To go with the flow (the existence of the emotion) makes sense for that is the key to motivation — that is the stimulus, the inducement, and the inspiration that creates the enthusiasm and determination to do something.  It is, basically, what moves us to action.

    

Thursday's Essay Excerpt - from the last paragraph of the essay

Nobody on earth has the same interest in your success as you do.  Motivating your life is a result of habit.  Bad habits such as procrastination and laziness stand in your way, but the best way to break bad habits is by replacing them with clear goals and careful planning.  Every reasonable thing you want in life is possible if you change your attitude.  Capitalize on your positive emotions.  You will gain confidence from small victories, and small victories lead to larger ones.  Remember that the most successful people in the world are not always the brightest, or the best looking.  It will be your success over both small and large tasks that will motivate your life, give you confidence, and allow you to move forward with perseverance, strength, determination, and conviction.


And Then Some News

The New York Times presents Smarter by Sunday: 52 Weekends of Essential Knowledge for the Curious Mind

By the staff of Elizabeth Publishing (and a group of academic and professional writers.)  General Editor: John W. Wright; Executive Editor: Matt Fisher



Book review by Richard L. Weaver II


I liked this book.  Any book designed to increase the knowledge and information of readers is to be encouraged.  Also, The New York Times is a trusted source of information throughout the world. (As is always true with knowledge and information, facts may need to be checked but, in general, the credibility of the source does not require investigation.)


Admittedly, I did not read every one of its 550 pages.  Also, there was a great deal of information here with which I was already familiar and a great deal, too, with which I had no interest whatever.  For example, I really had no interest in a brief history of Japan, a political and cultural history of Ancient Egypt, a brief history of physics, the European novel, painting in the 19th century, ancient Rome, or mathematics.  Many of these cover subjects I took in high school or college, and I don’t need a summary/review of previous course work.


There was a great deal of information I found interesting such as “The Computer Revolution,” “The Written Word,” “The Renaissance,” “Great American Writers,” “American Popular Music,” “Philosophy: The Life of the Mind,” “Modern Thought,” “Languages of the World,” and “American Film.”  What I enjoyed as much as the review of information and ideas is how the material would make me stop and think.  I wasn’t particularly challenged as much as simply engaged.  (Whether or not I can actually make use of the knowledge/information in the writing I do is yet to be determined.)


I am not suggesting that it would not have benefitted me to have read the information on subjects that held no current interest, but as in all things in life, I simply have to devote my time to things of interest.


I found the information throughout this book well presented and clear—better, in fact, than most of my classroom teachers presented their information.  Remember, it is the editor’s objective “to present our readers with essential information on a variety of subjects that together make up the basic elements of what is commonly called a ‘well-rounded education’” (p. x).  The format of the book “is based on the 52 weekends in a calendar year.  Each weekend is centered on a single topic (‘The Universe,’ ‘Rome,’ ‘The Renaissance,’ ‘The Novel,’ ‘American Popular Music,’ etc.) . . .” (p. x).


What I found most interesting was that readers could pick and choose among topics.  One does not build on any other.  If someone were to read everything in this book, however, they would surely possess rudimentary knowledge in art, music, literature, history, religion, economics, philosophy, and science.  Because most of the readers of The New York Times live in North America, the book is overly devoted to matters that concern Western history, art, literature, and science.


This book is a “must read” for high school or college students, and I think it could be a source book (reference work?) for a capstone seminar (or workshop) on “Essential Knowledge.”  Why not make the command of knowledge/information such as this a requirement (with attendant examinations) for graduation?



The New York Times Presents Smarter by Sunday: 52 Weekends of Essential Knowledge for the Curious Mind at Amazon.com

LAUGH . . . And Then Some!

A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan.  She asked the class, “If you saw a person lying on the roadside, wounded and bleeding, what would you do?”  A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, “I think I'd throw up.”

Laugh Like There's No Tomorrow: Over 2,000 jokes from the Internet, Volume 2

From Day #8 in a second complete manuscript compiled by Richard L. Weaver II

Life is a game

by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

  
The first thing I think of when a game (any game) is mentioned, is “fun.”  Games are fun.  And to think that a game (any game) can be an accurate metaphor for life is mistaken.  There are times, it is true, when life is pure fun, but much of life is not — more of life is not fun.  It is serious business and not to take it seriously can sometimes be disastrous.   It was Thomas L. Holdcroft who said, “Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us.”
    
At the Counseling Resource web site, Gordon Shippey has an essay titled “Life is Not a Game (But Maybe It Should Be),” in which he says: “My point is not to say that everything in life needs to be as fun and engaging as a game. Rather, that we have choices of how to structure our schools and our workplaces to make important work easier or harder. Remembering how important feedback is to the gaming experience, could we not make more regular feedback a part of our work and school life?  When we realize that high-risk situations work against creativity and challenging ourselves to go further, would it make sense to reevaluate the high-stakes testing in our schools?  Knowing that narrative flow fosters engagement, what are we to make of a disjointed school day or a job riddled with interruptions and requiring high levels of multi-tasking?  If being able to control the pace of an experience is important, why do we walk students lock-step through their lessons when self-paced alternatives like the Kahn Academy exist?  In the long run, harnessing the engaging properties of games may become a serious productivity driver.”
    
There is a book by Cherie Carter-Scott, If Life is a Game, These Are the Rules.  Blaine Greenfield, from Belle Mead, New Jersey, reviewed the book at Amazon, and since I have not read the book, I cite Greenfield’s distillation of Carter-Scott’s rules (condensed even further here): 1) You will receive a body.  You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration of your life on Earth. 2) You will be presented with lessons.  You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "life."  Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum.  3) There are no mistakes, only lessons.  Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors, and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that work.  4) A lesson is repeated until learned.
Lessons will repeated to you in various forms until you have learned them. When you have learned them, you can then go on to the next lesson.
    
There are five additional rules.  5)  Learning does not end.  There is no part of life that does not contain lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.  6) "There" is no better than "here."  When you’re "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain a "there" that will look better to you than your present "here."  7) Others are only mirrors of you.

You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.  8) What you make of your life is up to you.  You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you.  9) Your answers lie inside of you.

All you need to do is look, listen, and trust. 10) You will forget all of this at birth.  You can remember it if you want by unraveling the double helix of inner knowing.
    
Now, here’s the point.  Those are, indeed, basic rules, but they don’t come close to proving, establishing, or in any way suggesting that life is a game.  There is far more to any game than rules alone.  An effective game includes competition, alternative choices, problem-solving, risk-taking, built-in surprises, rewards, winning and losing, and a final goal — among other things.  If anyone thinks that life is a game, just think about how many characteristics exist in most games.      So much of life does not involve any of this.  More often than not, life is composed of typical, common, ordinary routine.  I would suggest that for many people in the world, it is more about merely surviving — finding enough to eat and seeking the finances to support themselves.   For others who have enough to eat and finances enough to support themselves, they just want to exist — quality of life is what they have and nothing more.
    
There is no question that there are parts of our lives that mimic games in some cases, like job seeking, project completion, and, perhaps, dating.  But I would contend that much like Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs," when life truly becomes a game, you have raised yourself much higher on “the hierarchy” — whatever the hierarchy is.   Although Cherie Carter-Scott’s book (mentioned above) is a basic (some reviewers said “elementary”), interesting read, the “rules” she writes about are close to the bottom of the hierarchy.
    
What I have discovered throughout my life has been to consider the comment “life is a game” as a cliche — a trite expression that has little meaning.  There is no doubt that when I was a university professor, I felt intense competition — for tenure, promotion, and merit.  The “publish or perish” impetus necessary to further my academic career supplied the motivation; however, more than anything else the motivation was internal since it was well honed throughout graduate school.  Even though there was competition, alternative choices, problem-solving, risk-taking, built-in surprises, rewards, winning and losing, and a final goal, I considered all of this an extension of my graduate training.  Yes, it could have been considered “a game,’ and there are many who do; however, for me, it didn’t change anything.  The elements were the same, and the needs wouldn’t change either.
    
Do you consider life a game?   That’s perfectly fine.  Remember what Gordon Shippey said near the beginning of this essay: “In the long run, harnessing the engaging properties of games may become a serious productivity driver.”  The real determiner of success for your life is in the quotation by Abraham Lincoln: “In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”
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At Scott H. Young’s web site, “Get More From Life,”  Young has an excellent essay, “Life as a Game,” and his last paragraph explains how important the “life as a game” metaphor can be: “The metaphors we use to describe life will decide how we behave and feel within it. Viewing life as a game can be incredibly freeing in seeing all our obstacles and problems as adding to the experience. By understanding that the game of life operates from a common sense set of rules we can understand these rules then utilize them to our effectiveness. Finally, by understanding that the game of life is about experiencing the journey with a purpose we can be successful and happy. Viewing life as a game isn’t without its fallacies, but you may want to try this perspective to see if it improves your own quality of experience.”

At the “Freedom from the Known,”  ivan campuzano web site, Campuzano has an essay, “Life is a Game: How Are You Playing It?” (April 27, 2011).  He gives readers of his blog instructions for how to create their own game.  He ends his essay saying, “I am assuming you will choose to play a game that will be full of joy and balance. This is your life, learn to play with it. Thank you for reading my post, be well. Your friend Ivan Campuzano.”
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Copyright February, 2012, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L. C.

Break out from conformity.

SMOERs: Words of Wisdom"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth."  ---John F. Kennedy   Day #295 - Break out from conformity.

SMOERs: Self-Motivation, Optimism, Encouragement Rules! - Daily Reminders for Outstanding Living An everyday guide full of quotations to uplift your spirits.  This is one of four motivational quotations for Day #295.  

Free 30-Day sample: smoers.com

And Then Some News

Thursday's Essay Preview

The first paragraph of Thursday's essay, "Life is a game," reads as follows:
The first thing I think of when a game (any game) is mentioned, is “fun.”  Games are fun.  And to think that a game (any game) can be an accurate metaphor for life is mistaken.  There are times, it is true, when life is pure fun, but much of life is not — more of life is not fun.  It is serious business and not to take it seriously can sometimes be disastrous.   It was Thomas L. Holdcroft who said, “Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us.”





Thursday's Essay Excerpt - from the last paragraph of the essay

Do you consider life a game?   That’s perfectly fine.  Remember what Gordon Shippey said near the beginning of this essay: “In the long run, harnessing the engaging properties of games may become a serious productivity driver.”  The real determiner of success for your life is in the quotation by Abraham Lincoln: “In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”



And Then Some News

The Mammoth Book of Best New Jokes

By Geoff Tibballs



Book review by Richard L. Weaver II


One thing I don’t do is purchase joke books to memorize jokes and share them with others.  Sometimes, I buy them to find jokes to use in my speeches, essays, and other writing that I do — such as in the writing of my college textbooks (but I have found very few that I could use in this manner).


Tibballs had compiled jokes under close to 80 categories.  In 597 pages there are thousands, and many of them are from contemporary comedians and a number of them, too, deal with contemporary politicians such as Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, the Clintons, and George W. Bush.


There are six jokes in the Sarah Palin category.  Wyatt Cenac, an American stand-up comedian, writes, “The governor of Alaska is so dumb she thinks the capital of China is Chinatown and that soy milk is Spanish for “I am milk’” (p. 418).  Jokes by Jay Leno and Conan O’Brian are mentioned here as well.


There are seven jokes listed for Barack Obama.  My favorite is, “A lot of voters mistrust Barack Obama because they say he’s not a real American.  You can see what they mean—after all, he’s slim” (p. 409).


Nine jokes appear under the category “The Clintons.”  In my view, the best one (all are pretty bad!) Is: “Hillary went to a fortune teller who revealed: ‘I have some bad news.  Bill is going to die a horrible death.’
    Hillary said: ‘Just tell me one thing.  Will I be acquitted?’” (p. 130)


There are more than 14 jokes in the category, “College and University.”  I found this one to be the most relevant and incisive: “When a university student returned home for Christmas his mother asked: ‘How’s your history paper coming along?’
    ‘Well, my history professor suggested I use the Internet for research, and it’s been really helpful.’
    ‘Oh, that’s good.’
    ‘Yes.  So far I’ve noticed fourteen people who sell them’” (p. 133).


Of the 8 jokes in the category “Donald Trump,” all but one discuss his hair—which I find a bit disappointing.  That is, it’s such an easy target and requires no imagination whatsoever.


Under the subject, “Vacation and Leisure,” there are nearly 25 jokes.  There was one Steven Wright joke I hadn’t heard: “I want to hang a map of the world in my house.  Then I’m going to put pins into all the locations that I’ve traveled to.  But first I’m going to have to travel to the top two corners of the map so that it won’t fall off the wall” (p. 551).


Needless to say, I loved this book, not because of all the jokes by Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Homer Simpson, Jerry Seingeld, Sarah Silverman, Amy Poehler, Margaret Cho and many others—including a number of English comedians I’ve never heard of (I guess I didn’t realize the English even had a sense of humor much less comedians who might display it! —Kidding, of course.), but because of the wide variety and range of jokes offered.  There will be at least one to satisfy every reader!


What led me to this book in the first place had to do with my interest in jokes.  Good thing, huh?  I had compiled more than 2,000 which I intended to include a book to be titled, “Laugh Like There’s No Tomorrow!” (a quote from Mark Twain that reflected the 365 days that contained an average of 4 jokes each day).  Tibballs’ book convinced me that such a book as mine would not sell.  That is, why would anyone buy a book with four or five jokes for each of 365 days when they could buy this one with well over 3,000 jokes arranged by categories?  I have even compiled enough jokes for a second and a third edition.  These books of mine did not go out of print, they never saw print.  The jokes, however, appear on Fridays on my blog.


One note of warning about Tibballs’ book.  He is British, and the English spelling of words, use of English references (such as their money), and the use of English comedian’s jokes occur throughout the book.  This really isn’t a handicap; however, it limits the effectiveness of some of the material here.


The Mammoth Book of Best New Jokes can be purchased from Amazon.com