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Spencer Cox, Governor of Utah full statement about Charlie Kirks is well worth a watch, whether you are a detractor or a fan of Charlie. Gov Cox talks about Charlie Kirk specifically, and the unique evil of political assassination. Charlie is the second political assassination this year. The first being Melissa Hortman, who along with…
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This was written up for a friend who asked about how to use heart rate in planning his training. Much of this I learned years ago from material produced by Joe Friel. A near cousin of heart rate based training is training with power originated by Andrew Coggan. Heart rate training is a method of…
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I have noticed a rise of “identity politics” with people siding with “their people”. I have watched people on both the left and the right advocate positions that seem to violate the spirit of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I would encourage people to take a few minutes and give the following prompt…
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I noted in my post about church essentials that God’s love and grace is the heart of a healthy church. Churches centered on God’s love presence invite members to be gracious, humble, welcoming and compassionate. Ironically, as churches get serious about following their Lord, something often goes wrong. While a church continue to talk about…
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Jesus never built an empire. He healed the broken, welcomed the outcast, confronted the powerful, and loved the world—without trying to rule it. The church as been it’s best when following Jesus’ example. The church has been its worst when it has followed worldly wisdom to accomplish its goals. The contrast couldn’t be more obvious:…
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How we see people has a huge impact on how we interact with them. If you expect the worst from someone, that’s what you will see and you will be tempted to treat them with contempt. If you expect the best of someone, you will tend to engage with empathy and connections. This post was…
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Scratch is a one of the best languages to learn how to program computers. The language is easy to learn while being surprisingly powerful. Often I meet students who want to learn how to create web sites or applications. They want to immediately learn Python, C#, or other other “practical” programming languages. My recommendation is…
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Most people in the developed world have no idea how wealthy we are when compared to the sweep of human history. Even when people know this, it’s easy to take what we have for granted, and to forget to be thankful for the lives we are able to lead. I oscillated between feeling deep gratitude…
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Periodically I get asked questions about computing in the age before Linux, OSX, Microsoft Windows (NT based), Google, Stack Overflow and Chat-GPT/Claude. I encourage people to look at historical systems that can inspire and teach important lessons. The following are sites which are preserving the past. Some of these links are to wikipedia and should…
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I have found simplicity to be a useful lens in life. Simplifying my stuff has provided freedom, remove unnecessary friction, while enabling me to pursue what is important to me, aka what I consider a meaningful life. The following is a complete list of everything I own. This list might look minimalist to the average…
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Many of the ideas that drive today’s “innovations” trace their origins to the groundbreaking work done in before 1990. Back then resources were scarse so people had to think and work harder than we do today. I strongly encourage people working on computing systems to read classic systems papers. These are papers that first introduced…
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The book Dominion traces the very mixed history of the Christian church through history. When the church emphasized caring for the marginalized, humble service, and freedom for the individual it has been a force for good. When the Church cared more about its institution than the people, removed people’s freedoms through authoritarian decrees, and worst,…
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The cost of housing in the US has been rising faster than inflation since the 1960s. For an investor who either owns real estate, or has enough money to invest, this is good news. For someone needing housing, this is bad news. Homelessness The high cost of housing is a significant, if not the primary…
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Even if your are the expert, it’s valuable to take the time to listen to others’ perspectives. Engaging in such discussions can lead to surprising insights or beneficial outcomes for all the participants, including the expert. There are two key reasons for this. First, what is considered common knowledge in one field can often be…
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My work has had me near the cutting edge of computing technology from 1978-2022. In 2022 I mostly retired. I still follow current trends but I am not as involved in pushing things forward. I take a measured approach to technology. I don’t chase after everything new. Rather I try to thoughtfully adopt technologies which…
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I have been fortunate to have several people in my life who exemplify generosity and inspire me to follow in their footsteps. In the last year I have been challenged and encouraged by Glen Van Peski’s Take Less, Do More, a class on The Practice of Generosity at Bridgetown, and the book Giving is the…
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I have always appreciated when people make a collection of tips, hints, or hacks which encapsulate lessons they have learned in short, pithy statements. I really enjoyed Kevin Kelly’s Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier and his more recent 50 years of travel hints. Glen Van Peski has numerous “Pro Tips”…
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Wind can make it feel significantly colder than the measured air temperature. This is one of the reasons that an ultralight windshirt can seem to provide a significant amount of warmth. On a recent trip to Iceland we face nearly continuous strong winds which required more clothing than I normally wear. I wanted to recalibrate…
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Take Less, Do More is a refreshing departure from the typical books about voluntary simplicity, ultralight backpacking, or minimalism. Rather than centering on our relationship with “stuff” the book focuses on how we engage the world around us influences our life. Many books in this genre would go into great detail about downsizing possessions, selecting…
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Deep truth transience the human ability systemize knowledge. God’s Spirit cannot be can’t be fully captured by human constructed theological assertions and orthodox creeds. I appreciate why people want to be sure their faith to rooted in the truth. Orthodox creeds provide comfort and a sense of safety, but here lays the danger. A focus…