Daily Zen - Monday, November 7

For it is by giving that one receives; it is by self-forgetting that one finds; it is by forgiving that one is forgiven.

                 - St. Francis of Assisi

Turn of Phrase - Tim Tebow's Fall Back Career

Tim Tebow demonstrating
his prayer-style, aka "Tebowing."

"Pity not Tim Tebow. With that smile and sparkle, he can always find a home in national politics: a profession in which neither merit nor substance is required."


- From Dave Zirin, columnist for thenation.com, who doubts the long term NFL viability of Tim Tebow, but gives him credit for being a right-wing poster boy.

In his article, Zirin compared the unearned fan (and media) coronation of Tim Tebow to the way the DC political media machine salivates over the "next big thing" for higher office. He didn't say Herman Cain but that's what I read.

Words as Graphic Art

Amazing graphic design work by Ji Lee who works for Facebook. Music and sound accompanies alphabetical letters that move around the screen in a way that actually demonstrates the definition of the words they represent. Hell, I don't know...just watch it. I didn't think I would watch the whole 2 minute video but it's really very clever.

Viewing Tip: Click the title bar at the top of the clip to view in a larger window.

Week in Review - November 5, 2011

Here are links to a few of the fun and interesting things you might have missed on my blog this week.

Good news in the October jobs report, including the lowest unemployment rate in six months, did nothing to deter the Occupy Movement, which I argued is marching boldly in no particular direction.  Fuel for the movement’s burning trashcan fires was provided by an independent study that showed 30 of the biggest American companies paid no income taxes for the last three years.

In the hunt for a red November (2012), I implored my Republican voters to take a first look at John Huntsman, a very qualified and under-publicized presidential candidate.  Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan defended President Obama (aka, “this poor fucker”) against an attack from conservative thinker George Will. Candidate Rick Perry made a pathetic attempt to defend himself and his poor verbal skills, while the folks at Bad Lip Reading put words directly into Herman Cain’s mouth in a hilarious new BLR video.

Perry and Cain had rough weeks, but the biggest loser by far was Bank of America. The bank ultimately cancelled their proposed new fee, but I still gave BOA the finger. Even America’s bank may not be hurting as much as America’s team (okay, my team), the Indianapolis Colts, but I argued that the Colts might still snag a win before NFL season is over.

Finally, we offered a wealth of educational posts this week. Avoid embarrassing personal revelations by using the social media flowchart to properly post drunken status updates. Learn to abuse technology with a video of Siri, the talking iPhone app, getting high on magic cookies. Learn to keep your cool under any circumstances like the Santa Cruz surfer who was nearly swallowed by breaching humpback whales (someone catching this on video was unreal). Lastly, take a look at my in-depth geologic research (not really) and the map showing the San Andreas Fault less than two miles away (really) from where I sit in my living room typing this post. Bad luck…or just the way things turn?

As always, thanks for reading! 

Where Should You Post Your Status?

A flow chart for our times. Funny 'cuz it's true.
(You can click the pic to make it bigger if your eyes are as bad as mine.)

Originally produced by breakingcopy.com. 

Weekend Zen, November 5-6

The only devils in the world are those running in our own hearts. That is where the battle should be fought.
                       
                            - Gandhi

Humpback Whales Nearly Swallow Surfer

I decided a couple of days ago not to post this video because it had made the rounds in so many places already. I just watched it again and decided I have to share it because it's just that good. If you haven't already seen the woman on a surfboard who is literally almost swallowed by two humpback whales, you have to watch this amazing video. What an unreal experience for the surfer and the nearby kayakers off the coast of Santa Cruz, CA.

Viewing Tip: Click the title bar at the top of the clip to view in a larger window.

Making the Occupy Movement Matter

Occupy protesters in support of a noble but ambiguous goal.
Photo: Reuters

The Occupy Wall Street movement is struggling. With urban encampments popping up in dozens of cities around the country and a presidential election just twelve months away, the movement should be perfectly poised to have a significant impact on national policy. That, unfortunately, is not the case.

Instead of spurring meaningful political and economic dialogue, the two biggest elements of the movement currently garnering national interest and media attention are (1) the handful of Occupy outlaws who have inserted themselves into the Oakland arm of the movement, and (2) the movement's inability to develop overriding objectives and to broaden its base of support. 

Slate contributor (and former NY Governor) Eliot Spitzer has stepped up to offer some much-needed structural and tactical advice in the form of eight specific ideas that would advance the Occupy Movement beyond the encampments. The movement has no identified central leadership and Spitzer likely lacks the street cred (or maybe has too much government cred) to take the job, but the folks who are organizing OWS would be well-served to heed Spitzer's suggestions. The movement needs more substance.

Daily Zen - Friday, November 4

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

                     - Marcel Proust

30 Giant Companies Paid No Taxes - Should We Burn Something Down?

Like most people I am shocked and dismayed by today's report that thirty of the nation's largest companies paid no income tax for the last three years. This news is aggravating and at the same time fascinating, especially when juxtaposed against recently announced tax reform plans from Herman Cain and Rick Perry, both of whom claim our corporate tax rates are so amazingly high that they are killing job creation. 

It's hard to know what to do with the kind of anger I feel, but I'm growing more certain that the Occupy Movement, as it stands now, might not meet my needs.

Should I camp out in a public park in downtown San Francisco? 

Nah, it's rainy out, and besides, I'm not so clever with the sign-making.

Should I head over to join the protest at the port in Oakland? 

Honestly, my graffiti skills are rusty and lighting shit on fire is not my style. 

Maybe I'll just publish this ridiculous news about corporate tax rates in a snarky blog post? 

Doesn't make me seem too cool, but it seems reasonable. Just not sure it will matter....

...Then again, I'm still not sure the Occupy Movement will make much difference either.

Can the Colts Muster One Win?

Manning with winless backup
QB Curtis Painter

Peyton Manning still wants to play football in 2011 if his health permits. Considering his painstakingly sluggish recovery thus far from recent neck surgeries, this is a mammoth "if" (so huge an "if" that there are no font styles large and bold enough to capture it in writing). Peyton's return may be the only thing that stands between the Indianapolis Colts and a depressing 0-16 season. For the Colts to win one game, it will likely require either the return of Peyton, or the reappearance of the entire Colts' defense, which may also be suffering pains in the neck - caused by the rapid turning of their heads as opponents race past them to the end zone.

With a 0-8 start, the first eight games break down this way.

• Five old-fashioned straightforward beatings (Houston, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Tennessee)
• Two late collapses (blowing a 17 point lead against Kansas City and squandering multiple 4th quarter opportunities in Cincinnati)
• One utter embarrassment (the 62-7 rout in the Superdome, which now stands as the worst defeat for any of "my teams" in any sport in my 40 years of sports fandom).

As for the second half of the season, November games against Carolina and Atlanta are not likely victories for Indy, and the first two weeks of December look bleak, even if Peyton gets in the game, as the Colts travel first to New England and then to Baltimore.

There are still a couple possibilities for victory in the remaining eight games though, especially if Peyton can return to the field in December as he and the rest of us are wishing (hope isn't a strong enough word). The Colts will face Jacksonville twice, and they will have revenge opportunities at Tennessee and Houston, in the last half of the season. Being an eternal optimist, I believe it will be one, and maybe even two, of these divisional games that might just keep the Colts from sharing the dubious distinction of "worst NFL season ever."

On the ridiculously bright side of things, the only other team to go winless in the NFL since the 16-game season was introduced was the 2008 Detroit Lions, and Lions fans don't have too much to bitch about this year. So there's that, and there's always hope for better luck next year, Andrew Luck that is.

Daily Zen - Thursday, November 3

The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not our circumstances.
                   
                   - Martha Washington

UPDATED: 110,000 Jobs Created in October

Job creation exceeded expectations in the last two months. In October 110,000 new private sector jobs were created (which more than offset the 24,000 public sector jobs that were lost), and the Labor Department also revised September numbers up to 116,000 (25,000 more than originally reported). While growth is slow, the overall employment outlook is looking a little less bleak.

The private sector job growth had a small but positive impact on the nation's unemployment rate, which dipped from 9.1% to 9.0%, the lowest rate in six months.

My gut feeling (this is the opinion element of a blog that your friends warned you about) is that it will take little additional movement of the nation's unemployment number (a modest reduction to 8.5% or 8.6%) to get consumer confidence kicked up significantly and to secure re-election for Obama. Sometimes, you just need a little something to feel good about.

Revised on Saturday 11/5/2011

Republican Candidate John Huntsman Deserves a First Look

John Huntsman, Former Ambassador and Utah Governor

John Huntsman is intelligent, experienced, and reasonable. Unfortunately, with the Tea Party dominating the Republican party from the far right fringe, these characteristics may disqualify him from ever getting a serious look as a legit presidential candidate. 

Consider the comparison between Huntsman and Herman Cain courtesy of Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish blog post.....

"When you realize this intelligent and capable two-term governor from the rock-ribbed Republican state of Utah, with deep domestic and foreign policy experience, has one tenth of the support of a pizza guy who emerged from motivational speaking and talk radio, and who admits he knows nothing about foreign policy and has never held elective office in his life ... well, you have the core reality of today's Ailes-led, resentment-fueled GOP."

It's fine by me if the right wing never takes a serious look at Huntsman since failing to do so only helps Obama's re-election effort, but if party leadership has half a clue, they will shine the spotlight on Huntsman and give him his day in the sun before his self-belief wanes and his coffers run out (like Tim Pawlenty). 

Daily Zen - Wednesday, November 2

Everything you do ripples outward and affects everyone. Your glance can awaken joy. Your words can inspire freedom. Your every act can open hearts and minds.
                        - David Deida

Siri Gets Baked

Siri, the new "personal assistant" application that was part of the recent Apple software and iPhone release, finds answers to complex questions (like "where is the nearest Taco Bell") and tells them to you.

Since the release of Siri, bored nerds everywhere have been laboring to find the most clever or obscene uses for this talking computer application (something I have been doing for years with the PDF read-aloud function).

Anyway, I think we have a winner - Siri Gets Baked.

Rick Perry - Not "Slick" (or Smart?) But Proud

In Rick Perry's new campaign ad he embraces his inability to articulate his thoughts intelligently. He adds that we don't need another "slick politician or a guy with great teleprompter skills", since the one we have is already "destroying our economy."

News Flash Mr. Perry: The "slick politician" is doing his best to repair the economy that was destroyed by his predecessor. What we really don't need is another plainspoken swagger-laden Texan who mistakenly believes that big-dick cowboy and Commander-in-Chief are synonyms.

Viewing Tip: Click the title bar at the top of the clip to view in a larger window.

Turn of Phrase - Andrew Sullivan In Defense of Obama

Andrew Sullivan, Writer

"I'm still waiting for a truly interesting or cogent critique of what Obama has done wrong from the right. A critique that intelligently cites the historical context in which this poor fucker is working."


- From political writer Andrew Sullivan in response to a recent editorial by conservative columnist George Will, who referred to President Obama as a "foundering naif."


In his response, Sullivan went on to excerpt a portion of the President's inaugural address, wherein the President wisely and accurately acknowledged the challenging conditions he inherited from the prior administration (a footlong turd sandwich at best - my words, not his).

Bank of America Cancels New Fee Idea

Dear BOA,

You screwed me over and we broke up. Then you tried some half-ass stunt to get back together, and I saw right through you. Now, you say you're canceling the new fee completely? Okay, fine. I'll meet you, but it's just coffee.

Cautiously,
Jeff

Daily Zen - Tuesday, November 1

There are three marks of a superior man: being virtuous, he is free from anxiety; being wise, he is free from perplexity; being brave, he is free from fear.

                        - Confucius