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29 September 2010

Reflection: "Overheated Rhetoric"

The following post is a copy of what I wrote for our church newsletter in October. Though I don't usually post things of this nature here, I've been wanting to respond to the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" for awhile but struggled to do so in a way that didn't mirror back the anger and ugliness of those who were screaming about it. This doesn't come close to fully capturing my thoughts and feelings on the matter, but to be honest, I feel better for at least publicly saying this much. Just keep in mind that the original audience for these remarks was the small United Methodist congregation I serve in semi-rural Oregon.
Dear Friends,

I became increasingly dismayed during early September over the inflammatory rhetoric around the planned Islamic center near ground zero in New York. Provocative comments made by pundits and politicians alike were more calculated to sway votes and influence primary elections than to engage in honest dialogue about religious freedom in America. What was most distressing were the number of Christians who publicly engaged in “Muslim bashing,” making disrespectful—even hateful—comments about Islam and those who are Muslim.

Imagine someone who is not Christian, who has never attended a church, but who has friends or co-workers who are Muslim. Imagine someone who is not a Christian but has heard that Jesus taught his followers to love God and to love all people. And then imagine how hypocritical it would sound to them to hear people who call themselves Christian uttering mean-spirited, hurtful, inflammatory words about people who are Muslim, calling them “evil” and equating Islam with terrorism.

In our adult study this fall, “When Christians Get It Wrong”, Adam Hamilton has reminded us that many non-Christians are driven away from Christianity because of the insensitive, critical, judgmental, and mean-spirited things said and done by people who claim to be committed Christians. He also says simply, but I think correctly, that “the most powerful form of Christian witness is what we do when we express authentic love, compassion, mercy, and kindness toward others.”

Last Sunday at our youth group gathering, I shared these words from the book of James: “With [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so…the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy” (James 3:9-10, 17).

As we head into the mid-term elections next month, the overheated rhetoric will fill more and more of the airwaves—and little of it, if any, will be “peaceable, gentle or full of mercy”—even from the candidates who claim to be committed Christians. But we have a choice, my friends. We can choose to embrace the way of Jesus by not engaging in such destructive discourse. We can choose to use our words to express genuine kindness and concern for others—even to those with whom we disagree. And may we be careful that we do not “curse those who are made in the likeness of God.”

On the journey with you,

27 September 2010

Meditation: "Letting Go of Outcomes"

"There is no way to peace. Peace is the way." --A.J. Muste

"The paradox is that you are more likely to get outcomes when you let go of getting outcomes: it frees you from the ego's grip." --Parker Palmer in the Christian Century

"For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."  --Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew

Dear Friends,

The quote above from an article by Parker Palmer really messes with my head. More than I probably even realize, I'm all about outcomes. I'll have a vision in my head of what I want--for my own life or for the church that I serve, and I'll throw that ultimate goal out into the future. And then, as a hopelessly left-brained person I will start formulating a plan, which often involves lots of list making. Then I get busy working "the plan" to get to the desired outcome. It's almost like a wrestling match--I'm grappling with my life and circumstances to try to achieve exactly what I think I want.

This is a very logical way to approach things, of course. Set some goals, line-up the steps to get there, and then relentlessly work to accomplish those goals until the desired outcome is achieved.

The thing is, I don't always get there and even when I do, they journey isn't always very enjoyable.

What I hear Palmer saying is that the outcome we project into the future is less important than the present, less critical than today. In his case, he's reflecting on his desire to become a writer, which emerged in his 20's. Rather than focus on an outcome that would "prove" he'd become a writer--say, getting a book published--instead he simply spent time every day writing. It was his faithfulness to the daily discipline of writing that made him a writer because (well "duh!") writers write. They don't necessarily produce books. It was his faithful commitment to that daily discipline of writing--irrespective of outcome--that eventually brought him the outcome he had stopped trying to achieve--he published a book.

This is true in the life of faith, too. We don't suddenly wake up as people who perfectly love God, neighbor, and self. If that's the outcome we desire, if the goal of the Christian life is to be made perfect in love (a very Methodist phrase), then our task is to try to love God, neighbor, and self the very best that we can--TODAY. And then we do it again the next day, and the next day, and the next day. And, eventually, by God's grace we just may discover that we have come very close to the outcome we stopped trying to grasp at in the first place. As Palmer says, somewhat negatively, "the faith journey is less about making a big leap of faith than it is about putting one faithless foot in front of the other, and doing it again and again. What happens as you walk that way is sometimes transformed by grace."

I pray that as you open your hands to let go of predetermined outcomes, God's grace will guide you, day by day, in the direction that will bring you life, and life abundant.

Blessings, Jeremy

07 September 2010

Meditation: "Blessing Hands"

"Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel." --Jeremiah 18:6b

"A leper came to [Jesus] begging him, and kneeling he said to him, 'If you choose, you can make me clean.' Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him..." --Mark 1:40-41

"Take my hands, and let them move, at the impulse of thy love." --from the hymn, "Take My Life, and Let It Be" by Frances Havergal

Dear Friends,

One by one, they came extended to me. In pairs or singly, palm up or palm down--they were offered to me. Some were offered hesitantly, even shyly. Others were presented eagerly, confidently. Some were crooked with age and others straight and young. They were rough and calloused, they were soft and warm. Some were adorned with jewelry, others bore nothing but freckles and their God-given hue. There were scars on a few (one had part of a finger missing and another was encased in a cast) and, if not scars, then deep lines full of stories.

"May God bless your hands, that they will move at the impulse of God's love." And then the sign of the cross in oil, gently traced in the tender skin of the palm or across the veins and fine bones on the back of the hand.

Last Sunday during worship, as I blessed the hands of our congregation, I was surprised by the lump growing in my throat as more and more hands passed beneath my own. I felt keenly aware of the humanity of each person. I felt acutely the vulnerability of open, extended hands. I was completely overwhelmed by all that those hands have touched and done and suffered over each lifetime. Those hands have cooked and cleaned and cared, those hands have cradled babies and caressed loved ones. Those hands have worked hard, given rise to blisters, to support a family, to build, to plant. Those hands have created beauty, with paint, with fabric, with music, with words. Those hands have held guns in far off lands and held hands as life ebbed away. Those hands have helped and healed and, in some cases, hurt others. Those hands have prayed and clapped and been offered in love. So much life in those hands, all those hands I was blessed to bless.

Have you seen a time-lapse photo before? The kind where the camera shutter is left open capturing the blurred motion of the subject (like stars moving across the night sky, tracing their path in light)? I thought, "All these hands...What if it were possible to take a time-lapse photo of each pair of hands in motion throughout its lifetime, and then merge all the images into one?" I am certain that, if we looked closely enough at that blurred image, we'd catch a glimpse of God.

Look at your hands. Look closely, carefully.

"May God bless your hands, that they will move at the impulse of God's love."

Blessings on you,


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Vegan Food in Amsterdam + VEGA-LIFE store

We managed to eat out less in Amsterdam than London and Paris, partly because my boyfriend was sick for a full day and I made us soup at the apartment and partly because Meatless District (which is the name of a restaurant), was only open for drinks and not dinner in the later evening when we showed up.

Vegabond - Vegabond is a small store with vegan food staples (a lot of shelf-stable stuff but also frozen items, including ice cream). They have a food counter as well, serving sandwiches, baked good and coffee. We got two sandwiches to go, both of which were pretty decent. They served them open-faced and layered with waxed paper in the little boxes below. The soy latte I got from there was dee-licious. I kind of wish we had gone back there, actually. It was super hot the day we visited and the place was roasting (no air conditioning) -- and we couldn't stay anyway as my Anne Frank House timed tickets were timed for right after we got our takeout from Vegabond.

The online store hours for Vegabond listed limited days but thankfully when we were in VEGA-LIFE and asking for food recommendations nearby, they let us know Vegabond was now open 7 days per week.

Golden Temple Vegetarian - We met up with my boyfriend's friend one night and they suggested this place. There were a bunch of vegan options and the menu was very...varied. I think it had pizza, Mexican, Indian, etc. There is a table on a platform in the window and there were two small dogs who kept hanging out on that platform with whoever was up there, which was pretty cute. The food was decent and they knew what "vegan" was, so that was helpfu. Also, look how cute they made the sorbet with those berries!

Latei - Upon arrival in Amsterdam we met up with one of my friends - a person I've known for years thanks to an old punk rock message board that's probably been gone for 15 years now. She had visited NYC throughout the years so we'd met in person previously but I hadn't seen her in a while. Sometimes the internet is pretty cool. Anyway, she recommended this coffee shop (a real coffee shop, not the "coffee shops" that are really hash places) right near our Airbnb in the Red Light District. It is terribly cute but I don't have any photos so you can visit this random blog I found for photos of Latei. When we first visited, I sat down at a table only to find a snoozing black cat on the chair next to me. I could not have planned the more perfect welcome to Amsterdam. They have soy milk and I think there were some vegan options for food. I got a few soy lattes during my stay there and I was never disappointed.

Groceries! - Not only did we buy groceries so we'd have breakfast food in the apartment but I also had to go find soup ingredients the one night my boyfriend was sick because I couldn't find vegan soup for takeout in the area. We had been introduced to the Alpro brand of soy yogurts in Paris and were happy to find them in Amsterdam, too. (The "Nature" ones are plain soy yogurt and not nearly as sweet as all of the US brands. Get it together, USA.)

I had no idea how challenging it would be to read a lot of tiny ingredient labels in Dutch though - especially since I accidentally ended up at the Albert Heijn right before it was closing. I managed to find the word "vegan" on some cubed bouillon and a packet of mock meat (schnitzel!) as well as some very obviously vegan vegetables.

We got a chance to visit VEGA-LIFE, the vegan store in Amsterdam. Not to be a jaded New Yorker, but there were only a few things that V-L had that I couldn't get in-person in NYC. (Mooshoes NYC has spoiled me properly!) They had a more robust Macbeth selection and way more Veg Shoe UK stock (for obvious reasons). Also available: cute satchels from a company I've now forgotten (not available in NYC), hand-painted tote bags (below) and a small section of personal care and pet products. They also had a bunch of brands that we have in NYC like Novacas, among others. So, I only had partial FOMO leaving there. I did get a Vego bar and a BWC "waterproof" mascara here. Man, that mascara has nothing on Lily Lolo mascara.

I would definitely recommend stopping in here to see what they have -- the folks working there were super nice. For sure stock up on Vego bars, because they are god's gift to vegans (and supposedly fair trade!) and if you try to order them via Amazon state-side they're like $14 each.

  1. Great post, Jesse! I see the puppies you were talking about now. ;) I wish I went to Vega-Life! It looks cool.

    - Christina

  2. The sorbets look amazing! How was the schnitzel? We found that in the Albert Heijn too but didn't have an oven to try it!

    1. It was meh to be honest! You didn't miss much!

Hey there! Thanks for leaving a comment. Please don't apologize for writing a lot - I like long thoughtful comments so bring on the "wall o' text" if you wish and have no shame.

Short comments are, of course, also always welcome.

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Monday, May 24, 2010

This weeks theme at i heart faces is "Yellow." Head on over and check out all the entries and be sure to enter your own  "Yellow" photo!

LookieLooSuz May 25, 2010 at 12:57 AM

What a sweet face! I love her expression.

tangie May 25, 2010 at 12:15 PM

so sweet!!! love the softness!

Jackie Jean May 26, 2010 at 5:52 PM

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Dave's Statement to ABC's Australian Story

Statement to Australian Story: 13 April, 2008

Many members of the Jesus Christians have donated kidneys over the past five years. This was not a unanimous decision at a particular time, nor has it ever been a requirement of any member of our community. However, because members are living with others who have donated, and who have given glowing reports of the experience, and because we receive dozens of requests from people who are in need of kidneys, one by one various members of our community have freely volunteered to donate a kidney.

Thousands of people die every year while waiting for kidney donors. Even if every person in Australia were to sign a donor card to become organ donors after they die, there would still be only about enough kidneys harvested from deceased donors to meet 40% of the need for kidneys in Australia. Live donors are essential to overcome this deficit.

Often relatives or close friends will donate when the need becomes personal and when it starts to affect a loved one. But we are convinced that there are literally thousands of Australians like ourselves, who would welcome the opportunity to save a life just by offering their kidney to any hospital in Australia that accepts live non-directed organ donations. Most Australians do not know that they COULD make such a donation. The mass media needs to be utilised to make the general public aware of this.

We have tried repeatedly to get the media, both in Australia and overseas, to broadcast these facts, but too often, the media has had more fun hinting that Jesus Christians who have donated organs are brainless zombies acting under my supposedly superhuman influence. We believe that the ABC has been drawn into this same melodramatic game, to the extent that it has been willing to hear and use unsubstantiated claims against the Jesus Christians, and to do so without giving us even a chance to respond. We are hopeful that Ash's relationship with his mother may soon revert to what it was before he announced his intentions to donate to Sandi, and that Kate will no longer feel a need to distort the facts in order to justify her interference with Ash's decisions about what to do with his life.

We ask that the media stop trying to demonise those who donate organs and focus, instead, on the great need for more live unrelated donors.
Mail us at:,    OR write to:    Godstuff Comix,  P.O.Box A678, Sydney South, Australia 1235


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The unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
- Phrase search: "names of god"
- Exclude terms: "names of god" -zerah
- Volume/Page: v9 p419
- Diacritics optional: Ḥanukkah or hanukkah
- Search by Author: altruism author:Hirsch
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Italian political economist; born 1820 at Bologna, Italy. He was the first deputy elected to the Italian Parliament by the city of Ferrara. Carpi, on the expiration of his term, divided his time between Bologna and Rome, where he was a contributor to "Popolo Romano." He has thrown much light on the social and moral conditions of new united Italy by the authentic information that he has collected in all departments of the government. Among his works may be mentioned: "Dell' Emigrazione Italiano all' Estero, nei Suoi Rapporti coll'Agricoltura, coll'Industria, e col Commercio," Florence, 1871; "Delle Colonic e dell'Emigrazione degl' Italiani all' Estero nei Loro Rapporti coll'Agricoltura, Industria, e Commercio," 4 Milan, 1874; "Statistica Illustrata dell'Emigrazione," Rome, 1878; "L'Italia Vivente, Studi Sociali," Milan, 1878; "Il Risorgimento Italiano: Biografie Storico-Politiche d'Illustri Italiani Contemporanei," Milan, 1884; "L'Italia all' Estero," Rome, 1887. The only work written by him relating directly to Jewish interests was his "Alcune Parole Sugli Israeliti in Occasione di un Decreto Pontifico d'Interdizione," Florence, 1847.

  • De Gubernatis, Dizionario Biografico degli Scrittori Contemporanei, Florence, 1879.
S. I. E.
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The unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
- Phrase search: "names of god"
- Exclude terms: "names of god" -zerah
- Volume/Page: v9 p419
- Diacritics optional: Ḥanukkah or hanukkah
- Search by Author: altruism author:Hirsch
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German educationist; born 1821 in Nordheim, Bavaria; died Feb. 25, 1862, in Hoppstädten, Birkenfeld-Oldenburg. On graduating in 1842 from the Royal Training College for Teachers at Würzburg, Hecht was appointed by the district government of Lower Franconia special instructor of candidates for admission to his alma mater, a position which he soon relinquished in order to devote himself to his life-work of teaching Jewish youth. During three years' service in a small community in Lower Franconia he published numerous essays in Jewish periodicals, a Biblical history for Jewish elementary schools, and a Hebrew primer. On the invitation of David Einhorn he went in 1845 to Hoppstädten as teacher in the Jewish communal school. In conjunction with E. Goldmann, Einhorn's successor in the office of provincial rabbi, Hecht secured in 1856, after a campaign of vigorous agitation, full recognition by the state of the Jewish communal schools in Birkenfeld on equal terms with the Protestant and Catholic schools, and of Jewish communal teachers on the same footing as their Christian colleagues. In 1858 he was elected member of the "Provincialrath" (diet) of the principality.

In 1859 Hecht was charged with having reviled the state religion in his "Unterscheidungslehre Zwischen Juden- und Christenthum," but on trial before the provincial court was completely exonerated. As coeditor with A. Treu of Münster, he published in 1858 a religious journal entitled "Der Israelitische Haus- und Schulfreund," which was discontinued after its first year. Hecht's literary labors earned for him the honorary degree of Ph.D. from the University of Bonn.

Among the historical and pedagogical studies published by Hecht are a monograph on the Jews of Treves (Trier), and a pamphlet entitled "Der Vorsängerdienst der Israeliten nach Seiner Gesetzlichen Entwickelung." He is best known as a writer of devotional works and of text-books on religion. His writings include: "Biblische Gesch." Fulda, 1842 (American ed. revised by Samuel Adler and translated into English by M. Mayer, New York, 1859); "Israel's Gesch. von der Zeit des Bibelabschlusses bis zur Gegenwart," Leipsic, 1855 (the 3d ed., ib. 1877, is such in name only, being virtually a new work by M. Kayserling; Eng. transl. of 1st ed. by Max Lilienthal, Cincinnati, 1857); "Handbüchlein für Leseschüler des Hebräischen," Fulda, 1842; "Versuch das Hebräische Durch Deutsche Wörter zu Erlernen," Kreuznach, 1858; "Die Hebräische Vorschule," ib. 1859; "Kleine Hebräische Grammatik," ib. 1859; "Das Judenthum: ein Religionsbuch für Höhere Schulen," ib. 1860; "Liederbuch für Israelitische Schulen," ib. 1860; "Der Uebersetzungslehrer," ib. 1859; "Der Pentateuch Grammatisch Zergliedert," Brunswick, 1858; "Geschäftsaufsätze für Schulen," ib.; "Häster's Lesebücher für die Israelitischen Schulen Bearbeitet," Essen, 1855; "Unterscheidungslehre Zwischen Juden- und Christenthum," Hoppstädten, 1859; "Sefer Chajim, mit Uebersetzung und Neuen Gebeten," Brilon; "Kelch des Heils: Gebetbuch für Frauen und Jungfrauen," ib.; "Der Trostbecher," Berlin, 1861; "Der Pentateuch in Lehrreichen und Erbaulichen Betrachtungen, Erzählungen und Gedichten," Berlin, 1862; "Die Heilsquelle: Vollständiges Hebräisches Gebetbuch mit Deutscher Uebersetzung Nebst einem Anhange mit Deutschen Gebeten," Brilon, 1860; "Ueber Sabbath und Feiertagsschulen und deren Einrichtung," Fulda, 1842.

  • Ben Chananja, 1862, pp. 90 et seq.;
  • Sinai, 1862, pp. 112 et seq.;
  • Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. v. 39, art. 607, and elsewhere.
S. H. H. M.
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Friday, November 11, 2011

Islamism is already calling the tune in Libya

David Gerbi dismantling the sealed entrance to the Dar al-Bishi synagogue in Tripoli

The attempt by Libyan Jew David Gerbi to reopen a synagogue in Tripoli was a violation of sharia law : 'dhimmis' are not allowed to restore or rebuild their houses of worship - just one example identified by the excellent Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi writing in the American Spectator of how Islamism is already becoming the dominant political force in the new Libya. But the non-Arab Berbers, who supported Gerbi, are not likely to take kindly to renewed repression of their identity and culture, a recipe for more internal strife:

Indeed, this trend should already have been clear in the treatment of David Gerbi, a Libyan Jew residing in Italy who returned to his ancestral homeland in the summer to fight alongside the rebels against Gaddafi. Yet when he tried to rebuild and reopen the abandoned and desolate synagogue in Tripoli, he faced death threats, intimidation and protests, such that he was eventually deported. The National Transitional Council (NTC) dismissed this matter as one of no importance.

In this context, it is noteworthy that the treatment of Gerbi was in accordance with traditional Islamic law's views on the status of dhimmis (i.e. Jews or Christians), for dhimmis are not allowed to reconstruct their buildings of worship or build new synagogues and churches.

Linked to the point about Islamic law are the recent announcements of Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman and de facto president of the NTC, that Sharia will be the "basic source" of all law in Libya. Coming to specifics, Abdul-Jalil declared that a Gaddafi-era law that banned polygamy would be lifted, saying that it was "contrary to Sharia and must be stopped."

The NTC chairman is of course correct that Sharia traditionally permits polygamy, being rooted in Quran 4:3, which allows a man to take as many as four wives. While the verse exhorts a man who has more than one wife to "deal justly" with all of them, on traditional interpretations this does not mean treating them equally. Rather, as Ibn Kathir puts it, doing so is only "recommended," and even without equal treatment, "there is no harm on him."

Abdul-Jalil further declared the need for future bank regulations to comply with Sharia, claiming that "interest creates disease and hatred among people." One should also compare his statements on the role of Sharia with the draft Constitution for the Libyan opposition, as reported on in late August. As Andrew Bostom notes, the most striking feature is the opening (Part 1, Article 1), which affirms that "Islam is the religion of the state, and the principal source of legislation is Islamic jurisprudence (Sharia)."

The emphasis on the definite article before "principal source" is my own. It is an undeniably Islamist outlook. It must be contrasted with, for example, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law bloc, which only views Sharia as a source of legislation, and not necessarily the main one.

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Hospitals etc

I’ve never liked hospitals. It’s just that my line of work that takes me there from time to time. A visit to the hospital to meet a doctor doesn’t strike me personally. There is an element of being detached which separates the pain in the faces of all those around me from the task at hand - convince the doctor that my products are the best.

I’m in the business of providing care for the critically ill. How reasonable is it to separate that caring from the real world commercial reality?

Today I feel different.

I was at PGI Chandigarh in connection with my aunts critical state of health. I’m close to her - but haven’t spent much time with her in the last decade and a half. Blame my career aspirations for that. So one can imagine that there’d be a certain gap - a schism of sorts.
Her state of health at this point in time ain’t too great. As I upload this to the internet - she’s under the doctors knife. Suddenly all that commercial crap seems so far away. I don’t care what brands he is using today. All that matters to me is that he better be careful and does his best. It’s no longer professional when one can accept a PERCENTAGE error. This is strictly personal and there’s no way anything less than the 100% will do.

Two faced me - maybe!
But i hope to god he gets it right this time ....
Maasi -we’re all praying for you.

SMM said…
Well sometimes we need to separate the professional from the private and sometimes the private from the professional.

Also praying for Maasi.

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Sunday, February 05, 2006

The sun did not shine
It was too wet to play
So we sat in the house
on that cold, cold, wet day

I sat there with Sally
We sat there, we two.
And I said, "How I wish
We had something to do.

To wet to go out
And too cold to play ball.
So we sat in the house.
We did nothing at all. - © Dr. Suess Enterprises 1957, 1985

Posted for my friend Jenny Rainmaker, who is clearly working overtime and not happy about it. Posted by Picasa


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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

I know I am a little behind on updating but we have been doing paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork. We are getting more and more anxious as the time gets closer. I know God has been preparing me for my beautiful Angels in the last week most def. On Tuesday this past week I went to a meeting for church and the missionary that was there speaking spoke of her trips to Haiti and how each time she went she would work in the orphanages for children with special needs. Then this past weekend I went to Women of Joy Conference in Louisville and Sarah Palin was there and she talked about Trig her son that was born with Down Syndrome, and then Steven Curtis Champman was there and he spoke of his 3 daughters that he adopted from China. He also did several songs that he wrote about adoption.

We serve such an awesome God! Hopefully it won't be so long before my next post.

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Deloitte SAP Hybris Billing – Convergent Invoicing (CI) - Manager (Customer) in Cincinnati, Ohio

Deloitte is one of the leading professional services organizations in the United States, specializing in audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services with clients in more than 20 industries. We provide powerful business solutions to some of the world s most well-known and respected companies, including more than 75 percent of the Fortune 100.At Deloitte, you can have a rewarding career on every level. In addition to challenging and meaningful work, you ll have the chance to give back to your community, make a positive impact on the environment, participate in a range of diversity and inclusion initiatives, and find the support, coaching, and training it takes to advance your career. Our commitment to individual choice lets you customize aspects of your career path, your educational opportunities and your benefits. And our culture of innovation means your ideas on how to improve our business and your clients will be heard.TechnologyOur technologists help clients implement innovative technologies to drive their business forward. Our consultants link technology insights to clients organizational goals to fit within their full operating models, accounting for their people, intellectual capital, and processes.Learn more about Technology Consulting at DeloitteSAPThe full potential of SAP solutions isn't just about technology, it's also about driving sustainable business value. At Deloitte Consulting LLP, our SAP specialists deliver the technology and services to help our clients meet business performance goals and improve processes. As an SAP Global Partner we provide a broad range of consulting services, from HR, CRM and supply chain to finance transformation.Learn more about our SAP practice Qualifications Are you looking fora career trajectory that few other organizations can offer in SAP? What about access to a high-quality portfolio of businesses and clients with opportunities to work across capabilities, industries, and geographies in roles and on projects aligned with your skills? If this matches your interests and aspirations Deloitte may be right for you.Required QualificationsFunctional/technical proficiency with at least 4 full lifecycle SAP implementations and 8 years of industry and/or consulting experienceAt least 8 years of SAP experience implementingSAP Hybris - Convergent Invoicing (CI)/FICAExperience defining systems strategy, developing systems requirements, designing and prototyping, testing, training, defining support procedures and implementing practical business solutions under multiple deadlinesAdept at designing and implementing technology-enabled business solutions for clients as part of a high-talent team and as a team lead or Project Manager on at least 3 full cycle implementationsAble to collaborate with clients, identify engagement follow-on opportunities and have a strong desire to excel and be committed to gaining exposure to multiple industries while further developing your careerStrong current hands-on configuration and design skillsAbility to travel 80-100% is REQUIREDBachelor s degree or equivalent requiredMaster s degree preferred How you ll growAt Deloitte, our professional development plan focuses on helping people at every level of their career identify and use their strengths to do their best work every day. From entry-level employees to senior leaders, we believe there s always room to learn. We offer opportunities to help sharpen skills in addition to hands-on experience in the global, fast-changing business world. From on-the-job learning experiences to formal development programs at Deloitte University, our professionals have a variety of opportunities to continue to grow throughout their career. Explore Deloitte University, The Leadership Center BenefitsAt Deloitte, we know that great people make a great organization. We value our people and offer employees a broad range of benefits.Learn more about what working at Deloitte can mean for you Deloitte s cultureOur positive and supportive culture encourages our people to do their best work every day. We celebrate individuals by recognizing their uniqueness and offering them the flexibility to make daily choices that can help them to be healthy, centered, confident and aware. We offer well-being programs and are continuously looking for new ways to maintain a culture where our people excel and lead healthy, happy lives. Learn more about Life at Deloitte Corporate citizenshipDeloitte is led by a purpose: to make an impact that matters. This purpose defines who we are and extends to relationships with our clients, our people and our communities. We believe that business has the power to inspire and transform. We focus on education, giving, skill-based volunteerism and leadership to help drive positive social impact in our communities. Learn more about Deloitte s impact on the world Recruiter tipsWe want job seekers exploring opportunities at Deloitte to feel prepared and confident. To help you with your interview, we suggest that you do your research: know some background about the organization and the business area you re applying to.Check out recruiting tips from Deloitte professionals

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As used in this document, Deloitte means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or protected veteran status, or any other legally protected basis, in accordance with applicable law.

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Category: Management Consulting


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Aug 9, 2008

Job Vacancy LowKer - PT Mobile-8 Telecom, Tbk,-Finance

PT Mobile-8 Telecom, Tbk, is one of the leading Mobile Telecommunication CDMA Operators in Indonesia. We hold a nation-wide license mobile & FWA using advanced technology of CDMA 2000 1X & CDMA 2000 1X EVDO that enables us to continuously commit to provide better and innovative products and services to our customers. As part of our extensive expansion plan to widen the operational coverage around Indonesia, we are now looking for self driven and dynamic professional to join our team as:

Corporate Finance Analyst

The main role of this key position is to assist the management in providing decision support analysis on business and financial issues.

In details, you will be in charge in:

*Developing financial models for new businesses, valuations, and product developments
*Liaising with analysts, fund managers, rating agencies and banks
*Benchmarking company’s performance with relevant peers periodically
*Preparing monthly management report
*Constructing information depository for financial and operational information
*Preparing and updating presentation materials, Assisting in the preparation of other reports as requested by management

If you are having a minimum of 2 years in the same role as described above, preferably having experience as an auditor or within the telecommunication industry and possessing a degree in finance/accounting you are welcome to apply. Strong analytical skill, orientation to detail as well as good interpersonal skill for you’d be liaising across units will be crucial for the role. Proficient in English is a must.

Please send your comprehensive resume, not later than 2 weeks to Please indicate the position you apply for in the subject of your email.

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The following are comments from students who have attended courses or workshops given by Joe Elliott.

“Joe is in the top five instructors that I have had.  Joe brought into the classroom speakers, videos, handouts, but mostly importantly his real world working experience, including theories not in the text.”

“The class had a challenging workload, but was very fun and interactive.  The material I will take away from here will be very useful.”

“Mr. Elliott has a natural knack for teaching.  He genuinely cares about his students learning.  He always was thorough in his explanations and spent the appropriate time getting our feedback.”

“Joe was an excellent teacher.  He made sure we understood the material.”

“Joe was an awesome instructor.  He made class enjoyable to come to.  He is very knowledgeable and brought in a lot of guest speakers.  I would definitely take him again and recommend him to others.”


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Sunday, August 12, 2007

There was something I learned while I was away that I very promptly forgot. That is; that it can be really nice to have a head full of jigs, reels, polskas, polkas and bowing techniques that you're trying (emphasis on trying) to learn, rather than a head full of worries. A surprising kind of calmness, for a head full of dance music.

I started remembering again this morning, and imagine that I'll keep doing so, on and off...

I saw Goro Miyazaki's Tales from Earthsea yesterday, which I quite enjoyed even while it was dreadfully earnest and not all that pictorially exciting. I remember that my dad read the Earthsea books to me when I was really small, but I can't remember anything more about them but the rumble of his throat between words. Some of the structure of the story in the film did remind me of things from Time's Bones, the book that Pete seems to have stopped writing and should very definitely start on again because it is a great beginning. Of course he can't do that just now because he is in Vermont playing the bagpipes...

Lots of work is starting to happen in this house, even if I don't want to jinx the fact by mentioning it...

Anonymous said...

Ah, look at that, The Sheffield Street Band, the band that refreshes the parts other nads cant reach (sadly I think that should be past tense)
Somewhere on Bubedge Moor
Campaign for access to moorlands anniverasy of the Mass Trespass, 1983(?)

Anonymous said...

what other nads?
where's Bubedge?
when do you get an anniverasy?

jet-klag is my excuse
sorry - jrt-lag oh to hell with it

I'm going back to bed

Joel Stewart said...

Jet-lag is fun.

I hope you had a fun time in Vermont, I'm guessing that you are my anonymous pa.


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By In Stuff

A Brief History of the Charlotte Hornets

Economists have done countless studies that show the economic impact of major league sports — and especially the impact of building new arenas and stadiums — are pretty negligible, often even painful for individual cities. I believe that. But it’s still hard to explain just what it meant to Charlotte to get the Hornets.

We moved from Cleveland to Charlotte when I was in high school, and the culture shock for an awkward and perpetually nervous teenaged boy who lived for professional sports was, well, pretty overwhelming. Charlotte had nothing then. Nothing. Well, that’s not precisely right — Charlotte had its own insular sports culture which revolved around ACC basketball, NASCAR and professional wrestling, not necessarily in that order. I became a North Carolina basketball fan because that seemed the easiest way to fit in. I learned the 10 names that mattered in NASCAR by osmosis — Petty, Wallace, Labonte, Elliot, Yarborough, Allison, Gant, Richmond, Rudd and, of course, Earnhardt. And I could hold my own when the conversation turned to the sheer absurdity of of Jimmy the Boogie Woogie Man Valiant.*

*Valiant, best we could tell, was an 87-year old wrestler with a white beard who would dance out to the ring in step with The Manhattan Transfer’s “Boy From New York City.” He would then jump around a lot, call himself handsome and use his one move (throw guy into rope and, then, elbow him) to defeat an evil masked man named The Assassin or, perhaps, a different evil masked man named The Assassin No. 2. The Boogie Woogie Man baffled us in every way and it goes without saying we always rooted for the masked men.

Everything felt stifling in Charlotte then. Downtown was called Uptown. Restaurants closed at 9. The baseball was Class AA, played in an old ballpark made out of wood that, one day, simply burned to the ground. The pro football choices were the unpalatable Atlanta Falcons to the South and Washington Redskins to the North. The arena was a dingy place on the ironically named Independence Boulevard, and it was called, plainly enough, the Charlotte Coliseum. A major event there might be a Davidson basketball game or Styx on the Mr Roboto tour. There was nothing to do, no place to go, nothing to ever get excited about. Two of my best friends then were transplanted New Yorkers who lived pro sports, and it was hard for us to breathe. We sat in the school library at lunchtime and talked about big-time sports happening seemingly everywhere except Charlotte. We sat in our parents’ cars after dark and tried to pick up just a little bit of sports civilization through static on the radio dial.

And so when it was announced that a quirky businessman named George Shinn was actually bringing an NBA team team to town, well, it was like VE Day Charlotte. OK, I don’t know if women were actually kissing sailors on Trade and Tryon in Uptown, but I do remember car horns blaring. The joy was unabashed. At last! We were Major League!

None of us actually thought George Shinn had it in him. He was a self-made millionaire — he, rather famously finished dead last in his high school class in Kannapolis, N.C. — and nobody seemed entirely sure how he made those millions. It had something to do with business schools and textbooks, if I remember right, and nothing about it seemed above board. But, maybe it was. Hey, who really knows how any millionaire makes their money?

Shinn was small town Carolina through and through — he spoke with a twang — but there was just something insubstantial about him. And, at the same time, there was also something oddly appealing about him. I have written before about the time he went to New York to pitch Major League Baseball on bringing an expansion team to Charlotte but it’s worth bringing up again. I went along as a reporter for The Charlotte Observer, and after the presentation ended Shinn seemed SURE that the owners were going to grant him a big league baseball team. This was his real dream — Shinn was a huge baseball fan — and so in celebration he asked the limo chauffeur to take the group to Tavern on the Green, which I can only assume Shinn believed was the best and most famous restaurant in big ol’ New York City. This glorious day deserved only the best.

When the driver explained that Tavern on the Green was closed — for renovations or something — Shinn decided to go for the next-best thing which ended up being, yes, the Hard Rock Cafe. Yeah. The Hard Rock Cafe. Well, where else? Shinn would become a reviled figure in Charlotte, for good reason, but I can’t help but feel a small pang of warmth for the guy when I think of him being so excited, on top of the world, sitting in that Hard Rock Cafe, certain that he was in a great New York restaurant and was about to bring a Major League Baseball team to Charlotte.

Baseball did not come to Charlotte, of course — Shinn did later buy a Class AAA team, at least — but this new NBA team did. Everything was so exciting. A new coliseum — this one glitzy and with a staggering 23,900 seats — was built along with a bunch of new roads and those cool traffic lights you only see in major league cities, you know, the lights with arrows and Xs, to tell you which lanes were coming and which were going. Hotels popped up around. The new Charlotte Coliseum was called “The New Charlotte Coliseum.” We were on our way.

Every tiny detail about this new team captivated us. They would wear teal back when that color wasn’t omnipresent — Charlotte probably started the teal revolution. And the team would be called the Hornets. The name was steeped in North Carolina history — during the Revolutionary War, Lord Cornwallis — a leading British General — called the fighters in the Charlotte area a “veritable nest of hornets.” It was a good name, just right, and the anticipation was overwhelming. The arena was absolutely packed for the team’s first NBA Draft, when the team made its first NBA Draft pick — Rex Chapman out of the University of Kentucky. In memory, you started seeing Rex Chapman jerseys around town the next day.

You simply cannot overstate how deeply in love Charlotte was with the Hornets that first year and for a long while after that. The New Charlotte Coliseum sold out every game. Marginal players like Tim Kempton became Charlotte superstars. Everybody wanted to shoot like Dell Curry. Everybody wanted to gun like Kelly Tripucka. Everyone wanted to pester like Muggsy Bogues. Kurt Rambis was on that first team. Earl Cureton. Robert Reid. Every time the Celtics or Knicks or, especially, Los Angeles Lakers came to town, we felt like the world had finally discovered us. We had a real live NBA team — a terrible one, yes, but the team’s general awfulness did not dampen the spirit one bit. Losses were beside the point. Victories were like little daily miracles. Hey look: That’s Larry Bird!

That enthusiasm lasted for a long time, much longer than many people expected. The one thing you heard from the cynics around town was that Charlotte was a college basketball town and could never embrace the world-weary grind of pro hoops, not long term. But cities are never one thing, and while the fervor for college basketball never relented, the Hornets had their own place in the city’s heart. The next year, they= Hornet drafted a North Carolina Tar Heel named J.R. Reid, who couldn’t really play but who lived in both Charlotte basketball worlds. Every game sold out again — they averaged 23,901. The next year, Charlotte led the NBA in attendance by 100,000, and the Hornets led in attendance again the next year, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next. It wasn’t until 1998 — Jordan’s last year with the Bulls — that Chicago finally edged Charlotte in attendance.

In time, the Hornets built a nice little team — surrounding Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning — and they made to the Eastern Conference semifinals twice, and the atmosphere at the New Charlotte Coliseum was electric, all its own, just a little bit different from any other place in the NBA. Charlotte was growing so fast then. Strip malls appeared overnight. Two lane roads became four almost in real time. Uptown grew skyward. New restaurants, new neighborhoods, new highways, airport expansions — I wasn’t living in Charlotte then, but my parents were and every time I would come back the city seemed drastically different in some significant way. The Final Four came to town. The NFL awarded the city a football team. A huge and beautiful new stadium was built right across from The Charlotte Observer, where I had spent my college years inaccurately typing and justifying agate.

And I guess it was right around 1998 or 1999 when everything changed. Most people blame George Shinn, and I guess that’s right since that was around the time Shinn was being sued for sexual assault — this after he was accused of kidnapping a woman he supposedly was suppose to be taking to see his lawyer for help. The suit was rejected, but the trial was a national circus, one where Shinn did admit to various extramarital activities that did not exactly match up to the religious persona he had held up publicly. Shinn went underground — the guy had many flaws but he had been the most public of figures. Not anymore. He disappeared in shame, and reappeared only to demand that the city build a new arena for the Hornets — this even though people were STILL CALLING it the New Charlotte Coliseum.

People in Charlotte voted down a new arena, and people stopped coming to games, and Shinn moved the team to New Orleans. The Hornets last year in Charlotte they finished dead last in attendance. The team kept the name “Hornets” because that’s how the NBA does it — they allow new cities to keep names that are comically in appropriate. There is no Jazz in Utah, no Lakes in Los Angeles, there’s nothing Kingly about Sacramento. If Orlando’s team moved to Des Moines, then Des Moines would become the Magic City, and Detroit moved to Richmond, then Pistons would become a part of the city’s culture. It’s incredibly stupid, but the NBA has been pretty consistent about it, so the Charlotte Hornets became the New Orleans Hornets though Lord Cornwallis had nothing whatsoever to do with the place.

The NBA, having watched the pathetic Charlotte Shinn Show, felt so bad about things they promised a new team would come to Charlotte as soon as possible. In 2004, the new team came, and they were called the Bobcats, which was a name so bland and uninspiring that even in Charlotte nobody seemed to remember it. The first year, the Bobcats played in the New Charlotte Coliseum and finished second-last in attendance. Finishing last: The New Orleans Hornets. The next year, the Bobcats moved to this sparkling new arena downtown, a beautiful place that was called, yes, you guessed it: “Charlotte Bobcats Arena.” That’s just how Charlotte rolls. After a while, it was called Time Warner Cable Arena — normally I’m opposed to corporate names for buildings but in this case Charlotte clearly needed the help.

The Bobcats were terrible, then terrible, then terrible, then terrible. Only this time around, Charlotte was not the blindly enthusiastic city it had been for the Hornets. The Panthers had been to the Super Bowl, and they also had been terrible. The banks that drive the city had been sky high and they had crashed. Traffic was abysmal. Homeland was filmed in town, so was THe Hunger Games. Charlotte WAS Major League, in both the cool and numbing ways of big cities, and nobody needed a lousy NBA team to justify anything. Larry Brown did somehow eek a playoff team out of Stephen Jackson, Gerald Wallace, Ray Felton and Boris Diaw. That was the year Michael Jordan became majority owner of the Bobcats. Things looked up. They weren’t. The next year, 2011, the Bobcats were terrible again. The year after that, they might have been the worst team in NBA history. This year, they were regular old terrible again. They finished 27th in attendance.

Tuesday, Michael Jordan announced that the Bobcats are dead and the team will be called the Hornets again — the New Orleans team decided to go for Pelicans — and there was a tiny bit of buzz around town. I don’t know if it’s really “buzz” — nostalgia, maybe. Hey, the Charlotte NBA team should be called the Hornets. There’s history to the name in Charlotte, a good history, even if it doesn’t seem that way. The Hornets were underachievers for a little while, they had a series of abysmal drafts (Greg Graham, George Zidek), they traded Larry Johnson for Brad Lohaus and Anthony Mason, they traded Alonzo Mourning for Glen Rice and a bunch of nothing, in 1996 they drafted and immediately traded Kobe Bryant, something Bryant was not averse to mentioning Wednesday on Twitter.

In honor of the name change #13thpick #nbadraft #96 #freshface

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) May 21, 2013

But the Hornets brought something to Charlotte, something hard to describe, something that might not mean anything tangible at all but FELT tangible at the time. It’s not something Charlotte can ever recapture or, frankly, would even want to recapture. The Hornets made some of us feel like we lived someplace that mattered. So, it’s nice getting the name back, and Michael Jordan deserves credit for that. Now, Jordan only has to do one other thing — actually build a basketball team worth that doesn’t stink and is worth caring about. I’m guessing here, but that might be harder.

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14 Responses to A Brief History of the Charlotte Hornets

  1. tarhoosier says:

    Cornwallis. Corvallis is in Oregon. But, yeah, we did love us our Hornets.

  2. I don’t mean to be That Guy, but I don’t think the Hard Rock Cafe was in Times Square back then. It was on 57th Street, about a dozen blocks north.

    Also, Oklahoma City never used the Supersonics name (though it did use the Hornets name in that post-Katrina season).

  3. civil writes says:

    Joe, great column. But the reason why there’s nothing SuperSonic about Oklahoma City is that THE TEAM IS NOT CALLED THAT. That was the only thing we wouldn’t let Clay Bennett steal from our city.

  4. Max says:

    Fun article Joe! Carolina is one part of this country I know next to nothing about and I love your perspective. I remember the Hornets in the late 90s with Johnson and Mourning being a pretty popular nationwide team, and the teal was a big hit with the kids.

    The Bobcats, yea, I forgot they ever made the playoffs. Talk about an anonymous franchise. Can they make it work in Charlotte long-term or is this just a last gasp effort before the team moves to Seattle?

  5. djangoz says:

    One major contribution of the old Charlotte Hornets was LJ and Zo as one of the very best NBA Jam duos. A thunderous dunk from grandmama was pure joy in the arcades back in the golden age of NBA Jam.

  6. sanford says:

    I am not a big basketball fan. But as a talent evaluator Jordan is really bad. I can’t say he ruined the Wizards because they were already bad. A basketball team would seem to be the easiest sport in which to turn a team around. After all the Cavs were not a talented team but they did ok with Lebron. You need to find one great player and just some average to above average players to at least be competitive.

  7. asv says:

    I was in fifth grade during the Hornets’ first season and you have captured the atmosphere in Charlotte exactly as I remember it. I went to several Davidson games at the old Coliseum. The only time I remember the TV in the cafeteria of my elementary school being turned on was to watch ACC tournament games. I remember the bizarre sense of pride over the endless sold out Hornets games. I remember arguing with my friends (like me, nerdy, bookish, uncoordinated girls) about who got to “be” Muggsy Bogues when we played basketball in gym. My sister and I were so into basketball that my dad even put up a basketball goal in our driveway. More memories: Fashion designer Alexander Julian,who had roots in NC, was the one who designed the Hornets’ uniforms. Also, there was a big stink over a sculpture by Joel Shapiro that was supposed to go in front of the new coliseum. It was nicknamed Gumby. In the end, Maya Lim (Vietnam memorial designer) designed land art for the front of the coliseum: giant shrubs pruned in perfect spheres to look like balls rolling down an expanse of grass. The “new” coliseum was demolished a year or so ago, and the shrubs are gone too. What a nostalgia trip!

  8. Mark Coale says:

    I bet Ric Flair is still the biggest athletic star in Charlotte.

  9. Brian says:

    You rooted AGAINST The Boogie Woogie Man?

    I… I don’t know if I can keep following this blog.

  10. Brian says:

    You rooted AGAINST The Boogie Woogie Man?

    I… I don’t know if I can keep following this blog.

    • David says:

      You can say that again!

      Seriously, Jimmy Valiant wasn’t a one-move wrestler. He’d also suck his thumb before secretly jabbing it into a villain’s throat, cleverly signaling the fans that he was about to fight far with far. And the oratory! Who can forget his incoherent, Esperanto-flavored promos? Suddenly “Baron Von Raschke” became “Baron Von Roscoe,” and “Tony Schiavone” became “Tony Shavonto.” The man was a genius.

  11. I wouldn’t mind 1000 or so words on how the Hornets were originally going to be the Spirit. You seem to have glossed over that almost-debacle. Otherwise, well, it’s all just how I lived it, too.

  12. […] that their fans were screwed out of their beloved SuperSonics. Gee, Bill, we sure can’t relate to […]

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By In Stuff

The Law Offices

From the latest Parks and Recreation, this leads to the obvious question: How many years of good work does Jonathan Iso have to put in before he finally gets named partner? And William Uzr? How about Linda Wpa-Li?

Plus … everyone knows Jack Vorp is a drunk.

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7 Responses to The Law Offices

  1. Not to mention that Oliver Siera has been working his tail off.

  2. BobDD says:

    Vorpis Delecti

  3. David says:

    I actually have always thought that Ken Kwapis, who used to be a producer on The Office, had a last name that SOUNDED like a sabermetric stat, even though it’s his actual name.

  4. Anon says:

    Joe – don’t know if you saw it but David Eckstein did a spoof commercial for the fake law firm Babip, Pecota, Voprp and Eckstein over a year ago. It was posted on MLB’s website:

  5. MC says:

    I get the joke with all of those except “Nelsson.” Anyone care to explain?

  6. POS software says:

    Nice article .. Thanks alot for sharing.

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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Proud Papa - Joseph serves as Honor Guard before NCAA championshilp game

Joseph was in the Southwest County newspaper this week here in Roanoke

Click here to see - He is the scout with the tan shirt on in the middle of the photo behind the VA state flag!

Way to go Joseph!!

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Home > Economics - General > The crisis of 2011? — Crooked Timber

The crisis of 2011? — Crooked Timber

July 16th, 2010

I’ve been too absorbed by my book projects and by Australian politics (of which more soon) to pay a lot of attention to the forthcoming US elections, but it seems to be widely projected that the Republicans could regain control of the House of Representatives. What surprises me is that no-one has drawn the obvious inference as to what will follow, namely a shutdown of the US government.

It seems obvious to me that a shutdown will happen – the Republicans of today are both more extreme and more disciplined than last time they were in a position to shut down the government, and they did it then. And they hate Obama at least as much now as they hated Clinton in 1995 (maybe not quite as much as they hated him by 2000, but they are getting there faster this time).

The obvious question is how a shutdown will be resolved. It seems to me that it will be a lot harder for Obama to induce the Republicans to back down than it was for Clinton. IIRC, no piece of legislation proposed by Obama has received more than a handful of votes in the House, and (unlike the case with Bob Dole in 1995) no aspiring Republican presidential candidate will have an interest in resolving the problem – the base would be furious. On the other hand, the price Obama would have to pay if he capitulated the Republicans would demand from Obama in a capitulation would be huge, certainly enough to end his presidency at one term. So, I anticipate a lengthy shutdown, and some desperate expedients to keep things running.

As far as I can tell, there is no mechanism for resolving this kind of deadlock – the House can’t be dissolved early as would happen in a parliamentary system. I think the Founders probably envisaged the House as having a “power of the purse” comparable to that of the British Commons. Whether they did or not, I’m sure this argument will be made, probably by people who have argued, until very recently, that the power of the Executive is essentially unlimited.

But, my understanding is limited and I’d be keen to hear what others think about this.
[1] I’ve tried to clarify my point about capitulation, which was poorly expressed the first time.

Posted via email from John’s posterous

Categories: Economics - General Tags:
  1. Rationalist
    July 16th, 2010 at 22:22 | #1

    As Bush says at his Texas ranch: “Miss me yet?”

  2. David
    July 17th, 2010 at 14:31 | #2

    John why don’t you shove your head up your arse where it should be have you never heard of the second amendamdment?

    I was going to delete this idiot’s mis-spelt, offensive and irrelevant comment, but on reflection I thought he illustrated the kind of mentality I’m describing. For those interested, he’s using the address [email protected] and posting from IP address He is now permanently banned

  3. Jim Rose
    July 17th, 2010 at 15:11 | #3

    Your public choice analysis of the possible turbulent aftermath of the upcoming congressional elections is more pessimistic than mine.

    After 2010, the Republicans will face the same electoral disciplines that the Democratic Party faces now. Electoral defeat and return to minority party status in the House. Too many cards must fall their way for the GOP to win the Senate in 2010.

    If the Republicans act as wreckers, they risk punishment in the 2012 elections, and reducing their chances of taking back the White House, and certainly their chances of winning back the Senate in 2012.

    Elections are surprisingly effective controls on parliaments and executive governments on the big issues. The big ticket items in the budget and in the regulatory sphere survive because they have majority support. Tampering with them risks electoral defeat.

    People follow politics because it interests them, rather than because they profit from a wiser more informed vote. Many voters are motivated by ideology and which, rightly or wrongly, leads them to vote for candidates of their choice based on the perceived competence of competing parties. Voters largely get the policies they want no matter how mistaken their beliefs might be about what those policies actually do.

    Keating’s law applies – modern politicians do not get out of bed until a focus group tells them which side. American politicians spend immense resources on finding out what voters likely to vote for them want so they can then deliver it.

    P.S. a large public choice literature can be found if you Google modelling parliamentary and presidential systems of government as multiple veto players. The real distinctions between political systems are to be found in the extent to which they afford political actors veto power over policy choices.

  4. hrvoje
    July 17th, 2010 at 17:15 | #4
  5. paul walter
    July 18th, 2010 at 23:38 | #5

    Yes, in much of above, I agree with Jim Rose.
    I agree withthe post, that the US, like Australia has a clogged constitutional apparatus, if you like. I agree, probably to Jim’s dismay, that I don’t understand American right Conservatism; how it only learns perverse things and forgets the lessons of history and its own US history.
    Whatever the case as to the general trajectory of certain parts of the Professor’s outer anatomy relative to his anterior olfactory outlet, the spelling was abysmal and h(er)im/ it is cast unto outer darkness before the Full Majesty of the assembled multitudes of blogotariat, now in extraordinary plenary session!
    all hail!

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"...write up an anecdote – some story where they watched Wilke build up into righteous anger when reporting a story... or ironing out a crease in the fabric of the Journal bureau... And someone should talk about him tearing up when he described taking his kid to college…..Or when he became nearly inconsolable when the anthrax story came back and cost him two fantastic seats at the Nats-Mets game. Describe a time he filled in for people, picked up their loads for them, counseled them, slipped them incredible sources, shared bylines... that will keep him alive and you (and the rest of us) afloat."

Post comments or photos here.

You could always tell John loved reporting because he never stopped gathering information. He probably worked that cellphone in his dreams, cajoling bits and pieces of a story out of sources.

On our chance weekday Metro encounters to or from Bethesda and on weekends in the Y parking lot, John was constantly probing.

He was always trying to figure what I knew or didn't know (probably, mostly, the latter) about a particular antitrust story we were both pursuing.

Generous with friendship, gossip and praise for other people's work. Wilke was interested in all kinds of subjects and people that he would probably never write about. It was part of his MO to keep his fingers constantly on the pulse of the news, listening for that tremor of an undisclosed event or outrage that he could turn into another great scoop.

A minister's son, Wilke had the classic irreverent manner of a preacher's kid, having honed his rakish, smart-assed wit from childhood to avoid any label of saintliness.

He could never quite pull it off. Because if saintliness is a measure of how much someone gives of themselves in kindness, love, camaraderie and sheer decency then Wilke couldn't elude the tag.

Jim Rowley

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Being Engaged In Real Life: More than Just “Showing Up”

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As we begin to increasingly share our experiences on Facebook and filter our lives through Instagram, there is no doubt that Interaction is changing.  Of course, everyone knows that the heart emoji does not substitute for saying the phrase “I love you.”  But what significance does texting the phrase “I love you” have?”  As our interactions become increasingly digital, many people are beginning to look harder at how virtual communication translates In Real Life.  What can we convey digitally?  What can’t we convey digitally?  And how do we consolidate the gaps that arise between the two?

A Forbes article written by Susan Tardanico about this very subject uses the heartbreaking example of a college student who, after having a normal, bubbly text message exchange with her mother one afternoon, attempted suicide that evening.  Had the afternoon’s interaction between mother and daughter occurred in person, had the two spoken face-to-face, the truth most likely would have been obvious; the daughter had “been holed up in her dorm room, crying and showing signs of depression – a completely different reality from the one that she conveyed in texts, Facebook posts, and tweets.”  None of that was conveyed via text.

This is an extreme example, but it reminds us of the dangerous side effects of digital communication.  When we can’t connect to each other in person, we miss out on a lot of important signals that could save a friendship, a relationship, or even (as in the above case) a life.

But there is a lot more than just physical presence that goes into the type of quality interaction that clues you into some of the important information we miss when interaction is digital.  If you aren’t making the effort to be fully engaged with the person you’re talking to, you might as well be firing emails back and forth, or messaging over Facebook.  Right?

Maybe?  Maybe not?  Let’s look harder at what makes up a quality interaction as our interaction becomes increasingly digital.

The ORANS Perspective: Changing the Interaction and Being Relational

The journalistic mission of ORANS is to comment on situations where changing the interaction between people can create better outcomes for everyone.  When people interact in a relational way, we believe better outcomes will emerge.  ORANS wants to provide skills and ways to help you: find solutions to difficult problems, deal with difficult people, handle a bully, stop stonewalling, avoid triangling, use non-violent methods to resolve conflict, become a negotiator, become a master communicator, create lasting change, engage in quality dialogue, stay centered and mindful, control personal reactivity, become more self-aware of personality differences, live in the now, use no labels, be more grounded, be more generous, be more humble, and be more kind.

The ORANS Perspective in this Situation: Be Engaged

Tardanico’s article notes that “studies show that only 7% of communication is based on the written or verbal word.  A whopping 93% is based on non-verbal body language.  Indeed, it’s only when we look into someone’s eyes that we’re able to know when ‘I’m fine’ doesn’t mean they’re fine at all… or when ‘I’m in’ doesn’t mean they’re bought in at all.”  But what if you’re looking into someone’s eyes and thinking about what you’re going to eat for lunch, or trying to remember if the new episode of your favorite show is uploading to Hulu that night, or daydreaming about your upcoming beach vacation?

In that case, wouldn’t you still miss that shimmer of uncertainty in the other person’s eyes that says “I’m not okay with what’s going on right now?”  It was there, and you were there to see it, but you weren’t committed to looking.  The point at which you could have caught the discomfort, improved your relationship with the other person, and transformed the interaction has been lost as your attention wavers and the other realizes that you aren’t listening.  Not really.

It’s the same issue with social media.  If you’re not really invested in being engaged with the other while you’re with them in person, you could still be missing up to 93% of the information being communicated.  Of course, if you’re not engaged in person, you’re still probably going to pick up on more than you would over social media.  Being Relational, however, you seek to pick up on 100% of the information being communicated.  That means that on top of just showing up physically, you have to be committed to being engaged with the other person in a way that goes beyond reflexively nodding as the other person talks.  You have to really be present.

You have had the experience of talking to another and you just know they do not hear a word you are saying. They are not present and their non-presence triggers a habitual conflict response in you. Being present means that you are physically, mentally, emotionally, right there with the other person. You know when someone is present with you and reciprocally they know when you are present with them. It takes effort. Your effort is an act of generosity on your part, giving of yourself. Being relational means you do it anyway, even if there is apparently no gain to be had for yourself in doing it, nor any discernable reciprocity from the other in that moment. Being relational means you do it anyway because you believe in the benefits it will provide to yourself and to the other person.

There are two types of presence: physical and mental.  Assuming that you are physically present (i.e in the same physical space as the other person), catching all of the information being given to you requires you to be also mentally present. This may be much harder. Being present mentally requires concentration. You are awake. You are alert and open to what unfolds, open to reality as it really is. You know your body and your mind and you know what you need in order to be awake. If your brain is fuzzy and you are sleepwalking through your day, you can’t be engaged. This doesn’t mean that you are manic, always on, wired, or hyperactive. You are awake and alert when you are with others–in a way that lets them know that you are with them, that you are present.

Part of being present mentally and emotionally, in the sense of being there for others, is being attentive. When you are with others in a situation where you are expected to be mentally present, you make it a point to give your attention to them. Often it’s easy to show up and then mentally check out and be somewhere else entirely. If you are nodding and saying “Uh-huh” reflexively, habitually, without awareness of what you are nodding and saying “Uh-huh” to, then you aren’t attentive. Or if you say “Uh-huh” dismissively because you are in tunnel vision for getting what you want and the other person is just getting in your way, you aren’t attentive to the other. Either way, you sow the seeds of conflict with others with your lack of attention.

If you are automatically saying “No” or reflexively thinking “That’s ridiculous. Stupid. Here we go again,” you also are not attentive and you are sowing the seeds of conflict with others with your lack of attention. When people feel dismissed, they will push back stronger, or go elsewhere to be against you. Keeping this in mind is good motivation for you to give others your attention in the moment of interaction. But giving others your full attention is never easy. It can drift away in a daydream or be lost in an instant as you react to a distracting stimulus. Focusing your attention is in many ways the fundamental skill of being relational. It takes mental discipline; it takes effort.

So… when engaged with others, you ignore your cell phone. You close your laptop, your tablet or any other device dividing your attention. Your eyes focus on others, noticing their expression, their eyes, mouth, posture, and gestures. You stop thinking. You make mental and emotional space for the other to enter your experience. You don’t analyze, interpret, or prepare to respond. With your full attention given, you can listen to others.

When you’re engaged, you pick up on the full 100% of information that the other is trying to communicate with you.  Why settle for less?

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Sunday, April 4, 2010

Some Easter stuff and Wisconsin finds!

Don't worry, Faye -- I bought you a box!

Very minty!

Was pleasantly surprised that I liked the "chocolate glazed donut" flavor!
A little too maple-y for me (I'm not a breakfast person)

Too bad Elina doesn't work there anymore!

Bought it for Marley -- she wasn't impressed -- but I ate a lot!

Really? Lilly Pulitzer ANIMAL CRACKERS!??!?

I'm a vanilla purist. But I bought these anyway, of course.

A big hit at work... I liked how thin they were -- but would have preferred not to have the chocolate covering -- just a thin oreo instead.


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Friday, December 23, 2011

The Doust Files - Albany Advertiser 20/12/2011

You want my view of the change of route for the annual Christmas Pageant? Here it is.
I was one of sock creatures walking alongside the giant Christmas stocking in the Albany Comedy Club’s ground breaking float last Saturday.  Well, hardly a float, more a stack of recycled socks carried along by feet.
We don’t reckon Flinders Parade is the place for a pageant. At least half of it runs alongside the caravan park and nobody stood there and only a few took advantage of the CWA lawn.
Our vote goes to York Street and most who hung around for a chat at the end said the same thing: York is the king. The Ellen Cove grassy verge did, however, seem very jolly all decked out in stalls and frippery and a number suggested it would be an ideal venue for the next boat load of baby boomers with more cash than sense.
And now let me respond to the suggestion that the change was about refocussing the event to make it a “less commercial, more family oriented affair.”
Hang on, there is no more commercial time of the year than Christmas. It’s all about commerce. When it’s over economic statisticians will reveal how well the economy is doing by disclosing the amount of dosh spent in the lead up and aftermath.
Christmas is no longer about the birth of that great bloke Jesus, it’s full of pagan symbols and mainly about consumption - eating, drinking and wrapping paper.
The mighty York is designed for a pageant - it’s our Main Street, provides perfect viewing both sides, up, down and middle, plus plenty of places for a coffee and milkshake. Middleton - a magnificent beach – might once have been an entertainment hub, but until Calamari’s gets back on the boil, it’s a dead dud.

Monday, December 19, 2011

The Doust Files - Albany Advertiser 6/12/2011

Sorry, it's a bit late this one. too much on my mind. Too much to do. Enjoy your festive season.

As always at this time of the year you will find me in Manjimup working on the Cherry Harmony Festival.
It’s not easy, eating plump ripe cherries for a solid week. You have to train yourself, take a couple here and a couple there, then, finally, plunge headlong, mouth open.
 What’s it all about, people often ask, assuming that it’s about cherries? Nothing is all about cherries, not even a cherry festival. But it is all about food and the ability of this rich and fertile south western corner to provide an abundance of delicacies for those who live in the northern wastelands.
It started 10 years ago when Manjimup was in the grip of despair following the dismantling of the timber industry. A couple of local groups and Paul Omodei, ex-MLA for the region, decided to hold a public meeting.
What a day it was and all day I spruiked: “What this town needs is a cherry festival!” and all day tired old men came up to me and said: “You’re an idiot.”
Then, when all seemed lost, four women stormed my personal space and yelled: “You’re right. You’re a genius! We’re having a cherry festival.”
I shook their hands, congratulated them and wished them well. They refused to let me go and said: “You don’t get out of it that easy, matey. You are on the committee, you’re part of the team, stacking chairs, consoling lost children and calling the Australasian Cherry Pip Spitting Championships.”
This year is the 10th, all in a row, and each year bigger and better than the previous and even though a number of festivals have threatened to be cherryless, they always magically appear, ripe and plump enough to send folk away in much the same condition.


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Friday, October 17, 2014

The Fault In Our Stars - 10 stars out of 10

The Fault in Our Stars - 10 stars out of 10

“The Fault in Our Stars” is the best love story of the year.  It is unlike any other, placing endearing characters into an inevitable tragedy.  But these characters do not fade into oblivion; instead, they are preserved through the lasting impression that makes their audience value each day of life a little bit more.  The hopeless perspective of these characters offers a poignant view of life and the power of love to bring joy to the saddest moments of life.  They are well written as Hazel Grace shows perseverance through the will to keep living and Augustus becomes the selfless support that puts love ahead of pain.  The dialogue feels natural, the comic relief is effective but doesn't get in the way of the deep emotional moments, and the story has some impacting twists.  While the script and characters are well-written, the acting is what makes this story so three-dimensional.  It feels like real life and will have you questioning whether it is fact or fiction.  Shailene Woodley is going to be the next big thing in Hollywood.  While she has become popular among teenagers through roles in “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and “Divergent,” she showed her true acting chops in “The Descendents” and has established her ability to portray intense moments of emotion and pain with the role of Hazel.  She reminds me a lot of Jennifer Lawrence, who had a breakthrough with “Winter’s Bone,” gained the teen following with “The Hunger Games,” and won an Oscar with “Silver Linings Playbook” at the age of 22.  Ansel Elgort doesn't get a chance to show his emotions with the same extremity, but he plays Augustus very well.  But the most impressive acting actually comes from Laura Dern.  I would have not expected a supporting role to have such an impact but she is incredible.  I would nominate her for an Academy Award for the emotion that she brings to Hazel Grace’s mother.  I think that she struck a particular chord with me because I could immediately empathize with her character.  My emotional attachment to the film began when she made me see Hazel as my own daughter.  Willem Dafoe is another unexpected surprise.  We hate him so much, but that’s what makes his performance so good.  The film does have a sex scene and a few brief moments of strong language, but it is all done tastefully.  I really liked the artistic approach to displaying the texting conversations on the screen and the eulogy sequence is magic.  “The Fault in Our Stars” is the love story that will become the symbol of a generation, like “A Walk to Remember” before it, and “Dirty Dancing” before that.

[Pictured: Amazing chemistry.  Simply amazing.]

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Sunday, October 4, 2009

Further reinforcing my love for faces, we're focusing on the head in Life Drawing right now. Here are three classmates, followed by a quick practice self-portrait for homework. All were done in about 20 minutes, give or take a few.

These don't look a whole lot like my classmates, especially the last one, but I think I captured most of their look. The one on top is friend and roommate Marcel, the fellow I sculpted last semester.

I just noticed that my head looks like it's floating...I may or may not fix that. I'm working from a really small, round mirror, so getting anything below my chin is tricky. We have to make a face for this homework assignment and I rather like this one, though I might do a few more practice sketches before I commit to a 3-hour pose. I'm using compressed charcoal for these. Although we can use graphite or charcoal, I think I'm going to stick with charcoal because of the wide area of coverage and really, really wide range of value you can get from a single stick. I have long forgotten the joys of using a stick of compressed charcoal...

Happy thoughts,

1 comment:

Noah Becker said...

Holy shit!!! These are awesome! I'm so impressed that you did those in 20 minutes. I guess you are going for the gene simmons KISS face.


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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Two Testing Giants Part Ways

Wow. What can I say? Scott Barber started a firestorm. Two great minds, James Back and Cem Kaner, in the testing community are parting ways on an idea, context-driven testing (CDT), which they helped create and foster. The reaction on each other’s blog has been like two parents getting divorced with testers in the field expressing disbelief, pain, and sadness.

Part of what is driving this is a changing viewpoint for Cem. Not uncommon since 2 other founding members have already broken off with CDT. To compound things between Cem and James, there is personal animosity between them. While I will say that I have a great deal of respect for James and Cem and they both have great ideas; I, for one, do not really care about them parting ways. And I do not think you care about their parting ways either; because CDT principles are an undeniable truth, not dependent on any one person.

I do agree with Cem’s general statement that there is more than one CDT school – more than one camp each with their own values and ontology (to quote James). The problem is, I disagree with using the word “school”. While it may be semantics, my issue is that school conjures up images of an institution with a predefined curriculum of which you cannot graduate unless you pass the courses. Sounds like certification, with which I disagree. CDT is a paradigm. I don’t like the implied argument, raised by James, that the ability to NOT follow something makes it an approach versus a school; because the implication is, that you must always follow something and that something that must be your identity. This makes CDT sounds like dogma and religion. For the sake of this blog post, I will still reference “schools” as schools to maintain some discussion continuity.

To me, CDT is more fundamental to the testing community than I have found anyone to say. My belief is based on the premise CDT is not about a new way doing things so much as it is an acknowledgement of reality. The CDT principles are more akin to truths than principles. Even if you do not positively use the principles to gain synergies, it does not negate the principles; it does not render them false. CDT is ingrained in the fabric of testing, regardless of which “school” a tester is following. The principles are an acknowledgement of “what is” not of “what can be”. To see what I mean, just paraphrase a few enlightened guys, “I hold these truths to be self-evident…”  Even if someone followed the “Factory School” of testing, the CDT principles still hold true. For example, Factory testers believe testing measures progress. While that is an information point, it does not negate CDT principles such as projects unfold in unpredictable ways or that people are still the most important asset. The principles of CDT can be found in these realities. Therefore, CDT fundamentally permeates all “schools” of testing. Because of these reasons, I do not see any significance in this parting of ways.

Ultimately, there is an underlying “thing” that needs to be acknowledged, and that is: the purpose of software testing and consequently, software testers. Software testing’s purpose is to identify data, consolidate it into useful information, and provide it to stakeholders so that informed decisions can be made. That purpose exists regardless of a “school”. When thinking about it, I see the “schools” are really aligned to tools and types of information for specific decisions. The schools are not aligned to the real purpose of testing. I believe this is one of the reasons there are so many issues with every “school’s” beliefs and approaches.

  • Our job, as testers, is to extract data, synthesize it into information so that someone, a stakeholder, can make a decision. To do this we need tools. Those tools depend on the several factors:
  • I can only use tools I recognize – it is difficult to use something as a tool if you cannot see it in front of you Everyone has different tools – our tools are experience and knowledge based, accelerated - at times - but never replaced by technology
  •  Not every tool we know of is at our disposal – there may be great tools out there, ones we know about, but we simply might not be able to afford or capable of easily learning them
  • Every tool has a function – no matter the tool, it has a purpose, a way of being used, and expectation of what using it will do
  • Every tool can be used for any job, with varying degrees of success – you can use a butter knife as a regular screwdriver - sometimes
  • Using tools, in both traditional and non-traditional ways, will create new tools for us – it is about learning. With all tools being knowledge based, any learning leads to new tools

Our challenge is to realize, as testers, our job is to extract data about a creative process in order to synthesize useful, information in a way so that stakeholders can make informed decisions; to use the tools we have available to do the best job we can. By the way, that translation of data to useful information is and should be influenced by the creative process (development process), our tools, knowledge, experience, and our understandings. We are researchers, inspectors, philosophers, teachers, learners, synthesizers, but most of all, we are information brokers.


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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Show Notes for December 19, 2011 - The Dark Knight Rises Trailer

HERE for the December 19, 2011 Podcast!

At first we thought we would just do a little Dark Knight Rises reaction to the newest trailer to tack on to the next podcast, but... you know us! Once we got started, we couldn't stop talking. Besides, who doesn't want to listen to our nerdy frame by frame commentary about super heroes? :)

Yes, we know that is our "Dark Knight" Josh and Croz Show logo. I'm sure Croz will feel inspired to create a new Batman themed one before too long...

Don't forget to send us your thoughts and feedback as we plan the next show!

Listen to every Josh and Croz Show on iTunes!

Or, you can listen to every episode online at http://www.joshandcroz.com/

Follow us throughout the week on Twitter @joshandcroz
Or contribute all your thoughts to the Josh and Croz Show page on Facebook
You can also email us comments directly at joshandcroz@gmail.com

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Monday, April 25, 2011

SICP Study group at P2PU

As mentioned in a previous post, I have decided to learn JavaScript in a serious and deep way, and after following Douglas Crockford's advice on reading the little schemer, it's time for Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, also known as SICP.

Due to low numbers in the Anglo-Celt SICP Study Group, we have decided to open the group to the world through the Peer to Peer University (P2PU).

The course is still in draft but so far I've had great feedback from some of the core P2PU community members and I'm hoping that it will go ahead. You can see the draft of the course here: SICP Study group.

[UPDATE]: The course has been moved to the new P2PU site and it is now hosted here and open for application.

As usual, this is a peer to peer, community based effort, and everybody is welcome, even those of you that have read the book already. Assuming the role of mentor can be a fantastic experience, especially in terms of communication and other soft skills that are so important in our field.

To join the course all you need is the motivation to read the book and participate actively in the group, writing blog posts about what you are learning and experiencing, and be willing to share your solutions through github.

As in the previous course, I expect to use Open Wonderland for some of the meetings, but the course can be followed in an asynchronous manner too. If you are interested head to the course and apply (once it's open), or give us a shout if you have any questions!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Wonderland Wednesday -- Subsnapshot importer

We've been working on a new Open Wonderland module for exporting and importing parts of a world for the last couple of months. The idea is that when you have a world laid out, you might want to export bits and pieces, or even the whole space, to rebuild it at a later stage or in a different server, or simply as a backup of all your hard work.

Exporting is done by just right clicking in a model or container and choosing Export.
Importing is done by just dragging and dropping the exported file onto the Wonderland client. Easy peasy!

A couple of shots from today's session, in wich we are exporting and importing a bunch of the big fellas.

Anyone needs an army?

Well behaved big fellas

bit to the left... bit to the right... perfect!

The module is taking this long to be developed because we are writing all the code as a group, and we only meet about 1 hour a week, so things are moving slowly.

As a result, we are all learning a big deal from each other, especially from Jon, but all of us have worked on parts of the module, which is really cool.

We are even using JUnit to test bits and pieces of the code. The codebase was not written with automated testing in mind, but we are doing all we can to move towards that direction, even if it's just in small doses, and the results are great so far, cause although we are quite far from being able to TDD or test-first even, testing after writing is saving us a lot of time in deploys and server restarts.

Also we are not really pairing but 'grouping', and although communication can be harder than in the former, we are having a lot of fun, and that is what really counts!

These are a couple of shots of us working against netbeans and also the space we use, with the wallcard on the far end wall with all the stickies.

Close up of Netbeans in-world
The group writing code, live

The WallCard with all the stickies: we are almost there! ...almost!
Better quality pictures can be found on facebook.
These sessions happen most Wednesdays at 1p.m EST, 6p.m GMT, and everybody is welcome, so hope to see some of you quite soon!

Monday, April 11, 2011

about JavaScript, Scheme and History

I've been doing a bit of JavaScript lately and I am shockingly enjoying it. I thought it was going to be a nightmare and a lot of copy+paste but after a good amount of reading and watching talks, I started to like the language. I've been collating bits an pieces of information in the ossdev-ireland wiki, mainly focusing it towards developers that only have to deal with the language in small doses. is a place to share experiences that overlap the different open source groups in Ireland. JavaScript and MongoDB are the two topics that seem to be gathering more interest so far, but it's been less that one week since the wiki was installed, so hopefully more topics will start being worked on soon.
The Irish Penguin is the one to blame for all this sharing craziness, and I hope more people get on board in the next couple of weeks.

As usual, following on links and references in talks and tutorials takes you to a thousand other talks and tutorials that you will never have the time to read and watch. I would recommend the fantastic series on Javascript by Douglas Crockford. I especially enjoyed Part I: the early years, cause although it does not contain any code, it is a great lecture in history of computing, and I totally agree that that is an area that we don't handle very well in the profession.

During that talk, Crockford recommends the little schemer as a book that will change the way you think about programming, so I had to get my hands on a copy of it. I have to say that it was a bit difficult to get started with it, because although it seems to be a book targeting children, there is no explanation whatsoever on how to start with the language itself. A bit more digging on the net and I finally downloaded DrScheme, and got it running. Although the site points to a newer version, namely Racket, DrScheme still exists as a package in Ubuntu systems, so that's what I'm using for now.
So this is my first scheme listing ever:

(define atom?
  (lambda (x)
    (and  (not (pair? x)) (not (null? x)))))
(define lat?
    (lambda (l)
        ((null? l) #t)
        ((atom? (car l)) (lat? (cdr l)))
        (else #f))))

(lat? '(chunky bacon))
(lat? '(chunky (bacon)))

The first call to lat? returns true, and the second false. Let's see how long I can keep up with the parenthesis madness... the plan is to follow on to SICP, but I will have to finish this one first!