syntax and soul - Dick Richards

Dick Richards has added an outlet for his writing and the new site happens to focus on writing; Syntax and Soul.

Enter into writing to find release from cultural intoxication, from impulses to imbibe of sedatives freely offered: consumerism, entertainment, and violence. From ego gratification. Beyond the point of entry lies a gentle force that will employ you as an instrument of its aims.

Enter into writing to find heightened perception. Alertness will descend unasked for. Your entire world will inspire you. Lobelia and wrens will offer keys to what is unwritten.

Enter into writing to find what you believe. What you believe gives shape to what you see, and to what you say and do. What you see, say and do gives shape to what you receive.

Enter into writing to find community with like-minded others.

Read the full posting here.

This particular post is very similar to what Terry wrote and I responded to.

Check out Dick's new place for writing.

From the archives

While busy with the Franklin (MA) budget problem, and while the GEL related web sites are gathered, you can always go exploring in the archives.

A good cruising exercise would be to go to April for 2006 and see what you can find.

If you are really daring, dip into April of 2005 and see what you find there!

The trail is still open, all it takes is a click to get on your way...

Man-o-Pause - Nicolette Beard

The trail takes this 40 year-old hiker to a place with the fetching title of man-o-pause - a place where Nicolette Beard aims to provide "insightful commentary on issues facing men (in) midlife".

A woman writing about male midlife crises and challenges? I'm intrigued...

She says of herself:

I am a woman who, through hard won experience and sincere striving, has learned from life and wants to provide some answers to your deeply held questions.

From a young age, I sought the deeper meaning of life. And my life did not dissapoint.

I learned about the nature of addiction, anger, building a business, bosses & bullies, childbirth, career & competition, death, depression, divorce, failure, faith, fear, friendship & goodness, hope, injustice, jealousy, joy, love & marriage, mental illness, motherhood, patience & pain, opportunity, relationship, sibling rivalry, success,
suffering, teen angst, tolerance, worry and work. Not necessarily in that order.

I am a wife, mother and entrepreneur. To be a bridge-builder between men and women, parents and children, community and the world-at-large would be my greatest joy.

When asked by a Canadian journalist (about midlife crisis) "Do you see this passage as a spiritual crisis?", Nicolette replies,

All crises, on some level, are spiritual. It's an attempt of the human being (the Self) to transcend the strictures of the past, the limitations of his personality and to evolve to become better than he was - to serve in a greater capacity in the future.

Crisis is an indication that something isn't working. The struggle comes with the "deciding" phase. A teenager is deciding who he is, a parent is deciding how to parent a difficult child, a college graduate is deciding what profession to pursue, and a midlife man is deciding what his future will look like. These are daily struggles we all experience.But once you've made a decision, then you experience a breakthrough to a path that serves you and, ultimately, humanity better.

For the whole interview, read the full posting here.

Categories include:

Baby Boomers Finding Life Purpose Leaving the Rat Race Male Humor Male Menopause Masculine Virtues Men & Money Men & Self-image Men's Movement Men Stuff Men & Women Visionary Men

Light blogging alert

Franklin is facing a budget override and I anticipate that I will be busy helping to get the vote turned out for May 22.

It really is a mayday call to Franklin. The Town Council decision to put forward a $2.7 Million Proposition 2 ½ override still leaves all departments short of their budget requests and will require cuts to the services provided for in the current fiscal year.

Exactly what that means to Franklin is still being sorted out. Amongst the items discussed IF the override passes would still be approx 25-30 school personnel cuts, Fire, Police, DPW cuts, library shut. Stay tuned for the details.

IF the override fails, the picture gets worse real quick!



PS - check the scrolling headlines for Steve's 2 Cents to keep up with the override.

Easter Welcome

Easter Welcome 1
Originally uploaded by shersteve.

The story has it that the pineapple was a "welcome" symbol for the clipper ship captains when they returned home from a voyage to their New England home port; Boston, Salem, Newport, etc. The captain would stick a pineapple on the front stair post and thereby neighbors and friends would know the captain was home.

It is cool today in New England, about 35 F so it won't be too inviting to sit outside and have a conversation.

If you do visit, make yourself comfortable amongst the archives.

Think or Thwim -- Jeff Buscher

The Trail swings by Jeff Bushcer's place at Think or Thwim.

The qualities I like most about Jeff are that he's smart, he's interested in everything, and he's funny. Just take a look at an excerpt from his About page, and you'll see what I mean.

My name is Jeff Buscher. I’m a 440 month old boy. I don’t wear a watch, and I’ve never peed in a swimming pool.

Karma: Neutral

Bats/Throws: Right/Right

Special power(s): Superhuman hearing (only used for good)

Residency: usa… Shut up. I didn’t vote for him.

Favorite Pick-up Line: “I’d like to check you for ticks” -Brad Paisley

And then take a gander at some of the topics he blogs about. Talk about an inquisitive and lively mind! He'll haveyou laughing while you learn.

humor documentaries investing insight innovation art presentations politics neurologymusic applications comedians energy architecture things ive learned technology researchmedia google computers ze frank scott adams parenting elections design writing wikipediavoting stanford spirituality open source interviews fairness education congress chinablogging bittorrent advertising time lapse videos the daily show the colbert report stephen colbert robotics personal development iraq housing green energy google techtalks dilbertbikes time this american life the show the mit media lab the hive mind stratfor slow motionsavants quotes my son meditation inspiration how tos graduation fish firefox drawing darpacommencements classes charts cars california bill clinton barry ritholtz autism appleanimation 3d printing youtube world development wordpress woodworking wireless powerwhiteboards websites voting machines viacom travel trains the urban challenge the grand challenge the bbc tesla roadsters sustainability stewart brand startups stanley solar powersketch understanding shanghai self esteem seizures second life search revopower rapid prototyping radio lab praise poetry po bronson picasso phychics philips penn and teller pbspbase paul graham open source npr netflix movies michael chorost math maps makelinerider kevin kelly ken wilber jon stewart john mccain john walkenbach jimmy wales jeff han james randi ira glass intelligence inspiration hans rosling haiku guitar graphs google maps google trends fusion free speech

Jeff's the kind of guy with whom I could imagine talking late into the night on all manner of serious and silly topics, and coming away the wiser and wittier for it.

Cribbaholics Unanimous

The trail shuffles the deck to find a site devoted to an old faithful card game: cribbage. Yes, cribbage, where 29 is heaven, 28 is almost heaven and 19 is impossible.

Joe's recent posts are titled:

• Catholics, Cribbage and lazy wives...
• All things great and pegged...
• Cribbage keeps your brain young...

You get the idea. If you have a fancy for a peg, this is one site to visit.

You might also want to explore Crash Cribbage, a variation on the old game!

So with this shuffle of the deck, you get two sites, three posts, and the right variation or in cribbage scoring vocabulary: 15 for 2, a run of three, and the right jack for a total of six.

CoComment removed due to problem

You may have noticed some long delays loading the page today. I am not sure when it started but was at least occurring during the time I was blogging this Tuesday evening. Near as I could tell, the page load slowness was due to CoComment having some problems. Their site was not reachable. Their blog was not accessible. So for the time being the widget was removed.


We'll see what CoComment says about this when they get back online and determine how to proceed.


Technorati Tags: CoComment, problem, widget

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Out of the Cube - Verna Wilder

The trail turns to Out of the Cube, where Verna writes on her experiences in this new non-corporate world. For example, she writes:

My young friend is 20. The best thing I can do for him is listen, agree that breaking up sucks, and share my own experiences, some of them recent. I realized when I was talking to him yesterday that the one thing I could offer him that he might know was that he will be happy again. Experience teaches us that feelings are just feelings, and no matter how awful they are in the moment, they pass. He may not know how to hold hope, so as an older person who loves him and who knows, I can hold hope for him. I can say, "Hey, if you forget, call me, OK? Any time, even in the middle of the night."

Read Verna's full posting here.

She writes about trying to remember how to dance the Mashed Potato:

This is not a day I would want to find anyone looking in my window to see what I'm doing. Not that I'd welcome that on any day, but today I'm trying to remember how to dance the Mashed Potatoes. OK, ask the obvious question: So Verna, why are you trying to remember how to dance the Mashed Potatoes?

Read more to find out how Verna did here.

Consider adding Verna's site to your RSS Reader to follow her escapades "Out of the Cube"!

NeverEndingSearch - Joyce Valenza

The trail stops in the library to read what insights Joyce Valenza is sharing on her blog, NeverEndingSearch.

Like the new rules to survive:

Ask Later: Don’t say, “But I can’t” or “But what about. . .?” Many of us are working ahead of the rules. So, if what you plan to do is instructionally sound, if you are not breaking any rules, and if no children will be hurt in the process, then exercise some academic freedom. Do it. Make it a success. Do it before someone thinks of a reason why you should not. If you wait for explicit permission, you will miss the bus.

Train Thyself: The stuff we are working with is pretty new. Don’t wait till the big expert comes to town with the most convenient workshop. You cannot wait for the annual conference. Visit any conference that interests you via webcast or podcast. Find someone else who wants to learn, who may know a little more and train each other. Seek the training you need and learn it yourself. And this is related to another new rule. .

Read Joyce's full post here.

On using tools like Flickr:

I was showing a teacher Fastr yesterday. (Fastr is the game that pulls together Flickr images as you rush to guess how folks have tagged those images.) We are starting a new project and we wanted to introduce the importance of good tags, or lots of tags, to improve access.

Then it occurred to me that was thinking inside the box again. I was playing in English! I ran down the hall to visit with the German, French, and Spanish teachers and they went nuts over Fastr as tool to introduce and reinforce target language vocabulary, and to discuss nuance in language.

Read Joyce's full posting here.

If you have interest in improving education, then add Joyce's blog to your RSS Reader and hang in there for the ride!