Quotes: Diet, Humor, and the Circus

"What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn't much better than tedious disease." George Dennison Prentice

"Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind." E. B. White

"When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained." Edward R. Murrow

Jessica and Anna Invite Us In

Sorry for the lack of actual content in my posts lately. I just haven't had the time, or the internet.

I wanted to let you know that two of the most thoughtful, wise, interesting, compassionate, talented people I know - my two sisters - both have incredible blogs.

Jessica is a registered nurse in Macon, GA. Her blog is therapy for her. Recently she wrote one of the most wonderful entries I've ever read about her struggle to remain humble while serving her patients.

Anna is an interior design and art student at UGA. She is currently spending a few weeks at the L'Abri Fellowship in Greatham England. L'Abri is a collection of homes where strangers come to live, work, and study in community with one another. I can't describe it all here, it is much too beautiful, but here is a quote from their website which will give you an inkling:

We strongly recommend that you leave your laptop at home. You will not need it at L’Abri. We suggest this not because we are against technology. Rather we have observed that laptops all too often tend to be an unwelcome distraction. In coming to L’Abri, you are setting aside a period of time to focus on important questions related to the meaning and significance of your life. A laptop will not help further this objective. We do however welcome all musical instruments.

I just can't tell you how broadly I'm smiling after reading that last sentence. Anyway Anna is there now, living the dream and finding herself in ways I wish I had done a few years ago - in ways I still have yet to do. She has 30mins a week to use the internet and write to us her about her experiences on her perfectly titled blog, the art of being brave.

I love these two women so much. And even though you don't get to be their brother, I know you will too.

Image: Kurt Simonson

Cookie Monster Comes Clean

Erin and I laughed at this for like 15 minutes.

Three Photography Sites You Need to Visit

My wife and two friends of mine all have fantastic photography websites. You should seriously check them out:

Erin Scott Photography

Michael Costa Photography (and architectural photography)

Mac is a guy (and blog)

The New Philip Yancey

"Holy Curiosity will establish its author as a fresh new voice in Christian writing. It is a set of ten engaging think pieces on different aspects of the Christian walk, it is marked by intelligence and vulnerability and some cracking one-liners. [...] Collier is set to be the new Philip Yancey. You heard it here first." Christianity Magazine

You heard it here second.

Joe Pug – "I Do My Father's Drugs"

Erin I went to our first concert in DC last night. Along with a hundred other folks we packed ourselves into a tiny, dark, concrete room, filled with the smell of sweat and beer, to hear Joe Pug ask us to "bury me far from my uniform, so God will remember my face."

At the end of the night, in the middle of "Hymn 101," with all eyes glued to him, he cut the signal to the soundboard and stepped to the edge of the stage. With no microphone he held his guitar up high over the crowd and looked directly in our eyes as he sang "will you recognize my face when God's awful grace strips me of my jacket and my vest, and reveals all the treasure in my chest" loudly as he could as the room fell silent. It was one of the most powerful, fearless things I have ever seen a musician do - and it took nothing but his voice, his guitar, and his courage.

There is an earnestness, intensity, honesty, thoughtfulness, and good-natured love of performing in this guy which I have rarely seen or heard. As Erin and I walked home together, the streetlights reflecting in the puddles and wet pavement of U street as the sound of a trumpet crept up from a crowded basement bar, I felt just how good it is to be here.

Below is my favorite song from the night, and here is a link where you can download a whole concert recording of Pug's emotive music for free.

Joe Pug – "I do my father's drugs"

Image: kyle.mitchell

Three Thoughts on Faith and Music

1. "If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: the only proof he needed for the existence of God was music." Kurt Vonnegut (via Cate)

2. Over Christmas I read a piece in my grandfather's copy of the Economist about why music evolved. The three ideas presented were that music is a method to prove you are a desirable mate (though many excellent musicians are not physically fit), music binds humans together (like grooming in primates), and music is purely accidental (we have no idea why it affects our emotions). I found none of them compelling. The very idea of science explaining the need for music is almost a non sequitur. Like a mechanic explaining color.

3. One of the best pieces I've ever read on faith and music came from my brother Jared's blog. It features a few words by atheist Nick Hornby (author of High Fidelity) about how he hears God when he listens to "One Man Guy" by Rufus Wainwright, with Jared's thoughtful commentary.

Image: 1way2rock

Quotes: Speech, Luck, and Television

"Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both." John Andrew Holmes

"Television is for appearing on—not for looking at." Noel Coward

"A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them." PJ O'Rourke

Top 5 Things Which Have Recently Blown My Mind

1. Women do two-thirds of the world's work for 5% of the income.

2. When one soldier died of Swine Flu in 1976, the U.S. government undertook a massive inoculation program which killed hundreds of Americans. The day after a surprise loss to Ronald Reagan in the primaries, President Ford and the Congress approved a $135M program for a vaccine which was discontinued after 40 million people had been vaccinated and hundreds of children and elderly people died from complications related to it. This happened just seven years before I was born but I hadn't heard of it until I was reading about the flu this week, no thanks to the current media establishment. It seems the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

3. To test the theory that professional journalists use Wikipedia without caution, a student in Dublin placed a fake quote in the Wikipedia entry for a famous composer who had just passed away.  The quote was published in newspaper obituaries around the world.

4. President Obama is not only the primary shareholder for a slew of mortgage companies, he is about to be the primary shareholder in two auto companies as well.  From the White House Correspondents Dinner: "Just last week Car and Driver named me auto executive of the year - something I'm very proud of." HAHAhaha... ha... heh... ugh.

5. Immediately after getting is PhD from M.I.T. Fed Chair Ben Bernanke conducted a study on what caused the Great Depression.  He concluded that had the Hoover Administration and the Fed not allowed a third of the nation's banks to fail and not kept interest rates high, the worst of the Depression could have been avoided.  That is why he has propped up banks and slashed interest rates - because he has strong beliefs based on his own research about the consequences of not doing so. Interesting and encouraging.

Suzanne Aultman is the Top Engineer in the Nation

Friends, you need to read this. And this. I'm gonna go ahead and steal a few posts here.

Turns out my dear friend Suzanne Aultman is the number one young professional engineer in the United freaking States.

This a pretty big deal, and I would know, because I myself am a young engineer. The title is given by the National Society of Professional Engineers. These are the people who manage the Professional Engineer licensure. If you get an engineering degree and pass the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, you can study under a professional engineer for 4 years and then take another exam to receive your certification. If you pass you get a license for your state, a cool stamp to mark your documents with, the letters "P.E." after your name, and a heck of a lot of respect and trust. It's a big freaking deal.

Suzanne is the number one young P.E. in the country right now. That alone would be enough to make her one of my heroes, but there's so much more to it. Suzanne is one of the most loving, kind, life-filled people I know. She has spunk, class, grace, and tenacity.  She has a servant's heart which I truly envy. Her character is even more solid than the ten story buildings she designs and builds.

Not only that but she just moved to my home-city, the great Hotlanta. Look out!

So my fellow young engineers, today we raise a glass to the greatest among us, Ms. Suzanne Aultman. From this day forward, in the cannon of engineering lingo, an achievemnt of brilliance and significance will be referred to as a "Suz."

Image: jef safi (writing)

Oren Lavie - "Her Morning Elegance"

Haven't heard of this artist but this video is beautiful.

The Daily Show is News

Don't we all know this in our hearts?

When Jon Stewart made his legendary appearance on Crossfire back in 2004, the two hosts repeatedly asked him why he didn't ask hard-hitting questions of political figures like John Kerry. Stewart responded, as he has many times before and since, that The Daily Show is a comedy program and is not held to any standard of fairness or journalistic integrity. He made the hilarious comparison: "This is CNN! The show after me is puppets making prank phone calls!"

Stewart has kept this defense going for a long time. It has become standard procedure for The Daily Show to satirize, criticize, and ridicule ruthlessly and hilariously and then duck behind the "it's entertainment!" shield without apology. A month ago CNBC host Jim Cramer appeared on the show, and Stewart raked him over the coals for his past shady business practices and sensationalist "get rich quick" financial advice. At the end of what was one of the most hard-hitting, honest interviews I've ever watched, Stewart asked Kramer if "maybe we could remove the financial expert and the 'in Kramer we trust' and start getting back to the fundamentals on the reporting as well, and I could go back to making fart noises and funny faces."

"BACK" to humor. Even Stewart himself realizes The Daily Show has become much more than a comedy program. In the last year Stewart has talked a heck of a lot more and joked a lot less in his interviews (see this "interview" with Peggy Noonan, in which Peggy listens to Jon talk about the presidential race). A few days ago, journalist Cliff May came on the program and had a more open, honest, heated debate with Stewart over the torture issue than any of the major networks have aired - May said so himself. There was scarcely a joke to be found.

It might sound like I'm reprimanding the show, but I'm not. The Daily Show is my favorite television program. I absolutely love it. But the show and its viewers need to come to grips with the fact that Jon Stewart is one of the greatest newsmen of our time. I think he deserves comparison to Bob Scheiffer, Tim Russert, or Edward R. Murrow. The New York Times thinks he is the most trusted man in America, and Counterpunch thinks he has saved us all. As such, the excuse or charge that The Daily Show is not journalism is lacking.

Of course, outside of the interview segment of the program which features political figures such as past presidents, the U.K. prime minister, cabinet members, and last week the French finance minister, the show is still mostly satirical comedy. Though the non-interview segments do provoke needed discussion about issues and events, I wouldn't suggest that someone use the show as their primary source of finding out what's happening in the world. My guess is the topics presented on the show, which are discussed sometimes obscenely and always with foul language, are still chosen primarily for their ability to get laughs. This doesn't matter however, because nobody is doing it. A Pew Research study showed that Daily Show and Colbert Report viewers are more informed than those who watch Fox News and CNN. Turns out satirical news comedy draws people who already know the news.

Besides, in a world where technology is consuming traditional forms of journalism by the hour and 24-hour news networks are running any piece of fear, controversy, or sensationalism they can get their hands on to sell commercials - maybe we need to redefine what news really is anyway.

So if you're a Daily Show viewer, don't listen to the haters who say it's not journalism. And if you're Jon Stewart, stop hiding and be yourself man! We're behind you.

Update: Looks this guy agrees with me.

Update 2: So does she.