Quote of the Day: 31 March 2017

"You did something because it had always been done, and the explanation was 'but we've always done it this way.' A million dead people can't have been wrong, can they?" -Terry Pratchett

[Just a humorous take on the appeal to antiquity fallacy.]

Quote of the Day: 30 March 2017

"If the competence is there, trust that the confidence will come." -Rory Miller

Quote of the Day: 29 March 2017

"Whenever we hear someone lamenting inequality we should immediately say 'So what?' Some of the smartest (and even some of the richest) people in America confuse concerns about the poor with concerns about the assets the wealthy control. It's rooted in that old zero-sum thinking–the idea that if a poor guy doesn't have it, it's because the wealthy guy does. But one person is only better off at the expense of another under crapitalism, not under conditions of honest entrepreneurship and free exchange." -Max Borders

[I am amazed at people who continue to insist inequality of outcome is a problem with the world rather than a feature. Without this feature, what incentive do we have to strive to achieve? It is only the natural result of putting in differing amounts of effort into our concerns.]

Quote of the Day: 28 March 2017

"America is built on faith in the individual, faith in his will and power to do right of his own accord, but equally is the determination that the individual shall be protected against whatsoever force may be brought against him." -Calvin Coolidge

[As an individualist, I concur most heartily.]

Quote of the Day: 27 March 2017

"[T]hat is almost defining characteristic of ‘progress,’ [sic]. It’s not what you want, or expect, and the ramifications certainly aren’t either." -Dave Freer

[Who are we to decide how progress should go? Are we really so vain as to think we can decide the way things will or should develop?]

Quote of the Day: 26 March 2017

"In today’s world, no matter where we live and no matter what our circumstances are, it is essential that our preeminent identity is as a child of God." -Donald L. Hallstrom

Quote of the Day: 25 March 2017

"Few 'griddle breads' deliver the goods the way waffles can. Sure, pancakes are fine, crêpes...dandy, but for those of us who are golden-brown-and-delicious-obsessed, nothing touches the waffle. And yet, most of us either consume waffles at restaurants (down south we even have a house named after waffles) or turn to insipid factory-made specimens whose quality can merely hint at the promise of the real thing." -Alton Brown

[National Waffle Day. You're welcome for the reminder.]

Celebrate

It's national chocolate covered raisin day. Get you some Raisinets®!

Quote of the Day: 24 March 2017

"The Right's speech is violence, but the Left's violence is speech. That's the Current Narrative." -Tamara Keel

[Having seen this play out, I am very careful about what I say in public. I don't want to receive an emphatic verb to the face for beating someone with a noun.]

Quote of the Day: 22 March 2017

"No classroom, no flight deck, no laboratory, has taught me more than a dog. A dog has taught me how to look carefully and inquisitively at everything, how to love deeply, without restraint or judgment or expectation. And that is how to be happy with what you have today, here, now. He does not expect me to live a certain way, or think a certain way, he only asks that I love him, with a soft touch and a soft voice, there in rain and shine, there by his side when it will be his time to let go of this earth." -L.B. Johnson

[It's national puppy day.]

Quote of the Day: 22 March 2017

"We need more of the Office Desk and less of the Show Window in politics. Let men in office substitute the midnight oil for the limelight." -Calvin Coolidge

[If we needed it then (before Coolidge had run for president), how much more do we need it today?]

Quote of the Day: 21 March 2017

"[T]he Eigth Commandment says 'Thou shalt not steal.' It doesn't say, 'Thou shalt not steal unless you're convinced that you can spend it better or unless you can find a politician to take it on your behalf.'" -Lawrence W. Reed

[I'm not so hardcore libertarian that I think all taxation is theft, but the vast majority of it today is as it goes from my pocket into the pockets of others for their supposed need or to redress wrongs committed against them.]

Quote of the Day: 20 March 2017

"It was Ponder's particular genius that he had found a way around this by considering the phrase, 'How do you know it's not possible until you've tried?' And experiments with Hex, the University's thinking engine, had found that, indeed, many things are not impossible until they have been tried." -Terry Pratchett

Quote of the Day: 19 March 2017

"[I]f you will really try and will not rationalize or rebel—repenting often and pleading for the grace, or help, of Christ—you positively are going to be 'good enough,' that is, acceptable before the Lord; you are going to make it ..., being perfect in Christ; and you are going to receive the blessings and glory and joy that God desires for each of His precious children—including specifically you and me." -Devn Cornish

Quote of the Day: 18 March 2017

"When the trial of causes goes outside the court-room, ... constitutional government ends." -Calvin Coolidge

[We see so much of this today. There isn't a high profile case that isn't tried in the media, and often results in a verdict contrary to what the courts produce.]

Quote of the Day: 17 March 2017

"[E]ach type of violence serves a purpose. It might make no sense according to the way you look at the world, but your worldview is small and limited and, most importantly, does not matter when someone is trying to kill you." -Rory Miller

[I often see people labeling things senseless violence because they do not understand the reasoning behind it. And there are instances of violence that I do not understand myself. That does not mean that there is no reasoning behind it, merely that I do not comprehend it. The person perpetrating the violence may also lack that comprehension, but that does not mean it is senseless.]

Quote of the Day: 16 March 2017

"Happily for America, happily we trust for the whole human race, they pursued a new and more noble course. They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society. They reared the fabrics of governments which have no model on the face of the globe. They formed the design of a great confederacy, which it is incumbent on their successors to improve and perpetuate." -James Madison, The Federalist No. 14

[I felt that, as it is the anniversary of his birth, a quote from Madison would not go amiss.

Madison is referring to the revolutionaries that earned American independence. I concur most heartily with him in his assessment of their accomplishment, and also with his estimation of the duty we hold as their successors.]

Quote of the Day: 15 March 2017

"I've got my pajamas on, I'm ready to go." -my mother

Quote of the Day: 14 March 2017

"No man can be a competent legislator, who does not add to an upright intention and a sound judgment, a certain degree of knowledge of the subjects on which he is to legislate." -James Madison, The Federalist No. 53

Quote of the Day: 13 March 2017

"[D]espite what those in the public eye seem to believe, their opinions don’t matter any more than any other human being. Yes, they are human beings deserving of love and compassion with every right to their own opinions, but they do not have any authority to direct what you or I chose to believe." -Jennifer Hast

[Why are we willing to give special license to people in the public sphere? Many of them are well known for being able to movingly recite other's words, or simply for being notorious. These are not in and of themselves reasons to give their words credence.]

Bonus Quote of the Day: 12 March 2017

“I don't really care how time is reckoned so long as there is some agreement about it, but I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind. I even object to the implication that I am wasting something valuable if I stay in bed after the sun has risen. As an admirer of moonlight I resent the bossy insistence of those who want to reduce my time for enjoying it. At the back of the daylight saving scheme I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves.” -Robertson Davies

Quote of the Day: 12 March 2017

"There can be many more such symbols than the temple in Washington and even more impressive ones. Beginning with you and me, there can be an entire people who by the virtue of our lives in our homes, in our vocations, even in our amusements, can become as a city upon a hill to which men may look and learn, and an ensign to the nations from which the people of the earth may gather strength." -Gordon Hinckley

Bonus Quote of the Day: 11 March 2017

“You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight saving time.” -Dave Barry

Quote of the Day: 11 March 2017

"People like to be told what they already know. Remember that.... [W]hat people think they want is news, but what they really crave is olds." -Lord Vetinari, The Truth

Quote of the Day: 10 March 2017

"Every day, think about 3 things:

1) Did I build or destroy?

2) Did I try to empathise or control?

3) Did I feed my soul love or hate?" -@DrRogerMexico

[I don't do this everyday myself, but I would commend the practice. Consideration of these questions will lead to improvement in all aspects of life.]

Quote of the Day: 9 March 2017

“All along, while the welfare state was growing constantly, liberals were insisting constantly it wasn’t big enough or growing fast enough. So I wondered, five years ago, whether there is a Platonic ideal when it comes to the size of the welfare state—whether there is a point at which the welfare state has all the money, programs, personnel, and political support it needs, thereby rendering any further additions pointless. The answer, I concluded, is that there is no answer—the welfare state is a permanent work-in-progress, and its liberal advocates believe that however many resources it has, it always needs a great deal more.” -William Voegeli

[This comes from an address titled "The Case Against Liberal Compassion" linked to above. I found it highly engaging, and elucidating. I encourage reading it.]

Quote of the Day: 8 March 2017

"Note to self, putting peanut butter on one’s fingers to lure the dog into a tub full of water with you is not a good idea, unless you’re wearing Kevlar long johns, which Victoria’s Secret does not stock." -L.B. Johnson

[I don't know what she experienced, and I don't see how kevlar undergarments would help. But it is hilarious to contemplate.]

Quote of the Day: 7 March 2017

"Believing in our Nation thoroughly and unreservedly, confident that the evidence of the past and present justifies that belief, it is our one desire to make America more American. There is no greater service that we can render the oppressed of the earth than to maintain inviolate the freedom of our own citizens." -Calvin Coolidge

Quote of the Day: 6 Mar 2017

"The exercise of freedom invariably results in some choices that are unwise or wrong .... But, by living with the consequences of his foolish choices a man learns to choose more wisely next time. Trial and error first; then, if he is free, trial and success later." -Edmund A. Opitz

[The principle is sound, if not applicable in every case. An unwise or wrong decision will not always result in failure. And failure does not invariably lead one to success later on. However, in most cases, the sequence described above will hold.]

Quote of the Day: 5 Mar 2017

"As living faith develops within the soul of man it leads its possessor to seek a means whereby he may rise from the thraldom of sin; and the very thought of such emancipation inspires a loathing for the evil contamination of the past. The natural fruitage of that glorious growth is repentance." -James Talmage

[The relationship between faith and repentance is simple to state, and propels a man toward improvement. I have seen this happen in others, as well as myself.]

Quote of the Day: 4 March 2017

"The equality guaranteed under the constitution is not the equality of the Jacobins, which can only be enforced with the guillotine, and which, by creating paranoia and insanity ALWAYS leads to the guillotine or its equivalent. The equality in the constitution is equality under the law." -Sarah Hoyt

[I have nothing to add.]

Safety for whom?

I recently received a notice about the police depart in the city where I reside titled "Community Safety, Immigration, and the [City] Police Department." This was essentially a notice to the residents that the police do not work on behalf of ICE. It says things like "All persons in the City ... will be treated with respect, integrity and professionalism by ... police officers." The closest they will come to saying anything about actually enforcing immigration law is that they may partner with ICE in order to pursue a known felon.

This doesn't exactly fill me with confidence in my local police department. Basically, their statement that they "are committed to providing a safe and pleasant community for all individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity, place of origin, or immigration status," rings hollow to me. I don't believe it, and I don't see them working to convince me of it either.

Quote of the Day: 3 Mar 2017

"It becomes easy to conflate 'people I like better' with 'better people,' And that's a dangerous trap." -Rory Miller

[How do we best guard against injecting our emotions into our value judgments? I don't know, but I know that it is a hazard I am liable to fall into if I am not careful.]

Quote of the Day: 2 Mar 2017

"When we hear people fretting about inequality, we should ask ourselves: Are they genuinely concerned for the poor or are they indignant about the rich? Here's how to tell the difference: Whenever someone grumbles about 'the gap,' ask her if she'd be willing for the rich to be even richer if it meant improved conditions for the absolute poorest among us. If she says 'no' they are admitting their concern is really with what the wealthy have, not what the poor lack. If her answer is 'yes,' then the so-called 'gap' is irrelevant. You can then go on to talk about a legitimate concern[.]" -Max Borders

[It is so useless to fret about wealth inequality if our actual concern is how we can improve the lot of the poor. Otherwise, it is envy of what the wealthy have accumulated.]

Baby and dog interactions

I have a five month old son who I'll call "the pup" for the purposes of this blog. We've been introducing him to the dogs, both female Irish Red and White Setters under 3 years old. They're very interested in him, and he's very interested in them. But today, he was tired, and when he's tired he gets moody. He loves the dogs, and he wanted to touch them. This meant that when they would move away from him as he tried to touch them he would get angry that he now couldn't do that.

I found it amusing. He then took a nap.

Quote of the Day: 1 Mar 2017

"The realities of life are not measured by dollars and cents. The skill of the physician, the divine eloquence of the clergyman, the courage of the soldier, that which we call character in all men, are not matters of hire and salary. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave." -Calvin Coolidge