“Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish opinions.”
~Zen saying
I don’t watch the news anymore, and I don’t get the paper. It took too much time to read, and often it would put me in a bad mood. There was too much to disapprove of, too many unsettled and unsettling stories. So I cut it out.
Television news was no better, mostly celebrity misbehavior and crises of some kind: fires, diseases, bombings and market trouble. I used to turn on CNN first thing in the morning, and listen while I made breakfast. One day I quit.
Initially, I feared I would feel out of the loop, that suddenly I would not know what was going on in the world. My peers would be exchanging crucial details about the state of the universe, and I’d have to ask sheepishly, “What’s swine flu?” or “Who’s the US president right now?” How embarrassing. Read More
I feel very blessed. I seem to be drawing a small but growing group of some of the most thoughtful, intelligent readers around.
I appreciate you all very much, you’ve done more for me than you know.
I had a lengthy article all ready to go for today, but I’ll post it another day. I won’t fill your head with my opinions this morning, there will be plenty of those later.
Instead, I’ll just take this chance to wish you a good day. And I mean you, as a person. Have a great Friday, really.
Whatever you have on your plate on this particular day, I hope it’s not too troublesome for you. But if it is, know that it matters to me too, because I like you.
If there’s anything I can do for you from my computer chair that won’t get me fired, send me an email.
Thank you all for coming, I’m honored.
Photo by jRa7
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The blogosphere has grown to astronomical size already, but somehow, there still appears to be pervasive sameness to it. (Anybody know where I can learn to make money online?) There are millions of blogs in thousands of niches, and in each, certain authorities rise to the surface. Most of these “A-listers” are just especially good at something a lot of people are doing: marketing, getting fit, discussing tech stuff. Nothing wrong with that. But some people are clearly drumming their own tune, and it’s refreshing to see people who are doing something that is so distinguished, they have no competition.
Here are three fascinating characters working on three extraordinary projects. Enjoy. Read More
I remember my first real-time online interaction. It was 1993, and I was navigating through a local BBS on my trusty 2400 baud modem. Some of you may have used BBSes back in the day, but most of you probably don’t know what that is. BBS stands for Bulletin Board System, which is just a software program on someone else’s computer, where different users could log via phone line on and read news, play simple games, download programs or leave messages.
Most BBSes only had one incoming line, so you couldn’t be online at the same time as anyone else. If you attempted to reach the BBS when someone else was on, you got a busy signal. Even though BBSes had many members, it really was a solo activity, you just explored what other people had left there, hence the monikier Bulletin Board. Still, they fascinated me.
One day, while I was reading some crude, text-based message board, the screen went black. At the top, letter by letter, words began to appear, as if I was typing them. But wasn’t me, it was someone else! My heart started pounding. Life! There was a living, breathing person using my computer, in my basement, from somewhere out there. It was astonishing and terrifying, like I was encountering an alien. Read More
I'm David, and Raptitude is a blog about getting better at being human -- things we can do to improve our lives today.
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