Daniel DiGriz
AN EXPERIMENTAL LIFE
New York City (again)
Went all over NYC again - well, lower Manhattan - everything below Central Park. This time went to Queens… [more]
Portland, Oregon 2010
I love Portland. I like Chicago, as a friend. New York City is enthralling and wonderful - center of… [more]
San Francisco
We scouted San Francisco as a possible place to live. For us, it's about a lot of things - the mass transit,… [more]
FSBO Experiment
For those who don't know, FSBO = For Sale By Owner. I've accomplished a lot in life by simply looking at who else is doing it and thinking, "if they can, I know I can". And if that's not enough encouragement, I like Charles Morse's maxim, "What one man can do, another man can do." I'm not talking about most FSBO … [Read More...]
Why I Do Not Believe
The general Protestantism of the culture (whether you're atheist or whatever, you're still essentially Protestant if you drink deep of it) is perhaps nowhere more visible than in its marketing: At Valspar, we believe there is power in color. I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities... (the President) I … [Read More...]
On the Anniversary of Ann Boleyn’s Imprisonment
Today on NPR, they read Anne Boleyn's last letter to Henry VIII, on the anniversary of her arrest. I think if I had been Henry's successor, and were I a Western Christian, I would have first restored the Church to Rome, and then ordered Henry's body exhumed, beheaded, burned, and the ashes cast into the sea. And … [Read More...]
Ancient Ships, Tesla, and Modern Arrogance
PART ONE: ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY I was looking at Celtic armor work tonight: Parade Helmet 350BC, Gold Torque 400BC, Waterloo Helmet 100BC (would originally have been golden w. red glass studs) and I remembered a conversation with a colleague last year or so on ancient machinery and ship sizes. Here are a few of … [Read More...]
Ditching the Hard Drive – An Apologia for the Cloud
In effect, I've ditched the hard drive. There's still a drive to run an operating system and some software that hasn't yet graduated to the cloud, and still some local copies of temporary/transitional graphic files but, with a few nominal exceptions, there's really nothing on the hard drive I can't afford to have wiped … [Read More...]
A Liberal, Cross-Cultural, Catholic Mind
Revisiting an old hymn from my Anglican days, "Be Thou My Vision", I find it full of depth and meaning. But I realized that it uses some of the special language that grow from all religions, and that all cultures, tribes, and lovers develop, and it won't mean much to a lot of people. I'm fine with that. It's not for … [Read More...]
My 15 Success Rules
I was thinking tonight about several things I completed recently, and how they keep making life better, and mentally I made a list which I then expanded to include the last 15 years or so, which is a rate of about one new rule per year. In no particular order: EXPERIENCE: Live in the world, not the Midwest. Spend … [Read More...]
Sticky Truthyness and Hover-handing Reality
A writer's job is to tell the truth. It may be murky, slightly off the mark, or distorted, but it's still the truth. You can tell when it happens because nearly everyone breathes a bit of relief, as though something pent up and trapped has been let go. A joke about pedophile Roman Catholic priests is an … [Read More...]
Tile Repair
It's not perfect, but for a first time doing a replacement, it's not bad. This one was damaged by the handyman that replaced the adjacent tile, so decided to do it myself. Score the grout, carefully punch it through, break the tile along the damaged part, dig it out clean, then set the new tile like … [Read More...]
Casual Bigotry
I think it's a regional disease. Even people with skin tones and facial features that indicate their parents or grandparents definitely weren't born in the Midwest sound just like everyone else. Constantly doling out approval or disapproval based on lifestyle. "She buys all this stuff that..." and "She just lets him do … [Read More...]
Yet Another Ashley
Stop it! Stop naming your kids Ashley and Amber. There are enough of them already. It's not cool - it's redundant. It's not like they're Apostles or something. What, do you really want to keep portraying girls as interchangeable? I've got a "don't cry" Susie, and she's got a "bed wetting" Amy, and they've got both the … [Read More...]
Koran Equals US Flag for Religious Conservatives
I don't take the census of what people think where I live about koran burning. I fully expect to hear "Awl bern one them KO-rans rat now." But I've tried to think of what one could do to fundamentalist neoconservatism that would have the same impact. Not because I'd advocate it - that would make me an idiot as well. … [Read More...]
Three Historical Certainties
There are three historical certainties - all of them negative. 1) Jesus did not found a religion of fundamentalist evangelicals nor ever suggest such a thing. 2) History is not a blank where nothing meaningful happened from St. Constantine to Martin Luther. 3) Neoconservatives had nothing to do with the founding of … [Read More...]
Sugar Coating
I was at dinner the other night, and a woman at the table behind me was saying, "I get tired of being told we have to sugar coat our history so as not to offend some group." Add to this a way of talking that probably couldn't tell you in what century the French Revolution occurred. I think that pretty much says it all … [Read More...]
Legal Dramas
Point One: I think David E. Kelley's tongue-in-cheek legal (and educational) dramas (like Boston Legal & Boston Public) set the same brilliant standard that John Hughes did with the teen dramedy (Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller, Sixteen Candles, Some Kind of Wonderful, Pretty in Pink). Hughes seemed to make real … [Read More...]
The Fixed Star of Authentic American Thought
"West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette: In a 6-to-3 decision, the Court overruled its decision in Minersville School District v. Gobitis and held that compelling public schoolchildren to salute the flag was unconstitutional. The Court found that salutes of the type mandated by the West Virginia State Board … [Read More...]
11-22-63 Stephen King
Normally, I'd wait until the end before posting about a book. But I'm reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I intended to ditch it as soon as I realized it would be first person. But I got stuck in its world. It starts out a bit YAD feeling, with what seems like it'll be a frame story. What King is actually doing is … [Read More...]
Moonlit Mind
Of course I had to read this one. Child fleeing abusive home. They're hunting him, and he has to learn to make a life on his own. It's a novella, and maybe another of Koontz's recent teasers. But I'm willing to be teased with this. There's a teaser for 77 Shadow Street at the end, but I found it bleh. Just horror. I'll … [Read More...]
Education and Paying My Way
I've never undertstood people being willing to pay for training, college courses, a degree, certification, education, but who treat the money they've spent trying things out in life (experimentally) as money "lost" when they later choose another direction. Money spent on a house, and then you decide you don't want a … [Read More...]
Oklahoma – An Experiment That Paid Off
Oklahoma was an experiment that lasted half my life. I lived in Oklahoma when I was 12, again when I was 15, from 17-23 (the rest of my boyhood) & 24-28 (the beginning of adulthood) and again from 30-31 (my experiment with on-campus grad school). I returned in 2000 as a married man and stayed for more than 10 years … [Read More...]
Brief Note to Those We No Longer Know
To those who left us, who abandoned me or my wife or the both of us, throughout our lives, because we weren't finished yet, or we fell short, or because in some ways the world had shattered us like glass and we were looking up in pieces with sharp edges. You were foolish and impatient. You lacked integrity and were … [Read More...]
Epistemology, Judgement, and Identity
For me, epistemology, judgment, and identity are the core variables that determine whether I engage people seriously or merely humour them. How do you deal with motivations and behaviors you don't understand? Do you superimpose meaning over them, thereby substituting an illusion for understanding, an assumption for … [Read More...]
Political Self-Testing – Are You an Idiot or a Liar?
I break politically minded people down into two categories - liars and idiots. I'm not talking about politicians, which are either paid, professional liars or ideologically sponsored fools. I mean ordinary people who consume political news and either believe what they hear or see it as the arena for their ideological … [Read More...]
Fundamentalism is to Christianity what Top 40 Country is to Folk Music
It's Thistle & Shamrock night, and Folk Salad night. I'm always surprised that people seem surprised, sometimes, because I listen to Celtic or Appalachian folk. Likewise, I have a straw hat I wore when I ran a company based on working outdoors. Normally I come off as either a bit Breaking Benjamin or just Wagner, … [Read More...]
Tidbits
The Clock
The symbol for Ayn Rand's life was a cigarette (one of attitude). The symbol for her characters was a dollar sign (one of value). I've decided the symbol for my life is a clock … [Read More...]
