Owner: Babblermouth URL:http://babblermouth.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 11:39:22 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Blazing the trail for wandering minds: Babblermouth is a variety blog with insights on personal growth, thinking skills, continuous learning and more! Site statistics:Click here
How To Watch Football 2007-09-11 08:14:00 Ah, football season has returned. I love what football stands for: pure competition, where victory doesn't go to the team with the most skill, but with the most perseverance. The tension and drama of the game tick higher and higher as the clock continues to tick down toward that final second.
Football
's life and breath are found in those final moments of the game. A team can be behind by 14
I Am Not A Brainwashed Moron 2007-09-04 09:00:00 I attended public school as a child and a public university as an adult. One thing my instructors consistently taught me throughout the years, either explicitly and implicitly (regardless of the subject), was this: Only brainwashed morons could be Christians.
Since I am a Christian and am not a brainwashed moron, I feel this sentiment begs an argument. I will ignore the flagrant condescension Read more:Brainwashed
, Moron
Lessons From A Dot-Bomb CEO 2007-08-27 14:48:00 The best "mistake" of my life taught me a lot about how not to run a business. You see, I have a confession to make: I'm a Dot-Bomb CEO. Here's the story of Midwestern Cybertising, and the lessons I've learned:
Prior to 1994, the Internet existed as pages and pages of text, with hyperlink shortcuts that brought you to other pages of text or to new sections on the same page of text. Text, text, Read more:Lessons
Image Streaming: Here Goes! 2007-08-21 09:04:00 You are familiar with the language of the left brain. That's the voice in the back of your head saying you can do it or you'll never win, and it never seems to shut up. The right brain, however, is more cryptic. It chooses to speak in pictures. Much like the left brain, the right brain is always "on", and it is always "talking" to you.
This is important, for it is through the right brain that Read more:Image
, Streaming
Fun With Truisms 2007-08-16 10:49:00 This world is woven together by surprising contrasts and parallells. One interesting side effect is that it becomes very easy to create remarkably deep insights simply by twisting phrases around contrasting or parallell themes. For example: To be a friend to all...you must be all to a friend.
Simple. Rearranging the first clause creates a truism -- a sentiment that is easily dismissed because it
3 Things: Time Management For Scatterbrains 2007-08-11 00:00:00 There are several books about time management, and millions of people have been able to use the information in those books to organize their lives and to schedule time for success.
But for some of us, organization and schedules are as clumsy as a goose wearing rollerskates. For some of us, implementing a new time management process represents not merely a change in habits or attitudes, but a Read more:Management
, Time Management
SET: More Fun Than Reading The Directions 2007-08-02 15:14:00 This has to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard of, I thought to myself. Why did I even buy this? And I hadn't even finished reading the directions yet! Fortunately, reading the directions and playing the game are entirely different matters.
Reading
the instructions for SET is a strange experience -- the premise of the game is so simple that it doesn't even sound challenging: Each card has a Read more:Directions
Toastmasters -- Doorway to Success 2007-08-01 11:12:00 Toastmasters, you think, that's public speaking, right? Well, yes. But that's like saying a computer is an electronic filing cabinet.
Toastmasters focuses on helping its members improve their communication skills overall. Learning to be a better public speaker is a part of that, but you become a better communicator along the way -- whether speaking to a stadium full of people, to your co-workers Read more:Success
A Pirate's Life for Me 2007-07-30 12:39:00 Hoist the sails and mind the cannons, that merchant brig looks ripe for a pillage!
Puzzle Pirate
s is a remarkable creation -- a perfect mix of puzzle games, role playing and socializing, combined to create the singlemost satisfying and re-playable gaming experience on the web.
The concept is simple: you're a pirate, trying to make yer mark in the ocean -- and you play puzzle games to do so
Financial Freedom Series 5 -- Money 2007-05-15 10:28:00 To understand the function of money, imagine what life would be like if you had to make everything from scratch. Like, for instance, a car.
It's not impossible for a person to build his own car, but it may take the majority of his life to do so. First, he would have to study how cars work. Then, he would have to travel the world to collect the raw materials (not to mention the time to construct Read more:Money
, Freedom
, Financial
Financial Freedom Series 4 -- The Value of Time 2007-04-05 07:52:00 Time is so commonplace that its value is often overlooked. The extraordinary thing about time is that each day is equally given to everybody (with the exception of death, of course). No matter who you are, or what happened today, you get as much time to make tomorrow a better day as everybody else.
Time is valuable in a way that nothing else is. Most things are valuable because they are rare. Read more:Freedom
, Value
, Financial
Financial Freedom Series 3 -- Goals 2007-04-04 07:48:00 Hopefully you have experienced for yourself what incredible influence you have over your destiny through the simple tools of purposeful action and value-driven living. Next, by developing meaningful goals, you will harness that power and direct it toward accomplishments you may not have previously believed yourself to be capable of!
To understand goals, look at the process of building a new home Read more:Freedom
, Goals
, Financial
Financial Freedom Series 2 -- The Value of Values 2007-04-04 07:39:00 Why is it that some rich people are happy, while others are miserable? Why is it that some poor people are happy, while others are miserable? Obviously, the answer is not in their billfolds. The answer is in how well they are living their "values".
The list of things that you can do to make a positive difference in your life and in the world is virtually endless. So, how do you decide which Read more:Freedom
, Value
, Financial
, Values
Financial Freedom Series 1 -- Cause and Effect 2007-04-03 07:53:00 Imagine that a mother suddenly hears a loud crash down the hall. She dashes into the room and finds a shattered lamp and a surprised child. Now, what do you think her conclusion is? Does she shrug her shoulders, resigned to the fact that lamps randomly leap off of tables? No! She instantly searches for what CAUSED the lamp to fall off the table.Life is a routine of cause and effect. It is so Read more:Freedom
, Financial
, Cause
Who Are You? 2007-03-28 12:24:00 Few people realize just how much power is contained in the two simple words, "Know Thyself".
Life is complicated. There are many things to do, many people to meet, many things to fear and many things to be happy about. It can be overwhelming. And all people eventually reach a point where they ask the Big Question: "WHO AM I?"
So, take a moment to answer the question: Who are you?
How did you
Indulging Modern Indulgences 2007-09-25 14:35:00 Carbon credits have an interesting partner in history. I see a close link between the growing practice of buying "carbon credits" and the curious practice of buying indulgences as sold by the Roman Catholic church in the early 1500's.
An indulgence, in Roman Catholic theology, is the granting of full or partial pardon of temporal punishment for sins that have already been confessed and forgiven. Read more:Modern
Where Have All The Parents Gone? 2007-09-17 16:00:00 Maybe I am now officially an old curmudgeon, but I swear children are less respectful and more obnoxious than they were when I was a child. However, I don't think it is fair to blame the kids. In truth, kids are no different than than they've ever been -- but parents have changed quite a bit! Here are some examples inspired by real life events:
Johnny has trouble behaving in school. He Read more:Parents
The Next Big Challenge 2007-10-01 13:00:00 Ok, so you've mastered time management. You can pack more accomplishment into one day than most people can put into a week. Now you are ready for a real challenge: do nothing.
If you've never tried meditation before, you are missing one of the biggest challenges you will ever face. Now, I'm not talking about meditation as a mystical or spiritual practice. This article is about meditation as a Read more:Challenge
If War Isn't The Answer, Perhaps You Misunderstood The Question 2007-10-10 14:25:00 When the American embassy in Kenya was attacked, Muslim terrorists posed a question to our nation. When the U.S.S. Cole was bombed, Muslim terrorists posed a question to our nation. When Muslim terrorists destroyed the lives of thousands of Americans by flying passenger jets into the Word Trade Center towers, they posed the same question to our nation: can the "great Satan" of the West, America, Read more:Question
A Map That's "Good Enough" 2007-10-03 15:00:00 I have a map on my wall from about the 17th century (a replica, that is), and here's what I love about it: it was a perfectly useful map in its time, even though it wasn't 100% accurate. I like to keep that in mind when I feel my perfectionism creeping in.
Perfectionism can be a dreadful disease. Although it may not officially kill anybody, it prevents them from living. Life is action -- and Read more:Enough
, Good Enough
7 Habits of Highly Effective People...In Haiku 2007-10-18 13:18:00 Haiku, as you may know, is a Japanese poetry form that traditionally is only three lines long. The first line has five syllables, the second has seven and the third line has five. This form leads to incredibly terse statements that, remarkably, still deliver the message. In a recent presentation I gave at work on Stephen Covey's classic book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", I summarized each of the seven habits as a haiku. Here's what I came up with... 1. Be ProactiveBe responsible:Don’t blame you and don’t blame “them”.Action is the key.2. Begin With The End In MindSelect your goal first,Then your path is determined.Now, take your first step!3. Put First Things FirstPrioritize it:Do first what is important,Then do all the rest.4. Think Win/WinThis is what I want:We both get what be both want.(That is the best way.)5. Seek First To Understand, Then To Be UnderstoodListen intently,Never, never, ever speak.Then, speak a little.6. SynergizeI am only one.One is also al Read more:Haiku
Fools Have Answers, Intellectuals Have The Questions 2007-10-23 08:46:00 Young children are the masters of questions. And for good reason - they have had very little experience in the world, and are doing the best they can to catch up. They realize that they don't know it all, and they ask questions in order to learn more about the world around them.And now, here's a question for you to consider: at what point did you stop questioning like a child?Sadly, many of us no longer have the capacity to ask questions like children. The causes are many. Some of us may feel self conscious about asking questions because we don't want people to know that we don't know something. Some of us may have grown weary of questioning because we have found that answers only lead to more questions. Others of us have given up on questioning for its apparent futility - not everything can be known. And others among us, albeit subconsciously, actually feel that we know all there is to know.When looking back on the great creative geniuses of history, however, we find that they all Read more:Fools
A Mentor For The Hopelessly Introverted 2007-10-30 16:21:00 You are only moments away from discovering the most intuitive teacher you will ever have access to...A mentor can be a valuable resource for when you need to adjust your attitude, view your life from a different perspective or reflect on surprising new insights. Turning to a person that you respect and that has the wisdom to help you grow is a vital component to your continued success. If you are an introvert like me, however, you may have found that it's quite difficult to find valuable mentors in your life, if only because you don't meet many people.Fortunately, your most effective mentor may not even be a person!A number of years ago, I picked up an intriguing technique from Peter McWilliams's book, "Life 101." The only prerequisite is that you need to be comfortable with meditation. Once you have reached a state of relaxed concentration, then the fun begins!Every student needs a school, so your first task is to visualize a place where you can go to relax and to learn. One of the Read more:Mentor
, Hopelessly
This Sentence Has Over 100 Errors 2007-11-07 11:00:00 One of the classic arguments against the reliability of scripture is that there are tens of thousands of errors in the texts. You see, there are many ancient copies of the books of the New Testament. However, there are several errors among them, and many copies don't completely match any of the other copies. Some are spelling errors, others are syntax errors. Some are paraphrases rather than direct copies. And so, the argument goes, there is no way to know what the original scripture is supposed to be. Such an overwhelming number of errors, as some assert, casts suspicion over what exactly constitutes the true teaching of the religion -- or indeed the very legitimacy of such a religion.Sounds convincing, doesn't it?Well, don't throw your Bible away just yet. Here we have a situation where the facts as they are presented are technically accurate -- there are indeed many discrepancies among the thousands of New Testament texts that exist. However, the conclusion presented (that there Read more:Sentence
, Errors
Collective Wisdom Ain't 2007-11-15 13:50:00 Collective wisdom is no kind of wisdom. A look at the major breakthroughs in thought throughout history shows that defying collective wisdom often leads to the purest creative solutions to the questions that are pondered. The history of science and technology particularly is a progression of one case study after another that shows how new advancements rely on stepping outside of what is at the time considered by many people to be an obvious fact.Consider the case of Ptolemy. He developed a beautifully detailed and well reasoned model of the universe in which the Earth stood at the center. To account for the motion of the heavenly bodies, Ptolemy reasoned that they sat upon fixed spheres which rotated around the Earth. Since he realized that stars, planets and comets all seemed to have different trajectories, he reasoned that there were in fact several of these spheres.The most important thing about Ptolemy's model is that it worked. He had the evidence in front of him and constructed Read more:Collective
, Wisdom
Impossibility Is An Impossibility 2007-12-18 13:49:00 If somebody were to claim that he could turn lead into gold through the power of concentrated thought, what would you think about that claim? You'd think it was impossible, right?Then you would be wrong!A Matter Of SemanticsLest you should think that this article is about startling advances in the field of alchemy, allow me to explain: it's a matter of semantics.It is certainly improbable that lead can be turned to gold at all, much less with only the power of thought. It could also accurately be called unlikely, impractical or unrealistic.Impossibility, however, is difficult to make a case for. For a thing to be impossible, it must not be able to happen, by anyone or anything, at any time, under any circumstances. To confidently declare a thing to be impossible is to assume way too much about the quantity and quality of what we know.Standards of KnowledgeClaims regarding possibility and impossibility carry with them implicit demands for knowledge. To say a thing is possible, for ins
Writing A Novel Is Impossible, Then Easy, Then Challenging 2007-12-11 13:44:00 As any of my faithful readers may have noticed, my blogging dropped off the face of the Earth toward the end of November. My apologies. I was participating in National Novel Writing Month, an endeavor I highly recommend to anybody.NaNoWriMoNational Novel Writing Month (affectionately called NaNoWriMo) is a contest of sorts -- its participants are challenged to write 50,000 word's worth of a novel between November 1 and November 30. That's a pace of about 5 pages a day!The novels don't need to be finished products, or even be good. They only need to exist at the end of the month. There are no prizes for winning. In fact, there isn't even technically a winner.I've done NaNoWriMo for three years now, and finished two of them. One of the many things I have learned in the process is that NaNoWriMo is a wonderful metaphor for any of life's challenges. NaNoWriMo, like life, is a challenge against yourself. For when you set out to do big things, you are often your biggest obstacle.In NaN
Jaywalking: So What? 2008-02-28 19:50:00 I have a confession to make. The "Jaywalking" segment on NBC's The Tonight Show used to really worry me. Watching and listening to the ignorance demonstrated by the people in those segments used to actually create physical pain in me and a very real fear about the future of America.But now I'm not so concerned.Unapologetic IgnoranceFor those of you who might not be familiar with Jaywalking, the premise is simple: Jay Leno interviews random people on the street, asking them simple questions like "can you name three American presidents?" Invariably, he finds clueless people who, rather than admitting that they can't name three American presidents, announce with total sincerity "Martin Sheen, Ben Franklin and Winston Churchill."What horrified me about Jaywalking was not that the people seemed
Write Less To Write Best 2008-02-07 21:50:00 The days of the classic writers are gone. It is no longer acceptable to use 10 adjectives to describe every noun, as Dickens or Melville once did. (But can you blame them? If I were paid by the word, I'd describe the heck out of everything, too.)More Is Not BetterThe goal of writing is to convey a message. People -- especially people on the internet -- are becoming increasingly impatient, so you must convey your message quickly and clearly. And that means using as few words as possible and the best words possible.As an example, look to your own reading habits. How often do you linger on a web page if all you see is a dense block of text? How much introduction do you tolerate before you demand substance? In the modern age of writing, the rule is clear: don't use 50 words to say what 10 word Read more:Write
The Other Side Of Quitting 2008-01-29 15:03:00 As I said in last week's article, any real change in our habits requires a change within ourselves. Quitting
smoking, then, isn't about smoking -- it's about ourselves.The Trouble With Negative GoalsYour ability to visualize the completion of a goal has a powerful effect on your ability to actually succeed at that goal. The theory is that if you can picture something in your mind with great clarity, you are already more than halfway there. It's like the difference between driving to Seattle with a map in your hand and a red line drawn on the roads you will be using versus simply hopping in the car, driving west and hoping for the best.But what about negative goals? What about those goals where the aim is to not do something, like not wasting money, not eating too much or not smoking?Negati
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