The American flag, the “star-spangled banner” is one of those things whose meaning to me has changed significantly over the course of my life. Once upon a time it meant being a winning nation, the best the world had ever seen in terms of righteousness, justice, freedom, and opportunity. When I saw the flag, those are the ideas that were brought to mind, ideas that I value, and produced the warm and fuzzies deep inside. I admired and waved the stars and stripes with a sense of pride. What the American flag means to me today is very different than what it meant to me as recently as 10 years ago.
Tag: friends
Barack Obama Goes From White House to Wall Street Seamlessly
I go back and forth on the question of which bloc of voters is politically dumber and more gullible, the average conservative or the average liberal… But here’s reason number #23,514,938 to go with liberal on that question.
Superstitions Regarding School
My family has been on our unschooling journey for going on six years now. Within that time I have had the opportunity to meet countless other unschooling parents, families and people raised with unschooling, both online and in person. What I have learned has revealed to me bit by bit the superstitious nature that is the belief in the necessity of school, or other forms of compulsory education.
Bravery Isn’t Easy, and It’s Overrated
You are brave when you will lose stuff you deeply desire in order to live by principles you believe in, with no other immediate perceived reward. That being said, bravery is overrated.
My Brief Guide to Getting Started with Bitcoin
I’ve gotten a fair number of questions from friends and strangers like you about how to explore, understand, and use bitcoin properly. Rather than send you the same email and retread old ground, I’ve decided to make my recommendations available publicly here. I hope this helps you in your search!
Things I Do
Friends and I meet monthly, and we call ourselves, informally, the logic group. The inevitable question came up but what do you do about it? I begin to make a mental list of things I do.
Answer to The “Unanswerable Challenge”
I knew the answer almost immediately, but kept quiet for a long time for the sake of politeness. But it just keeps being brought up over and over, and it’s a little embarrassing. It’s almost as bad as a supposedly knowledgeable gun owner lecturing a newbie about the “shoulder thing that goes up” and why it should be “illegal.”
School Should Be More Like Summer Camp
Perhaps we should look more to summer for the solutions to our school-year woes, and challenge a system that puts more emphasis on containment than freedom.
“I Can’t Post This Status Because It Doesn’t Have Any Likes”
Being inspired is like having friends. If you use it as a prerequisite for doing the stuff you want to do, you’ll constantly miss out on awesome opportunities.
The Action Habit: Put Everything Into the First Step
It’s easy to get into a mode of inaction, but building the Action Habit can be a lot more difficult. The reason is that the feedback loops in our lives are set up the wrong way: it’s easier to put things off than to act, it’s easier to seek comfort than to push into discomfort, fear and stress.