How 'bout that.

“Cognitive scientists from the University of Rochester have discovered that playing action video games trains people to make the right decisions faster. The researchers found that video game players develop a heightened sensitivity to what is going on around them, and this benefit doesn’t just make them better at playing video games, but improves a wide variety of general skills that can help with everyday activities like multitasking, driving, reading small print, keeping track of friends in a crowd, and navigating around town.”

See the rest at VBS.TV: VIDEO GAMES MAKE YOU BETTER AT LIFE - JAMES TENAFLY | VBS.TV Blog

1,001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

Found this blog this morning.  If you're someone who wants to know more about music I highly recommend you bookmark it.

Hello. My name is Liz and I know nothing about music.

You steal my Ipod right now and you've got enough music to last you...well...let's say you could get about halfway through a flight across the country.

67 songs.

What's on there? Well let's see. I have five songs I downloaded from the American Idol performances. I do love me some Adam Lambert but we're hardly talking the classics yet. We've got a series of Backstreet Boys and NSync.

Shut up. BSB is awesome.

And despite the fact I just wowed you with my awesome taste in music, I'm here to discuss my mission. There's a book out there that I've had on my shelf for years but never really touched. It's the "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". They start with Frank Sinatra's "In The Wee Small Hours" from 1955 and go all the way up to 2007. (List is over here!)

So here's the plan. 1001 Albums. 1001 Days. I'll listen to the whole album, start to finish, no skipping. I'll write about how I feel about the album, my thoughts about the music, my life, etc. We'll see how this goes..

On May 6, 2012, I'll have listened to the best thousand albums in history. Hopefully by the end of all this, I'll be 26 (wow...that's weird to write), and I'll have more on my Ipod than Danny Gokey and Justin Timberlake.

Pound and Thump

"No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly before Him."

Sure, it's a Bible verse (Psalm 84:11).  So what. Firstly, it's a verse Pastor Mark at NCC expounded on beautifully last Sunday and I'm happy to pass on (Listen or watch at the NCC web site if you want some inspiration). Secondly, it works on many different levels for many different people.

I'm talking about living a life with positive intentions and positive feelings. Something few people choose to do.  As the Beatles song goes, the love you take is the love you make. Or, if music ain't your thing, what goes around comes around.

I'm not a blasphemer. (Or a philosopher.) Even when I was a nonbeliever I was careful to show respect for all religions.  But take God out of the verse and insert your choice of inspiration. *Some would argue any substitution for God is still God, but I digress.

Think about it.  How many of you can say you walk uprightly before anything?  Or maybe you do, but don't realize it or don't know it.  I'm not talking about pride.  I'm talking about conviction.  Many years I spent doubting many things.  I distrusted people and was wary of lies and ulterior motives, but I never once thought that maybe people actually wished good things for me.  I never once thought that I deserved to be prayed for.  In my life I feel many things must be earned, so it's still difficult for me to accept that God hasn't attached any strings to His gifts.  I can't deny the possibility that there are no strings.

What if I love people and serve people and give gifts to people with no strings attached?  What if I forgave people their wrongs and continued to welcome them and give them love?  Would my actions have a ripple effect in my tiny world?  What if I let go of the animosities that I so used to love holding onto?  What would happen?  What would happen if I ignored the routines and patterns of negativity that we find so much comfort in?  Would people come closer to me?  Or slowly move away?

I've been trying to live this way for a few months now and I haven't lost any friends yet.  In fact, I have gained some.  Our life is a gift.  Consciousness is no accident. We ARE supernatural.  It wasn't until I decided to walk uprightly before God that I realized this.

Our life is a gift. 

Halo!

I got mine. My gamertag is RedBee if you want to play, yo.

Kindle > iPad

@rosshero is watching you poo and tweeting about it.

Umbra

Umbra (HD - 2010) from Malcolm Sutherland on Vimeo.

Heart > Brain

I wear my heart on my sleeve.  Or at least I used to.  Or I've been told a long time ago that I did.  I think I want to get back there.

I think it's time for me to start relying on my heart more.  As we're taught by so-called wiser folk, it's better to use your brain than your heart when making important decisions.  Why?

I have made life-changing, poignant, crossroads decisions with my heart. As I often say, we are the decisions we make.  It's true that not every path I chose in my life was the "right" one, but each one shaped me nonetheless.  Lately, I've been making too many decisions with my brain.  Although I have nothing to complain about, I am at risk of becoming part of my own scenery.

Transcend your surroundings.  Have an idea.  Everyday.

 


 

Glint

I would go visit my father if I could go back in time.  My young father, Jerry.  I would introduce myself as his future son and let him think it was a joke.

I'd also tell my mom to stay in school.  But if I did that I may never be born.

Mindy

Waldo

I started a project six months ago.  The idea is seemingly simple: Find God everyday.  Somehow.  And then write it down.

There's a phrase I keep coming back to that I learned as a young poet in college: "God is in the details." It occurred to me that God doesn't just show up for the grand finale; He doesn't just linger in the rafters of a fancy church; and, He doesn't just show up during happy times.  As I have been told, He is everywhere.  He's in all the cliches like sunsets and baby farts, but He is also in the intricacies of a single leaf on a tree, and He is in the bad news we receive on a late night telephone call.

At first, this project was easy.  I was enthusiastic and God seemed to be dripping from every surface.  But I have learned that there are days when I can't find Him.  There are days that feel like He ain't there, or that I'm not qualified to see Him.  Of course the mere fact that my circulatory system manages to keep functioning is a miracle in itself, but I can't just write "circulatory system" every time I fail to find God.

(Honestly though, the fact that our bodies continue to power itself and produce energy is absolutely fucking amazing!)

So, what to do when I can't find God?  Keep looking.  Not seeing Him is my fault, not His.  And there's meaning behind it.  There's meaning behind everything.

RIP Glenn Shadix

Beetlejuice would have been nothing without Otho.

Home is where you hang your

I want one of these. Seriously.

How to Build a Spaceship

The universe (aka God) notices you.  Of course, those words are too simplistic for what I believe.

I believe there is a connection between my well-being and the world.  Granted, I don't mean the world rewards "good behavior" with "good luck," although it can be perceived that way (or confused that way).  What I'm saying is I (you) move through this organic, goopy existance differently when I'm (we're) healthy and happy and aware. 

The Butterfly Effect says (in a nutshell) that a butterfly flapping it's wings in South America can cause a landslide in India.  More or less.  Everything (EVERYTHING) is the result of one big infinite chain reaction.  I'm (we're) but a speck on a speck on a speck in that chain reaction, but an important link in the chain nonetheless. Insignificant, and yet still important.

I haven't kept myself as healthy as I could have. I've been lazy.  I have no excuse.  Though I can't be too hard on myself considering I used to smoke nearly two packs of Camels a day for ten years and quit cold turkey in 2006 with no relapse.  I also hit the gym that year and lost 45 pounds.  My mind and body were good.  But I neglected the final piece of the triad: My soul.

I spent all my adult life knowing there was no God.  I was certain.  Nothing could convince me otherwise.  And I was happy.  But then earlier this year something happened.  It's hard to describe, but I had the realization that science can't dig deep enough.  I appreciate the continual journey science has been on, but I feel like it merely scratches the surface.  Albeit deep scratches, but still only scratches.

Recently, the great Stephen Hawking said there is no God.  Fair enough.  I'd like to refute that by saying the Chicago Bears are the best football team in the NFL.  In other words, the absence of evidence does not make it so.

Or does it?  I guess it depends on who you ask.

There is something going on in this world on a spiritual level.  There's magic around us.  An undefined, mysterious magic.  My (our) consciousness is proof of it.  Love is another.  Morality another.  These things are inherent and powerful.

Our lives are meaningful.  Right now you (I) should be asking, "Why is my life meaningful?"  Answer that question and God might give you a cookie.

Awesome Descriptor

"Chubby Jesus" as seen in today's Washington Post trying to describe Donal Logue's character in the new show Terriers. I guess they didn't want to say he looks like "The Dude" from The Big Lebowski.

Okra! Okra!

Never had it. Gonna try.

January

Music Appreciation: Jack Tueller

NEVER underestimate the power of music.  Let this be a lesson to us all.

Why iPhone?

Because Don Draper has one.  BOOM.

I Wanna Be Adored

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Marten's, The Raveonttes covered one of the greatest songs ever written: I Wanna Be Adored, by The Stone Roses.


And the original:

"Everytime I hear it it's like I'm hearing it for the first time."

Beigeland

The newly decorated Oval Office seems very interesting to me.

I don't know why.