Filed under Activism, Politics
That’s the number of false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001 the Bush administration made about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq - according to the count of The Center for Public Integrity. At least. Mark Morford has an interesting column about this count, pointing out that while all Presidents have made false statements (some of them even outright lied), Bush & Co. have taken it to an entirely new level. The incompetence and some of the false pretenses are also very well documented in No End in Sight, a documentary by Charles Ferguson. I am surprised anybody is running for president given all the messes they’ll have to clean up…
Permalink
Filed under Science, Vocabulary
Damian Peterson summarized the definitions of
genes and memesvery well. These two terms are important in understanding evolution, especially if the discussion involves Richard Dawkins since he originated the term “meme.” Damian’s summary is much more succinct than the blurbs about both terms on Wikipedia, which in my opinion, makes the post very helpful!
Permalink
Filed under Blog design
No, it’s not a New Age thing… I just realized that the front page of my blog is completely empty (hence this post) - why? Because I am hiding a couple of categories since they are displayed on pages (see book summaries and healing tools) and I don’t want to duplicate content. This hiding prevents them from showing up on the front page but WordPress still counts them. So, displaying 5 hidden posts means no posts are displayed on the front page! Sigh. Hopefully, someone with better coding ability will figure out a way to hide categories without this side-effect… (if you are someone like that, please post the solution to the comments!)
So, to read something, please use the list of recent posts, categories list to access the archive or check out the pages…
The technical details:
I am using the following code in my index.php file:
if (is_home()) if (in_category('99')) continue;
if (is_home()) if (in_category('4')) continue;
This posts all categories to the front page of the blog, except categories 4 (healing tools) and 99 (book summaries). I have tried other methods, such as the Ultimate Category Excluder. But they either re-ordered the posts - nicely displaying the oldest first - or didn’t do anything. I am suspecting that there is a WP 2.3.2 bug that reorders posts since the same effect happens when using the My Recent Posts widget. Using the “order_by” statement didn’t help (I might’ve used it in the wrong place, of course ;-).
Permalink
Filed under Book review
In her book,
Married to the Job,
Ilene Philipson takes us on an eye-opening journey through today’s work-world. Philipson argues that the loss of community from the historical sources - neighborhood, church, clubs - drives many people to marrying their job, not only spending lots of hours there but also letting the job and the company’s culture define who they are and our worthiness (1). She calls this phenomenon “dangerous from the individual’s, the corporation’s, and society’s perspective” (32). Through case histories and societal analyses, Philipson paints a rather bleak picture to which she can only offer a partial solution since ultimately society’s approach to work will have to change.
Continue reading this post » » »
Permalink
Filed under Healing tools
(This example is based on
Byron Katie’s Four Questions, which I have found useful as an application of REBT/CBT. As far as I know, there have been no scientific studies of The Work, nor is Katie a licensed anything, nor am I, though, so take this with a grain of salt…).
My son should clean up his room.
- Is it true? Yes! Absolutely! It’s a total mess!
- Can you absolutely know that it’s true? No, I cannot absolutely know that it’s true.
- How do you react when you think that thought? I feel guilty because my son’s room is a total mess. I feel like I am a bad Mom - I don’t have control over my child.
- Who would you be without the thought? I would accept myself and my choices. I would have the confidence to make my own choices even if others don’t approve. I can choose to spend time on other things rather than cleaning up his room.
Turnaround:
- My son shouldn’t clean up his room. (Example of turnaround suggested by Katie)
- I would prefer if my son cleaned up the room but it’s not a big deal if he doesn’t. (Example of turnaround that incorporates rational living).
Permalink
Filed under Healing tools
Ideas which create self-defeating behavior
| |
Way of Being |
Your “At Effect” Programming |
| 1 |
Emotionally Dependent |
The idea that we must have love and approval from all the people we find significant. Placing undue importance on what other people think of us. |
| 2 |
The Perfectionist |
The idea that our personal worth is determined by our performance and achievement. We must always prove competent and flawless in order to be considered of value as a human being. |
| 3 |
The Blamer |
The idea that when people act obnoxiously and unfairly toward us, they are Wrong and we should judge them and blame them. |
| 4 |
The Catastrophizer |
The idea that when things don’t go our way, or when we’re frustrated, treated unfairly, or rejected, that we must view things as awful, terrible, horrible and a catastrophe. |
| 5 |
Helpless |
The idea that emotional misery comes from external pressures and causes outsides ourselves. |
| 6 |
The Worrier |
The idea that if something seems dangerous, fearsome, or threatening we naturally preoccupy ourselves with it, and should be anxious about it. |
| 7 |
A Cop-Out |
The idea that life is easier if you avoid difficulties and challenges; that it is smart to leave responsibilities and self-discipline to others. |
| 8 |
Stuck in the Past |
The idea that our past determines our present; that our past remains all-important, and because something once strongly influenced our lives, it still determines our thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the present. |
|
| 9 |
Trapped in SHOULD |
The idea that people and things should turn out better than they do, and that we have a right to feel cheated and upset when people and things are not the way we believe or want them to be. |
|
| 10 |
A Drop-Out |
The idea that the greatest happiness follows from the path of least resistance; that we can achieve maximum satisfaction by passively and uncommittedly “enjoying ourselves.” |
|
| 11 |
The God Delusion |
The idea that we absolutely need something other or stronger or greater than ourselves on which to rely. |
|
| 12 |
Lack of Control |
The idea that we have virtually no control over our emotions and that we cannot help feeling disturbed about things. |
Based on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy by Albert Ellis.
Permalink
