Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
This makes more sense than any other Cracked article I’ve read in a long time. And actually, that is not a putdown of Cracked articles, that’s really saying something. A lot of them do make sense.
But this one, more than most.
We have a vague idea in our head of the “price” of certain accomplishments, how difficult it should be to get a degree, or succeed at a job, or stay in shape, or raise a kid, or build a house. And that vague idea is almost always catastrophically wrong.
Accomplishing worthwhile things isn’t just a little harder than people think; it’s 10 or 20 times harder. Like losing weight. You make yourself miserable for six months and find yourself down a whopping four pounds. Let yourself go at a single all-you-can-eat buffet and you’ve gained it all back.
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I really think Effort Shock has been one of the major drivers of world events. Think about the whole economic collapse and the bad credit bubble. You can imagine millions of working types saying, “All right, I have NO free time. I work every day, all day. I come home and take care of the kids. We live in a tiny house, with two shitty cars. And we are still deeper in debt every single month.” So they borrow and buy on credit because they have this unspoken assumption that, dammit, the universe will surely right itself at some point and the amount of money we should have been making all along (according to our level of effort) will come raining down.
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The world demands more. So, so much more. How have we gotten to adulthood and failed to realize this? Why would our expectations of the world be so off? I blame the montages. Five breezy minutes, from sucking at karate to being great at karate, from morbid obesity to trim, from geeky girl to prom queen, from terrible garage band to awesome rock band.
It’s the eye of the tiger it’s the thrill of the fight. Risin’ up to the challenge of our rival…
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In the real world, the winners of the All Valley Karate Championship in The Karate Kid would be the kids who had been at it since they were in elementary school
I blame my parents for not enrolling me Spanish and Chinese instruction, forcing piano lessons me, and not teaching me calculus at age 12. I should sue over their abuse. Imagine—letting me play. Allowing the “schools” to teach me. What a waste.
Sarcasm aside, you’re right about Cracked. A few of its contributors are tough as they come, at least in print. Can’t say I’ve followed their names closely, but that reformed alcoholic is #1.
- ErisGuy | 02/22/2013 @ 10:49Eris, you’re thinking of John Cheese, I think. He is usually very good. His fave of mine is “Five Questions to Ask to Not Ruin Your Life.”
This article reminded me of something I saved to a thumb drive that I can’t find now… the upshot is, when we find something we both enjoy and have a real talent for, there’s usually a period of effortless improvement, getting us to competence. Everything after that, however, starts taking more and more effort. And that’s where the difference is usually made between “enjoyable hobby” and “mastery.” People who want to be great at something usually hit that gap and fear to jump it lest they fail, or worse, lest they discover that there are plenty of talents on the other side as well, some of whom haven’t reached the gap yet.
They stop on the near side, and call it a ‘talent gap,’ but it’s really an effort gap. If they really want to get better and go on to great things, they have to just JUMP. This can go for anything from learning how to hit a curveball to writing novels to speaking fluent German to losing twenty pounds.
- nightfly | 02/22/2013 @ 15:36But what about that guy over there? He has a lot of nice things. I’ll bet he didn’t work hard to get them. I’ll bet he was just lucky, or he cheated. Why shouldn’t I have some of it?
- Texan99 | 02/22/2013 @ 16:53And on a somewhat related tangent, this article about the blessings of being allowed to fail:
- Soozcat | 02/25/2013 @ 01:56http://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2013/02/24/congratulations-to-ben-affleck-hollywoods-greatest-failure/
Indeed I saw a commencement speaker tell students that barriers are a good thing because they let you know which things you really want. Those walls will not deter you if you really, truly, value what’s on the other side.
- Duffy | 02/27/2013 @ 11:18