Yearly Archives: 2006

Politics

Can a State Secede from the U.S.?

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A friend called me rather randomly today to ask if the state of Minnesota could secede from the U.S. It was just an off the cuff example, prompted by the realization that the U.S. has “colonies” like Saipan that some of us never knew existed (until our friend announced she was going to teach there). That prompted some speculation and eventually ended with the secession question.

It’s a fun little question, especially given our preference for freedom. If a state wants to secede, and democratically votes to do so, why shouldn’t they be able to? It seems to go along with our spreading of freedom abroad.

My initial guess was that secession wouldn’t fly. That’s part of what prompted the Civil War (among other things). Wikipedia backs me up, noting that Congress passed a law making it illegal for a state to secede. Which sounds kind of silly, if you think about it.

I realize the reasons for not wanting a state to secede. You want to keep the nation together. But isn’t it somewhat against our national character, our focus on freedom and all that, to not allow a state to jump ship if they want to?

At any rate, it’s fun speculation. The Wikipedia entry includes some details about failed secessions over the years, including states in the northeast, South Carolina, the obvious Civil War, Texas seceding from Mexico (so we’ll take a seceding state, but we won’t let our states secede?) and speculation about the Upper Peninsula of Michigan seceding from Michigan and becoming it’s own state (Ha! They could rival Wyoming for lowest everything [actually, such an act would make the Upper Peninsula the state with the smallest population by quite a margin: 328,000 in the U.P., 509,000 in Wyoming]. Plus I think there’s something in the Constitution about not taking land away from any state. Update: OK, I guess you can do it with approval from both state’s legislatures and Congress.) It’s also fun to note that Michigan traded Toledo for the U.P., which I think was a pretty good deal for my old home state.

More:

  • Read my review of Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War.
God, Church & Stuff

Newsweek Interviews Billy Graham

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My former employer, Billy Graham, graces the cover of Newsweek and is the feature of a story about his declining health and thoughts toward the end of his life. It’s an interesting read.

Having worked for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association before, it’s always fun to read this kind of stuff. At one point recently I was very tempted to start up a Billy Graham blog (a Billy Blog!). I had my eye on urls, I had a logo in the works and I even chatted with my lawyer about how to keep from getting sued. I ended up being too busy to invest the time into a project with no sure revenue model. I guess I’ll have to settle with my Billy Graham Squidoo lens. (Jan. 1, 2009 Update: OK, I went ahead and started the blog about Billy Graham.)

This kind of thing would have been great fodder.

Continue reading Newsweek Interviews Billy Graham →

Technology

I’m One of Those Cell Phone People

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We finally crossed over to the darkside and got a cell phone. We ended up with a Cingular family plan (mmm… rollover) and sharp looking Motorola RAZR phones (mine’s black, Abby’s is pink). I want to say we’re the last people on earth to get cell phones, but that’s certainly not true. We are among the last people our own age in the U.S. who don’t have cell phones. Most of our friends only have cell phones.

The convenience factor finally pushed us over the edge. With a baby it’s just that much more of an issue. Which basically means I’m able to blame every one of our big purchases lately on Lexi. Sorry, kid.

As reluctantly as I’ve entered the cell phone world, I am loving it. The ability to call from the grocery store or while you’re on the way somewhere is just great. Now I just have to work on my cell phone etiquette.

The one thing I’m not impressed with is the phones themselves. The RAZR is great, but it and every other cell phone I tried have serious usability issues. I guess I expect too much from my technology. It just doesn’t seem like sorting my address book by last name or keeping the same categories my computer has is asking too much. Apparently it is. At least the 37signals guys agree with me. They think Apple is the solution, and maybe we’ll find out if they are this week.

Friends

Get Out of Yale Free

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Having friends move away sucks. Since college we’ve had to go through it a lot. I guess you just have to get used to it.

Yesterday Tim and Nicole moved to New Haven, Conn. so Tim could become Dr. Philosophy, or something like that. I think he gets a cape, too. It’s rough because Tim moved away, then he came back, then he moved away again, then he came back, and now he’s gone again. Doh. Though a lot of that back and forth was really so he could get married to Nicole, and that was worth it.

The past year we’ve hung out a lot. They taught us Settlers of Catan and we taught them Killer Bunnies. We’ve stayed up late. We’ve gone couch shopping. We’ve gone house shopping. We called them at our scariest moments and our best moments. We renounced Satan. We traded a crappy car for a useless air conditioner. We had reached an odd and rare place in a friendship. It became most apparent when we shared meals together, which is a simple act, but also a vulnerable one.

Anyway, they’ve moved off to Yale and we miss them. The hope is that they’ll come back, someday, though it will be a long haul. Yale doesn’t exactly hand out doctorates for free. Until then, here’s hoping for a ‘get out of yale free’ card. Or at least lots of visits and contact.

Godspeed as you two caravan across the U.S. and may your time at Yale be wonderful–and short.

Daily Grind

Self Employed=Isolation

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The only thing I’ve ever missed about working the so-called real job, which fewer and fewer people have these days, is the cameraderie that comes with working with a cohesive group. As much as I love being my own boss and commuting ten feet down the hall and setting my own schedule and hours, I do miss interacting with other people. Not that much, since I am an introvert, but I do miss it.

The past two days I’ve worked full days in small a windowless room with three other people in a desperate attempt to finish a web project. It actually sounds more desperate that it really was. We were able to get the bulk of the work done and it wasn’t as stressful as anticipated.

What I really enjoyed was the banter. We’d joke back and forth, ask questions and collaborate, someone would make a coffee run, and the work got done. The laughter was great. I miss that. I probably came across as a hyper spaz because I kept making comments and jokes and just thrived on the atmosphere. I don’t get enough of that.

I don’t miss it enough to start looking for an office job, but it does make me think I should consider expanding the Monkey Outta Nowhere empire. Maybe get a real office, a staff of unpaid monkey interns. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Introspection

Benefits of a Sunday Off

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Lately I’ve been loving my Sundays. My work schedule is pretty random right now. I basically work whenever I can to get the project done or get in the hours I’m supposed to get in. It means day time, evening and Saturdays. I’m not working all day Saturday, but it’s the rare Satuday that I don’t get up and put in at least an hour or two.

When Sunday comes along I’m done. I don’t think about work. I ignore the work e-mails. It’s a day of rest, and I love that. For me rest doesn’t always mean sit around and take a nap (that can be fun, too), but it can mean sitting on the couch and watching NASCAR all day or reading a book or editing some video for fun. It basically means doing something I enjoy and not doing work.

We used to do that in college. A few of us would try to finish up our homework before Sunday so we could kick back and take the day off. Rarely were we successful at that, but we’d at least take Sunday afternoon off and make the homework wait until the evening. Sometimes I think we all need a little rest.

God, Church & Stuff

Responding to Bishop Katharine Schori

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I don’t blog much about the Episcopal Church. It’s messy, confusing and I usually don’t want to go there. Maybe I should, seeing as I attend one.

This week the newly elected bishop of the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A., Katharine Jefferts Schori, was intereviewed in Time magazine. Three items stuck me:

Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven?
We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box.

It’s certainly not a new statement. But what struck me when I saw it this time around is that I wonder what the point of evangelism is if you think there are other ways to God? If my neighbor’s path to God is equally as valid as my own, then why should I bother to tell her about God? She’s already on her way, as far as I know. Obviously I disagree with Schori, but her approach, at least as far as I’m trying to logically apply it, seems so contrary to the words of Jesus in the great commission. I’ll admit that Christians need to be more open and understanding towards the faith of others, but this seems to much like relativism to me. And I’ve just never understood the logical appeal of that.

Continue reading Responding to Bishop Katharine Schori →

Style & Fashion

My Shoes are Keen!

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Keen hybrid shoe sandalsOn a fun note, my shoes are Keen! I blew a big chunk of my birthday money on these shoe-sandal hybrid things, the green Newport H2. They’re open and airy like sandals, but they have the traction and closed toe of a shoe. Very handy for active summer wear since you don’t need socks and your feet still get the nice cool breezes.

I’d been looking for some comfier sandals (my old pair were a from a going out of business sale in college and hurt my feet if I wore them for any extended period) and I actually tried two different pairs of Chacos. Tried as in bought them, took them home and wore them for a day or two before realizing how much I disliked them. Thanks to REI’s generous return policy, I was able to keep trying until I found a pair I liked. Because when you’re spending real money on footwear, not just going out of business money, they need to feel good.

The Keens look kind of goofy, but the more I wear them the more I like them. I don’t think I’ve ever been much of a sandal guy (that pair I bought in college was probably the only pair I’ve ever worn regularly–I don’t even remember owning sandals in high school), which is probably why the Chacos didn’t seem right. But my feet seem to like this hybrid deal.

Ah, every now and then you need a good everyday blog entry.