Here’s Everywhere You Should Enable Two-Factor Authentication Right Now (For non tech friends, two-factor authentication is basically an easy way to add a second “layer” to your passwords on various internet sites – generally your e-mail, cloud, social network service, etc. will send you a 4-6 digit code via text so you can help prove who you are. I’d recommend using it for any service you might worry about being compromised).
“Sarge is a great teacher because he doesn’t just criticize. He showed the right way to shoot. What you do is you start shooting your gun wildly and run towards the target as fast as you can and, in your scariest voice, you yell “COBRA!” We worked on that all afternoon, and just before we broke for dinner, I actually hit the target! Sarge and everyone else were so happy for me that they were about to cry. Told me I’d just set the record for marksmanship in COBRA boot camp.”
Jeremy Smith – Fair Atheists, Religious Jerks and Clergy Taxes. I think in general there is a lot of misunderstanding about how clergy are taxed; because clergy are considered self-employed, and parsonages are treated as taxable income, clergy (at those who play by the rules), are often taxed at a slightly higher rate than most people. But the cause isn’t helped by clergy (especially those like Rick Warren) who do take their income as a 100% housing allowance and then are able to purchase their own homes, effectively “double dipping” by deducing the interest on mortgages.
A quick note on parsonages – the “free housing” provided to clergy – it’s good to remember that this is primarily a benefit to the congregation, not the pastor, who is missing the opportunity to build equity, receive tax credits for home ownership, and will face becoming a first-time home buyer retirement. In an itinerant system parsonages do make a degree of sense, and I appreciate being able to have lived in some very nice parsonages, but it should be made clear that this isn’t some amazing benefit clergy get – most people in the secular world would not voluntarily choose to live in a situation where their employer was also their landlord (especially if the employer had a reputation of doing things as cheaply as possible).
Seth Godin: Is there a reason for the friction? I’ve actually written about this idea in terms of computer security recently, but it certainly also applies to church membership – there are points where a degree of friction is necessary to make people aware of their choices and to take it seriously.
How Hull Inspired Paul Heaton. Love Hull & Heaton both. Despite Hull being the go-to joke in the UK about a town that’s awful and boring, I remember my time there fondly and would love to make a return visit. (Of course I also love Des Moines and Detroit, so maybe I just love cities that frequently are treated like punchlines).
David Steindl-Rast: Want to be happy? Be grateful:
Thinking of Paul Heaton and Hull, here’s an oldie from the Housemartins:
J Dilla vs the Beach Boys. I did a poem a few weeks ago where I referenced J Dilla, and got a lot of shocked looks by people in the crowd that totally didn’t expect an older white guy from the suburbs to know who he was. Good times.
With all the discussion related to the trail of Rev. Frank Shaefer, I found Jason Micheli’s take to be particularly interesting.
Jeremy Smith: Fair Atheists, Religious Jerks and Clergy Taxes. I think Jeremy makes some good points here, especially if the eventual trade off is getting rid of the “self employed” designation.
As the title suggests, in this great little book, August draws upon the wisdom of the Trappist community at Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina and blends it with his own insights from working in corporate environments like MTV, as well as two software companies he founded – Raleigh Group International and Elsinore Technologies.
As I started to read the book, I found myself needing to adjust my initial expectations. I was hoping for a book that would really unpack some of the theology behind Trappist practice, as well as apply that wisdom to workplace ethics in a very analytic way. Instead, as the book’s subtitle revels, this book is a much more personal and largely anecdotal account of “one CEO’s quest for meaning and authenticity.” This is one person’s account of discovering and applying spiritual insight into the workplace, instead of a “how to” manual of how it might be done everywhere. Of course, this isn’t to say that the knowledge and wisdom isn’t practical or applicable to other situations; it most certainly is, but the book is more about embracing the conversation of how it might happen instead of dictating “5 Simple Steps to Implementing Trappist Business Practices.”
Turak identifies three core components of Trappist identity – mission, personal transformation and community, and does a great job of identifying how he has developed them in his life, and seen them practices in other businesses and organizations. There were times in the book where I questioned Turak’s examples, such as using the movie The Devil Wears Prada to illustrate the notion of the hero’s journey, it works, I just think it was an odd choice for an illustration. There were also times, when I wished he would go deeper into his analysis, especially in his discussion of Truliant Federal Credit Union and their approach to customer service. But overall, I found this to be a quick read that was personal, relevant, and easy to follow. The last four chapters of the book, in particular, are outstanding in their honesty and inspiration and I’d recommend this book simply for those pages alone.
[Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book for the purposes of review, my review and recommendation is not in anyway influenced by this. Thanks to Speakeasy, Columbia Business School Publishing and August Turak, for letting me add this wonderful little book to my library].
The Beloit Mindset List for the class of 2017 (this year’s college freshmen) has been released. Among the highlights:
GM means food that is Genetically Modified.
Having a chat has seldom involved talking.
Rites of passage have more to do with having their own cell phone and Skype accounts than with getting a driver’s license and car.
Captain Janeway has always taken the USS Voyager where no woman or man has ever gone before.
As they slept safely in their cribs, the Oklahoma City bomber and the Unabomber were doing their deadly work.
Their parents’ car CD player is soooooo ancient and embarrassing.
They have always been able to plug into USB ports.
Not only does that list make me feel old, it also reminds me that whether I realize it or not, I do have to face a significant generation gap as I go back to school for another master’s degree. (At least my professors will hopefully get my references to Gary Coleman, Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, and using Pine to access e-mail).
What You Never Realized While Reading a Postcard. I’ve had this fantasy of turning a bunch of my photos into postcards, and then developing a weekly discipline of sending a card with a personal note on it to a different friend every week. Maybe this will help push me to make that happen.
Jason Micheli is looking at some of the “top” heresies on his blog, I especially liked his thoughts on fundamentalism.
Friend and colleague in ministry, Bri, offers a powerful reflection on Luke 13:10-17 in her post Why not here? Why not now?
This isn’t my “official” music selection of the week, but it’s something you’ve got to see (as it blows up all over the internet). Ylvis – “The Fox”:
And just so you don’t have “what does the fox say” stuck in your head the rest of the day, here’s a new song from Superchunk, off their album, I Hate Music, called “Me and You and Jackie Mittoo”:
Justin Zoradi (via Donald Miller): You Don’t Have to Be Radical, Just a Little Different. Good reminder for me, that the key isn’t evaluating myself by the credentials and accomplishments of others, but by claiming and celebrating my own gifts and abilities.
David Byrne (formerly of the Talking Heads) came to Des Moines earlier this summer and had some nice things to say on his blog: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. I love the fact that he recognizes and even visits some of the great bike trails in the area. I found myself particularly drawn to his idea about growing up in the area:
“The town isn’t particularly hip, but I sort of counted that as a factor in its favor—kids would have to discover what they thought was cool for themselves. Or make it up. Or come to the conclusion that trends does not a life make.”
While I get the thought behind it, having grown up in Des Moines, my sense was we didn’t really get that chance to “discover what [we] thought was cool for themselves” – because we were still connected to the larger culture (through things like MTV), instead it felt like all this “cool” stuff was happening around us, but we were missing out. While many musicians seem to make regular stops in Des Moines now, back in the late ’80s and early ’90s it felt a little like a wasteland. Unfortunately we (or maybe just I) lacked the wisdom and foresight to discover what was cool, or just make it up myself… victims of a consumer (vs. creative) culture, I guess.
Lifehack: 20 Books Everyone Should Read Before Age 40. Guess I need to get busy reading; I have covered a little less that 1/2 of the titles, but unless I get really really focused in the next couple of months, I’m not going to cover all of them.
If you are following any of the news concerning the NSA and their ability to intercept traffic on the internet, and you wonder about ways to better protect your privacy, check out the website https://prism-break.org/ – it provides a good overview of better software alternatives that can help you maintain your internet security. Even if you aren’t worried about government intrusion, these are good products (and practices) to keep your information from being compromised, in general. Just to cover the basics, I’d recommend using Firefox and your web-browser with the “HTTPS Everywhere” extension, and using Thunderbird for e-mail with the GPG encryption. I have hopes to get my own VPN (Virtual Private Network) set up sometime this summer, but I haven’t gotten that done, yet.
Lots of good music on the horizon, including this one from Derek Webb called “I Was Wrong, I’m Sorry & I Love You”:
Business Insider did a piece on a friend from college, Scott Heiferman, who is the founder and CEO of Meetup.com on rightsizing your company. Here is the video of it:
I’ve also been reading The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath and the listening to the audiobook More or Less: Choosing a Lifestyle of Excessive Generosity which all have gotten me thinking back to these ideas of simplicity, and what it the appropriate size of institutions (business, governmental, religious) – do we sometimes embrace growth for the sake of growth, when keeping things small might make more sense. (I would recommend both books, disclaimer: they are Amazon.com affiliate links).
“When I’m at the Methodist Church where my sons are going through confirmation, I hear all kinds of music.Some gets me closer to the mystery, mostly when I’m obliged to stand and sing along with old-fashioned hymns—the tenderness of “This Is My Father’s World;” the hushed tension and unexpected chords of “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind;” or the musical invention of the third stanza of “Rejoice the Lord is King” where Charles Wesley (the Dr. Luke/John Rich-ish songmeister of his day) arrives from three centuries ago to stir our blood with unexpected half notes in “Lift up— your— heart—” which release back to an unrelenting major-chord quarter note progression rising, rising: “Lift up your voice, rejoice, again I say, Rejoice!”Oy. Hard to resist.Unless… well, our church has a traditional, red-synthetic-robed choir with sopranos, altos, tenors and basses who often shoo away the mysticism like a stray dog.Sometimes they get at joy. Sometimes they evoke triumph o’er the grave.Still, marketing forces within the church recognize that the choir isn’t for everybody. So they have an 11:00 o’clock rock service now.My eldest son was paired with the nicest guy in the world for a confirmation counselor. This guy plays guitar in the rock combo each Sunday. They sound great.But they play “Christian rock.”
Why do I find Christian rock sooooooooo tedious?
I like rock. I like hymns. I’ve opened myself to a sense of spirituality—I’m not an atheist anymore. My son’s counselor plays that guitar like ringing a church bell.But I can hardly endure it.It’s always, always the same story.It’s always the same words even.We thank Jesus, admit sin and guilt, confess amazement at how receptive He is under the awkward circumstances of us having killed Him, and compare Him to a bloody lamb. We ask forgiveness. When we receive forgiveness, we praise Him and The Father.Often we praise not just Him but His Name.(pause while I hope no Methodists are reading this)It all just irritates me. This is not rock: Rawk!—that primordial stew that can combine elements with electricity and create life.Sanctioned phrases and predictable endings are the wrong elements.”
He hits the problem with contemporary Christian music so well – no passion, no mystery, no depth. Bumper sticker slogans set to poor imitations of contemporary music doesn’t do much to advance art, culture, or add meaning to our lives. I know it works for some people, but I’m with Charlie in confessing that much of the time it doesn’t really do much for me. I think it raises the question that sometimes in our efforts to “conform” and become “relevant” we may actually be making ourselves more irrelevant in some people’s lives.
Good: Turn an Empty Space into a Pop-up Community Hub. While there are obvious unused spaces in places like Flint and Detroit, I’ve been noticing the abundance of office space and strip mall spaces in the suburbs and found myself wondering how they might be creatively used.
Also from Planet Money, a few weeks ago I heard their podcast on a “patent troll” who is trying to claim a patent on all podcasts (the episode is here). In this case, the “inventor” simply documented a way audio theoretically might be shared over the internet back in 1996; he never did anything with this idea and only now is trying to claim royalties from his “invention.” What struck me most is the piece at the end where it talks about the Electronic Frontier Foundation challenging this patent and looking for examples of “prior use” – I immediately recalled that in college my friends and I were experimenting with sharing audio over the internet, and actually had a functional implementation in place back in 1994. While bandwidth issues and limits to technology kept us from sharing complete episodes, we had enough of a functional system in place that could be seen as a real precursor to podcasting. (Note: I really can’t claim credit for this, this was Scott Heiferman’s radio show and idea).
One more thought – if you don’t listen to the Planet Money podcast, you really should, they do such a great job of presenting serious economic issues is easy to understand ways.
Roger Grimes: It’s Over – All Private Data is Public. Grimes argues that we should no longer assume any of our data (bank, hospital, education, etc.) is private, because security breaches are so rampent that if someone really wants it they can (and probably will) have it. That’s a hard reality to face, but I suspect he is right.
I love this song and video from Billy Bragg – “Handyman Blues”… this is a 12-step group I might have to join.
If you like that one and have some time for more Billy Bragg bliss, check out this Tiny Desk Concert from NPR:
Lifehacker: The Best Chrome Apps You Are (Probably) Not Using. I’m not a die-hard devotee of any particular web browser, but I do use chrome as my default – this is a pretty good list of tools you can use within your browser for doing things like editing audio, video and pictures; I haven’t personally tried them (other than the basic google apps), but the seems like they are worth checking out.
Gizmodo: The International Space Station has Ditched Windows for Linux. Like with browsers, I try not to be an OS snob (my old Macbook is set up to triple book Mac OS 10.6, Windows 8 and Ubuntu), but I think it is pretty cool the ISS is switching to Linux. (I’ve wondered about trying to do a custom Linux build, specific that would provide churches and nonprofits with a basic, easy to use OS that would be more cost effective for the low end, older computers churches typically use).
Related: This made the rounds a couple weeks ago, but it still awesome – Chris Hadfield singing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” on the ISS:
Lifehack.org: Download High Quality Vintage Posters. I’ve touched on my thoughts around intellectual property and public domain before, but I love sites like this, which not only highlight, but make public domain works easily accessible. Take a look, especially if you are in need of some office decoration (or even wallpaper for your computer desktop):
by August Turak.
and the listening to the audiobook 
which all have gotten me thinking back to these ideas of simplicity, and what it the appropriate size of institutions (business, governmental, religious) – do we sometimes embrace growth for the sake of growth, when keeping things small might make more sense. (I would recommend both books, disclaimer: they are Amazon.com affiliate links).