Announcement: Taking Some Time Off

It’s the end of July and it’s very, very hot here in Olympia, WA. It’s going to get into the upper 90’s and close to 100 this week. Miserable, miserable weather with way to much humidity. Going to be sitting in front of a fan or in our local Borders Bookstore for as long as I can this week. Too hot to think or do anything.

Anyway, between the heat and the need to focus on some business issues over the next few weeks, I’ve decided to take some time off from blogging for a bit. I’ve got some decisions to make and some actions to take that will require most of my attention so I’m suspending any blog posting until September. I will return to posting on a regular basis on September 7th. In the mean time if I come across anything I think is interesting or would be of value to you, I’ll put up a quick link and description for your Internet exploration pleasure. I’ll just not be posting as regularly as I have been for the next several weeks.

Thanks for spending time with me so far, and I look forward to sharing future thoughts, observations and ideas with you for a long time to come once I return on September 7th.

SNJ07-25-09: A Night of Jazz Flutists

I first fell in love with the flute as a jazz instrument when I heard Herbie Mann back in the mid 1970’s. The flute has such a melodic well-rounded sound that it immediately captured my interest.

Tonight I’ll be sharing some great jazz done by some phenomenal flutists. Hope you enjoy. These guys have strong talent and wonderful backup musicians. There’s not a piece here that I don’t thoroughly love.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

• My Girl from Blacknuss — A jazz musician’s take on a hit pop tune.
• Ain’t No Sunshine from Blacknuss — Another great jazz take on a pop hit.
• Fingers in the Wind from The Inflated Tear — Nice piece. Kind of reminds me of music played during montage in a travelogue.

Moe Koffman

• Autum Leaves from Devil’s Brew — Upbeat version of a great jazz classic.
• Angel Eyes from Devil’s Brew — One of my favorite “Private Eye” type songs.
• Killer Joe from Devil’s Brew — Another “Private Eye” piece. I so love these.
• Have You Met Mr. Ed from Devil’s Brew — The only Mr. Ed I know is the horse… and no, I haven’t met him.
• Devil’s Brew from Devil’s Brew — This one could qualify for still another inclusion into my “Private Eye” collection.

Hubert Laws

• Pavane from The Masters of Jazz Fusion — Almost has a classical music or latin feel to it. Nice piece.
• Wildfire from Family — An up beat piece of jazz fusion.
• What A Night from Family — Nice mellow piece. Good for background music at a romantic dinner.
• Caras Falsas (False Faces) from Bella Cinderella — Let’s close out with a little latin flavor.

Hope you enjoyed these talented flutists and as usual if you have any requests or suggestions, let me know via comment or contact form.

Picture by flicker user Steve Snodgrass under Creative Commons License. Use of this picture does not constitute an endorsement by Steve Snodgrass of the ideas in this post.

Liberty and Happiness: Contributing to Society through Rational Self-Interest

You hear it all the time. Mostly from politicians, though preachers also parrot the phrases. The phrases are spoken so often they’ve become part of our mentality and are now no more than mere white noise. I’m talking about the phrases giving back, making a contribution, or contributing to society. These phrases are usually used with other phrases designed to make us feel guilt if we decide not to participate in whatever charity or political scheme is being promoted.

Most of the time, at least in this era, requests for contributions are geared toward the idea of self-sacrifice. It is often implied that because we have benefited from the positive things in society, we must somehow pay for those benefits by “giving back.” The idea that we can enjoy those positive things simply because we traded our time, talent and money in exchange for them, is considered, by certain individuals, to be selfish and immoral.

What these “elitist” individuals fail to realize is that contributions to society take place every day through a mechanism they despise. That mechanism is rational self-interest.

Note, please, that I am talking about rational self-interest, not the kind of self-centeredness that you find wrapped up in today’s obsession with excessive consumption. Those who live to consume are not rationally self-interested. They are slaves to their impulses and act only as their impulses dictate. They are on a constant hunt for the new. They live by the slogan “Bigger is Better.” or “Greed is good.” They eat their cake, and once eaten, they are frustrated because they no longer have it. Their lives are an endless cycle of spend, spend, spend, even when they are drowning in debt. Their reward is their self-destruction. They are irrelevant.

The “elite” who usually mouth the “give back” mantra are just as irrationally self-centered as the consumers. Their interest isn’t in improving society or in helping others, their interest is in feeding their ego and maintaining power over others. They use the idea of giving back to guilt others into doing what the elite think is “best.” Your life has no meaning to them except for what they can extract from you for their own ends whether those ends be political power or charitable causes. Both lead to your self-sacrifice for their personal ends. Not a real pleasant way for you to live your life.

The rationally self-interested, however, understand that life is a balance. It is a balance between productivity and consumption; between trade and benevolent giving. Life is not about self-centered consumption, nor is it about total self-sacrifice for the good of others. Life, specifically their own life, is their highest value.

The rationally self-intrested believe in production and trade. They produce things of value to others that they can trade for things that they value. They believe in earning their pleasures through exchanging value for value. The benefits they receive come from these exchanges. Therefore, they owe “society” nothing. They earned their benefits.

Giving becomes a voluntary act. They give because they wish to give, not because they see themselves as owing anything to anybody. They are free from the manipulative guilt of the constant promotion of self-sacrifice.

Production, trade, voluntary benevolence, these are the weapons that deliver the rationally self-interested from the manipulative hands of the politicians and preachers of modern day guilt. The productive can hold their head high and tell the consumers and elite power-mongers to take a long walk off a short pier. We already gave at the office.

Picture by flicker user Karloswayne under Creative Commons License. Use of this picture does not constitute an endorsement by Karloswayne of the ideas in this post.

Internet Discoveries: 07-15-09 to 07-21-09

Politics and Liberty

• Welfare for Dependent Dictators — End welfare in the form of foreign aid.
• Preparing for the New Economy — Don’t expect a “recovery.” Expect something New and probably not very good.
• The Fallacies of Another New Deal –A longer article, but very education about why we cannot afford to let this happen again.
• Bernie Madoff Was Only a Petty Crook Compared with Uncle Sam — Why do people hate Bernie Madoff, yet excuse the Government from it’s own serious high crimes and misdemeanors? When will enough be enough?

Read the rest of this entry »

The Big Question (Part 4)

What Can We Conclude?

It’s time to bring this series to an end. We’ve examined the “big question” from both the religious and secular perspective. We found that from a religious perspective there’s more to be said than “God has a wonderful plan for your life, and He’ll let you know what it is.” From the secular perspective there’s more to be said than “We make our own meaning.”

The question now becomes what conclusions can we draw that will help shed light on the subject of finding meaning in life that deeply satisfies? I believe that it is possible to find meaning in life and that it is different for each one of us. As I’ve thought about this question I’ve come to the following conclusions: Read the rest of this entry »

SNJ07-18-09: A Night with Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson has long been one of my favorite pianists along with Bill Evans. His style was unique and pulled every nuance he could out of traditional jazz. His music entertains and lifts the spirit. You can tell just from listening that he loved jazz passionately. Nothing makes an artist more powerful than pure passion for his art, and Oscar had it, hands down.

Find out all about him at All About Jazz.

I hope you enjoy this wonderfully talented artist as much as I do. Let me know what you think.

Bossa Beguine from Blues Etude — Starting out with a bit of the exotic. Wanna dance?

Meditation from Jazz Bossa Nova — Keeping with the exotic for just a bit more.

The Honeydripper from Night Train — Speeding it up just a little bit and keeping with the dance types this one is good for a little jitterbug.

My Romance from Exclusively for My Friends: The Lost Tapes — After all isn’t a great romance upbeat and uplifting? Oscar knows how to make you feel good.

Con_Alma from Oscar Peterson’s Finest Hour — And this one definitely belongs there.

Triste from The Girls from Ipanema — A latin jazz classic played by the master.

Wave from Motions & Emotions — Mellowing things out a bit. Great classic piece.

Dreamsville from Motions & Emotions — Another nice mellow piece. My dad used to play this piece on the piano all the time when I was growing up. Love this one.

In a Mellow Tone from Ocsar Peterson Plays the Duke Ellington Songbook — Here’s a well known piece from the Big Band Great.

Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good To You from The More I See You — This is a fun piece makin’ me wish somebody would be good to me.

How High the Moon from Dimensions — A classic played by the best.

Teach Me Tonight from 75th Birthday Celebration — First heard this song performed by Al Jarreau. Really like this rendition. Hope you enjoy too.

As always if you have any suggestions or requests either leave a comment, or contact me through my contact page. Until next week, keep the jazz fires burning.

Picture by flicker user exquisitur under Creative Commons License. Use of this picture does not constitute an endorsement by exquisitur of the ideas in this post.

Liberty and Happiness: Responsibility for Self

Most people want security in this world, not liberty. — H.L. Mencken, Minority Report, 1956

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. — George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, “Maxims: Liberty and Equality,” 1905

When I was a child I often would assail my parents with the demand for entertainment.

“I’m bored.”

“There’s nothing to do.”

These were two sentences that seemed to exit my mouth constantly when I was little. Today I am very thankful that my parent’s response was an equally constant, “I’m sorry for you. Looks like you’ll need to find something to do.”

Of course as a child I wasn’t as thankful as I am today. Back then I’d whine, stomp my foot or use any other technique I could think of to get my mom or dad do something about my boredom. Neither parent would budge. My dad would often say “I’m not responsible for your entertainment. That’s your job. Find something to do.” How could he be so cold and so mean?

What I didn’t know at the time was that my dad and mom were teaching me an invaluable lesson. They taught me that I and I alone am responsible for my own happiness and sense of well being. No one from the outside is going to rescue me from sadness, boredom or lack of self-worth.

In today’s culture we seem to have lost this important insight. When faced with a problem, we tend to look first to the external rather than to ourselves. Financial problems? Let the government bail us out. In relationships we demand that our spouse make us feel loved. In commercial transactions we look to litigation or threats of litigation rather than negotiation and wise choices for satisfaction.

The realization and commitment to the fact that we are responsible for our own lives seems to be as foreign to modern thinking as laughter is to Mr. Spock.

When we place the responsibility for our sense of well-being on some thing, person, or system, we become easily manipulated by the unscrupulous. We become demanding and obnoxious, driven by an out of control sense of entitlement. Mostly we become excessively vulnerable to potential loss.

Happiness is not achieved by relying on externals. It is only achieved and maintained by self-reliance. Wise choices, consistent action and self-knowledge is the only route to real, lasting happiness.

This is why liberty is so important. Without complete freedom to make mistakes, learn from them, and correct the direction of our future choices and actions, we loose the core of what makes us human. Relying on externals for our sense of happiness and well-being makes us slaves to those externals and takes from us our ability to learn and grow. It makes us broken and anything but happy.

Picture by flicker user davetoaster under Creative Commons License. Use of this picture does not constitute an endorsement by davetoaster of the ideas in this post.

Internet Discoveries For the Week

Week of 07-07-09 to 07-13-09

My friend Alice, from Tucson, sent this to me in email on Sunday. I really, really liked it. Wish I could have been there to see it live. I love creative artists. Like I told Alice, it’s a joy to be part of the human race. A race that does stuff like this. Enjoy.

Politics & Liberty

• A Case Against Intellectual Property — The logic behind intellectual property rights is highly illogical. Here’s why.
• Wealth Envy — Do you engage in it? Are you a victim of it? Let’s put it to an end by thinking about it.
• What are the Rules of the Game of Human Flourishing? — Do you know them? Are you playing the game, or are you ruining it for others?
• Fed Independence or Fed Secrecy? — Ya gotta love Ron Paul and his fight for transparency in government.
• Thinking Like a Dandelion — Aubundance is not quite here. But that can change. In the case of government, it’s time for everyone to start thinking like dandelions.

Writing

• 10 Literary One-Hit Wonders — How many of these have you read? (Source: RAPatton on Friendfeed)
• Write a novel in 30 days — 50,000 words in 30 days? Hmmm. Not sure I could do this, but might like to try. (Source: Prometa on Friendfeed)

Miscellaneous

• Are You Overwhelmed by Internet ADD? What to Do … — Once again, Liz Strauss nails my rear end to the wall. Thanks for the reminder, Liz.
• Moonfruit — A very interesting web site maker. (Source: Morton Fox on Friendfeed)

The Big Question (Part 3-C)

Philosophy: What does it have to say?

We’ve been discussing the question of the meaning or purpose of life. Is there one universal meaning or is life a big empty joke? Several days ago I ran across a blog by Steve Pavlina: Personal Development for Smart People. In it he has a series of posts centering around the same topic. You can read his series by starting at The Meaning of Life: Intro.

In his second article “The Meaning of Life: How Shall We Live.” He introduces Aristotle’s use of the concept of eudaimonia. He points out that eudaimonia is often translated “happiness”, but that the preferred translation is “human flourishing”. I like the preferred translation as it tends to be more in harmony with what we talked about in last Monday’s post: genetics and evolution.

What’s important to realize is that “happiness” is no longer a valuable word to use when it comes to discussions of meaning. Though it truly is an end in itself, it is too often confused with consumption and independence which often lead to self-absorbtion, lonliness, and anything but happiness.

To flourish, on the other hand, is to develop in a healthy or vigorous way. This definition is much more in touch with what genetics and evolution point to in terms of tendencies, as well as what we learned from the history of the Hebrews. As a result, I believe it to be a better definition and end point for our search.

I highly recommend that you take some time and read through Steve’s articles. I find myself in agreement with much of what he says, although, as usual, not with everything. One point I somewhat disagree with is his leap toward making the attempt toward discovering the best possible life. I personally don’t think that question is answerable, nor even necessary. He even points out how difficult this pursuit can be.

Evolution tells us that changes take place incrementally and many are not good and thus discarded. Pursuit of the best might not be an achievable goal, but pursuit of flourishing is. By following Aristotle’s encouragements to study others who are living healthy, vigorous, growing lives and to reflect on what we’ve observed, we can make progress in our own personal evolution and maybe leave the world a better place for having been here.

Picture by flicker user Image Editor under Creative Commons License. Use of this picture does not constitute an endorsement by Image Editor of the ideas in this post.

SNJ071109: A Night of a Single Song

The last time I did this, a lot of people seemed to like it. They found it interesting hearing the different arrangements of the same song. So I thought I’d do it again. This time the focus will be on a classic, Born to Be Blue by Mel Tormè and Robert Wells.

This is one of those songs that evokes strong emotions, stirs a bit of melancholy, yet brings a smile to the face when you hear the lyrics. It’s also another song I could easily include in my “Private Eye” collection.

Click on the linked title below to see the lyrics.

As usual, let me know what you think. If you like this, I’ll keep doing it from time to time. Suggestions for songs are always welcome. Suggestions for future Saturday Night Jazz posts are also always welcome. Just drop me an email (use the Contact Dave link above) or leave a comment. All suggestions are seriously considered.

Read the rest of this entry »