Home: Consider This

Aspiring Writers' Advice

If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first-greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they're happy.
—Dorothy Parker

Source: Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor Wednesday, July 1, 2009. It is the birthday of grammarian William Strunk Jr., born in Cincinnati, Ohio (1869). He was a professor at Cornell University for 46 years, and during that time, he created the "little book" known as The Elements of Style (1918) in order to make it easier to grade his students' composition papers. He died on September 26, 1946 at Poughkeepsie, New York.

Be Open to New Ideas

Never stop learning and adapting. The world will always be changing. If you limit yourself to what you knew and what you were comfortable with earlier in life, you will grow increasingly frustrated as you age.
—David Niven, Ph.D. in Be Open to New Ideas: Number 13 of The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People

In research on older Americans, what predicted satisfaction more than finances or the state of their current relationships was their willingness to adapt. If they were willing to chnage some of their habits and expectations, their happiness was maintained even when their circumstances changed. Those who were resistant to change, on the other hand, were less than one-third likely to feel happy.
—Clark, F., M. Carlson, R. Zemke, F. Geyla, K. Patterson, and B. L. Ennevor. 1996. "Life Domains and Adaptive Strategies of a Group of Low Income, Well Older Adults." American Journal of Occupational Therapy 50:99.

Source: The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It. by David Niven, Ph.D. 2000 HarperCollins ISBN: 0-06-251650-7
See also: Country Inns & Suites by Carlson Read & Return It program.

WashingtonPost.com's Faces of the Fallen: By Service: Navy
U.S. Service members who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom

Grow old along with me!

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made.
—Robert Browning

Source: The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor for Thursday, May 7, 2009.
> It is the birthday of Robert Browning born in London, England in 1812. He died on December 12, 1889 in Venice, Italy.

Blinding Ignorance

Blinding ignorance does mislead us.
O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!
—Leonard da Vinci

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works.
You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it.
Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.
—Leonard da Vinci

Source: BrainyQuote.com's Leonard da Vinci Quotes
> It is the birthday of Leonard da Vinci, born in Vinci, Italy in 1452. He died died on May 2, 1519 in Cloux, France. Legend has it that King Francis was at his side when he died, cradling Leonardo's head in his arms.

My Sixty-First Birthday

Our three Grandchildren (l-r: Asher, Isabelle and Alex) wish me a sweet and precious Happy Birthday.

 

Happy 114th Birthday, Banjo Paterson

I have gathered these stories afar
In the wind and the rain,
In the land where the cattle-camps are,
On the edge of the Plain.
On the overland routes of the west,
When the watches were long,
I have fashioned in earnest and jest
These fragments of song.

They are just the rude stories one hears
In sadness and mirth,
The records of wandering years --
And scant is their worth.
Though their merits indeed are but slight,
I shall not repine
If they give you one moment's delight,
Old comrades of mine.
—A. B. "Banjo" Paterson Prelude

Source: University of Queensland (Australia) online edition of Prelude from The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses first published in 1895.
See:
> It is the birthday of the poet, journalist, and songwriter Banjo Paterson born Andrew Paterson in Narrambla, Australia in 1864. He passed away on 5 February 1941 in Sydney, Australia. See Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac for Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009
> The biography of Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson by the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition
> A wonderful article about Banjo online in the National Geograohic Magazine by Roff Smith Australia's Bard.
> He is one of my most favorite poets and I have a number of entries devoted to him here on my blog, "Consider this."
  • Clancy of the Overflow
  • Banjo's 'The Man from Ironbark'
  • Happy Birthday, Banjo Paterson (2008)
  • The Old Australian Ways
  • Flowing Beards are All the Go
  • When My Hair is Grey?
  • Mulga Bill's Bicycle
  • Happy Birthday, Mom

Presidential Leadership

Roosevelt's point was plain: Government counts, and in the right hands, it can be made to work. Strong federal action, not just private voluntary efforts and the invisible hand of the marketplace, was required to help those stricken in an emergency. The American people expected and deserved leadership in addressing their hardships, not just from state and local authorities, but from the White House. This fundamental insight would guide politicians and help millions of people in the years ahead, but it was lost on others, who ignored the lessons of Franklin Roosevelt at their peril.
—Jonathan Alter

Source: The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope by Jonathan Alter page 299 Simon & Schuster Paperbacks 2006 ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-4600-2.
See also:
> The White House.
>: The White House.gov > Biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt Thirty-Second President of the United States.