Monday, July 24: The interview was for an article (about blogging) and a tentative podcast for the Baltimore Sun. The article will be published in late August. I’ll keep you posted. One reason I think the interview went very well is because the story won’t be political. And the journalist isn’t the typical left-leaning type with a typical leftist slant already in mind.
Last year I was interviewed by a reporter from the Baltimore Sun for a story on actor Morgan Freeman’s remarks about Black History Month. Freeman said the whole thing is ridiculous and unnecessary. I agreed. My quotes weren’t included in the story. In fact, the only quotes included were from people who support BHM and disagreed with Freeman.
Update (7/20): The Pew Internet and American Life Project has released a new report on blogging. Among the findings: most blogs are personal and over half the bloggers surveyed were under 30. The researchers felt it necessary to point out that bloggers are more ethnically diverse than ordinary Internet users.
The sample size is small. I’m confident that somebody, somewhere is working on a massive blogging survey.
I’m doing an interview this afternoon with a national newspaper for an article and/or podcast. The topic? What else? 
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Look at those big blue balls! (And “brown” ones, too!) I didn’t know Uranus and Neptune were that much larger than Earth, did you? But there is no life on those planets.
Far out, man! (Really far out.) Look how small Earth is compared to the Sun. No wonder so many people worship that sucker.
Well don’t I feel the insignificant little speck of dust! Not really. We Christians believe there’s method and purpose to the breathtaking astronomical “madness.”
The God we worship, our Creator, knows the number of strands of hair on our heads. And his Son, the divine One who became a man and was nailed to a cross 2,000 years ago, will return to deliver his Father’s wrath. For the Christian, what a terrible and glorious day that will be. From time to time I say aloud, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
Check out A Greater Freedom, a new web site for and about Christians serving in the military. (Via Sara Horn)
Do you want to help actual victims of rape? Consider donating to the Grace Bay House project. Sydney Tyler Thomas, a rape survivor, plans to buy a house on the Eastern Shore in Maryland and turn it into a place where rape victims can attend four-day recovery and restoration workshops.
I like all 16 of Bob Parson’s (founder of GoDaddy) rules for survival. But these are my favorites:
4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be — Sometimes I take an “embrace the fear” stance. Instead of running from it, I walk toward it, imagining the worst case scenario. So far, actual events have never confirmed my fears. The anticipation of a thing is usually worse than the thing itself;
6. Take things a day at a time — This is the best way to beat an addiction. Trying to plan and manage recovery weeks or even days ahead of time is unthinkable. “I don’t have to drink today. I’ll worry about tomorrow tomorrow”;
12. Never let anybody push you around— Story of my blogosphere life! Eat my virtual dust, haters;
13. Never expect life to be fair — Take a memo, whiners. Life is not fair, nor was it ever meant to be fair;
16. There’s always a reason to smile. Find it— Let’s see…the agapÄ“ of Christ, a wonderful family, each member blessed with a great sense of humor, a wild-ride career, endless opportunities and possibilities stretching out before me… 
(The above rules for survival are Copyright © 2004-2006 by Bob Parsons. All rights reserved.)
*Which are your favorite rules?
In other news, my Crash Course on Blogging partner Ken Yarmosh sums up my ennui with the political blogosphere of late:
Do bloggers really think their numbers are going to go down (or up) if they don’t cover these stories? Do they think they are reporters? There’s only a few blogs that truly offer “scoops†and news…the rest just become noise in my opinion.
And in other news, isn’t it interesting that so many in Big (Old) Media are now writing about these same stories? Now, I realize they are catering to an entirely different audience but they essentially are repackaging busted up blogosphere memes and running them as technology headlines.
One of his commenters, a new blogger, adds:
I’ve sometimes felt compelled (but have generally resisted) to post on something just because it was “big newsâ€, but after having read it twenty times already myself, I figure all my readers know it anyway, so what’s the point? The real challenge lies in expanding on a story or generating ideas rather than regurgitating headline news – of course that probably means fewer posts and (maybe) less frequent return visits, but in the end readers will come back if they know that what you post is always something worth reading…
Take it from me, resisting the blogospheric mob mentality and doing something different is good for sanity and soul. Oh yeah, I was heavily into blog swarming once, and if the occasion warrants it, I’ll catch the wave again. But all things in moderation…
And I’m so sick of bloggers blogging nastily about other bloggers. A lot of that has been going on across the “left” and “right” blogosphere lately, and it’s stupid. It’s mostly male bloggers, grown men having what I consider a pi**ing contest. But hey, that’s what freedom of expression is all about. I suppose.
I’m going to Love Cafe and have myself a chocolate cupcake with lemon frosting. Later. Right now I have deadline fever. I’ll re-emerge in a day or two. Be good.
Ciao. Adios. Sayonara. Auf Wiedersehen. Au revoir. Goodbye.
(Thanks for the shout-out, Kiril.)
Later…I don’t like Townhall.com’s new look, and it seems I’m not the only one with criticism.
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“Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
(1 Timothy 6:6)
Also, not only are we forgiven (we repent) through the Blood of Christ, we are to forgive others. No grudges.
I needed your cosmic message today. Satan works overtime to erode our happiness. Fortunately, cosmology, quantum mechanics and LaShawn Barber are here to remind us to relax. There is purpose and design to it all. Thanks.
Hi La Shawn,
Regarding your statement about “being sick of bloggers blogging nastily about other bloggers…” I thought you might be interested in reading this article from Fox News if you haven’t already. It’s pretty brutal!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,204283,00.html
4. “—…..accept the worst thing….”–La Shawn
That’s very interesting. —The idea of embracing the fear, walking toward it.
Is that the same thing as playing the hand that’s dealt you?
And who’s dealing the hands? Who’s the Dealer?
These are trust issues. You trust God enough to walk with you and help you through….whatever.
I think we really have to think about what our worst fear is….what is the greatest terror we fear? —
What do we fear the very most?, the very very worst…. and then ask ourselves why we don’t trust God enough to help us through it.
On the other hand, when you are really in “the Zone” so to speak….how would you live if you were living like you really trusted God ???
I need some scripture to back this up. Something that deals with trust issues, trust in God, or lack of trust….which is what ‘fear’ is.
Wish I were a biblical scholar right about now!
Glamchild, you may not be a biblical scholar, but it sounds like you’re heading in the right direction.
Trusting God not only gets us through the day, but every day, all the days. Keep up the good faith!
Take things a day at a time — This is the best way to beat an addiction. Trying to plan and manage recovery weeks or even days ahead of time is unthinkable.
But isn’t there a danger that in living one day at a time, you can get caught up “in the moment” and end up doing something you never intended to do (be it having a drink or whatever)?
Life is not fair, nor was it ever meant to be fair
“I know, but why isn’t it ever unfair in my favor?” – Calvin
Someone sent me those photos in an email the other day – but you didn’t put in the final one….the one that makes _our_ sun…the _big_ one look like the earth dot in that photo. (the Skyepuppy link – the one indicated by the “far out man” link)
Amazing stuff! If you read the article but didn’t follow that particular link, be sure to go back and check it out!
I camarison EARTH is a marble compared to a beachball JUPITER and how big is ARDELIUS 2 compared to earth?
One of my favorite rules is, “Sing ‘Count Your Blessings’ at least once a day.” Laurie
I like quite a few of the Rules, but number 16 is my favorite. Even something as simple as being able to breathe is a reason to smile.
On political/news blogging, I’m never quick enough to scoop anybody (I generally blog during my lunch hour), but I have an opinion, or I make a connection that I haven’t seen anywhere else.
And if the news is boring or overdone, there’s always something else to blog about, like exploding toads in Denmark or how to get out of quicksand or showing some incredibly cool pictures of the earth and the stars.
Thanks for the link!
I have to quote Clairee Belcher from Steel Magnolias, “A dirty mind is a terrible thing to waste.” That would be one of mine.
(I understand if that disappears.) 
Another favorite of mine, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
My top two:
2. Never give up.
3. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.
It’s been a battle these last months to not sink in discouragement. From an agent who totally dropped the ball, to financial woes, I’ve been scraping the bottom of the barrel, and it feels like I’ve been trudging through mud! Then I read, “Just because what you’re doing does not seem to be working, doesn’t mean it won’t work.” I appreciate Bob Parsons’ and you, La Shawn, for posting this! Time to keep doing what I do, but look for new angles.
The photos showing the relative size of objects in the solar system make me think of the seemingly infinite size of the overall universe (as if we can comprehend such a thing!). Despite that size, the Bible says that God holds it all in just the span of his hand. No wonder Moses would have been fried if he had gotten a full vision of God as he asked. And no wonder that we need “the express image of his [God's] person” in the form of a man, Jesus Christ, to get some aspect of what He is like.
My father, 87 years old and who has a dartboard with Pres. Bush’s picture on it, sent this to me with the caption “Makes you wonder how significant you really are.” The past few years have been pretty strained for dad and me: he’s pretty disappointed in my support of the the war on terror and, before that, my two votes for Bush in 2000 and 2004. Like you, LaShawn, I find it incredibly uplifting to think know that God put life on that tiny speck, and, if anything, seeing how big those other balls are makes me feel more, not less significant! But I can’t say these things to dad, alas–that’s just what he hates about the president: his faith.
Pray for those who persecute you, LaShawn!
Matt-I lost my Mother this year and she was a dyed in the wool Democrat. Her hatred of Bush was very vocal and your insight into hating Bush’s faith gave me a new insight into my mother. Thanks! Despite the political pain (and other pains too) the love carried us through, keep the faith.
Running for local office as a Republican, I’ve been going door to door and taking a lot of heat for the WOT, Bush-Cheney-Halliburton etc., and I admit I do NOT understand the level of hatred–people swearing he’s “ruined” our country blah blah. Sometimes I think something is wrong with ME because I’m not angry. Am I just too happy personally? My husband goes off on him too–do some people just use ranting about national politics as an all-purpose pressure valve for personal frustrations?
#18 Cassandra- Good luck in your political efforts. I don’t think the ranting is so much an all-purpose release, but because most people don’t get to talk directly to their representatives, they vent their frustrations to anyone with any sort of political affiliation. Maybe they’re hoping the message will reach the “higher-ups” if they scream enough at the “underlings.”
And there’s nothing wrong with you for not being angry. I’m watching Star Wars right now. “Don’t give in to anger. Anger leads to the Dark Side!” heehee.
Thank you for that. It was refreshing and made my day.
Cassandra…
I don’t envy you…it’s a tough time. I think if I were doing what you’re doing, I’d ask a lot of questions…”What do _you_ think we should be doing? What specifically is wrong with the country, and what do you think I as xxx(whatever you’re running for) can do to change things?” Leading questions, with plenty of room for _their_ answers. I’d do this for a couple of reasons: first, you’ll never win an argument with them, so arguing isn’t smart and I guarantee they think they have the answers. Second, if you can follow their lead and draw them out with more questions, you may get to the heart of the problem – though if you do, you should also run for president! I especially don’t understand the focus on Bush hatred simply because he won’t be running in ‘08. What’s the point? Still, it would be a good thing if you can figure out what’s important to people. I suspect that you’re going to be farther ahead asking people what _they_ want you to do for them than telling them what _you_ think you should be doing for them…but that’s just me. I send emails to my conressman all the time. Every now and then I get letters back…but I know _he_ probably doesn’t read them. Still, venting makes me feel better. Probably why we all comment here and other places, too, don’t you think?
Uh … did you miss the transit of Venus back in June, 2004?
Since Venus is about the same size as the Earth, you could pretty much make out that the Earth would be even SMALLER if it were right up against the sun.
The sun of course is a fairly small star as far as stars go.
Kind of makes your feel a tad insignificant, doesn’t it?
A few additional survival tips:
From Satchel Paige: “Don’t look back: Something may be gaining on you.”
From John Wayne as John Bernard Books in The Shootist: “I won’t be wronged. I won’t be insulted. I won’t be laid a-hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.”
And from Winston Churchill: “Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
A lot of bloggers complain about the media, but they’re getting their information from them! If the media didn’t put out stories, then the bloggers would have nothing to write about because stories require a lot of research, interviewing, etc.
Hey La Shawn,
How did your interview go with the national newspaper? Inquiring minds want to know.
Perhaps we’ll find out about it in your next blog…
Out of the rules you listed, La Shawn, I think “always find a reason to smile,” because you’re right–there always IS a reason, no matter how bleak things may appear. That’s the difference between happiness–which circumstances give–and true joy, which only God can give.
As far as my own life rules, one stands out: Everyhing you do has consequences.
EVERYTHING…good and bad. So I’m trying to sow good things.
As General Maximus said in “Gladiator,” “What you do in life echoes in eternity.”
I’m also sick about bloggers blogging nasty stuff about each other. Can’t we all focus on larger issues? Just wondering.
The pictures of the relative scale of the planets is great. The scale of the Solar System is equally awesome: If the sun were the size of a basketball the earth would be the size of a dime, and it would be 2 miles from the basketball (err..sun).
Speaking of dimes, one of my favorite books (of my youth), Hugh Ross’s “The Creator and the Cosmos” had the following to say (paraphrased):
“The chances of the 26 parameters governing the small forces of being what they are and providing the universal conditions amenable to life are the same as if the entire United States were covered with stacks of dimes reaching to the moon and you reach into that pile and retrieve the one red dime.”
Atheists can’t dispute the odds of the nuclear values happening so they dispute the importance of the values themselves (why not carbon based life, for example). These are red herrings though as without the finely balanced nuclear values the universe would fly apart like a 747 without rivets. Another problem for atheists is where was all the matter of the universe before the big bang? How was it created?
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