I know a lot about dogs. I can strike up a conversation with anyone, but only if they have a dog with them.
Stephen Covey, 1932-2012
Stephen Covey, the author of the best-selling book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” died early Monday morning at 79 years old, according to The Associated Press.
Here are the seven habits:
- Be Proactive
- Begin with the End in Mind
- Put First Things First
- Think Win/Win
- Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
- Synergize
- Sharpen the Saw
One way to assess the value of advice is to ask, “Would anyone advise the opposite?” If the answer is no, then all you have are platitudes and truisms.
Let’s try it:
- Let Life Wash Over You Like a Big Wave
- Go Off Half-Cocked
- Proceed in a Frivolous, Undirected Manner
- …
You get the idea.
By selling more than 25 million copies of this book, and becoming known as one of the leading business thinkers of his time, Covey revealed the vacuousness of the modern mind, although I don’t think that was his intention.
R.I.P. Stephen Covey
How Did Civility Die?
There’s no sense in being precise when you don’t even know what you’re talking about. — John von Neumann
Let’s Get Drunk and See How Fast We Can Drive My Expensive Car
According to the California Highway Patrol, [Kurt Duncan] Naegele, [Ryan Robert] Doheny, Doheny’s brother-in-law Darren William Dahlman, 38, of Pasadena, and Christopher H. Pennell of Los Angeles, had been drinking as guests invited to a birthday party on the San Simeon ranch on Sept. 18, 2009.
They drove to the airstrip to find out how fast Naegele’s Range Rover could go, something a CHP investigator claims Doheny later told him was a bad idea because it was pitch black out and Naegele was driving very fast and erratically. Around 11 p.m., the Range Rover rolled several times
before falling down a steep embankment 300 feet off the runway on the north side of the airstrip.The crash killed Dahlman, seriously injured Naegele (who had to be extricated from behind the steering wheel) and also injured Pennell and Doheny. Naegele and Doheny estimated to officers that they had been traveling 35 mph at the time of the crash, but CHP investigators who examined the skid marks and other evidence at the scene determined they were going more like 105 mph.
Here’s where things get strange: Naegele maintains that Doheny was actually driving the vehicle, but rather than take the case to trial, he cut a plea deal for a year in custody and four years of probation.
Footnote: I was on jury duty in a similar case, where a drunk guy drove a car full of drunks into a tree, pinning himself behind the steering wheel, then claimed in court that he wasn’t the driver. You gotta say something, right?
Result? Hung jury. You can always count on three idiots out of 12 who believe that anything’s possible.
Theological Question
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up . . .
So why did the Lord make the sick person sick in the first place?
Penn State Death Penalty?
College football — Penn State Nittany Lions earned wrath of NCAA — ESPN
Forget the NCAA death penalty . . . Penn State University should be burnt to the ground, plowed under and sown with salt.
Open Letter to a Politician
Via Cafe Hayek:
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once. — Einstein
I Dont No Why Im Dumb Agen
Don’t Bring a Gun That Shoots Plastic Pellets to a Gunfight
Man shot to death by police even though family told 911 his gun was fake
Aside
Don’t wanna go by the devil, don’t wanna go by the demon, don’t wanna go by Satan, don’t wanna die uneasy …
Another Guy Who Didn’t Get the Memo on the American Dream
[youtube http://youtu.be/eM7gKeifEOA]
“Anywhere there’s a hardware store I can make money. . . . My art was dormant. Then one day they told me I was laid off from my construction job, and thank goodness.”
Sounds like another guy who didn’t get the memo that America is “no longer the land of opportunity” and “the ‘American dream’ is a myth.”
The Career of a Character Actor
“Who’s Jack Elam? Get me Jack Elam. Get me a Jack Elam type. Get me a young Jack Elam. Who’s Jack Elam?”
Young MacDonald
Little Known Facts About Famous Bluesmen
Blind Willie McTell originally considered the name Spicy Chicken McBites.
Aside
Another day, another adventure in participating in human society.
It’s Hot in July: Everybody Panic!
Thoroughly Smug and Thoroughly Uncomfortable
O generation of the thoroughly smug
and thoroughly uncomfortable,
I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families,
I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.
And I am happier than you are,
And they were happier than I am;
And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.
For Some Things, You Need a Man
80 Percent Of Lightning Strike Victims Are Male, But Why? — NPR
Same reason all of your top executives are men — because we’re risk takers and we don’t run and hide under our blankies at the first sign of danger.
