SPLC Seeks Justice in Police Shooting of Elderly Louisiana Man | Southern Poverty Law Center.

I’m starting to treat this blog as a catch all for things that interest me. This report comes from the Southern Poverty

Law Center, an organization started by Morris Dees, a lawyer who decided that the most efficient way to stop the KKK was through civil suits. His strategy has worked to diminish the presence of the KKK and other hate organizations across the US by bankrupting them. I am a huge fan of what he is trying to accomplish. I especially like that he and his partners and colleagues work quietly toward their goal. They seem to care more about successfully ridding the country of hate than they do about championing their own “goodness”

How cool is this?

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via Money can’t make me happy, says millionaire giving his riches away.

About an hour ago, I came upstairs from my lair I mean office in the basement and began eavesdropping on my kids and their friends.
The subject was virtual barbering. I sincerely believe I should never stop learning, so I asked about it, and learned more than I ever wanted to know about how you really can get a haircut for your virtual guy in an on-line game. Good to know.

Then it hit me: what is the etymology for barber? Now, here I have to admit to the fact that for a moment, I lost my senses and made an odd connection that barber might be linked to barbarian — I know, it makes very little sense when the obvious answer is barbe…

However, my 12 year old son jumped on the chance to swindle money from an old lady and agreed to my bet that it was related to barbarian…

And I lost $2. By the time I had opened the dictionary to the letter “B” I knew I was wrong. But noticing that my son was more astute than his mom…priceless : )

When I was 16 or 17, Wynton Marsalis came out with an album called Black Codes. The music inspired me, and still does. But on the album cover there is a quote from Marsalis that changed the way I live my life:

” Black Codes mean a lot of things. Anything that reduces potential, that pushes your taste down to an obvious, animal level. Anything that makes you think less significance is more enjoyable. Anything that keeps you on the surface. The way they depict women in rock videos—Black Codes. People gobbling up junk food when they can afford something better—Black Codes. The argument that illiteracy is valid in a technological world—Black Codes. People who equate ignorance with soulfulness—definitely Black Codes. The overall quality of every true artist’s work is a rebellion against Black Codes.”

Here is a link to Wynton Marsalis’ website.

You don’t have to do anything higher than to love and esteem yourself to begin to eschew these. As soon as you slip, though, you may find yourself taking meaningless jobs, degrading your standards just to make a couple dollars without trusting that something better, more meaningful, is out there.