The Blog Of Andy Smithyman
Suppose some angelic being who had since creation known the deep, still rapture dwelling in the divine Presence would appear on earth and live awhile amongst us Christians… He might, for instance, wonder how we can be contented with our poor, commonplace level of spiritual experience.
What if he sat in one of our daily sessions of an average Bible conference and noted the extravagant claims we Christians make for ourselves as believers in Christ and compare them with our actual spiritual experiences? He would surely conclude that there was a serious contradiction between what we think we are and what we are in reality.
A.W. Tozer: Keys To A Deeper Life
Tozer has a way of provoking a response within, to present to each pilgrim of faith a consideration of their own walk and how true it really is. A worthwhile provocation and one I believe, is a continual act of our devotion.
It’s about getting things down to one number, using stats the way we read them, we’ll find value in players that nobody else can see… People are overlooked for a variety of biased reasons and perceived flaws: age, appearance, personality. Bill James and mathematics cuts straight through that.
Of the 20,000 notable players for us to consider, I believe that there’s a championship teams of 25 people that we can afford because everyone else in baseball undervalues them. Like an island of misfit toys.
(Jonah Hill as Peter Brand, Moneyball)
A worthwhile expedition to tread; the journey to discover the island of misfits. It’s all about how you choose to see things.
- Josh Lyman: There's a Citizen's Stamp Advisory Committee?
- Leo McGarry: Yes.
- Josh Lyman: Made up of members of the "There But For The Grace of God go I" Club?
A classic book, timeless in its articulation.
“True religion confronts earth with heaven and brings eternity to bear upon time”.
Adam Savage does it again:
“One of the funny things about owning a brain is that you have no control over the things it gathers and hold onto, the facts and the stories: and as you get older it only gets worse. Things stick around for years sometimes before you understand why you are interested in them, before you understand their importance to you… The simplest questions can carry you out to the edge of human knowledge”.
One of the many reasons why Sorkin rocks.
A hurricane blows, brings a hard rain.
When the blue sky breaks, feels like the world’s gonna change.
We’ll start caring for each other like Jesus said that we might.
I’m a Jack of all trades, we’ll be alright.
The banker man grows fatter, the working man grows thin.
It’s all happened before and it’ll happen again.
It’ll happen again, they’ll bet your life.
I’m a Jack of all trades and, darling, we’ll be alright.
Now sometimes tomorrow comes soaked in treasure and blood.
Here we stood the drought, now we’ll stand the flood.
There’s a new world coming, I can see the light.
I’m a Jack of all trades, we’ll be alright.
The ‘Bruce’ echoing the hope and social power of the DIY ideology / subculture.
Bruce Springsteen: Jack Of All Trades (Wrecking Ball Album)
A new word within my lexicon, “flaneur”. A perfect rule to appreciate the creativity of life that continually dances right before the eyes.
Railway Engineering: the nuts and bolts of hidden beauty. (Sarah Bakewell: Guardian 1st March 2012)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/01/railway-engineering-nuts-bolts-beauty
I give a lot of attention to sentences, but mainly because they don’t come out right for me on the first go-round, or the second, or the eighth, or the thirtieth. Revising takes me a lot of time… When I’m working on a story or essay, if I find something messed up, I make myself start over and read it through again. If I find something else wrong, I start back over, and I keep starting over until I can read it without stopping, until I don’t suffer any doubts. That takes a long time.
Paul Maliszewski and his craftsmanship of writing.
Very measured and articulated piece of writing from Dr. Giles Fraser, that mixes present day social commentary with the context of history.
You can never evict an idea.
Luke Ives Pontifell carries a Blackberry. He owns an iPad and writes a blog. He harbours no aversion to the bytes and tweets that whirl through the modern world. He has also devoted his life to the production of handcrafted books that will be around long after he’s gone.
When everything is disposable, it’s a powerful way of communicating ideas - of saying, this is something that matters - this is something that you should keep and save.
Perfect summation.
Thornwillow Press have their own series of libraries: a perfect match up to their approach to literature.
I love this detail of craftsmanship.
Thornwillow Press is a small publisher that produces finely crafted, handmade, limited-edition books. Letterpress printers work on 24 antique and modern printing presses - the oldest press dating back to the 1800’s, and the bindery still uses historic binding equipment.
