Category: It Pays To Read

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Leroy Sievers tribute in Bethesda Magazine

Lauras little brother Leroy Sievers
Laura's little brother Leroy Sievers

An excellent tribute to Laura’s brother journalist Leroy Sievers recently appeared in  Bethesda magazine by Kathleen Wheaten.. It was a welcome peek into Leroy’s often very private life. It always amazes me how celebrities who we feel we know… can have an entirely unknown life after hours. The thing is Leroy had no after hours!

As his wife Laurie would probably tell you, Leroy’s life was his work and anyone who wanted to have a friendship of any kind with him had to accept that… and that could be painful to those closest to him. Laurie was kind enough to pass on a hard copy of the magazine which we all appreciate.

Leroy was very lucky to have Laurie handle all of the things that relationships need… like communication.

Roger Freberg

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the future is in understanding the past

Sometimes, when historians look into the past, often they only see the problems and the struggles, but little of the truly amazing achievements not only of industry but of intellect. I have always believed that this is because the historians and journalists are a depressing and a depressed lot.

They should read William James.

Here’s a link to a great site.

William James is not a household name to anyone outside of Psychology. Even in Psychology, many fail to read his original writings but depend too highly on the interpretations of others.  James was brilliant. I say he was brilliant because his observations still hold today over 100 years later.

Although much of what he wrote was around 1900, William James reflects the budding optimism, the clarity of the times and a genuine hope for the future.

Although it may seem old fashioned to post quotes, William James is worth reading. Here are a few:

“Truth is what works.”

“When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.”

“These then are my last words to you. Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.”

“If merely ‘feeling good’ could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience.”

“Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.”

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”

“Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.”

“Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.”

“A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and life is after all a chain.”

“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.”

“Compared to what we ought to be, we are half awake.”

“Everybody should do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice.”

“Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically possible.”

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.”

“Many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.”

“One hearty laugh together will bring enemies into a closer communion of heart than hours spent on both sides in inward wrestling with the mental demon of uncharitable feeling.”

“Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.”

“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.”

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”

“The world is all the richer for having a devil in it, so long as we keep our foot upon his neck.”
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Now, wasn’t that all worth reading?

Roger Freberg

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Can a colorblind person read your webpage?

can a colorblind person read your web page?

On  Laura’s blog  today, she posed an interesting question: “what would I look like to a color blind person?” The question is intriguing. How would a color blind person find the internet? Would they find some pages readable while others were difficult or impossible?

On Laura’s Blog she has a link to help answer that question. I captured a portion of my blog and ran it through their analysis. Yep, it all is readable. I have to give credit to my daughters and the choices of colors they use for the blogs and the help they give me.

Obviously, making something available to colorblind people is a reasonable thing to do.

Roger Freberg

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John McCain is a class act

rememberng our men and women in service and John McCain

For those of you who didn’t hear Senator John McCain’s inspiring and heartfelt remarks:

Remarks
from Senator John McCain

November 4, 2008

Thank you. Thank you, my friends. Thank you for coming here on this beautiful Arizona evening.

My friends, we have — we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love.

In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.

This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight.

I’ve always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Senator Obama believes that, too. But we both recognize that though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation’s reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still had the power to wound.

A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt’s invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African American to the presidency of the United States. Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth.

Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country. I applaud him for it, and offer in my sincere sympathy that his beloved grandmother did not live to see this day, though our faith assures us she is at rest in the presence of her creator and so very proud of the good man she helped raise.

Senator Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain. These are difficult times for our country, and I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.

I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences, and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.

It is natural tonight to feel some disappointment, but tomorrow we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again. We fought as hard as we could.

And though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours.

I am so deeply grateful to all of you for the great honor of your support and for all you have done for me. I wish the outcome had been different, my friends. The road was a difficult one from the outset. But your support and friendship never wavered. I cannot adequately express how deeply indebted I am to you.

I am especially grateful to my wife, Cindy, my children, my dear mother and all my family and to the many old and dear friends who have stood by my side through the many ups and downs of this long campaign. I have always been a fortunate man, and never more so for the love and encouragement you have given me.

You know, campaigns are often harder on a candidate’s family than on the candidate, and that’s been true in this campaign. All I can offer in compensation is my love and gratitude, and the promise of more peaceful years ahead.

I am also, of course, very thankful to Governor Sarah Palin, one of the best campaigners I have ever seen and an impressive new voice in our party for reform and the principles that have always been our greatest strength. Her husband Todd and their five beautiful children with their tireless dedication to our cause, and the courage and grace they showed in the rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign. We can all look forward with great interest to her future service to Alaska, the Republican Party and our country.

To all my campaign comrades, from Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter, to every last volunteer who fought so hard and valiantly month after month in what at times seemed to be the most challenged campaign in modern times, thank you so much. A lost election will never mean more to me than the privilege of your faith and friendship.

I don’t know what more we could have done to try to win this election. I’ll leave that to others to determine. Every candidate makes mistakes, and I’m sure I made my share of them. But I won’t spend a moment of the future regretting what might have been.

This campaign was and will remain the great honor of my life. And my heart is filled with nothing but gratitude for the experience and to the American people for giving me a fair hearing before deciding that Senator Obama and my old friend Senator Joe Biden should have the honor of leading us for the next four years.

I would not be an American worthy of the name, should I regret a fate that has allowed me the extraordinary privilege of serving this country for a half a century. Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone and I thank the people of Arizona for it.

Tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Senator Obama, I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president.

And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties but to believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.

Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history, we make history.

Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you all very much.

___________________________

Thank you Senator McCain!

Roger Freberg