Quick Hits of the Week

• So, I’m a bit confused. It appears that the first of May is a veritable bug zapper for bullsh*t less than exciting and sparsely celebrated holidays. I’d heard of May Day, but somehow I’d missed Loyalty Day. I don’t know about you, but “a special day for the reaffirmation of loyalty to the United States” sounds a touch Orwellian to me. Maybe that’s why it never caught on as a big national holiday. Besides, we already have the Fourth of July, also known as Independence Day. That sounds a lot more like what America is all about. For the first of May, I think we should all be taking advice from Jonathan Coulton.

• Freedom is powerful stuff. One of the keys to motivation is autonomy, and without it, people lose their passion. On the other hand, freedom is scary stuff. It will result in people behaving in ways that you won’t expect or like, and, if you truly value freedom, all you can do to be open and educate them and walk with them through the consequences. Look at this post by Dan Rockwell about finding freedom. In his list of eight ways he uses the terms clarity, equipping, transparency and feedback. If you want to lead free people, you have to be willing to let them stay free.

• Marijuana is less addictive than alcohol or nicotine. Usage levels are statistically flat-lined since the mid-nineties. It’s been proven to help treat glaucoma, relieve chronic pain, reduce side effects of chemotherapy, and limit severe weight loss from other diseases. Despite all of that, I tell my children that they should stay clean and drug free, and I hope that they will.  Even when they have the option to buy it out of a vending machine. I’m for decriminalizing recreational drugs not because I think more people should be using them, but because the destructive results of the War on Drugs are far worse, both on the presumed guilty and the innocent.

• Do you know the joys of Sriracha? Don’t look at me like that. Sriracha is that spicy red stuff that comes in the rooster bottle that you squirt on your food at Asian restaurants.  Joshua Bousel has shared some history of how it’s made, and how he makes it from scratch. Which is awesome. Because Sriracha is awesome stuff. Almost as good as wasabi.

Links of the Week

[image removed]

• Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day. I hope you all enjoyed your turkey. I tried to give everyone something to be thankful for yesterday, but Seth Godin’s Turkey Day post is far more poignant. He proposes that when we look at the holiday we do it with a modern eye, and not as a celebration “of scarcity averted.” I love it.

• Have you ever wondered if the site you were trying to reach is actually down, or if it’s just you? Now the internet has an answer for you. Just add a URL.

• NPR’s All Things Considered spent a little time talking this week about the future of Social Security (or the lack thereof). Several members of the blogosphere are excited that they’re finally saying what just about anyone with a basic understanding of math and a passing familiarity with the term ‘Ponzi scheme’ have known for decades.  I’m not going to be that harsh, but I’m also not counting on Social Security to be around to supplement my investments when they think I should be retiring.

• Popular Mechanics interviews a security expert who says the new TSA policies won’t catch anybody. Color me surprised. We’re doing a lot to the innocent citizens of our country and people around the world to try to stop terrorism. We need to be more honest with ourselves how much of it is actually worth what it has been costing us, and how much of it actually accomplishes the stated goals.

• If the following video doesn’t strike you as familiar, you haven’t watched the news in a long while.
  
  While I find the video very dry and very funny, it does make a good point about the way television news has become homogenized. On the other hand, the rise of social networks has begun to reform the nature of investigative journalism. Maybe TV news will be just one more casualty of the communication revolution.

• Carlos Whittaker wants to turn this Black Friday…Blue. He’s partnering with Watermissions.org to bring clean water to the most desperate communities of the world. It’s as easy as sending a text.