May 15, 2012 Posted by bsoist

Thought Crimes

I’ve never really thought about this before, but hate crime penalties really amount to punishments for thoughts. Shouldn’t the law be concerned with actions and deeds, not with thoughts? I know a lot of people think judging someone’s motives in a hate crime is no different than classifying a murder as premeditated, but really, I’ve never been a big fan of that either, much like... read more

May 9, 2012 Posted by bsoist

Framing the Issue? You Got that Right!

I try to ignore National Review Online, I really do! But I stumbled onto some real nonsense today and I can’t let it go. How we talk about an issue affects how we think about it. Consider the language we use about marriage. A Fox News headline reads: “North Carolina voters take up amendment banning gay marriage.” So what’s the problem? Framing. Today’s vote in North Carolina is not about... read more

May 8, 2012 Posted by bsoist

The “Silly” Things

My life has been shaped by many great and important things – my parents, my siblings, my wife, my kids, my high school economics teacher, the Bible and other great books, etc, but more often than not, the most dramatic positive changes to my attitude and behavior have come from the silliest of things. Things that might seem insignificant to others. In some cases, even things I detest. I thought it... read more

Apr 30, 2012 Posted by bsoist

Great Ideas – 4/30/2012

Homepage | Freerice.com – link Short term mobile phone storage for NYC students – link The Project – SFpark – link Here It Is, Your Lineup For Worst Company In America 2012! – The Consumerist – link Continuations : 45+10=1 hour (Getting Things Done) – link Israeli invention: Writing on sewage – link Fix UC: UC Student Investment Proposal –... read more

Apr 24, 2012 Posted by bsoist

Tweeting the Sermon

Today I stumbled onto “Don’t Tweet that Sermon!” by Tim Challies. I have to admit that when I first read the title I thought “yawn, we’ve discussed this before” but the discussion in the comments turned out to be very thought provoking. I do want to comment briefly on all of his points, but first I want to point out what this tells me about the power of blogging. Though... read more