“The Tiny Dot” – Government & Taxes Simplified?

The Tiny Dot

The Tiny Dot

Here’s a video by Larken Rose called “The Tiny Dot.” It’s a very simplified view of government and taxes.

Over-simplified? Probably.

But sometimes making complicated topics extremely simple helps look a things from a new perspective.

I don’t know much about Larken Rose. I’ve heard one interview with him, and he has some interesting ideas. He has a new book (this video is a promotion for said book) titled The Most Dangerous SuperstitionHis ideas seem to center around the idea of self-reliance and local communities.

The “superstition” Larken’s book discusses is our belief in the need for authority. We all seem to believe that we need an authority to keep the world running smoothly. Larken thinks we can do a better job without this authority. He doesn’t claim to have the answers to accomplish monumental task, but he does create an interesting line of thought.

Anarchy? Based on the Wikipedia definition, Larken’s theories seem to fall under the “anarchy” label.

Ignorance? Brainwashed? Maturing? Anarchy use to carry a negative connotation in my mind, but Larken’s ideas have a spark of simplicity that seems to apply to the world today.

Given the current state of broken political and economic systems worldwide, should we continue to put our faith in this “authority?” Has the “authority” demonstrated its expertise in management of the welfare of the whole?

Would self-reliance, strong community values, and management on a local level be a stronger approach?…could it be worse than what we have?

The Tiny Dot” is definitely simple, but sometimes simple carries the strongest message.

I’m not motivated to read his book because I feel like I get the gist of the thoughts, but mainly because I think a lot of the current events need to sort themselves out regardless of different philosophical and political perspectives, but the message of “power to the people” does seem carry some value…especially if/when corners are turned and tough questions start to be asked.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zijmsZGFpO4[/youtube]

Sabotage for the Kids – RIP MCA

As we all probably know by now, one of the trifecta that make up the Beastie Boys passed away last week. I was tempted to scribble out a post memorializing MCA, but the interwebs were bursting at the seams with MCA-related posts; so I held off.

I mourned in my own way – I added a Beasties station to my Pandora (how did I not have a Beasties station?!) and cranked up the car stereo while cruising. I’m sure MCA can respect this.

Born in the late 70’s, the Dude is a product of the 80’s, and as a result, a product of the Beastie Boys. I can still recall sitting in my 4th grade class and seeing the Beasties cassette for the first time as a friend passed it around like illegal contraband.

Music was still rebellious at that point, and it doesn’t get much more rebellious than early Beastie Boys.

The Beasties will forever hold a special place in my musical heart. So, it’s sad to see a founding member move on – especially at the young age of 49. To be honest, it seemed like the Beasties would fade away a number of times, but they always found a way to stay relevant. With MCA gone, there is no way to make a full recovery, and with that, it feels like a piece of childhood for many gen x/y’ers is passing on as well. Hence all of the online memorializing.

I stayed out of the online memorializing for a week or so, but now I’ve been pulled back in. A great new video has brought the MCA memorial to the level of kids, and the Dude can relate to kids. So, I had to jump in.

Here’s a tribute to Adam Yauch – aka MCA – by James Winters and his family. James, the Dude digs. Nice work.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/42106181[/vimeo]

Hats off to Kottke.org for sharing the link.

It Will Bring a Tear to a Dude’s Eye…

This time-lapse video of a young girl aging from zero to 12 has been shared quite a bit the past couple days – gone viral as the cool kids like to say.

It is very cool to watch how kids progress. But it brings a tear to the Dude’s eye. Kids grow up too fast.

I’ve been using an app on the IPhone called “Everyday” to take a picture of me and Little Dude…almost everyday. The idea is that the app will take the pictures and put it into a video. I’ve been doing it for over a year.

It’s amazing to see how much he’s changed in a year. And how much the Dude’s facial hair has changed. 🙂

I keep thinking that I’ll turn it into a video. But I always decide to wait for another deadline. The reality is that it’s kind of scary to see how fast the Little Man is growing.

But the beauty of watching a child grow is the next stage is at least as fun as the last. Although, we’re seeing hints of the terrible two’s, so I reserve the right to retract that last statement.

Zero to 12…

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/40448182[/vimeo]

Little Dude…Being Little Dude

The other day I mentioned that Little Dude has a determined streak in him.

What I failed to mention is that The Boy is also chock full of crazy.

I can remember my parents sending me out to run laps around the house to burn off energy…and I was happy to do it. But, I’m not sure that I had this kind of energy at this age.

This is 20 seconds of video distilled down from five minutes of this same routine. Laps in the living room at 7 PM. Lunatic.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcUNjwF4iXc&feature=BFa&list=UL1OnKXlIMhjk&lf=mfu_in_order[/youtube]

Ask and You Shall Receive. A Response Video to Jorge & Alexa’s “Home” Video

Caution:  This isn’t much of a response video.

When the fans speak, the Dude listens. After the Behind the Curve post, we were so flooded with fan requests for the Princess to make a video (all 2 of them), that we felt we owed it to our loyal readers to come up with something.  Well, that and the events unfolded serendipitously so all the Dude had to do was point and click. No effort, my favorite type of work.

However, prior to jumping into the video, I want to mention the Jorge and Alexa video again. I didn’t mention this in the last post, but their back-story is interesting. Based solely on the 30 seconds I spent on their Facebook page, it seems Jorge is a 24 year old, single father of two young girls (at least one of which loves to sing), working his way through college.

The video has a good story too. After 9 or 10 practice runs with a mic that ended up being turned off the entire time, at 11 PM they were both ready to hit the hay, but gave one last run at it with the mic on. Clearly it worked.

It’s a great rendition of a great song. There are a few pieces of the video that stand out for me. Alexa’s fake whistle around 1:35 is great, and her question, “One day I’m going to whistle?” was timed perfectly and seemed spontaneous. The stifled yawn at about 2:30 is perfect, and definitely shows it was the end of the night. But I guess most importantly, even in a short video, a strong father-daughter bond seems to come across.

Was this the breakout weekend for this song everywhere, or just in our world? It’s been around for a while, so I have to guess it was just our world. Like when you buy a new car you start to see the same cars all over the road. It was popping up everywhere we turned. Radio, Facebook, email, Pandora. The Princess can’t stop singing it.  Which I guess leads us to our “response” video.

The Dude doesn’t have the same musical acumen that it appears Jorge has. At least not yet. I’d love to learn the guitar, but I’ve been stuck trying to teach myself the harmonica for the past five years. And judging by that progress, learning the first verse of Home would probably take me another 3 years. So, I probably won’t be performing anytime soon. I only make a small cameo, from the waist down, with some poor bongo banging. But the Princess is building her stage presence.

I was feeding the dogs when I noticed The Princess was jamming on the bongo and singing. The camera was close by, so I grabbed it. I tried to catch her without her noticing.  It was a bad angle and she noticed, so I moved in for a closer look. Most of her quiet singing is drowned out by the bongo. She starts out singing this country song. But as she’s playing, Home randomly comes on Mrs. Dude’s Phoenix mix on Pandora. (Go Mrs. Dude. Nice selection. Quality musical taste; another item on the long list of “I love you’s.”)

So, we seize the moment and poorly sing along with song…kind of.  But not really because the Princess knows about three words…and the bongo is loud. In the end, The Princess poorly lipsync’s the song and ends up licking a microphone.

All in all, an unremarkable response to a remarkable video.

Enjoy.

Dad’s Are Cool!

Is this a new trend?  Are Dad’s cool right now?

I was sent the below videos today by separate, unrelated sources.  Both are great parodies of a Dad’s life, and judging by the number of views they’ve had on YouTube, they seem pretty popular…even Toyota has jumped on the Dad bandwagon.

Dad’s are funny creatures.  It’s a big shift from single dude to dad, but great dad’s are successfully making the transition every day, and it’s pretty funny to watch…and experience.

Seems the Dude is in the right profession.  I suspect the high dollar sponsorships will follow soon.