Graham Glass, etc.

2005: Resolutions

I take New Year's resolutions pretty seriously, as it's depressing to make promises to yourself that you don't keep. That being said, here are some of my resolutions for 2005:

• Evangelize the Semantic Web.
• Buy a house.
• Write music.
• Have a full preventative medical exam.
• Try snowboarding.
• Travel to China, Russia, Thailand, Japan, Spain, Miami and Indonesia.
• Become a US citizen.
• Get LASIK surgery.
• Find a new personal trainer.
• Play a racquet sport regularly.

I have some other resolutions, of course, but they shall remain secret for now.

Georgetown Xmas Tree Update

I woke up this morning and went to my lounge window to admire the Georgetown Christmas tree. Oops! The tree was gone, blown down by the high winds that we've been experiencing recently. I hope that they'll put it back up over the weekend.

Scottish Up-Kilt Shot

If you've ever wondered what lies under a Scotsman's kilt, check out this funny article at This is London. A naughty colonel apparently decided to sit next to the Queen in a photo shoot without properly adjusting his kilt. From the smirk on his face, it looks like the mistake was intentional.

My Life

Many of you will have heard about Bill Clinton's book, "My Life". One of my old friends, who happens to be a graphics artist, found an old picture of me in a similar pose to the one on the book's cover. So she worked a little graphics magic and came up with a custom version of the cover. Pretty funny.

Reading Habits

By pure coincidence, I happened to read an article about reading this weekend in the Washington Post that included an interesting statistic. According to one report, only one in 6 Americans reads 12 books or more per year, and half the US population doesn't look at any fiction, poetry, or plays, ever. That is pretty scary. I'm happy to say that I read about 100 books a year, across a broad range of topics, because I find it incredibly pleasurable. Reading is literally food for the brain.

Back to Basics

I think that a lot of America's problems would be greatly reduced if most people lived their lives according to a few basic rules. These rules have nothing whatsoever to do with religion, spirituality, or politics. Here is a sample of the rules, which i hope to expand over time:

- eat in moderation
- exercise at least three times a week for 30 minutes or more
- save a little every month towards retirement
- restrain from unnecessary buying habits that result in debt
- avoid using medication unless really necessary
- read a book at least once a month
- avoid watching the TV for more than 2 hours a day

These rules are sensible, rather mundane, and frankly fall under the category of "common sense". But how many people follow these rules? According to one study I read recently, less than 50% of the baby boomer population have any savings at all, and more then 60% of the US population is overweight, so obviously a large percentage of people don't follow these rules. Imagine how much better off we'd be if, say, 70% of people followed the rules!

I would love it if the president gave a one hour presentation every week that broadcast on every TV and radio channel, promoting these rules to the American population. I don't know if there's a historic precedent for this kind of broadcast, but I think it would help a lot to halt the general decline of physical and mental health.

Rather than waiting for a political party or religion to step up to the task of promoting these fundamental issues with the effort they deserve, I thought it would be fun if a separate movement was formed, called something like "Back to Basics", that promoted the rules via the web. If someone wanted to join "Back to Basics", they could wear a pin to identify themselves as a member of the movement. There would be no fees, no voting, no leader of this movement. Just a bunch of values that could be spread via word of mouth and using Internet technology such as blogs. Personally, I'd find such a group refreshing, free of the usual political overtones.

All comments welcome!

Looking for the perfect foundation?

If you've been looking for the perfect foundation, take some advice from my friend Kytari!