2015 - Page 19 of 25 - Sam Harrelson

Stop Drinking Bottled Water

Clean, safe drinking water that flows freely out of our faucets is a feat of engineering that humans have been been perfecting for two millennia. It is a cornerstone of civilization. It is what our cities are built upon. And over the years the scientists and hydrologists and technicians who help get water to our houses have also become our environmental stewards, our infrastructural watchdogs, our urban visionaries. Drinking the water these people supply to our homes is the best possible way to protect future access to water worldwide. Companies that package water in a single-use bottle are not concerned with the future. They are not invested in the long-term effects of climate change on an endangered watershed, nor are they working to prepare a megacity for an inevitable natural disaster. What they are interested in is their bottom line: Marketing a “healthy” product to compensate for the fact that people are buying less of their other products that are known to case obesity and diabetes—and selling it for at prices that are 240 to 10,000 times higher than what you pay for tap water.

Source: Stop Drinking Bottled Water

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I’ll add this under my “Theological Eating” umbrella.

Card Cataloging and What Comes After Google

I was always in the 900’s as a kid and teenager…

000 – General works, Computer science and Information
100 – Philosophy and psychology
200 – Religion
300 – Social sciences
400 – Language
500 – Pure Science
600 – Technology
700 – Arts & recreation
800 – Literature
900 – History & geography

Then I got to Yale and they used the Library of Congress system and I was all sorts of messed up for a few months.

And now we have Google. Better?

In some ways yes, in some ways no. Cataloging knowledge has been a human pursuit since the beginnings of writing in Sumeria. I wonder if we will keep turning that over to the algorithms or if whatever some kid in a basement is working on now that will eventually replace Google will return us to human curated cataloging of knowledge?

I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing…

Seriously thinking about putting this on the back of all our Harrelson Agency business cards. Merianna says no.

“What Lies Ahead I Have No Way of Knowing”

Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s 1993 Greatest Hits album was the first CD I ever bought with my own money (big day). I was in full blown “Grunge Sam” mode at the time listening to mostly Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog, Alice In Chains etc, but this Tom Petty CD was always on the player.

In 1994 when Wildflowers came out, I had to go buy it. I’m glad I did… just relistened to the album for the first time in a while and I could still sing almost every word. It’s funny how certain albums stick to your mind.

It’s great that we live in the world of Spotify and Pandora streaming almost any song we can think of, but it’s sad that we don’t buy whole albums and commit them to memory.

Or maybe I’m just getting old.

Oh well…

“Excuse me if I have some place in my mind where I go time to time.”

Asheville is Strange

More than anything else, the strangest thing to me about Asheville is seeing the rivers run the wrong way (towards the Mississippi).

I’m not ready for this.

Source: Video Extra – Mad Men – Trailer: Times of Your Life: Mad Men: Series Finale – AMC

Get out the tissues, Merianna. Sam is going to cry big tears.

Whither Professors?

As I wait, I sympathize: So many things distract them — the gym, text messages, rush week — and often campus culture treats them as customers, not pupils. Student evaluations and ratemyprofessor.com paint us as service providers.

Source: What’s the Point of a Professor? – NYTimes.com

There’s plenty wrong with higher ed, no one’s doubting that, but don’t miss the target. Don’t distract from the real work that needs to be done by pedantically lecturing at the people actually doing it. Don’t begin with an idealized example and then scorn any deviations from it. Life is messier outside the campus fence; teach the students you have instead of pining for the ones you want. Use your privileged position and voice for what we really need in order for professors to matter: condemn the adjunctification of higher education. Hell, treat your own adjunct faculty with fairness and dignity

Source: I Will Not Be Lectured To. I’m Too Busy Teaching – The Tattoed Professor

One of my favorite memories during my oh so short time at the “Kingdom of the Just” (copyright Prof. Ben Dunlap) otherwise known as Wofford College was the interactions I frequently had with amazing professors such as Prof. Mount, Prof. Cobb, Prof. Bullard, Prof. Bayard, Prof. Barrett, Prof. Revels both inside and especially outside of class.

Wofford made me the person I am. Those interactions shaped who I am. Professors matter. Much more than professors will ever know.

Propaganda Marketing

The marketing strategy here is to get “influencers” to naturally and realistically spread your messaging/propaganda through their regular channels.

Source: MRBlog | ISIS and the US Government: The Propaganda War – The Marginalia Review of Books

Thomas does a great job breaking down the current efforts by our intelligence community to use hyperlocal and big idea marketing to counteract the spread of ISIS related media.

Marketing matters!

A Podcast About Walmart Caskets, Cynic Jesus, and Beards

Prof. Thomas Whitley and Sam Harrelson attempt to bring some thoughtfulness to the topic of religion again this week with discussions of the physicality of resurrections, how to read the Bible in a short period of time while in D.C., pledging allegiance to the Christian Flag, and what Muhammad has to do with the First Amendment.

Source: Thinking Religion: Save Money, Die Better | Thinking.FM

Thomas and I do a podcast every Wednesday that I particularly enjoy. It goes back to our days in seminary together (2008 or so) and although we kept trying to make it a regular thing, it’s only become a standard weekly part of my life in earnest over the past few months.

I wouldn’t think of putting off the recording of an episode now. It’s my weekly chance to nerd out about religion, politics, history, and have a civilized conversation that is “deeper” and more reflective than my usual fare. We certainly don’t always agree (this episode is a good example of that), but we do always end up learning a bit from each other… well, I learn from Thomas mostly.

The other thing that I’m beginning to really appreciate are the show notes. We spend a good deal of time pulling those links together and then curating them down into something that can be reasonably thought of as a standard podcast length show. Every week, we come up with dozens of links, so the selection process before the show has also become a highlight of my week.

It’s become a good show. It’s only getting better. Hope you enjoy.

The Colbert Surprise and Good Marketing

Comedian Stephen Colbert announced Thursday that he would fund every existing grant request South Carolina public school teachers have made on the education crowdfunding website DonorsChoose.org.

Source: Stephen Colbert funds $800,000 in grants for South Carolina public school teachers

Compare that to this.

I was sad to see no requests from my home county, which is frequently ignored by our state government.

Regardless, good marketing for DonorsChoose!