I normally don’t make a habit of “pre-announcing” improvements to the blog, but the reception of the new Slope has been marvelously warm, and I’m inclined to let you know I’m not resting on my laurels but am intent on introducing most enhancements this month. Among these are: (more…)
Slope of Hope Blog Posts
Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.
So What’s New?
Welcome Slopers, one and all, to the new Slope of Hope!
Since the vast majority of you are well-acquainted with the old blog, let me point out some important differences. I’m going to leave this post up for a good long while so lots of people see it.
(1) The Slope and SocialTrade user databases have been merged into one, and to log in, just use your email address and your password. I say again: your old username has no meaning to the new database. Use your email address from now on.
Bottom of the Eighth and Start of the Ninth
Eight years ago, I was on a celebratory vacation with my family in Cancun. My wife and I had sold our start-up business, Prophet.net, a couple of months before, and now that we had tidied up all the loose ends, we wanted to go have some fun and spend time with our two young children.
My wife had been prodding me for some time to start a blog, but I thought blogs were just a fad. I finally gave in, and I wrote my first post on March 29th, 2005.
Magnificent Interview
My affection for George Carlin is well-known. He is, after all, the Patron Saint of Slope of Hope.
I hadn’t seen this interview before, but I tripped across it by chance. It is a wonderful interview for a couple of reasons. First, George basically talks about himself for an hour. There’s no interviewer jumping in; it’s just him and the camera. It’s the closest I’ve ever felt to knowing what it would like to have actually met him and listened to him as a real person, instead of as a performer on the stage.
Second, his values really shine through. He is obviously a very moral and thoughtful man, and he is someone who tried to be wise about the decisions he made in his life. And he had a truly amazing life. This is something I would like to be able to say of myself in the end. I’ll never be a Carlin, or anything close, but I’d at least like to look back and think I didn’t screw up too badly.
Some of you recall that hearing about Carlin’s death was a “JFK moment” for me. He was a comedic genius, and he helped me understand how frustration and anger can be crafted into creative forms of expression. If you even a passing interest in Carlin, please do watch the interview.
