I am judgmental

There's too many people out there actually get to know them all. While I'm walking down the street, or through a park or through a store, I pass by hundreds of faces and there is no way that I could possibly have enough time to get to know all of these people. In the grocery store, for example, I might pass four or five different people while walking around a single corner of an aisle. There's no time to get to know all these people and I find it impossible to walk past them without conjuring up an instant impression of who they are. Therefore, I am confessing that I am consciously and unremittingly judgmental. It's not that I categorize people by "race" or gender. That would be stupid, given that there's so many different kinds of people of every "race" or either gender. Nor do I judge people by what seems to be their social economic status. I know many people who work blue-collar jobs who are as smart as anyone I've ever met. I have friends who drive old cars when they could afford new cars. Or who wear unpretentious clothing by careful conscious design. I know people who walk, take public transportation or bicycle because they prefer to get around that way. I know people who shop frugally even though they could afford almost anything at all. I know people who are sharp as can be, even though they don't sound like it when they speak. Therefore, how is it that it is possible to be judgmental in good conscience?

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The best way to have self-esteem is to have it

Can you get self-esteem by trying to convince yourself that you have it? Apparently not, according to a new study reported by the BBC:

Canadian researchers found those with low self-esteem actually felt worse after repeating positive statements about themselves.

They said phrases such as "I am a lovable person" only helped people with high self-esteem.

The study appears in the journal Psychological Science.

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Fear of heights? Visit the new Sears tower balconies

If you want to confront your fear of heights, consider visiting one of the new Sears Tower Balconies, which allow you to step out onto a Plexiglas floor and look straight down. Here's the full AP story. I know that this will not be for everyone. I once told a buddy about seeing how close I could stand to the edge of a cliff at the Grand Canyon until he tersely asked me to stop talking about it because he was getting nauseated. Actually, a few years ago, my wife and I visited the CN Tower in Toronto, and had the opportunity to stand on Plexiglas balcony to look straight down. Here's a photo I took: Image from CN Tower by Erich Vieth

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Woody Allen on raising secular humanists

Woody Allen discusses raising his children as secular humanists:

We've raised them, not in any particular religion, but as what we call secular humanists – meaning we've taught them to be honest and kind, and to have respect for human dignity and the rights of other people. And, apart from that, we're trying to keep their minds as open as they can be. We're trying to educate them by giving them as much information as we can, so that when they grow up, they will be competent to make their own evaluations about what they believe.

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