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A Purple Wave
Texas has enjoyed the national spotlight in recent weeks thanks to a Senate race between an incumbent who recently ran for president and a challenger who broke fund-raising records. Election Day was yesterday, and the incumbent Ted Cruz won by a close margin (slightly more than the population of Amarillo, at least as of the…
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A Mom, a Mother, and a Princess
When I was growing up, I had two very different moms. My biological mother (“Mother”) was an aggressive, no-nonsense chick with zero tolerance for anyone who got in her way and a fair amount of engine grease under her nails. My stepmother (“Mom”) was an ambitious career-oriented go-getter who could develop skills faster than the…
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Cultural Tolerance that Shouldn’t Be
First of all, let’s set politics aside. This conversation is much bigger than the current political climate. Let’s agree to table our unwavering loyalty to or hatred of Donald Trump and talk about human beings in general. At least for the moment, mmkay? Gag Orders Let’s start with this: Anyone who wonders if real people…
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A Felon’s Perspective on Clinton and the FBI
At this very moment, I’m rocking my beautiful baby girl to sleep in one arm while I write this on my phone with the other. I treasure this moment each and every night because I know what it’s like to miss out. I don’t normally write about politics, and I try to avoid being too…
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Girls vs. Boys: Body Image and the Toys that Influence
Yesterday, Mattel announced a long-overdue expansion of their Barbie line to include a wider variety of silhouettes and skintones. …Barbie is announcing the expansion of its Fashionistas® line with the addition of three new body types – tall, curvy and petite – and a variety of skin tones, hair styles and outfits… Those that know…
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Mistaken Identity
Without another identity already entrenched, we often tend to define ourselves by mistakes. I don’t know if that’s just built into the human psyche, industrialized society, or just general American culture, but I see it all around me. And I see it in all forms around me. Take my dad, for example. He’s the epitome…
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The Project Triangle and the Christian Life
The Project Triangle is something we use frequently in communicating project constraints to clients. I’m not sure who originally came up with it, but it’s brilliant due to its accuracy, simplicity, and universality. It doesn’t matter whether you’re building software or skyscrapers; pretty much any project is subject, in some degree, to the Project Triangle. While…
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Nerds, Geeks, and Dorks: Distinctly Defined
I write software. I work on computers. I play video games. And I love science fiction and fantasy. Does that make me a nerd, a geek, a dork, or more than one? Personally, I happily brandish two of the above labels (geek and nerd), but not necessarily for the same reasons some might apply them…
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Black and White
Embed from Getty Images I’ve always considered myself a very “black-and-white” person. I tend to perceive the world around me in a very analytical, highly logical manner. This tendency can best be exemplified by a statement I have made on countless occasions. “The world is black and white; there are no shades of gray. Gray…
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Personal Responsibility and the Locals in Rome
Personal responsibility is a funny thing. Many people simply do not recognize it as a value anymore. In fact, it’s so commonly uncommon, political pundits frequently use the sense (or more precisely, the lack of) of personal responsibility as a talking point to support their propaganda. And they’re often right. That said, it is not…