Any misspelled words or grammatical errors on this site are provided only for effect. Views expressed here are strictly those of the author, as opposed to being from his pet iguana. We reserve the right to add new letters to the alphabet or alter the time-space continuum as we see fit. Your presence at this site is a complicit agreement to these conditions.
Namebots on Parade
Some parents when having named their children didn't realize that a naming convention is not about gathering the seventeen tribes of everyone containing the same first name as their beloved child and holding a weekend conference where they could all gather and bask in the glory of their namesakes. But such is the case we find with those who have a Mikeness.
In truth, each of us knows about 327 Mikes, give or take a stray Mike here or there. But if you lose one, don't worry — there will be plenty of others. And don't let them hide behind the Michael persona either — one is just a disguise of the other. In the debate between which came first — the Michael or the Mike — there are several legitimate theories. Michael may be traditionally thought of as the formalized version of Mike, but that's the easy explanation… and precisely what they'd like you to believe. A competing linguistic theory holds that the name of Mike originated in 3248 B.C. in an upper Indochinese region, translating it to "master rice squatter," a prestigious title in ancient Asian tradition. Mikes were revered for their uncanny ability to stay in the catcher's position for hours on end, although many of them did end up getting bum knees and were thereafter relegated to the less respectable designated squatter role.
But it was the inimitable Mike Choi who led the league in squats that year with 26,517, a record which still stands… or squats. From that time forward, about 1400 years later, the name was extended nobility status, but to differentiate the middle class Mikes from the upper class Mikes, the grandiloquent "Michael" was employed, which to this day serves as part of the dignified holier-than-Ralph nomenclature.
That's the history, but as they say, the history is only part of the story.
Michael as the ideal is an archangel, one of the principal angels in Christian and Islamic tradition. He is viewed as the field commander of the Army of God. He is mentioned by name in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation. Meanwhile, Mike is just your neighbor who doesn't shave half the time. As far as I know, there aren't very many Mikes in the scriptures. Why not? Nobody would've believed them, for one. And Mike said unto the people, curse ye heathens. And the heathens said back to him, but you're a Mike.
In consideration of Mike lore, when you meet someone new and they say their name is Mike, you're thinking, "Yeah, you and the rest of the world. Could you be just a little more original?" After all, Mipe is available. Why isn't there a Mipe revolution? Oh, I suppose 'k' is intrinsically better than 'p', eh? Additionally, Miatonkajabberwock is also available, but I do feel the need to pick my battles. And somebody out there ought to feel lucky we didn't have one more child.
Do Mikes feel like clones, in that there's no shred of uniqueness in their name? Does it make them feel they're just another Mike in the crowd? Psychology Tomorrow is surely going to have an article stating "The clinical ramifications of being named Mike cannot be overstated… even if you said it 428 times. To be a Mike is to lose one's identity in a Mike-eat-Mike world."
You could get a call from somebody you know, and they could say, "Hi, this is Mike." And you'd have to say, "Which one?" And then unless it was a really uncommon last name, you'd have to say, "Which Mike Simmons?" This is why Mikes have a hard time talking on the phone, because it takes three or four minutes just to properly identify themselves, and by then they've usually forgotten what it is they wanted to say.
It's hard enough to remember people's names, but now having a glut of Mikes adds another element to the equation. "OK, I know he's a Mike, but how do I narrow it down from there?" Then you go up to him, not remembering where you've seen him before but still wanting to demonstrate that you recognize him, so you say, "Uh, you're a Mike, right?" Actually, you could do that with anybody and you'd have a pretty good chance of being right. Within fifteen minutes, you could be reminiscing with at least someone in the crowd whom you've never met just by using this method.
So why is it that parents keep naming their kids Mike? Is it because there's some subconscious predilection to the sound of it? "But I like Mike," they say. Yeah, but that doesn't mean you have to hate Kate. Or adore Igor. Or esteem Kareem. Or loathe something that rhymes with loathe. The alliterative power of suggestion may be a tad stronger than suspected, at any rate.
Among the more famous but dubious distinction holders of the Michael, we have the likes of Jordan, Jackson, Johnson, Phelps, Douglas, J. Fox, Richards, Nesmith, Angelo, Landon, Caine, Palin, Stipe, Keaton, Medved, McDonald, Bolton, Bublé, Eisner, Savage, Vick, Irvin, Bloomberg, Moore (boy, this list is degrading rather rapidly…). What a truly motley crew of Michaels we spin. Landon and Keaton might be keeping the whole group from going down in flames. And since Little Joe has passed on, that leaves only Mr. Mom to carry the flag for all the Michaels of the world. This could get ugly fast. And while you might say Crichton, I say potato. It's actually a really strange Belgian pronunciation.
Ever notice the paucity of Mike wannabes? All these supposed accomplished Mikes curiously transformed themselves into Michaels. They're fleeing from the short to the long like there's some sort of stigmata attached. This tells us that the cognoscenti have a strong preference for Michaelness over Mikeitude (yes, I know I probably spelled those wrong). In grade school, the aforementioned were no doubt Mike Bolton, Mike Moore, Mike Caine, and then the minute they started becoming famous they shed their Mikeitude (yes, I realize again that Mikeitude was stricken from Oxford's 12th Edition for purely political reasons, but what can you do?).
If you're wondering… the famous Mikes proper, meanwhile, are pretty much Tyson and Myers, and pray for rain. End of story, thank you for playing. So have fun with those. Tyson probably couldn't even spell Michael if you spotted him the first seven letters, and Myers has so many alter egos one could quite easily convince him that he's Jerry Lewis' albatross incarnate, and get away with the charade for a millennia.
Or you could be a football coach, *ahem* Shanahan *ahem* Ditka *ahem* Singletary *ahem* Holmgren *ahem* McCarthy *ahem* Tomlin *ahem* Smith *ahem* Riley. You say Belotti, I say biscotti. These coaching types are known in the parlance as outliers, because it's not polite to call a man an outlier to his face. Saying an NFL coach is a respectable public figure is like saying Karl Marx eats Cocoa Puffs for breakfast. They simply have no correlation to fact or nutrition. They won't let you be an NFL head coach any more unless you've had your nose broken twice and been through a modicum of street brawls. You have to look like your facial features are in rebellion. That's the perfect coach for pro football. Now he can go on and chew out his players and they'll simultaneously respect him for it and be intimidated by it.
But to the point, curious how Mikes gravitate to being NFL coaches. And not only that, but they stay Mikes. Let's check your resume' here… It says you possess a tremendous amount of ambition, you have a plethora of experience, and your mother was bad at naming kids. OK, your ceiling here is going to be NFL coach. Hey, if she had only named you Edward or Christopher, you might've had a higher calling. Not our fault.
To recap, for those born in the 1990s, Michael was the #1 boys or girls name in the U.S., more popular in its gender than any girls name was in its. For those born in the 1980s, Michael was the #1 child's name again. For those born in the 1970s, Michael was the #1 child's name… are you detecting a trend here? For those born in the 1960s, yep, Michael was the #1 child's name. But for those born in the 1950s, a-ha! It was only the #1 child's name. Oh wait, that's the same. Oh, bother.
Michaelmania went an unprecedented five straight decade rampage in full force, as the most popular name in every single one of them. Among all the males you know born from the 1950s to the 1990s, chances are there are more Mike-a-holics than any other name at those ages. And these guys are surely angry, too. You think it's easy being a marked Mike? That's almost as bad as being a miked Mark, which is only a lazy way of naming someone Mike without actually coming out and doing it. Mark is Mike with more bark, but Mike is the Mark you didn't like. It's a complex diagram, and you wouldn't want me to draw it up either.
What does this mean? 50 years of the public not getting tired of a name is a little hard to fathom. You think they'd get over it after maybe a decade or two at the outset. I mean, do you want the world's nephews all having the same names as the uncles, and the grandpas the same as the grandsons? Do we have a specific obsession for Mike-a-thons?
Historians will correctly note that we've had 44 U.S. presidents, and interestingly of those 44, exactly zero of them were Michaels or Mikes. Which is a strong indicator that they'd make rotten leaders. Being a Mike apparently prevents one from achieving lofty heights.
Just be a little wary if Mr. Huckabee makes a run at it in 2012. Even if it's as someone not named Mike's running mate. Because there have also been 47 vice presidents, of which exactly zero were named Michael or Mike. They really do have a rotten track record in leading countries. Well, I suppose then that would presume that they have any track record at all… But you get my drift. (I have to use that disclaimer to let you know I'm aware that you're aware)
Think of the Mikes in your life. What are their redeeming qualities, if any? Now, I've got nothing personal against any of the Mikes. Heaven knows if I wanted to offend any group, Mikes are the last ones I'd go after, considering their enormously prodigious numbers.
In fact, it turns out there really isn't a world population explosion problem… after you take out all the Mikes. Because minus them, we're just fine. And yet you never hear about a Mike explosion, because it wouldn't be politically correct.
I realize some of you may be Mike sympathizers, and this is understandable. They've effectively assimilated themselves into society, where the closest thing to a negative reaction might be, "Oh, you're named Mike too? Well, that's a coincidence." We've become desensitized to their threat.
At the same time we have to ask ourselves: Are they trying to take over the world? Will there be a revolt sometime in the near future? Their work of infiltrating our populace may be completed already, in terms of all those they have to name. In the 2000s, alas, Michael is only the second most popular boys name, behind Jacob. But this could be a portend of things to come, meaning that their insemination is completed, so now they're just waiting for all the Mikes of the 1990s to grow up so they can move on to stage two. I'd also be a tad paranoid that Mike Corleone might lead them. Oh, wait. That's Michael to me. Have to be proper.
If faced with the dilemma of naming your child (let's narrow this down to boys, because Michael may be a trendy girls name but it goes against the Genova Convention, which is a little-known Italian convention comprised of sensible people)… what I was saying before I was rudely interrupted is that if you're faced with the nagging dilemma of applying a name to call your son by, you could name him something that every class he's in for the rest of his life is going to have seven of, or better yet you could give him something distinctive, individualistic, unique… something all his own to bring him a greater sense of personhood. Keep this in mind in order to resist that pervasive urge to further promote cloning in the 21st century. Or perhaps let's just make the 2000s the century of Olaf. You may like Mike, but I love Olaf.
Philosophy Soccer
life learning thoughts words philosophies synapses things entropy gallimaufry harbinger kerfuffle randomized wonky brain espionage serendipity equilibrium intertia blogging mental nameless observations patterns think knowledge unthinking whatever cogitating gratitude history memoirs ruminating topical wondrous Machiavellianism altruism earth fables fungible happiness hullaballoo kaleidoscopic persnickety religion skeewompus symbiosis thinking verisimilitude verklempt vestibule weasels
Highlighted Blogposts
——Philosophical Meanderings——
If Statements as Experiment (3-30-10)
Essays For Time: Life's Learning Odyssey (9-5-11)
Conversations With Myself (10-10-08)
Rusted Philosophies (6-20-12)
What This is About (10-26-10)
Compared to What? (9-24-09)
Linear Digression (4-5-09)
Acoustic Contemplation (11-11-08)
The Zen of Zed (1-30-10)
——Spiritual Wanderings——
The Most Cherished of Registers (6-8-09)
An Open Letter to a Higher Power (8-27-09)
Learning About Yourself (12-17-08)
Lateral Unthinking (11-13-09)
——Playful Musings——
The Absentminded Whatever It Is (12-31-08)
Faulty Copies and Wondrous Clues (1-3-12)
Pair of Dice Lost and Found (5-28-11)
Advisory Bored & the Nth Degree of How (2-29-12)
Taking Sides (10-6-09)
E.O.T.W. or Bust (2-22-09)
A Year in the Life (1-6-09)
Inverse Dichotomization (7-24-11)
Topical Guise: Motif Legerdemain (10-2-12)
Recalcitrant Dissonance in Nascent Autonomy (5-30-09)
Mood Appraisals, Pt. I (9-17-08)
Fruit ___ the Bottom (2-6-09)
Heading to or From Entropy (12-6-09)
Don't Knock it Till You've Rung the Bell (8-12-09)
Dentistry Smalltalk (3-23-09)
Things My Brain Sent Me That I Couldn't Send Back (1-23-12)
Things What I Might Be Good at Or Not (3-17-10)
——Storied Tapestries——
Mojo Catharsis (7-28-08)
Same Old Similar New (4-20-10)
Untold Stories (5-31-10)
Fables of the Reconstruction (8-20-11)
——Mixed Bag of Potpourri——
Bespeaking Rungs (7-21-10)
Bored-Um (9-30-08)
The Five Muses (8-18-08)
Reporting on a Planet (12-31-09)
Pageviews (this doesn't mean anything)
Who am I? Who are any of us? ........... I'm Rusty, and you're not Chevy Chase
Rusty Southwick
• I feel that each of us needs somebody to introduce us. If famous people don't introduce themselves, what's good enough for them is good enough for me. And they would say something like I'm a self-proclaimed hypocrite. Because if you say you're hypocritical from the outset, then people have no other recourse but to embrace your hypocrisy with you. It's a brilliant tactic that could only be pulled off by someone who's both hypocritical and self-aware. Other than that, I don't do anything. I just sit here at the computer waiting for people to read my introduction and then tell me about the experience. Most of you would think this would be a rather boring existence I lead, but the hours are pretty reasonable and it keeps me off the streets. If I were out on the streets, then I'd be falling down in potholes, tripping over speed bumps, and otherwise getting in the way of automobiles. It's safer for everyone if I stay confined to my lair up in the attic. I could use a little more lighting, but overall it's a fairly decent arrangement.
Celebrate life......
Post-Modern Era of Posts
With Six You Get Blogroll
One Cʘsmos
Man is a Portal Beyond Himself - In the previous post we discussed how logic is to be avoided in attempting to turn the soul from God, if only because it is illogical to pretend the existe...
1000 Awesome Things (Neil P.)
#328 The smell of the library when you walk in the front doors - Come on in. Pull open the wooden door with those giant oversized handles that are smooth and worn down to a light brown finish. Drag your boots over the ...
Mormanity - A Mormon Blog (But Not Just for Mormons)
The Kindness of Two Chinese Strangers Turned Our Christmas Eve from Frustration to Joy - *Sorry for the delay in posting this note which I wrote during the Christmas holidays and already shared on Facebook. * Christmas Eve was marvelous for us ...
Mama's Losin' It! (Kathy B.)
Writer's Workshop: I'm The IT Guy - 2. Write a blog post inspired by the word: frightful I'm blogging from my phone. Things are frightful indeed when I have resorted to the desperate measures...
Raptitude (David)
The Other Environmental Crisis - During a holiday get-together, several times the topic of conversation became, "Things that have quietly disappeared from ordinary life." We had been playi...
Art of Non-Conformity (Chris G.)
Start Your Resolutions on January 6th - Resolutions can be powerful, and they don't have to begin on any given day. If you want to form a new habit, just start doing it. The important thing is s...
Every Day I Write the Book (Kacy F.)
A Lack of Good-Faith Arguments has Impoverished Civic Discourse - A friend of mine told me that we should probably *sneak *anti-Trump arguments past Trump voters by not mentioning Trump if we want to make any headway wit...
You Are Not So Smart (David M.)
YANSS 169 – How scientists use children's drawings, round rooms, and cave paintings to better understand how minds struggle to share their inner worlds - Moira Dillon studies how "the physical world in which we live shapes the abstract world in which we […]
Prescriptions for Life (Susan B.)
Move on From Trauma and Choose to Be Happy - Trauma and adverse experiences change our brains. We fear we will never recover ourselves, but the truth is that your brain can heal and recover.
Eat Play Love
therapy sketch - leather couch throw rugs chairs have moved art is the same tea mug sitting on a mini trunk body scan head to toe parts my mind doesn't recognize the worst...
Tough Questions Answered
Risen jesus april 6-7 - I am excited to announce that Dr. Mike Licona (Risen Jesus Ministry) will be visiting my church, Cornerstone Baptist Church, on April 6-7, 2019. Mike will ...
Greg Trimble
A Different Way To Say "The Church Is True" - For as long as I can remember, I have heard the same phrase regurgitated over and over again at church. It's likely you've heard... The post A Different ...
Matt Walsh Blog (Matt W.)
If protecting my children's innocence means I'm "keeping them in a bubble," then so be it - In what is becoming a weekly event, another cartoon show for very young children decided to start pushing the gay agenda. "Doc McStuffins" aired an episo...
kate schell (Kate S.)
Immodest Proposals: Authorial intent and rape culture - If you have rightly loved the men around you, the men in the Body of Christ, then you have fulfilled the law of God. The law of love says, "I don't want to...
seeingM (Maren K.)
Stunner In The Rearview - It is a dark and velvety cold winter night here at the ocean. Humidity and clear night skies always offer a special kind of blanketing aspect to the cold I…
Jacob Schriftman Blog (Jacob S.)
Hiatus - As you might have noticed, there haven't been any new posts in recent months. I've had a lot of work and other writing projects going on, so I'm taking a l...
Over My Dead Body (Kate S.)
The end (of this column) is here - Whoops.
Thoughts Behind My Thoughts (Andrea)
The Internet Says: Ignorance is Bliss - Ignorance is bliss. Is that true? Well, according to one source, it's a misquoted line from a Thomas Gary poem. According to the website's author, the mere...
Maia's World (Maia)
Self Development Reads (Maia)
"You don't have to know what you're looking for, you just have to start looking."
"Even the things you cannot imagine are possible."
— Vincent Barnett
"The real voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."
"It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones slept better... while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much more."
— Woody Allen
"Don't wait for a clear runway for courage. Courage is not pure. It keeps company with fear and with doubt."
— Keith Ablow
"In principle, the Intellect knows everything because all possible knowledge is inscribed in its very substance."
— Frithjof Schuon
"Beauty should be for truth's sake. If it is not subordinate to something higher, it will be appropriated by something lower."
— Robert Godwin
"What scares me is not trying."
— Kevin Costner
Readership Down
Who Cares to Read
What... is your quest?
Sites to Behold
Rock Omnibus (my historical music book)
Grooveshark (free streaming music)
Pandora (custom radio)
Football Reference
Tucows (downloads)
Air Traffic Control Broadcasts
Jeff Lindsay (LDS studies)
Religion Facts
Townhall (politics)
The Nameless Blog Post
Ever notice how raindrops falling on a windshield seem to go after all the open spots? If the landscape is ugly, just photograph it in ...
Bespeaking Rungs
For example, I this began to germinate three weeks hence ago. While it represents a mass of and accumulated observations-in-waiting that con...
The Most Cherished of Registers
Making lists is kind of a pastime for me, although I decided this time to make a list for a different reason than just to compile something....
What This is Called
Life is good. Relatively speaking — compared to all the other lives we have. A sign in front of the store said "Open For Busin...
The Blog That Wrote Itself
Our friend Rusty has written eight months' worth of blog posts, and he wanted to experiment to see what might happen if he went a while with...
Topical Guise: Motif Legerdemain
Quick, give me a topic. All right, I'll give you ten seconds if you must... Maestro, cue the orchestra for the Jeopardy! soundtrack... (...
Faulty Copies & Wondrous Clues
Once somebody has convincingly pulled off a role and we've gotten used to it, it's nigh impossible for anyone else to fill in suffic...
Essays for Time: Life's Learning Odyssey
—HUMANITY, LIMPING ON PARADE— We're an idealistic bunch, we humans (you know who you are). Pachyderms, meanwhile, are quite a bit more gro...
An Open Letter to a Higher Power
To whom it may concern: Adoring life, it's fitting to remind oneself that it's all worth it. As I peruse this big bad beautiful world from...
Randomized Ruminating a la Mode
Things I've attempted to ponder so you hopefully won't need to... NOTE TAKING Whenever I jot down a note, I make sure to carefu...
Learn more about Rock Omnibus, my new 423-page annotated music reference book that puts the music of the rock n' roll era (1950-2010) into clearer perspective. Fully comprehensive, with more substantive and in-depth song listings (5000 ranked and 12,800 honorable mentions) than any other book or website.
Go now to the Rock Omnibus website.
"Knowledge is recognizing what you know and what you don't."
— Confucius
"They didn't invent whispering for compliments..."
— Brian Regan
"I like playing chess with old men in the park. Of course, the problem with playing chess with old men in the park is finding 32 of them."
— Emo Phillips
"Cleaning the house makes me feel like I'm depriving archaeologists of clues to my daily life."
— Kelly Darger
"If I were stranded on a deserted island with just one book, I'd want it to be a giant pop-up book about tents."
— Tim Siedell
"If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true. They may be sound chemically, but that does not make them sound logically. And hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms."
— J.B.S. Haldane
"Attacks on alternative religious groups are attempts to psychologize — to medicalize — a controversy that, on deeper examination, is clearly a controversy over ideology and lifestyle."
— James R. Lewis
"Dive into the deep end. You're gonna get wet anyway."
"If the best in us is worth anything substantial, it always overcomes the worst in us. It all reverts back to our capacity to love, which defines ... everything."
— Anon.
Muppets I Relate to Most
Intriguing People
Molly Kate Kestner
Curly Howard
Apolo Ohno
Evita Ochel
Grace Helbig
Megan McCormick
Janet Varney
Kathy Bouska
Dana Perino
Bob Godwin
Erin Burnett
S.E. Cupp
Gwenyth Paltrow
Molly Wood
Leeza Gibbons
Wil Smith
Bill Wattenburg
Pete Carroll
Haley Mills
Bill Handel
Modern Heroes
Kurt Godel
Books I've Read in the Last Few Years [x-unfinished] (my rating in parentheses)
Beyond Biocentrism - Robert Lanza (5)
Unlimited Challenge - Garry Kasparov (6)
Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom (6)
Being Wrong - Kathryn Schulz (7)
The Out-of-Body Experience - Anthony Peake (6)
Sway - Ori Brafman (5)
Cosmic Coincidences - John Gribbin (5)
Man's Search For Meaning - Viktor Frankl (7)
More Than Allegory - Bernardo Kastrup (9)
Meaning in Absurdity - Bernardo Kastrup (6)
Rationalist Spirituality - Bernardo Kastrup (7)
Still the Best Hope - Dennis Prager (7)
The Infinite Mindfield - Anthony Peake (6)
Music: What Happened? - Scott Miller (6)
David & Goliath - Malcolm Gladwell (6)
The Biology of Belief - Bruce Lipton (5)
The Divine Code of Life - Kazuo Murakami (4)
The Jungles of Randomness - Ivars Peterson (6)
Chances Are - Michael Kaplan (7)
The Book - Tom Tango (6)
Baseball Between the Numbers - Baseball Prospectus (6)
The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle (8)
Why Science is Wrong... About Almost Everything - Alex Tsakiris (3)
Luck - Nicholas Rescher (2)
The Tyranny of Cliches - Jonah Goldberg (7)
Struck By Lightning - Jeffrey Rosenthal (3)
Time Travel in Einstein's Universe - J. Richard Gott (4)
Fooled By Randomness - Nassim Taleb (6)
Miracles and Massacres - Glenn Beck (4)
What the Dog Saw - Malcolm Gladwell (5)
Leap of Faith - Bob Bennett (5)
Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell (7)
Repeatlessness - Joe Marshalla (3)
Orthodoxy - G.K. Chesterton (6)
A Point in Time - David Horowitz (5)
One, Two, Three: Absolutely Elementary Mathematics - David Berlinski (2)
The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell (6)
Quiet - Susan Cain (6)
Future Babble - Dan Gardner (6)
A Million Miles in a Thousand Days - Donald Miller (3)
A New Earth - Eckhart Tolle (10)
The Unfoldment - Neil Kramer (6)
The UltraMind Solution - Mark Hyman (6)
Season Ticket - Roger Angell (6)
x-Hold Me Tight - Sue Johnson (5)
Couplehood - Paul Reiser (6)
x-The Speed of Trust - Stephen M.R. Covey (5)
The Case For Faith - Lee Strobel (6)
The No Spin Zone - Bill O'Reilly (2)
x-Walden- Henry David Thoreau (7)
Think Twice - Michael Mauboussin (2)
The O'Reilly Factor - Bill O'Reilly (3)
Our Culture, What's Left of It - Theodore Dalrymple (4)
One Cosmos Under God - Robert Godwin (6)
Stumbling on Happiness - Daniel Gilbert (8)
The Science of Fear - Daniel Gardner (9)
In Perfect Balance - Spencer Condie (5)
The Little Red (Sox) Book - Bill Lee (4)
Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon - Donald Parry (5)
Game Six - Mark Frost (3)
Awaken the Giant Within - Anthony Robbins (7)
The Devil's Delusion - David Berlinski (7)
Answers - Joseph Fielding McConkie (6)
The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb (3)
The Mastery of Love - Don Miguel Ruiz (4)
Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely (8)
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives - Leonard Mlodinow (4)
Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity - John Stossel (5)
The Wrong Stuff - Bill Lee (5)
The Problem of Pain - C.S. Lewis (9)
Billions of Missing Links - Geoffrey Simmons (4)
Power to the People - Laura Ingraham (3)
Blink - Malcolm Gladwell (8)
Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu - Lee Goldberg (4)
The Case for a Creator - Lee Strobel (6)
Say Good-Bye to Illness - Devi Nambudripad (3)
The Galileo Connection - Charles Hummel (6)
Restoring the Ancient Church - Barry Bickmore (5)
The Storytellers - Curt Smith (4)
Signs of Intelligence - William Dembski (4)
Never Die Easy - Walter Payton (4)
The Next Fifty Years: Science in the First Half of the Twenty-first Century - John Brockman (4)
A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future - Charles Van Doren (9)
Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe - Michael Behe (4)
Predictions - Theodore Modis (9)
Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years - Bruce Sterling (5)
The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract - Bill James (7)
Give Me a Break - John Stossel (6)
How the Mind Works - Steven Pinker (7)
Bunts - George F. Will (4)
Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame? - Bill James (5)
Side Effects - Woody Allen (9)
Probabilities in Everyday Life - John McGervey (7)
Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis (9)
Best Crime Solvers
Lt. Columbo (Columbo)
Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock)
Fox Mulder (The X-Files)
Perry Mason (Perry Mason)
Cal Lightman (Lie to Me)
Jack Bauer (24)
Leroy Jethro Gibbs (NCIS)
Charlie Eppes (NUMB3RS)
Mike Stone (The Streets of San Francisco)
Adrian Monk (Monk)
Sherlock Holmes (Elementary)
James Rockford (The Rockford Files)
Jack McCoy (Law & Order)
Brenda Leigh Johnson (The Closer)
Sydney Bristow (Alias)
Horatio Caine (CSI: Miami)
Seeley Booth (Bones)
Maxwell Smart (Get Smart)
Nikita (La Femme Nikita)
Mike Hammer (Mike Hammer, Private Eye)
Robert Goren (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)
David Addison (Moonlighting)
Juliet O'Hara (Psych)
Mac Taylor (CSI: NY)
Remington Steele (Remington Steele)
Gil Grissom (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)
Shawn Spencer (Psych)
Least Favorite Insects
Favorite Game Show Hosts
Chuck Woolery
Bert Convy
Favorite Insects
George F. Will
Favorite Comedic Actors
Spanky MacFarland
Favorite Comedians
Jake Johansen
Gary Shandling
Wil Shriner
Bobcat Goldthwait
Father Guido Sarducci
Unfunny People
Enigmatic Figures
Nyjer Morgan
Favorite Things to Make Lists Of
Favorite Elements
Einsteinium
Ununpentium
Favorite Philosophers
The Best Movies (some only recommended as TV versions)
And Justice For All
City Slickers
DaVinci Code, The
Doc Hollywood
End, The
First Knight
Gods Must Be Crazy II, The
Gods Must Be Crazy, The
Grand Tour: Disaster in Time
Jennifer 8
Jerk, The
Lake House, The
Mad Dog and Glory
Mr. Destiny
Princess Bride, The
Return to Me
Secondhand Lions
Shawshank Redemption, The
Simple Life of Noah Dearborn, The
Sure Thing, The
Classy Actresses
Maggie Lawson
Blair Brown
Who'd Be in the Ultimate Movie
Charleton Heston
Favorite Animated Movies
Ice Age: The Meltdown
The Rescuers Down Under
Olive the Other Reindeer
Movies I Thought Were Overrated
Back to the Future III
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
E/R (1984)
Mr. Ed
It's Your Move
The Rockford Files
Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.
Best TV Characters
Lt. Comm. Data
Gomez Addams
Molly Dodd
Hawkeye Pierce
Maggie O'Connell
David Addison
Lt. Columbo
Beaver Cleaver
Cal Lightman
Dana Scully
Paul Buchman
Comm. William Riker
Charlie Eppes
Danny Partridge
Jamie Buchman
Radar O'Reilly
Cpt. Jean-Luc Picard
Adrian Monk
Arnold Horshack
Henry Blake
Wally Cleaver
Favorite Variety Shows
Fernwood 2-Night
The Red Green Show
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
Laugh-In
The Ed Sullivan Show
Smothers Brothers Show
The Flip Wilson Show
Random Recommended Music Groups
Guadalcanal Diary
Guess Who, The
Oingo Boingo
Favorite News Personalities
Jake Tapper
Lynne Russell
Leslie Stahl
Laurie Dhue
Favorite Baseball Announcers
Lon Simmons
Tony Kubek
Bill King
Ted Robinson
Dave Campbell
Tom Paciorek
Steve Physioc
Skip Caray
Favorite Sports Announcers
Marv Albert
Todd Christensen
Keith Jackson
Favorite Current Baseball Players
Buster Posey, SF
Derek Jeter, NYY
Mariano Rivera, NYY
Mark Teixeira, NYY
Alex Rodriguez, NYY
Albert Pujols, StL
Hunter Pence, Phi
Robinson Cano, NYY
Joe Mauer, Min
Jacoby Ellsbury, Bos
Ichiro Suzuki, Sea
Curtis Granderson, NYY
Ryan Braun, Mil
Carlos Beltran, SF
Tim Lincecum, SF
Chris Carpenter, StL
Favorite Athletes
Walter Payton (football)
Willie Mays (baseball)
Barry Bonds (baseball)
Dale Murphy (baseball)
Jimmer Fredette (basketball)
Buster Posey (baseball)
Derek Jeter (baseball)
Mariano Rivera (baseball)
Michael Jordan (basketball)
Steve Young (football)
Danny Ainge (basketball)
Apolo Ohno (speedskating)
Larry Bird (basketball)
Bobby Bonds (baseball)
Mark Teixeira (baseball)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (basketball)
Cal Ripken (baseball)
Mia Hamm (soccer)
Ty Detmer (football)
Alex Rodriguez (baseball)
Mark Fidrych (baseball)
Karl Malone (basketball)
Tiger Woods (golf)
Hakeem Olajuwon (basketball)
Albert Pujols (baseball)
Boris Becker (tennis)
Hunter Pence (baseball)
Jerry Rice (football)
Robinson Cano (baseball)
Dan Quisenberry (baseball)
Joe Mauer (baseball)
Ichiro Suzuki (baseball)
Rickey Henderson (baseball)
Walter Johnson (baseball)
Julius Erving (basketball)
Ryne Sandberg (baseball)
Joe Frazier (boxing)
Phil Mickelson (golf)
Michael Phelps (swimming)
Keith Hernandez (baseball)
Martina Hingis (tennis)
David Robinson (basketball)
Barry Sanders (football)
Wayne Gretzky (hockey)
Willie McCovey (baseball)
John Stockton (basketball)
Ken Stabler (football)
Jim McMahon (football)
Dan Jansen (speedskating)
Harmon Killebrew (baseball)
Tim Lincecum (baseball)
Dave Wottle (track)
Sugar Ray Leonard (boxing)
Dennis Eckersley (baseball)
Tim Hardaway (basketball)
Greg Maddux (baseball)
Tim Brown (football)
Cliff Branch (football)
Richard Petty (auto racing)
Boom Boom Mancini (boxing)
Unfavorite Sports Figures
Franco Harris
Bill Laimbeer
Jim Edmonds
Mike Scioscia
Favorite Sports Teams
Brigham Young (football)
Brigham Young (basketball)
Oregon State (baseball)
Boise State (football)
USA (soccer)
Gonzaga (basketball)
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes
Xavier (basketball)
Least Favorite Sports Teams
Ohio State (football)
Duke (basketball)
Oklahoma (football)
Alabama (football)
Utah Utes (football)
Greatest Baseball Players
Willie Mays, CF
Barry Bonds, LF
Hank Aaron, RF
Babe Ruth, RF
Ted Williams, LF
Honus Wagner, SS
Ty Cobb, CF
Walter Johnson, SP
Alex Rodriguez, SS
Mickey Mantle, CF
Rogers Hornsby, 2B
Lefty Grove, SP
Rickey Henderson, LF
Albert Pujols, 1B
Lou Gehrig, 1B
Josh Gibson, C
Mike Schmidt, 3B
Frank Robinson, RF
Sandy Koufax, SP
Mariano Rivera, RP
Stan Musial, LF
Jimmie Foxx, 1B
Oscar Charleston, CF
Roger Clemens, SP
Joe Morgan, 2B
Tris Speaker, CF
Greatest Basketball Players
Michael Jordan, G
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, C
Wilt Chamberlain, C
Larry Bird, F
Kobe Bryant, G
Hakeem Olajuwon, C
Magic Johnson, G
LeBron James, F
Karl Malone, F
Oscar Robertson, G
Tim Duncan, F
Dwyane Wade, G
Shaquille O'Neal, C
Elgin Baylor, F
Julius Erving, F
Dirk Nowitzki, F
Rick Barry, F
Charles Barkley, F
Scottie Pippen, F
Jerry West, G
Bill Russell, C
Clyde Drexler, G
Isiah Thomas, G
David Robinson, C
Dominique Wilkins, F
Adrian Dantley, F
John Stockton, G
Kevin Garnett, F
Pete Maravich, G
Moses Malone, C
George Gervin, G
Artis Gilmore, C
Greatest Football Players
Jim Brown, RB
Jerry Rice, WR
Joe Montana, QB
Walter Payton, RB
Steve Young, QB
Barry Sanders, RB
Otto Graham, QB
Brett Favre, QB
Bruce Smith, DE
Peyton Manning, QB
Ray Lewis, LB
Emmitt Smith, RB
Johnny Unitas, QB
Randy Moss, WR
Ron Woodson, DB
Dan Marino, QB
Junior Seau, LB
Ronnie Lott, DB
Marshall Faulk, RB
Marcus Allen, RB
Lawrence Taylor, LB
Favorite Religions
Latter-day Saints
Favorite LDS Temples
San Diego Temple
Portland Temple
Oakland Temple
Washington DC Temple
Salt Lake Temple
Buenos Aires Temple
Bountiful Temple
Jordan River Temple
Rexburg Temple
Manila Temple
Draper Temple
St. Louis Temple
Logan Temple
Twin Falls Temple
London Temple
Nauvoo Temple
Mount Timpanogos Temple
Boston Temple
Cochabamba Temple
Stockholm Temple