Bill

"Outlining is the only thing I've used Word for in years. And I use it to do exactly what you describe. I don't care about the formatting. I just need an outliner ( type an idea, hit enter, tab, type, etc.) . I happen to have had licenses to it ( because I use Excel some ), and I didn't want to pay what it would take to purchase something like Omni's product, so I have used either Word or the OPML editor - depending on the machine I was using at the time. I've been paying attention to Fargo and playing with it, and I fully expect I'll use it for all my outlines very soon. I did write a quick script to take any outline in the dropbox folder and create a TODO.txt format so I can use Fargo to create quick little TODO lists that I can cross out using Taskpaper on my phone. The Dropbox syncing means it all works nicely - compose the outline in Fargo, and it's right there in TaskPaper." - Bill

"My son was born around the time that camcorders were still a bit expensive, but generally considered a worthwhile investment for parents. If you were a young couple just starting out, it was not unusual for that to be the one "big ticket" item you needed. I remember many conversations with my dad about this trend. He was concerned about the impact this would have on memories. I had spent a lot of time behind TV and film cameras by this time and was already aware of the impact it had on the memory for the videographer, but he was concerned about the problem of "always having it to look at" - on a lot of levels, but he was mostly afraid of the impact it would have on parents "letting their children go" ( something that may have been fresh on his mind since I was the oldest, and fairly young for a new dad ). I document a lot of my life, but I try to be mindful of living through the documentation. Every time I look through my photo library, I take a walk down memory lane and think about..." - Bill

"No, I am not blogging about India Pale Ale Most disappointing start to an AVC post ever. but this is very good news. I can't wait for others to get on board." - Bill

"I know there is something about being a mom that makes this so much more nuanced, but seeing Billy off to Manhattan two days after his 18th birthday ( a day late because of Irene :), was an experience I'll never forget as his dad. Becky starts high school next year, so we have a few more years before the empty nest, but that first step toward it smacked me in the face pretty hard. good news - Billy flies to LA tomorrow to help a friend drive a car back East, and then he'll spend 6 weeks or so with us. I really am learning to enjoy the different relationship we have now." - Bill

"I drink tea most of the time, but when I do coffee it's french press, black, in the only mug I use for coffee - featuring the mug of some guy who lives around the corner from me. :)" - Bill

"I told you they would be proud to be called out on this. It's shameful to teach this to students in a science classroom." - Bill

"Excellent discussion. I saved this to comment on because your experience is similar to mine. The only difference is that it seems I learned the lesson faster. :) I was very excited the first couple times I saw those digest emails, but the content proved useless. I do think following others might be part of the solution, and I think I'll try it. I understand what you mean by "following someone's truisms around the web" and "Seeing a lonely comment, detached from its original context is less compelling," and I certainly don't need more demands on my attention, but if following helps me discover other communities I enjoy, I think it might be worth doing. I'll let you know how that goes. With regard to who to follow, I think it makes sense to follow people who post intriguing comments on the blogs I already read. I am bound to find other blogs I will enjoy." - Bill

"Too much structure can stifle the imagination. +1000 The worst thing good parents do to their children is stick them in a room at five years old and tell them to sit down and shut up." - Bill

"Game six baby! One of the finest memories of my entire life so far." - Bill

"Exactly! It's easy for me to see the downside of all this technology as I fight to keep it from ruining my life every day, but when we stop to think about it, the connection it brings us blows my mind. I read this a few days ago and found myself talking about it all weekend - offline, with real people. :)" - Bill

"Right. I thought of this when Brad posted about this before. And linking the books would be an additional feature - a way to see the difference between the versions. Perhaps a way to compare the TOCs would be a nice feature too. But the problem is that those are things that are good for the readers and authors. Apparently, what "we" want is not being considered at all." - Bill

"You writing about this is important to so many people on so many different levels. I'm moved every time you do. Please continue to take care of yourself." - Bill

"Absolutely! I think that will do a lot of good." - Bill

"Just thought you should know that I can't read this on any browser I tried except IE ( so I've saved to instapaper for reading on another device later ). When I try to zoom, all the elements on the page get bigger, but the text remains the same size ( which is too small for me to see ). Oddly enough, the text actually appears to get smaller, but I'm thinking that's just an illusion based on the elements getting bigger." - Bill

"Exactly. If you must separate due to the number of listings, at least have a male and female - without redirecting the main to male. A refreshing change, actually, would have been to separate them and create a male category instead." - Bill

"Of course there are plenty of potential problems ya think? :)" - Bill

"Reminds me of something I saw yesterday. Curious what your take on this is. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04..." - Bill

"I'm sure many of you know this, but there are many, many schools teaching this stuff. I'm not even sure why the families involved are wary of "naming names" - the school is almost certainly proud of its curriculum." - Bill

"I can't say I agree with your 3 points, but you raise a very important point. One that I've been trying to explain for years. The problem is not immigration - it's the entitlements. If you read most people's complaints about immigrants carefully, you'll see it is about that they are really complaining." - Bill

"I don't take it lightly at all, but marriage is in the eyes of God. Of course, there are civil concerns, and that's why I support equal rights for all people. You've got the right idea on this one - we disagree on this issue in a big way on several levels." - Bill

"Nope. There is no middle ground. Either you support the separation of church and state or you don't." - Bill

"I am not aware of any pending legislation that would redefine marriage. Marriage is a matter of religion. I'm not sure why the government has any jurisdiction at all." - Bill

"Why is it a bad thing? Did you read the post I linked to? Have you heard of countries like Afghanistan?" - Bill

"I think you missed the point of the questions." - Bill

"Well, now we are straying a bit off topic. I've come to understand the world a certain way over the course of decades, so I can't begin to explain in a few comments, BUT ... But surely you would agree that all laws legislate morality to some extent. Yes, but only as a by-product. The reason for a law, in my opinion, is to keep order in society. Does "Murder is wrong" count as "theology"? I think it should be apparent to anyone with a moral compass, Christian or not, and clearly something would be broken with a government that didn't mete out punishment for murderers. Of course, but two things come to mind ... 1. murder is a state statute - not under federal jurisdiction 2. murder is punished because it restricts the freedoms of others - not because of some moral standard" - Bill

"I just didn't read his original comment that way at all. I've enjoyed discussing these things with you, and I don't really want to give you a hard time, but I just think your first response could have been more thoughtful." - Bill

"How is global warming skepticism Biblical? Does that skepticism hinder our primary goal of spreading the Gospel because it creates an unnecessary barrier? Good questions." - Bill

"re: keep informed Of course, but we can't all be experts on all current events. If you think you can be well informed on all current events and all the ramifications on complicated policy, you are kidding yourself. re: hard to disentangle Depends on what you mean, but it doesn't matter how hard it is - it's worth doing. American Christians, more than anyone else in the U.S, should be absolutely thrilled we live in a nation founded on the principle of separation of church and state. Public policy should not be based on theology. Think about the discussion you and I just had about issues. Do you want me writing political policy that affects you based on my interpretation of Scripture? You and I might agree on the morality of some issue, but does that make it right to write laws that apply to everyone based on that?" - Bill

"I have a unified philosophy of theology and politics. A very dangerous thing indeed. http://whsjr.soistmann.com/ope..." - Bill

"I don't want to pile on here, but I have to admit I was afraid to comment at all after reading your reply to Jeff. It struck me as snide. I didn't say anything because I do most of my Challies reading via RSS and don't frequent the comments ( so perhaps you and he have a history ). Your response to me was much more thoughtful, and I appreciate that." - Bill