“The liar’s punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.” -George Bernard Shaw

“I strongly believe that if you add value to the lives of others, value will be returned.” -Lodewijk van den Broek

With a 3.5 game lead and only 6 games left to play, the Chicago Cubs would have to have a meltdown of chaotic proportions to lose their division. Not that it isn’t possible…

Popular opinion among Cubs fans — myself included — is that they’re always great, or at least close to it, so it might come as a surprise (it did to me) that this will be only the fourth time that the Cubs finish in first place since the Billy Goat curse in 1945.

From 1876-1945, the Cubs were one of the dominant franchises in baseball. During that period of 69 years they posted an incredible 51 winning seasons, finishing in first place 16 times, appearing in 10 World Series and winning two of them.

That was before October 6, 1945. Game four of the World Series against the Tigers, and the Cubs led the series 2-1. “Billy Goat” Sianis bought two tickets to the game, one for him and one for his pet goat, Murphy. Wrigley denied the goat entrance and Sianis cursed the team.

In the 61 years since the Curse of the Billy Goat, they have had only 15 winning seasons, and finished in first place only 3 times. They have neither won nor even appeared in the World Series. They haven’t even won a Pennant.

This year, they’re staring at first place. The bullpen is looking good and the big bats have finally woken up. And with Lou Piniella at the helm, the team occasionally even looks like they know what they’re doing.

Over the years, the Sianis family has claimed the curse lifted. Will this be their year?

“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.” -Virginia Woolf

One word. Fine. It packs quite a punch. I don’t like it when someone tells me, “fine.” In fact, I’d say I hate it.

When someone tells me something is “fine”, the one thing of which I am certain is that the something in question is not fine — it’s not even good, or okay. It can safely be said, then, that the person saying “fine” is not being completely honest. In fact, they’re being downright inauthentic.

I, like all humans, rely on authenticity. I trust people who I “believe,” and we distrust those who I do not. When someone is not being authentic, not being straightforward, I am aware — even if only on a subconscious level — that they are holding something back from me, and true to my human nature, I question what that is why they need to keep it from me.

And so it goes, then, that when a person says, “fine,” it is understood that only ill will follow. In a single word, they have communicated to me that they do not agree with what I’ve said, in fact they likely disagree strongly, but that rather than express their disagreement honestly they are going to accept the thing the point with which they disagree.

The implications are huge. It is clear that the person has misgivings about the point, but it is unclear what those misgivings are. In basically agreeing to something with which they don’t actually agree at all, is this person putting me in danger? Are they allowing me to make a bad decision? Or, is the unspoken disagreement more personal in nature? Maybe it’s actually a good decision but one that will have some negative effect on this other person.

The bottom line is that I don’t really know. The prudent thing to do, of course, is to ask the person to explain their misgivings so that, at the very least, I can make an informed decision. But the damage of the word “fine” can’t be undone. Even if, upon being asked, this person explains their reservations, I will still be left with the feeling that I cannot rely on this person to be honest, or authentic, or to give me information that might be pertinent to my decisions.

If I about to step into a snake-infested pit unaware, I want to have someone by my side who will warn me of the danger… not someone who gives me a smug look and says, “fine.”

CheapShooter.com has a new article documenting the seven deadly sins of Myspace photos, which gives details and examples of the offensive photo technique and explains what’s wrong with it.

I know why you do it. From that extreme of angle, people can’t tell from your Myspace profile picture that your nose is that big or your acne is that bad. But taking your profile picture from that angle just alerts us that something is wrong. Even if we can’t see it, we know there is something that you are trying to hide. Taking a Myspace profile picture like that isn’t fooling us – it’s just making us suspicious.

I saw a joke going around by email that had a similar theme, but it was just for humor’s sake. I like this one, because it’s actually written by a photographer for a photography blog.

If you’ve ever wanted to make a lighting diagram, you can do it with Lighting Studio 1.0. It’s a simple, web-based utility for making lighting diagrams. You can even save and share your lighting diagrams.

It doesn’t have the ability to print, however you could screen capture it and print it by other means. Hey, it’s not bad for free.

“Ships in harbor are safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.” -John Shedd

One afternoon as I was flipping through the channels — you know the routine, hundreds of channels and nothing is on — I landed on the Food Network. They were showing a program called Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, but the only reason I turned it on was because this episode would be featuring a place in Kenosha, WI.

Kenosha is the farthest you can travel north on Chicago’s commuter train system. Always interested in getting out and exploring the world around me, I wondered what there might be to see in Kenosha. I still didn’t know much, but at the very least, I now knew where in Kenosha to get a good breakfast: Frank’s Diner.

A little research online, and I discovered that Kenosha has a streetcar system running in a loop between the train station and Laka Michigan, with service to downtown stores as well as Kenosha’s free public museum along the way. Their five PCC streetcars are painted to represent the historic streetcars of Toronto, Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Johnstown. And it only costs a quarter to ride.

The train ride is about two hours each way between Kenosha and Chicago, which for me is apparently just about enough time to read a 170-page book. And since I didn’t eat before I left, there was no doubt that I was ready to find Frank’s Diner. And that’s the first thing I did.

It didn’t take much work to find it. Text “franks diner kenosha wi” to Google SMS (466453) and moments later you get a text message back telling you it’s at 508 58th street. The streetcar runs along 56th street, so a cord pull at 6th avenue put me two blocks away — where, apparently, there was a classic car show going on.

I was really hungry, so I went straight to Frank’s without dilly-dallying, and I’m glad I did because they locked the door while I was eating, so they’re apparently not open very late.

Well, either way, it didn’t bother me because I was in hog heaven with my “garbage plate”. Even the bread is made from scratch. Everything on the plate was delicious.

And so, belly full and face smiling, my mission was accomplished. Ways I found to spend an afternoon in Kenosha included: walking along the lake front, visiting the free museum, riding the streetcar, browsing in some really neat stores downtown, looking at the classic car show. And, of course, you can’t leave Wisconsin without getting a bratwurst.

“Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.” -Gilbert K. Chesterton