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	<title>Alden Swan dot com &#187; Random Thoughts</title>
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	<link>http://aldenswan.com</link>
	<description>free speech, critical thinking, and really good coffee</description>
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		<title>The Eternal Search for The Ideal Banjo</title>
		<link>http://aldenswan.com/2012/05/the-eternal-search-for-the-ideal-banjo/</link>
		<comments>http://aldenswan.com/2012/05/the-eternal-search-for-the-ideal-banjo/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 May 2012 05:37:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>me</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Random Thoughts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aldenswan.com/?p=2163</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A little over a year ago, my wife and I were sitting in a restaurant in Seattle with some friends when I announced, &#8220;I think I&#8217;d like to buy a banjo.&#8221; My wife, not knowing what she was saying, said, &#8220;Go for it.&#8221; So began my search for the perfect banjo, by no means a [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<title>Nothing but the dead and dying</title>
		<link>http://aldenswan.com/2011/12/nothing-but-the-dead-and-dying/</link>
		<comments>http://aldenswan.com/2011/12/nothing-but-the-dead-and-dying/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:13:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>me</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Random Thoughts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aldenswan.com/?p=2051</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I spent a few hours today in my yard with a leaf-blower, a rake, and a great many large green plastic bags. I appreciate my trees very much. In fact, I planted two of the trees—an ornamental cherry and a bloodgood Japanese maple— in our yard myself, not to mention a dozen or so evergreens. [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Thanks, part 2: Keeping on the Sunny Side</title>
		<link>http://aldenswan.com/2011/11/thanks-part-2-keeping-on-the-sunny-side/</link>
		<comments>http://aldenswan.com/2011/11/thanks-part-2-keeping-on-the-sunny-side/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:33:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>me</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Random Thoughts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[This I know]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aldenswan.com/?p=2040</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We all know the analogy about the half-full glass—or is it half-empty? It is a fact that two people can look at the same set of facts and come away with much different ideas. The facts didn&#8217;t change; the difference is how the people interpret the facts. One of my favorite songs has become the [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Abba does not mean &#8220;daddy,&#8221; okay?</title>
		<link>http://aldenswan.com/2011/06/abba-does-not-mean-daddy-okay/</link>
		<comments>http://aldenswan.com/2011/06/abba-does-not-mean-daddy-okay/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jun 2011 19:01:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>me</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Own Personal Religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Random Thoughts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aldenswan.com/?p=1945</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Justified cringing Being raised in a formal, liturgical church, I&#8217;ve always been uncomfortable with the current fad of calling God &#8220;Daddy.&#8221; In fact, I cringe every time I hear it. I used to think this was my own issue, but as it turns out, I have been right to cringe because &#8220;abba&#8221; does not mean [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
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		<title>On de-stressing my life</title>
		<link>http://aldenswan.com/2011/04/on-de-stressing-my-life/</link>
		<comments>http://aldenswan.com/2011/04/on-de-stressing-my-life/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:16:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>me</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Random Thoughts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aldenswan.com/?p=1909</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve dealt with stress for many years. I tried to avoid it for many years, but ended up in a high stress job, which became more and more stressful as the company got more and more screwed up. But, let&#8217;s not get into that. Now, life is also very stressful. I need to find another [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<title>Ten things you should do to [insert goal here]</title>
		<link>http://aldenswan.com/2011/03/ten-things-you-should-do-to-insert-goal-here/</link>
		<comments>http://aldenswan.com/2011/03/ten-things-you-should-do-to-insert-goal-here/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 31 Mar 2011 02:22:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>me</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Random Thoughts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aldenswan.com/?p=1814</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I subscribe to a lot of blogs. Too many to read, actually. I usually just scroll down the list in Google Reader, looking at the titles to see if they look worth my time. A few I will actually take the time to skim. Fewer still will I actually read. And very few do I [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<title>Martin Luther on the current state of over-sensitivity</title>
		<link>http://aldenswan.com/2011/03/martin-luther-on-the-current-state-of-over-sensitivity/</link>
		<comments>http://aldenswan.com/2011/03/martin-luther-on-the-current-state-of-over-sensitivity/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Mar 2011 04:42:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>me</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics/Current Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Random Thoughts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aldenswan.com/?p=1810</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;The ears of our generation have been made so delicate by the senseless multitude of flatterers that, as soon as we perceive that anything of ours is not approved of, we cry out that we are being bitterly assailed; and when we can repel the truth by no other pretense, we escape by attributing bitterness, [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Can I blame God for this blog?</title>
		<link>http://aldenswan.com/2011/03/can-i-blame-god-for-this-blog/</link>
		<comments>http://aldenswan.com/2011/03/can-i-blame-god-for-this-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:27:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>me</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Random Thoughts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aldenswan.com/?p=1789</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just finished reading a short blog post about worship by a guy who considers himself a theologian. It was an interesting post, but the guy doesn&#8217;t seem to understand worship at all—he seems to think that worship is about our attitude, and what we do and say. But, this is not why I wrote [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Apparently I need more coffee &#8230;</title>
		<link>http://aldenswan.com/2011/03/apparently-i-need-more-coffee/</link>
		<comments>http://aldenswan.com/2011/03/apparently-i-need-more-coffee/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:04:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>me</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Random Thoughts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aldenswan.com/?p=1748</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today Mark Stevens at Near Emmaus writes: OK, so maybe I have a small problem. I need your help. Please be honest. Do I have a drinking problem? Today, I stopped for a coffee on the way to meeting someone for a coffee. Does this mean I have an addiction? Nah, I didn’t think so… [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>If lying is always wrong, do you want to be right?</title>
		<link>http://aldenswan.com/2011/02/if-lying-is-always-wrong-do-you-want-to-be-right/</link>
		<comments>http://aldenswan.com/2011/02/if-lying-is-always-wrong-do-you-want-to-be-right/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 19 Feb 2011 19:29:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>me</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Random Thoughts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lying]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[right]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wrong]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://aldenswan.com/?p=1666</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hadley Arkes writes an interesting article today on the rightness or wrongness of lying, in When Speaking Falsely is Right. An excerpt: &#8230; The point is: Not every taking of property is a theft. Not ever killing is a murder. A “murder” is an “unjustified killing.” An innocent person, set upon unjustly, could not be [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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