Five or ten years ago, Taylor Killian would just be a really foolish high-school senior. Today, he’s enjoying his 15 minutes of fame across the country and overseas as far away as Germany:

A Westerville North High School student who stripped naked, lubed his body in oil and ran amok through the school commons during lunch yesterday was arrested after police twice zapped him with a Taser. “It just seemed like a good idea at the time,” Taylor C. Killian, 18, told police later, said Westerville Lt. John Petrozzi. It was right about noon when a clothed Killian, who made his school’s honor roll in each of three grading periods during the 2005-06 school year, strolled into a bathroom near the crowded commons.

In the past, this prank would have likely resulted in a local newspaper story, a local TV story or two, maybe an AP brief in other newspapers and, if Taylor were lucky, space in an upcoming installment of News of the Weird. Now, it means that his police report is online, anyone can see a live local TV news story about the incident, the local paper’s article is online complete with more than 30 comments (as of 7 a.m. Central time), 1,200 people have starred the incident on Digg.com, and we know that Taylor really likes geeking out with his Xbox.

I have a feeling that all of this makes the whole thing more rewarding, somehow, for Taylor, but probably not for his parents. Yikes.

… he’ll have $5,182,000 by Nashville’s election day (August 2, 2007). The City Paper just broke the following news about Dean’s fundraising success on the campaign trail:

Mayoral candidate Karl Dean, who served as director of the Metro Law Department until January 9, raised $156,450 for his campaign between his departure from the department and mid-January, his campaign said today.

As of mid-January, Dean had $151,448 still on hand. That hopefully means he spent $5,002 on developing a visually pleasing and informative Web site, which his campaign continues to lack at present. Dean’s balance is within $80,000 or so of Buck Dozier, who has been raising funds since January 2006. While this may be apples-to-oranges considering that the election is much closer now than when Dozier entered the race, Dean raised more money this month than Dozier did in the last six months of 2006. At the very least, this leaves me curious to see where the other candidates, particularly David Briley, weigh in as the fundraising deadline (Jan. 31) nears.

Despite all of our complaints and our differences in the United States, we are among the most fortunate people on the planet today. We are among the most fortunate people who have ever lived. I mean all of that to say that, myself included, we are all guilty of taking our welfare and our blessings for granted. Reading a story like this one from CNN reminds me just how much we have to be thankful for and how horrible conditions are for many people in the world even now:

Four Papua New Guinea women, believed by fellow villagers to have used sorcery to cause a fatal road crash, were tortured with hot metal rods to confess, then murdered and buried standing up in a pit, said police. The National newspaper said on Wednesday that police had only just uncovered the grisly murders, which occurred last October near the town of Goroka in the jungle-clad highlands some 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the capital, Port Moresby. Black magic is widespread in the South Pacific nation where most of the 5.1 million population live subsistence lives. Women suspected of being witches are often hung or burned to death.

I have nothing but sympathy for these women and their families. The idea of living in a culture that would condone this kind of atrocity is so foreign from what the rest of us experience each day that I really can’t imagine waking up to find myself in their country. At the same time, this level of thinking is where we as Americans existed a few centuries earlier, and we would have burned or drowned innocent people in similar circumstances. I’m reminded again of the U2 song, “Crumbs From Your Table:”

Where you live should not decide
Whether you live or whether you die

This will never be a perfect world, but it will be that much closer when horrible actions like this no longer take place. I’m relieved only that this kind of tragedy is uncommon enough, at least on our side of the world, to qualify as news. Here’s hoping that it qualifies only as history someday soon.

NashvillePost.com is reporting that mayoral candidate Buck Dozier has officially disclosed his campaign fundraising as required by election law:

In the last fundraising quarter, Dozier raised $102,734, bringing his campaign total to $319,300 thus far. Dozier also report that he presently has $228,000 in cash on hand.

Other mayoral candidates that will be filing by the end of the month are At-large Councilman David Briley, former Congressman Bob Clement, former Metro Law Director Karl Dean, businessman Kenneth Eaton, Vice Mayor Howard Gentry, and community activist Dave Pelton.

That’s a significant war chest for a campaign with a full roster of candidates. I am very curious to see how Bob Clement (whom some see as the early frontrunner) and Howard Gentry (whom some are concerned will struggle to raise enough money to remain competitive) report. They are required to do so by January 31. I’m especially curious to see how the two progressive candidates, David Briley and Karl Dean, stack up compared to each other and to the rest of the field.

If for no other reason than the resulting back problems, this wearable dog house sure seems like a bad idea to me:

Hey, feeling a bit lonely, need some attention? Well you’ll get all the attention you need when you walk through any public place sporting the new, uber attractive Wearable Dog House! It’s designed so you can bring your pet to any function and enjoy your dog’s company while keeping both hands free for…. whatever. The inventor suggests the WDH’s air permeable construction will allow Benji “to view outside events and experience the textures of the outdoors in safety and comfort”. And for your own comfort, we’re hoping it has an absorbent bottom for when Benji gets all excited and springs a leak.

There are plenty of other reasons why this is just bizarre, even though it is reportedly an authentic patent illustration.

Thanks also to Garrigan and the Scene for reviving her weekly editorial. Yes, it’s been adapted into a column headlined “Garrigan” apparently because Scene corporate owner the Village Voice has a no-editorial policy, but it’s still the same good read that is usually my first stop in each week’s issue. Garrigan is a knowledgeable and convincing writer, one who is married to likely incoming deputy mayor Curt Garrigan. It will be a shame if Garrigan (Liz) has to curtail her city politics coverage when her husband assumes the post. Granted, Liz is reportedly expecting soon, so readers can likely anticipate at least a temporary hiatus one way or another.

Update: Liz Garrigan’s column referenced below is now online.

I’m hoping Nashville Scene editor Liz Garrigan is right in the remarks she wrote for this week’s issue (not online yet). Attempting to forecast the upcoming mayoral race, Garrigan compares Bob Clement in 2007 to Dick Fulton in 1999. Fulton served as Nashville’s mayor from 1975 to 1987 and continues to be a respected figure in the community. Seeking to return to the office twelve years later, Fulton emerged as the frontrunner based on name recognition before placing a distant second to Bill Purcell on Election Day. As Garrigan notes, he humbly conceded the race even though he qualified for a runoff because Purcell was the clear, though not majority, choice of the electorate.

Clement, a career politician looking to make a comeback, may well be in Fulton’s shoes as the next election inches closer. I’ve made it clear in previous posts that I consider Clement – along with Buck Dozier and Howard Gentry – to be less-than-appealing options for the city’s next leader. Garrigan agrees:

Bob Clement is this year’s version of Dick Fulton – a man who has little vision for a city that has changed dramatically over the last decade or two, someone who’s already had a full political career (less distinguished than Fulton’s was, it would be fair to say) and the kind of not-so-fresh candidate we predict will hide behind meaningless press releases and innocuous appearances, instead handling questions in writing rather than handling tough questions live, the way he responded to inquiries from The Nashville Business Journal at the end of the year.

Garrigan is calling for Dozier to face David Briley or Karl Dean (who continues to decline to launch a Web site) in a runoff where “the voters couldn’t have a starker contrast in candidates.” I’m hoping she’s right, and I hope Briley or Dean emerge as Nashville’s next mayor. In the meantime, I hope the two of them will sit down for coffee and figure out which one of them has the better shot at winning and which one ought to run for vice-mayor instead. [Aside to both: I will likely vote for either of you compared to the field, so please stop dividing the progressive vote.]

Surely this one would make that top-10 list. It’s good personal policy, I think, to never embrace a request that includes the phrase “Come up to my room and see the blueprints.” [Image:xkcd.com]

Why do we do the things we do? I wonder just how much of our lives comes down to doing what most of the herd does. I’m in favor of doing each of the following things, for example: brushing my teeth every day, wearing deodorant, owning a car and living in a nice, though not extravagant, home. I doubt that very many of us would seriously consider abandoning even one of those habits voluntarily.

I do all of those things (and have no plans to abandon them, especially the toothbrushing or the deodorant), but I do them primarily because I started doing what other people taught me to do. I didn’t ask whether there might be advantages to doing things differently. Mark Creek-Water (pictured above) asks — and answers — that question every day:

Of course, how we lived was extravagant in Mark’s eyes. Some of us wore prescription sunglasses, for instance, where Mark chose to do without any eyewear even though he could not see clearly past fifty feet. We made personal purchases of toothbrushes, sunscreen, and deodorant, all of which he did without. We wore new, specialized walking clothing and shoes, where he wore only the clothes he found along the road or purchased second hand. We walked the country with an R.V. support vehicle and a fifteen passenger van to shuttle guest walkers. While he readily made use of these, he would have been content without them…

Despite Mark’s idiosyncrasies, we learned to appreciate deeply the pleasure he derives from the simplest of things. A crusty piece of two-day-old bread here, a gurgling creek there; a change in wind direction, an old wrench by the side of the road, a new moon, a few pieces of discarded paper with nothing written on the back which he could use for a new pamphlet, the kindness of someone who made him photocopies of his pamphlet for free…

Even though Mark walked a double shift for most of the journey, he was never in a hurry to finish walking for the day. The rest of us walked at 3-3.5 mph, thinking we were doing pretty well to slow down from our 65 mph lifestyles. Mark preferred to walk at 2-2.5 mph, and not because he was out of shape. “You miss too many things if you rush like that,” he’d say. “Slow down! What’s your hurry? Look, there’s a creek up ahead. I’m going to check it out.” He would stop for fifteen or twenty minutes, jogging afterwards to catch up with us (his thin legs are amazingly strong!) or he would accept a ride from Ray as he passed by in the R.V.

This passage is from a to-be-published book called Asphalt Jesus by author Eric Elnes, who participated in CrossWalk America last year. This emerging Christian movement is dedicated to making Christianity more compassionate and just by encouraging others to love God, neighbor and self fully. Mark Creek-Water is a 59-year-old “voluntarily houseless” man who decided to walk alongside Elnes and others who traversed the country to support their cause.

I don’t know whether I would be willing to walk in Creek-Water’s shoes for longer than a few days (if that long), but I wonder whether I would be happier and more fulfilled if I did. I think I know the answer, and that answer begs the question: Why not follow this example? Maybe the simple answer is that I am unwilling to change that dramatically, but I can’t help but admire this approach to life. If we all walked along even 10 percent of Mr. Creek-Water’s path, the world would be a more peaceful and more pleasant place to live. This raises another question, too: What 10 percent could I take from this heartwarming and remarkable example to instill in my own daily life? I don’t know yet, but I am already thinking about it. I may not follow the letter of this example, but I am inspired by its spirit.

If a protest takes place in an Internet-based virtual-reality world, does it resonate in real life? If you’re talking about a recent protest by Second Life users regarding the opening of a virtual Front National office, then the answer is yes.

I’m not sure whether to marvel at how quickly Second Life has evolved and at its diverse and rich virtual experience or to stare in disbelief at the entire spectacle. Front National is a far-right political party in France that many of its critics consider fascist, intolerant and racist. As CNET and many others have reported, users who opposed the party’s arrival in Second Life’s virtual world staged a protest recently that featured machine guns, rainbow explosions and pig-shaped grenades. At least one blogger “attended” the protest and shared his experience:

The first night I arrived at the protest against the Second Life headquarters of Front National, the far right French political party of Jean-Marie Le Pen, it was ringed on all sides by protesters with signs to wave and statements to distribute. By the second night I came (this was late last week), the conflict had become more literal, for many Residents had armed themselves. Multi-colored explosions and constant gunfire shredded the air of Porcupine, a shopping island which FN had inexplicably picked for the site of their virtual world HQ, in December…

It didn’t begin like this. After Front National took root, at least two groups, antiFN and SL Left Unity, rose to oppose them. They had placards and T-shirts, and billboards on the land of sympathetic neighbors, all making plain that FN’s arrival in Second Life was distinctly unwelcome. For their part, Front National members– mostly muscular young men dressed in white T-shirts with the FN logo– stood inside their headquarters, impassively watching the outrage build outside.

But the SL Left Unity group had press releases of their own. “We have acquired land next to the FN office,” one announced, “and will be manning a protest there until FN go or are ejected. Wherever fascists are we will ensure they get no peace to corrupt and lie to decent people.”

I’m amazed at the level of importance Second Life has earned in the lives of many people. I briefly signed up and explored the virtual world a few weeks ago. While I found it intriguing, I quickly realized that the giant social experiment was demanding a choice: Either immerse myself to my eyeballs in its world, or flee back to reality. In other words, to have a Second Life, I would have to risk sacrificing my first one. How in the world do users who are this consumed with Second Life have time to do anything else? (Maybe others are asking the same of we bloggers right now, and they might have a point.)

On the other hand, maybe there could be some value out of transferring our differences from the real world into cyberspace. How much of an improvement would it be to shift tragic and life-crushing hostilities such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a world such as this? I know there isn’t a practical way to eliminate real-world consequences by relocating them to a land generated by bits of code, but I sure wish there were. I wish we could move the unyielding and hateful fundamentalists on both sides who refuse to look for compromise on this and so many other issues onto a Second Life island and allow the people who suffer in their midst in reality to begin rebuilding their communities and their lives.

We can build a fake world to fill our time, but we can’t escape the pain and turmoil of the one we were born in. Unless we address the problems we face, they will follow us into cyberspace and anywhere else we go.

The U.S. Senate joined the House yesterday in passing legislation requiring disclosure for earmarks, which are often referred to as pet projects that legislators anonymously insert into spending bills. The disclosure legislation requires members of Congress to list their names along with any earmarks and certify that they do not have a financial stake in the projects in question.

The bill passed 98-0 because no one wants to be seen as anti-transparency come election time, and I’m glad this kind of policy will become law. It begs the question why this didn’t happen a long time ago, but at least it has happened now.

Here in Tennessee, I hope our lawmakers will follow this national example when it comes to ethics and disclosure. The Tennessean reported earlier this week that while the public must follow a 10-step procedure to view how legislators voted on a particular bill via the General Assembly Web site, lawmakers themselves can see the same results with a single click.

In a political climate where many citizens already question the integrity on both sides of the aisle, this inconsistency at the very least reinforces the perception that lawmakers don’t want the sun to shine on their activities on the Hill. Senator Rosalind Kurita called this week for a new focus on open government in the wake of John Wilder’s ouster as speaker of the Senate. I completely agree with the need for this change in direction:

It was time for a change in the structure [in the Senate]. The dedication to keeping a status quo was preventing our state from putting real energy and bi-partisan effort into solving problems and moving Tennessee forward. I chose to break the logjam so there can be a vigorous, but civil, policy discussion over the current and future direction of our state. We face a host of issues—from improving education, healthcare, and job creation to new alternative energy proposals and a more open government. We cannot afford gridlock or stagnation if we are to help solve these problems. It may seem ironic to some, but only now are Democrats and Republicans free to work together on real issues. I voted my conscience.

Open government should also be a part of the legislative agenda. One way to accomplish this would be to allow every voter an equal opportunity to vote for our state’s constitutional officers: Secretary of State, State Treasurer and Comptroller. They are currently elected by the members of the General Assembly. Tennessee is one of very few states where voters are not empowered to make such important decisions on high-ranking government officials. Letting our citizens vote increases accountability and makes sure government is held accountable…

Every member of the Senate is tired of being 49th in so many areas. I intend to work with my fellow Democrats and Republicans as well as the new Lt. Governor to create legislation that moves our state forward. The era of the smoke-filled back room is over and we are now free to have a healthy public policy debate that can only benefit the citizens of this great state.

As I mentioned earlier, this era should have begun a long time ago, but I am grateful that it is happening now. There will always be political maneuvering in the General Assembly, but Tennessee is taking baby steps toward having a more open and honest governing body. I hope this trend continues, including making it easier for local residents to see how their elected officials voted on the bills put before them.

Why can’t leaders balance boldness with humility? USA Today has a great story today about CEOs and their reluctance to accept criticism.

It’s remarkable to me how many leaders from various segments of society consider their role to be a top-down, one-way relationship with their subordinates. As I mentioned yesterday, I believe that effective leadership requires service and sacrifice, not arrogance and isolation. In my opinion, humility isn’t being a wimp. It’s about facing and acknowledging contrary schools of thought and legitimate criticisms. Those skills require courage, and they are essential for anyone holding a leadership position, yet they are extremely tough to master and to maintain. At least that’s what a PsyMax solutions study found recently, and I can’t argue.

I admire Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley, who is featured in the article, for being willing to accept 360-degree feedback from his coworkers, even though it had indicated that he is “impatient” and “chronically late to meetings.” Lafley says he listens because “feedback leads to growth.” I think he is absolutely right.

Unfortunately, his opinion among leaders is very rare. Consider this insight from author Jean Lipman-Blumen (The Allure of Toxic Leaders):

“[Leaders sometimes] suffer from narcissism and grandiosity that blind them to the shortcomings of their own character … Toxic leaders feed their followers the illusion that they are omnipotent and omniscient.”

Making matters worse, leaders often not only disregard feedback and contrary points of view, they take steps either knowingly or by default to isolate themselves from opposing opinions and alternative ideas. Author Jeffrey Sonnefield (Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters) makes an astute observation in the article:

“[Some leaders] put lawyers and public relations specialists between them and the world more than the World War II veteran CEOs of 20 years ago, and they are more reluctant to admit mistakes for fear of looking weak or mortal. That is a mistake in itself because the pattern in heroes throughout history has been to err, suffer and learn. It’s the rise from the setbacks that separate leaders from the ‘conveyor belt of fate.’”

If you ask me, this is one of President Bush’s most critical weaknesses as a leader. It may well cost him more than his actual policy decisions do. A president who could effectively acknowledge other points of view even while choosing an alternate direction and one who was more willing to admit mistakes would likely serve as much better as a nation.

A book named Egonomics is set to publish this fall, and it will tackle issues of ego and leadership in business, among other topics. The authors are maintaining an intriguing blog in the meantime that is well worth a look.