Should you put good knives in the dishwasher? Will there ever be peace on Earth?

The Damsel loves being lumped in with Macgyver. No one rocks a mullet like he does.

The sage appreciates the fact that with anything – anything – there’s a lesson.

Take his mother’s whole-wheat bread for instance. Unfortunately, the sage never learnt how to bake her bread, yet he could slice it. It’s hard to imagine a better combination of sight, smell, touch, and taste. Just thinking about that warm bread fresh out of the oven, covered with home-churned butter and his mother’s apricot jam, still makes his head spin. Add a tall, glass of fresh milk and there was no need to call the sage to dinner.

But as mentioned, slicing the bread became the sage’s specialty. Some people may look askance at such a skill but the sage is still amazed at just how unfortunate some loaves of bread appear once the mauling, uh rather, cutting is done.

Very well. If you must know, it simply takes a gentle grip on the loaf, a light cutting hand, with more sawing action than pressing down. If the loaf is lounging on its side rather than sitting on its bottom, the cutter has a much better perspective to accomplish the kind of straight slice even your Jr. High shop teacher would envy.

Most readers of this blog likely already possess the skills of finer bread slicing. But another set of skills the sage gleaned from the art of cutting bread is what he calls his Breadboard Communication Rules. He has shared these with a few newlywed couples, but they are applicable to the rest of us as well. They are:

1.            No cutting remarks.

2.            There are always two sides–neither is better and both should be given equal use.

3.            The only place for blame is on the board–there to be chopped up and tossed away.

4.            You only have to talk together on the days you eat.

A high-resolution copy of this image is available for the asking, that you may download and share as a reminder of these simple but effective rules. Just contact the sage at his blog: The Tacit Sage of Alkali Flats.

And since you may still be wondering: no, breadboard communication is nothing like rolling pin communication. See you on the baking aisle.

ã 2011 Alkali Communication. All rights reserved.

Come along!

photo: Spirit of Self-Reliance @ Epcot

The thing about fashion is that it repeats itself – one look at the clothing industry should be enough to prove this point. What’s old-fashioned today becomes the rage tomorrow. Plan on it! There’s no harm in going retro, especially when it comes to becoming self-reliant. They say self help is the best kind of help (not in everything, if you get my drift). Try this:

• Let go of technology: There’s no denying that technology has made our lives more convenient and easier; but, it’s also one of the biggest reasons for the decline of the human brain. It’s pretty ironic if you stop to think about it – while technology and innovation are the result of brainpower, we stop using our brains when technology takes over our lives. How many of us remember phone numbers today, even those of the people we call every day? Why should we remember when the contact list on our mobile phones does the job very effectively? How many of us know how to run a household (preserve food) without a refrigerator or remember birthdays without being reminded by our phones and social networks? The truth is, technology has made our lives so effortless and smooth, so much so that when it fails, we are at a complete loss. If your mobile phone gave out on your today (heaven forbid), panic will set in until you can get your stored details off the old phone and into your new one. It’s like you’ve lost a limb rather than a mere gadget. So as a first step to becoming self-reliant in the old-fashioned way, don’t let technology rule your life. Use it to your advantage, but don’t let it take control over you.
• Believe in the power of hard work: Today, people look for shortcuts and count on luck to get them through both routine work and tough times – in short, no one wants to expend effort in order to get what they want. It’s like they assume life comes with a remote control, one that they can operate from the comfort of a couch. However, the key to self-reliance is to depend on your enterprise, on your ability to do what needs to be done without shirking responsibility. A remote control seems to bail on you just when you need it the most, so be willing to work hard, and you’ll find that “luck” and success are not far behind.
• Never discount the value of education: Professional success is often a byproduct of education. So if you’re looking for self reliance, seek for ways to further your education at every stage of your life. I don’t mean you must go back to school and add to the number of degrees you hold; just find ways to augment your knowledge and keep up with the latest in your profession in any way you can. When you stop learning, your brain cells start to accumulate rust and become leaky vessels that don’t retain knowledge. So polish those grey cells and keep them in tiptop shape, becoming more self-reliant and successful in the process.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Mark Davies. He writes on the topic of Masters Degree Online . He welcomes your comments at his email id: markdavies247@gmail.com.

Go see!

White Chili