First Blog

The greatest contribution of the USA.   The USA has produced remarkably to the world over the past century or two.   Include construction, metals production, electronics, machinery, nuclear energy sources, aviation, medicine, and more.   Which is the greatest?   And the answer is …  Agriculture.   American scientists have developed the disease resistant crops, fertilizers, and farming methods currently feeding the world.   Without all this chow there would be no now – as we know it.   ---------------- Today’s math problem .   Let’s say the prime interest rate is 5%, and it goes up to 5.5%. Clearly the interest rate is up by 0.5%.   But, in going from 5% to 5.5% the increase is really 10%.   So which is it? Up by 0.5% or up by 10%?   And the answer is… Both.   It depends on what and how you’re counting.   In the 0.5% increase we are discussing the net increase in the borrowing percentage.   But in the 10% increase we are discussing the percentage increase of the percen

Power and Money are twin diseases of humanity.   If you’re in politics and want money, you work quietly behind the scenes selling favors, information, and access, i.e. what you can do.   If you’re in politics and want power, you’ll say anything, lies, truth, and bologna, to get it. Does this make the money grubbing politician more honest?   A close call is this contest between these twins known better as, “Do Anything” and “Say Anything.”  The real bad boy's name is "Saydo Anything."   ---------------------- Modern mainstream morality :   If you like the guy, it’s ok if he stands by mute while thousands are slaughtered.   If you don’t like the guy, it is moral turpitude if he doesn’t wash his hands after a bathroom break. ---------------------- Death is an interesting word with a world of meanings.   In war, one can both hope for and dread it at the same time.   Personally, the rules are different.   George Gershwin said it perfectly in Porgy and Bes

Lessons learned...  Just perhaps the entire country is possessed by winning at any cost. It is not unlike sports but in slow-motion. The loser, as in sports, asks for a recount (i.e. replay) or to extend the clock.  The winner maintains steadfast in victory, claiming it was a good game, fairly played. Both sports and politics cite racism, phobias and maladies of all sorts; both demand immense sums expended. When winning is the exclusive goal, the sport is gone and all fans lose. Intensity escalates. The owners in both venues are all billionaires.

W e made it through the last election cycle, I think, finally. The balance of power has shifted just a bit.   Yet, it is in no way clear what will happen.   The three preceding sentences could have been written in many years past.   So, we at least biennially get the new crop.   Not chemically enhanced, genetically engineered, nor fertilized, much less vaccinated, this crop is much the same as always.   In the parley of cookery, we call the outcome pot luck .  W e’re at that time of the season to discuss what’s for dinner.   Our chefs are local and we trust their excellence.   Let’s suppose this time we’re preparing a (nice juicy) politician as the main course.   This happens you know.   When families get together, politics may not come from the kitchen but sit there at the table, offering food for dispute, often helping with indigestion.   L et’s make a top ten list of these political birds and what we want to see.   And let’s try to do it without politics.   Maybe that’s

S ports   come in many kinds with venues, equipment and scoring; surnames come in many more. Common ground is our goal – if only in name.   Namely, are there sports terms with surnames the same.   Easy example: “Ball” is a common name and an article of sports. Another example, the sport of “Curling” sees the player send a “Stone” down an ice “Sheet” toward “House” (the target) where team mates can use a “Broom” to curve the path. Remarkably, all these terms are surnames.   Similarly, a “Sailor” may “Row” a boat on the “Lake.”   Each is a surname. Rowing is of course a sport. Lots of sports, venues, equipment, and outcomes are also surnames.   We made a list. Verification can be found on the WordNet.com dictionary.   Many of the surnames will surprise you, but some are unusually rare such as one in 100,000 names. A score or outcome in many sports is called a “point,” which as the surname “Point” ranks 39,599 th   in popularity. Among the sports there are duplicate terms in o

A. Often the best assessment of your value comes from outside your personal sandbox. -----------  B. Quitting the here for a better there is the time-tested method for improvement. Loyalty sometimes interferes. But quitting altogether is a losing strategy.

Democracy is defeated by others using its laws to destroy it. Socialism is defeated under the pressure of its internal corruption. Communism is defeated by the very elite it creates. Dictatorships are defeated by old age and weakened control. Monarchy is defeated by political inbreeding and loss of vigilance. Dynasties are defeated by mold, inbreeding, corruption, and weakness. Currently, most western governments are controlled by a combination of the above.   They may be defeated by a confusion of mission. ------------------- One problem with the ultra-rich , which have always been and always will be, is that now they want to be loved. They spend great sums on buying their version of love, often political.   This is but another consequence of the destruction of religion.* In short: If you have multiple billions, you want to be loved, and you want to be revered, you are one dangerous animal. *   In the olden days, religion kept the super-rich “down on the f

For some people, becoming a statistic would be considered their greatest achievement.

Schrödinger’s cat* can be expanded to Schrödinger’s universe .   In fact, we could well reason that the universe is, in fact, a rather large probability distribution of entities. Even the smallest probabilities are a part of this – such as those of the cat’s wave equation.   Simplify this notion by asking, “If there is a universe and nobody observes it, does it exist as we observe it?” The simple answer is no, but the deeper answer is this implies time may not exist.  Time may well be an observational illusion of a particular path within this distribution. The path creates its own physics of its unique universe, with the common factor being gravity between them all. This becomes the particular universe observed by us with the path creating its own dimension of time. Bottom line: Time a path-wise artifact.  It is difficult to unshackle thinking from process and therefore from  time .   * From Wikipedia: Schrödinger's cat: a cat, a flask of poison, and a  radioacti

You have personal problems; I have personal problems. In some cases, the “we” have problems. Secular personal problems have difficulties all their own. How do you solve them, or where do you get help?   Aside from medication, which ultimately fails long term, four solution methods are available.   For problems related to health or work, other methods are used. A.     (Reverberation model). Two friends meet to discuss problems.   Both talk continuously about their personal problems and talk over the other, with hardly a murmur about the other.   Yet, each nods, smiles, or frowns as appropriate.   During the cacophony of chatter, each has the illusion of giving help.   Such pairs are usually self-absorbed to the point they are scarcely aware of the other. Who knows if any problem is solved, but just talking them through often helps. B.     (Sounding Board model). Here we have the one explaining problems to the other, with only a nod or head shake are needed.   This person