First Blog

If you are over 50, you are probably among the last people on earth where you will complete your life in a traditional way.  Namely,... You were born, grew up, matured, reproduced, grow old and then pass away, without the assistance or hinderance of massive data about you, nor excessive intrusion into your life.  If you’re younger, you’ve been fully tracked.  By the time you retire, there will be so much information about you online and for sale, that just about anyone with a couple of bucks can purchase your life story in data.  AI (Artificial Intelligence) will project accurately your future medical problems as you age. Your financial condition will be known even sooner. Your credit history will cover decades. All your jobs and performance ratings will be available. Your complete family and their records will be correlated as well into the giant record, which will be you.   In future, you may see the courts order an AI monitor to assist with your finances, diet, and exercise i

Have you noticed how many modern TV shows and movies have a supernatural component?  Not God really, but characters with beyond-the-real abilities.  Ghosts, superheroes, super-powers, anthropomorphic devils, clairvoyance, mysterious forces, and the lot. Also, we have characters visiting the past, the future, and alternative realities. It seems to portray or offer secular-religious experiences.  When I was a kid, we had superman, then batman.   That was about it until into the atom bomb age when insects grew to monumental proportions.   Also, there was a clear bad guy, to be defeated by the good guy. You can’t really count Frankenstein, as he was a medical invention. But then came Dracula, who is revived twice a year, every year. (We like evil defeated.) Historical biographies are gone completely. Family dramas have vanished, but family comedies featuring kids with the stupid dad continue. Protagonists with a great moral dilemma, once a staple, have largely disappeared. War movies

Fake meat has stormed the country.   Many celebrate the vegetable protein based products for climate, for nutrition, and for reduction of meat consumption.   The beef industry clearly hates this, and only now are developing their talking points. Testing to scale always reveals the nooks and crannies of risk. So, what’s coming for fake meat?   Here’s the shortlist. Too much sodium –   the old standby Variety – more and more variations of fake meat will be developed.   Expect less expensive products using more plentiful vegetable proteins. Chemistry – what new chemicals are used; what old chemicals are used to excess; how do these chemicals interact? Allergies – it is a certainty that allergies will be discovered supporting unusual affectations Headaches – every new item on the menu causes headaches in many.   They’re coming. Digestion problems – many, probably thousands will endure digestive problems due to overconsumption. Cancer – certain digestive tract cancers will be

Have you heard the story about a young ballplayer?   He was quite good, quick, powerful, with a good eye, but made many, many mistakes in his game.   For some time an older gentleman watched this young man play.   After a couple of weeks, on a bright sunny day, the old man walked up to the younger man and whispered in his ear for a few minutes something no one else could hear.    Afterward, in the weeks and years following, the young man became a truly exceptional ballplayer, making few mistakes, hitting well, and often executing brilliant plays.   He went on to be a professional of great fame (and fortune).   Often this story was recounted in the press, and often he was asked just what the old guy had said.   All the ballplayer would ever say was, “I don’t quite remember. It happened so fast. I got excited, and just wanted to play and play.” So, the riddle is this: “What could the old man have said in just a few minutes that could affect a lifetime?” Answer to come..

One of our big problems is separating what is true from what should be true. A consequence of our multifaceted brain, it shows amazing conflicts we live with, sometimes unsuccessfully. It is one important source of doubt, the generic artifact of conflict.   In sci-fi   movies, the contrast often shows a robot or android without this problem. (See, http://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-truth-about-truths.html ) S enior’s lament. Feeling Good. Trying to be bad. Not succeeding. In government, only the bad apples rise to the top. Beautiful is the spline of the spine. What do you get when you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter? Ans.  A pumpkin pi.

Memory is damaged by air pollution You didn’t know it, nor did I… Air pollution from nitrogen dioxide (NO2) causes memory loss*.   This study, in England, shows citizens living in regions with high levels of NO2 and air particles (PM10) significantly higher than in cleaner air environs, experience greater memory loss. Said the scientists, it amounts to an extra 10 years of age difference of memory loss. What we have is yet another consequence of air pollution. This is not good, but certainly, there must be other deleterious effects in high pollution cities beyond simply lung disease. I’d estimate residents living near airports experience very high air particulate pollution. When any condition affects the brain, it is worthy of note, as brain effects are difficult to detect, scientifically or personally. They must be achieved by comparative studies, as in the present case. On a personal note, my memory is now so far gone I could work in the ancient sulfur mines o

More gun violence. Modernity in warfare. You know Asians are consummate pork consumers.  The grow 'em. They eat 'em. They buy more from other countries. China is the biggest consumer.  With 1.4 billion  people, there's a lot of demand.  But did you know, China has 250,000,000 swine fever diseased pigs. Dire problem. They are found en masse floating in rivers.  Others, also diseased, are sent to slaughter houses for human consumption.    Now, the infection problem has spread to North Korea. We never know how NOKO handles any problem.  But, just across the border to the South Korea (SOKO), another big pork consumer. So then??? South Korea, like many Asian countries, has a large pig population and is frightened by this highly contagious disease coming in from the North. What can be done? Well ... SOKO now employs snipers to shoot, possibly infected, feral pigs coming into the South.   Being totally cynical, I could posit new low tech wars agains

History, not too far away but not too close, has a unique, mystical quality.   There you can know the previous residents; you can see their hopes and dreams in decay. You can see the care needed, with constant repair now halted.   You can see shards of glass, millwork on the lumber, wood or earthen floor, where the stove and bedrooms were, and maybe a forgotten book discarded long ago. You can almost smell the sweat from lost labor. In one such, I found a framed, water stained 1908 hand-written marriage license on the floor.  You are almost directly connected to this place. Take the picture. To me, it’s marvelous. Now, look at a 14 th century castle on the Rhein (the Rheinstein), today another hotel.   Preserved, perfect, historical, but lost to our touch, memory, and affection.   Just a pretty old place. Take the picture. Say wow.

Did you know that is a remote German valley, it was noted that four-thousand-year-old genomes show deep roots of social inequality?   Read the article. See, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03046-w You should not be surprised with this “scientific” discovery. In fact… Ever since there was not enough to go around, there was social inequity. “Not enough to go around” is the origin of greed.   Applies to all predator species – even today. Then came wealth, power, prestige, pride, and thus more inequity. However, it is not without value the discovery and validation of the obvious. Anyone pledging to eliminate social inequity is delusional – or lying. Anyone who believes the pitch is something close to stupid. Just a moment's thought reveals how important a family is to many.  It is a place where all are taken care of with some equity.  When it doesn't there arises the concept of patriarch or matriarch. 

Coffee bean extracts alleviate inflammation, insulin resistance in mouse cells When coffee beans are processed and roasted the husk and silverskin of the bean are removed and unused, and often are left behind in fields by coffee producers. There they are sitting in the fields, unused and untested. An improved remedy for diabetes? “A recent study, published in  Food and Chemical Toxicology , shows that when fat  cells  of mice were treated with water-based extracts from coffee beans skins, two  phenolic compounds —protocatechuic acid and gallic acid—in particular reduced fat-induced inflammation in the cells and improved glucose absorption and  insulin sensitivity . ” See, https://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2019-10-coffee-bean-alleviate-inflammation-insulin.html The most unlikely cures come from the most unlikely sources. And then, how many were missed when the view was toward something else? Consider one hundred thousand untested substances and one hundred thousand med

Hate to sound pessimistic, but... Whenever anyone thinks they have a solution to the MIddle East, they are wrong. The biggest problem are a religion and leaders that seem willing to sacrifice its people en masse . It has leaders who simply wish arbitrary power with religious sanction. The USA and Europe are essentially unequipped to manage such conflicting desiderata. Europe has simply given up, but the USA continues to try. Expect little and you will not be disappointed. Trump is absolutely magnificent at commercial deals, but Middle East war is different. It is a place where power is everything, and religion is placed in its service. Or is it vise-versa? China, at least, views the world in terms of profit and power. This is not easy but easier. Human rights? Redistribution? Freedom of speech? Come on, already. Not there; never was; never will be. What the West does not realize is these modern Middle East leaders view themselves in historical terms.  At various

It’s finally happened.   It had to.   There is now a course on hacking. Next, a possible degree?   “Ethical Hacking - Most Advanced Level Course” https://www.simpliv.com/cybersecurity/ethical-hacking-most-advanced-level-course?channel=mailer&camp=Mar15_SIMPLIV_IBM

One foreign policy problem the US faces comes from the concept, “Only we can fix it.” We messed up Middle East stability by toppling Saddam Hussein, a tyrant of the first order. Yet he understood his turf.   The USA invasion opened the door to Iran. Enter Iran, not exactly a softball team.   Now we’re trying hard to close that door. And failing. In another failing of the US is it always underestimates just how much pain, suffering, and starvation despots will accept on behalf of their people. Under current sanctions, every day Iranians are in dire straits.   Venezuelan citizens have access to even less without concern by their government. North Koreans endure impoverished lives for the glory of the controlling regime. Russians suffer calmly as only they can. The latest Middle East attempt from the US is to unleash Turkey, whose boss, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , is brimming for big power. Trump has now given him the chance. So, Erdoğan , accustomed to only small-time opposition,

What does old Vlad do late at night when his day is done? Make out with beautiful women? Cross-dress? Write in his dear diary? Read reports from his generals?   Plot against Trump?   Nyet! Nyet! Nyet! He locks the door to his bedroom and gets out his special equipment.   First, he downs a tumbler of Vodka. Then he applies over his lip an enormous mustache. Stripping to the skin, he puts on an oversized Bolshevik people’s revolution suit.   He then grabs some sheets of paper and with a red-inked pen, and smiling he begins to write enemy names upon it.   Yes, he is pretending to be his personal hero, Joseph Stalin.   No one dares knock on Vlad's door late at night. You see, even tyrants have role models.

A. You’re not here on Earth just to pay bills and clean the house. B. In your life’s journey, you are the driver, not a passenger. So drive already. Remark .  Good advice both, but how do you get it to those who need it? The problem with most good advice is that it never gets delivered.

In a recent interview with billionaire Mark Cuban, worth $4.1B, and self-made, “When I started in business, fear motivated me." In fact, all of us who have strived for something beyond experience this same fear.   We enter a world of uncertainty, which means we have made a bet on ourselves with little expectation but a lot of hope for a great outcome. We live in this fear, but we have a plan.    Not all survive. Some survive within measures in the interval.   Indicated (not said) by Cuban, “Fear is a tool if you can endure it. Difficult for many.”   To put fear in your service takes courage.   We have lots of expressions for such drives.   “Shooting the moon,” is one of them.   But this is a quality of our humanity.   Not just war, food, love, reproduction, money, and all, the big one is the quest . Are you   up to the challenge?   Maybe you want to be; maybe you’re afraid. Many try. Many succeed. Many fail.   P.S. Did you know he owns $1.0B in Amazon stock

Backyard, summer '19

Lessons from Afghanistan, over the centuries. A. You cannot have peace until you settle all scores?  B. First, we tear down our own world, and destroy all enemies. Then we'll talk peace.  C. We kill the Infidel in loving service to Allah.

Not good science? Bad science? Bad advice? Now published is one of these. On what? Red meat. A report has just been released that all that hype about eating less red meat and pork was bad advice. Said the report, the evidence is just too weak. So goes the latest on one of the largest studies of meat consumption. Big science says this will result in distrust of science, a loss of authority, and harm the credibility of nutrition science. So, we have a new study that contravenes established authority. Didn't Pasteur face the same problem with his theory of immunology? Flying in the face of authority, he won that one. See,  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/health/red-meat-heart-cancer.html The moral here, as has been the case in physics, chemistry, biology, earthquakes, tectonics, and others, there is just no such thing as settled science.