First Blog

Many think that progress has been made.  After all, there is little old-style slavery these days.  This is not so; slavery has merely assumed another form.  We now have slaves with a cell phone, TV, iPad, and house.  But their functions are not much different than in millennia prior.  They work to live.  They have a little more mobility, true.  They can tell their boss to shove it, true.  But mostly, their next job is isomorphic to their previous one. They live in the service of others . Example: In education, we have slaves (teachers) leading new slaves (students) into the bondage of slavery (a job). Socialism merely changes just who are the "others."  Indeed, just about any "-ism" amounts to a similar redefinition.   The only difference is which class becomes the out-caste.

At One Point of Your Life At one point of your life you dream of all those things that may yet be. At one point of your life you think of dreams that have come true. At one point of your life you think of all those dreams that have slipped from your grasp. At one point of your life you think about past dreams that never will be. At one point of your life you dream no longer but think on the joys that remain.

Here are a few thorny issues for your week's consideration.  The News Feed .  Have you wondered what news feed that foreign leaders read about the USA?   For example, if Canada's PM Trudeau listens only to CNN he learns one thing; if he listens to FOX he learns another.  If he listens to the White House he learns more insider information we don’t know.  So, how does he compute his operational calculus?  How would you?  Not so easy, yes?  And Canada is tiny - and friendly.  Multiply all this by 5x or 10x gives a complexity glimmer of USA negotiations with other nations, e.g. China.  What news from the USA do they compute with?  I don’t know.  Do you?   Just how are these deals done?  Almost all of us are completely naive and inexperienced on such interactions.  We guess. We criticize. But actually we just don't know.  ----------------- The Insider Betrayal .  This is the politician that sells out their own party for little gain but notoriety.  Mostly, they h

Anxzia -   the newest medical disease.   Not actual anxiety, it is something of a persistent fear or agitation about current and future states.   Anxzia is the prolonged   condition created by unjustified anxiousness toward possible or plausible outcomes or events.   All of us have this as a pre-condition from time to time, but it is usually quieted as events unfold. Yet, for some, they live in this state, always concerned about a future they can never compute nor understand.   Fact: I just made this up. Yet it does sound like something you might see featured on Dr. Phil or Dr. Oz. Fact: It is certain that some psychologist somewhere, somehow, someway, will make this condition into a career.   TV appearances, books, papers and the like will issue forth in some foamy discourse about this greasy condition.   Such is the progress of modern times, with some researchers equating scholarship with headlines .   As well, we will see lawsuits against companies that their conditions

At first, I wondered at former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his kneeling for the National Anthem.  Then, I said San Francisco, the preferred home of the left. They put this weak-minded person up to kneeling at the Anthem.  That was it, I thought. A touch of stupidity in service to politics.  Not the first down this road. Then kneeling caught on and others were doing it.  Kaepernick became a celebrity.  He does interviews. He does guest spots; maybe he's writing a book.  The usual. Then Kaepernick claimed his kneeling caused him to be blackballed from football - and what else does an American do?  He sued.  (Never mind he wasn't that great a player.) Now he is Nike's (sporting goods, shoes) advertising symbol for self-sacrifice .  Quite a stretch, considering his wealth. Currently, he has a delightful situation. Sacrificing for dollars. Suing for dollars. Appearances for dollars. Investing for more dollars. Awards. Honors. Magazine covers.   What

Uncertainty is by all measures not good.   Create uncertainty in your product, and sales will drop. Create uncertainty in your future, and you are diminished.   Create uncertainty with your investors, and stock sales will drop.    It seems that Elon Musk has done all, which paints uncertainty into all his ventures. Here's a problem.  How does anyone repair uncertainty?  In the family, it takes time.  In public, who knows? --------------------- Corruption has become such a vague term that everyone simply accuses their opponents as being corrupt, without specificity.   Get to specifics.   Bribery has a meaning. Insider trading has a meaning. Diverting funds to cronies has a meaning. Incarcerating opponents has a meaning.   But corruption?   Strictly generic and with little meaning.   Admit it, in some sense almost all of us are corrupt – in some way.

The USA – a Three-Party State We live in an age of greed .  From the right, it might be called a greed for money, disguised as self-determinism and free enterprise.  From the left, it might be called a greed for power, disguised as universal rights and justice.  This is old news. Nowadays we see a new force, the  greed for information .  Currently, it is merely a left-leaning political auxiliary making lots of money.  Mostly what it does is unknown except for information gathering.  The processing algorithms are complex and accurate. But they use can be modified to identify, to fractionate, to discriminate, and ultimately to censor.  All too easy.  But soon, the information moguls will come to a basic conclusion.  And that is... Why do we need either the right or left?  We control the flow of information, and we read it all. Therefore we control all.* They control, but what they want is not exactly known.  Who are the “they?” Simply put, they form an oligarchy of leade

Symbols. A good message for politicians to send to all Americans is that "permanent" employees of the US Government, such as the FBI, should be required to re-take their oath of office periodically, like every two years.   Elected officials must.   So, why don't at least senior employees?   Sure it is symbolic, but are we not a country of symbols?   --------------- In politics, the greatest difference is between those who build their actions on a pole of principles and those who base their actions on polls of the populace. --------------- Violence means more than the mere destruction of property; it is also means the destruction of freedom.

The Socialist view of life . From cradle to cradle to cradle - followed by a quick cremation. All for free. ---------------- The Socialist manifesto : We are smarter than you. We know more than you. We understand more than you.   We know what you need. We insist on helping you. ---------------- The Socialist menu .   Go to any Asian restaurant.   Almost certainly you will see the dish, “Happy Family,” a hodge-podge of various items to delight the customer.   A stir-fry dish with colorful vegetables (broccoli, baby corn, bamboo shoots, mushroom, carrots, etc.), meats (beef, pork and chicken), and seafood (fish, shrimp, and crab), it is cooked in a brown sauce.   As a catch-all, the European Union (EU) plan typifies this dish trying to serve all Europe the Happy Family. All are served the same and all are asked eat the same. But… Many simply want another dish.   Some want fish, some just beef, others only pork or chicken, and so on.   With this reckoning, the Happy Family

The wise Captain of life always sails with a trusted crew of six, What, Why, When, and How, Where, Who.*    The ship has a sturdy mast constructed of proof, sails of logic, with a rigging woven of axioms, evidence, and findings.    His mates are Skepticus and Optimus to steady the travel, while deep in the hold kept chained are the Negatives, who multiply  prodigiously  especially in darkness. The four-ever cousins are rejected. You know them well: Whatever, Whomever, Wherever, Whenever.  They embody sailing with equivocation and belong in the hold with the Negatives . Credit the idea here to Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant's Child.

Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin; complete self-confidence is a weakness.   ---   G. K. Chesterton, in Orthodoxy , 1908.   Though Orthodoxy was written as a Christian apology, this quote has an especially   definite and profound secular value. Most truly intelligent people I know have incomplet e self-confidence. The self-confidence allows them to approach extremely difficult problems, while the incompleteness delimits first guesses and jumps toward a firmament of knowledge without proof. Complete self-confidence often comes with a built-in orthodoxy allowing easy conclusions based on easy thinking. Complete self-confidence offers self-assurance, thus casting self-doubt, introspection, and rigor aside. Complete self-confidence weakens the   holder’s   grasp on reality in favor of an internal mechanism of an unmerited self-righteousness.   Complete self-confidence weakens the need for rigor in acceptance or belief in almost everything. Complete self-conf

Life in three’s is a broad scope framework of how we live. Three categories usually work, though sometimes two (e.g. win-lose) suffice. Then again for seasons, spring, summer, fall, and winter seem necessary, though seasons are put upon us, not by choice.   Let's get to living and the divisions by three. We think in three’s, easy, reasonable, difficult. We order in three’s, small medium, large. We travel in three’s, slow, medium, fast. We work in three’s, casual, diligent, intense. We play in three’s, fun, sport, competition. We love in three’s, like, love, obsession. Scoring.  For each category, award one point for the first division, two for the second, and three for the third. Sum them all.  The total should range from 6 to 18. If the total is 10 or less, your life is tepid. A total of 15 or greater tells us you're driving hard.  What's your score?