First Blog

  Cosmetics, according to the New York Post: American women spend an average of  $115 for makeup and beauty treatments per month , or $1,380 per year. They also spend an average of $65 per month on creams, lotions, moisturizers, and anti-aging treatments. This is not new. Women have spent big on makeup since ancient times. 

  Continuing with our problem-solving theme, we now take up the question, “What is a Solution?” In it, we try to account for many types of solutions. Not just the math questions, but the whole spectrum of presentations we call solutions. From parents to politics to planning, we consider a variety of solution types. In addition, we take up the question of “How do we approach finding solution?” You will be surprised at how many vastly different paths folks take. Sometimes, people take multiple paths, and this can lead to the notion of “no solution ever.” As mentioned before, the mind works with many differing solving systems - often in mysterious ways. If only the brain was logical, but it ain't. Link to paper. or https://www.linkedin.com/posts/g-donald-allen-420b0315_discovering-just-what-a-solution-can-be-activity-6956251153730867200-mq_i?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web

 Why is there so much war? Here are a few short answers, all of which you will not like. A. Evolutionary. Humans evolved from the predator class of subspecies. It is natural for us, therefore, to consider predation, i.e. war, to solve problems. Had we evolved from, say a prey species, war possibilities would be much diminished, but so would our relentless quests for power. Even the Meerkats wage wars, the cute little things - but predators. B. Deistic. If you believe in a creator, you must then consider why did God create such an aggressive creature as the human being. However, who can speak for God? C. Pragmatic. Most agree that humankind is pragmatic, and certainly you can view war as a pragmatic solution to problems. D. Algorithmic. In the language of algorithms, humankind solves problems using greedy algorithms, that is, it tends to optimize the shortest term solutions to a conflict, to kill.  How many wars were thought to last only a few week, when begun? Many.  If man had a predi

 If you neglect to use your brain when young,  It will neglect you when you're old. 

 You've all heard about solving problems, how to, tip, checking, and everything else, but do you know what a problem actually is? In this post we take up 24 different problem types.  Click link below to my LinkedIn page.  What is a Problem?

Given are two answers. A. Here’s the standard answer to your question. Study hard, learn much, do problems, and then you will understand. Then study harder.  B. Here’s an alternative answer. Do what wisdom does when understanding is delayed. Example. Infinity. It is safe to say no one really understands infinity. BUT, what most of us* do is learn the rules of infinity and work within them. Over and over again. Eventually, you are accustomed to all the rules, and this becomes your understanding. Your alternative is to learn the rules of the subject you have trouble with. Learn to work with them. Review and do dozens upon dozens of problems. By and by, you will be accustomed to them; you will have facility with them, and this will convert to your understanding. I know this sounds a bit cynical, but it does work. Please note, this alternative is not a shortcut. Both take much time and work. This is how most people understand God, who like infinity, is beyond comprehension. ---------------

  Are you a Theorist? Specialist? Generalist? Something else? There are a couple of ways to figure out what you are in the general spectrum of place? A.    If you pay close attention to the operation of a system, like keeping the railroads on time or running a plant, you are an  operations  person. These people keep the heartbeat of their organization healthy and ticking. B.      If you love just one particular endeavor, such as art, law, physics, et al, you are a  specialist . From your great trial lawyer to nuclear physicist to auto mechanic are completely needed. We depend on specialists for almost everything. C.     If your priority is a working world and can live with or without theory, you may be a pragmatist. Pragmatists think of theories as tools to be used, rejected as needed. D.    If you love all things and seeing the world in total, you are a  generalist . Generalists look at the big picture, trying to see the framework of our lives in a holistic way. They try hard to u

Twelve Don’ts for Living 1.        Don’t waste time on revenge. It takes energy, but don’t forget it either. The possibility may come along. 2.        Don’t waste time on hate. It takes too much energy. 3.        Don’t cheat your employer. You are paid for the work. Do it well. 4.        Don’t fake it. Only those less intelligent than you will be fooled. At most half of them will believe. 5.        Don’t co-mingle your beliefs with your understandings. They are different. 6.        Don’t gossip. You’ll get a reputation. 7.        Don’t palaver your politics. About half will disagree, but you’ll never know who. 8.        Don’t proselytize. It makes you look bad. 9.         Don’t believe it even though you want to. Check it out. 10.    Don’t shirk responsibility to your family. You made them. You owe them. 11.    Don’t lie to your kids. They sense it and learn to lie back to you.  12.    Don’t lie to your spouse. They hear you far beyond mere words.  

What is the moral justification for slavery? A.     First, define your targets as ignorant and incapable of caring for themselves - alternately subhuman. B.      On this basis, take away their rights and "give" them what they need. C.      Your targets are now slaves to the state or plantation. D.     You have done the morally correct action. You feel good.   Does it work?  It has for millennia. 

  Want to be a billionaire? Invent a device that will assess the viability and life expectancy of the battery in a used electric vehicle. With the replacement battery costs in the $10-20K range, this will strongly affect used EV prices.

  Your Bicameral Brain by Don Allen Have you ever gone to another room to get something, but when you got there you forgot what you were after? Have you ever experienced a flash of insight, but when you went to look it up online, you couldn’t even remember the keyword? You think you forgot it completely. How can it happen so fast? You worry your memory is failing. Are you merely absent-minded? You try to be amused. But maybe you didn’t forget.   Just maybe that flash of insight, clear and present for an instant, was never given in the verbal form, but another type of intelligence you possess, that you use, and that communicates only to you. We are trained to live in a verbal world, where words matter most. Aside from emotions, we are unable to conjure up other, nonverbal, forms of intelligence we primitively, pre-verbally, possess but don’t know how to use. Alas, we live in a world of words, stewing in the alphabet, sleeping under pages of paragraphs, almost ignoring one of

What is it like to finally understand a new concept which at first seemed like a foreign language to you? Two answers are evident. A. When understanding for the first time, it seems like reaching the peak of a mountain. A triumph. B. After a bit of time, you think of why you did not understand it in the first place. “It is so easy,” you might think. This is the apparent paradox of understanding. It goes from impossible to easy in just one step.