Quote of the Day

Sometimes I like to quote particularly interesting things I have heard. I call this the "quote of the day". Today's quote of the day is from Jody Brown, a cattle rancher, and goes "If animals weren't meant to be eaten, then why are they made out of meat?" To which I would reply, "Then what are you made of?"

I heard "I could have danced all night" on TV tonight. To me this symbolizes the mood you get into when you get really excited about someone or something (it doesn't have to be dancing or a partner of the opposite sex) so much that you can keep going and going on with it, while other people keep saying you got to stop or you'll wear yourself out. In the song the housekeeper keeps warning Eliza, "Don't you think you should be in bed?" But she's not in that mood. She keeps singing, "I could have danced all night." This may help you discover the passion in your life. If you can keep going on and on with it and not get tired, that is what you should be doing for a living.

Success from Life Stages

I continue to plug along in setting up my SUUSI workshops - I came up with a plan for giving this year's Stories of the Sky. Yesterday I completed a similar presentation for SUUSImatics, which will consist of seven "vignettes", some of which will be highly interactive. I also reviewed over my Toastmastersaccomplishments and found that I have given 100 speeches to or for Toastmasters clubs since I joined Toastmasters in 1986. I need 4 speeches for another Competent Toastmaster and two speeches about clubs for a Competent Leader award. I need two speeches for Advanced Toastmaster Bronze, but they could be two important ones. One calls for me to sell something (myself?), and the other calls for me to give a motivational success speech, like Zig Ziglar or Dr. Phil.

To me most success seminars sound alike, so I don't care to hear them. There are a few good ones around, such as Steven Covey, Steve Andreas, and Charles Faulkner (the last two are authors of "Neurolinguistic Programming"). But if I were to give one, how would it go? It would contain bits of wisdom from the most successful moments of my life. I divide my life into eight "acts", so I found a success principle from each. The list I got was:

Toddlerhood, Investigate it - it might be interesting
Childhood, Seek rewards
Adolescence, Consider all possibilities
Young adult, Take all possible actions
Settling down, Blaze your own path
Getting a promotion, Find a good group of people
Freedom Forties, Do what you like doing the best
Middle Age, Do it!

and the slogan I came up with just this past year: Just add one. I now need to make this into a 15-20 minute speech, which I will do sometime later this year.

True Patriotism on April 15

We have just passed July 4, the most patriotic holiday of the year, with flags, bands, fireworks, and holiday travel. All of this was enjoyable, while we preached the virtues of duties and blessings of this country. I feel, however, that if you want a real test of patriotism among Americans, which will force us not just to talk the talk but to also walk the walk, I think Independence Day should be celebrated on April 15. That would be the real test. The real test would also occur if the tax year were moved a quarter and July 4 made the day our 1040's had to go into the IRS.

Fourth of July Run

One of the most characteristic icons of Independence Day is the firework. This holiday, and New Year's Day are the two holidays in the year when we launch fireworks displays. My father would take us all to places to see fireworks, but usually I saw them in the distance from the car. I found this a little disappointing. He did take us down to Conesus Lake once to see fireworks, and I could see them closer then. Since then, I have tended to shun fireworks displays on Independence Day because of the huge traffic jams that result afterwards.

I had thought of bicycling to fireworks displays, but I found that running and walking are just as good. I run and swim for exercise, and last year for the first time, I ran after dark to hunt for all the fireworks displays in the neighborhood. Now I know that maybe these displays, created by people that live in the neighborhood, may be both illegal and dangerous (indeed, I did see one firework intended to go up in the air tonight instead go sideways), but still they are there and if I go out and run and walk at night I will find them. Last year I saw an impressive display that included rockets that exploded high in the air like public fireworks shows do.

I ran this year but it was not as productive, but I still found a crowd of people around a cul-de-sac in my neighborhood. They were launching firecrackers, Roman candles, and an occasional rocket. Further, I saw people walking back and forth. Evidently others want to go out to see these neighborhood displays. After these displays petered out, I ran around the neighborhood trying to find more displays but when I approached some cracking it would go quiet, only to pick up again as I run away from the place. It was an enjoyable run, good for keeping in shape and losing weight, and I get to see real fireworks (instead of the television variety) without having to drive into a traffic jam.

My next night run in the neighborhood will be what I call the "Yuletide fantasy run", when I run around to see all the displays of colored lights in the neighborhood.

Fourth of July

This is the first Fourth after 9/11, so in a sense one can describe this day as (0-)1-4-9-11. As it turns out, these integers have an interesting property. If you put these measurements on a ruler and only these, you can still draw or measure a line of any integer length up to 11 except 6. For example, 7 is 11 - 4, and 3 is 4 - 1. Such a ruler is called a Golomb ruler, and it is an interesting problem to find the minimum Golumb rulers of given lengths.

Wasp Nest

Today we called out the insect specialist and had them remove an enormous wasp nest in our yard. We discovered it a number of weeks ago and knew it was huge. When the experts came to take it away, they said it was the largest wasp nest they had found this year. It was about 10 inches across, about the size of a soccer ball (or football, for non-US readers). They let us keep some of it and we may want to give it to the local zoo so they can display it or use it for classes for children. If it's that large, could it have made the news? I am glad no one fell in it.

Trust

This has become an important topic for me. I feel that I have been let down by people and society all my life. When I was a child, I was promised a future of endless energy because of the discovery of nuclear power. Later on, I was betrayed over and over again by auto repair places who said they repaired my vehicle and then something goes wrong with it again. This built up such a lack of trust in me for car repair places and dealerships that I never voted for anyone who was associated with a car dealership. Nowadays, cellular phone companies are the same way. The promise of being able to call from anywhere is broken; half the time on trips I get cut off, because of lack of a tower. Cellular phones are complicated to use and there is no uniformity in them. You can't trust your phone.

There is also a lack of trust in society, in our corporations, our political leaders, and in our religious leaders. See The Corrosion of Public Trust by Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post for a good article on trust. It may be one of the reasons why the stock market is not rising like it should upon recovery from a recession. Who's going to be the next Worldcom? According to Strauss and Howe, authors of "The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy", a lack of trust in public institutions characterizes an Unraveling (Third Turning) and leads ultimately to a Crisis (Fourth Turning). According to them a Fourth Turning will come soon, around 2005. They seem to be on the mark.

A Cat is always a Cat

I thought of a mind experiment today. I imagine that one of my cats is sitting nearby, in its usual cat pose. I pick up one of his feet and move it a bit. The cat moves the foot back. It looks the same as before. I push the cat over. It gets up, and sits up facing another direction. The cat is now in a different situation, and it sees much different things, because of my actions. But it is the same cat as before. This shows that if we go through a lot of changes in our lives, then we may wind up in a different lifestyle or scene, but we will be the same person.

I continued to prepare for SUUSI by doing some work on part of SUUSImatics. I went to church and heard an inspiring talk by an ACLU lawyer on the separation of church and state. It is amazing. The people of my congregation are almost unanimous, spiritual and humanist both, in deleting "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, but other people are almost unanimous in wanting to keep it in. It's a sharp divide, and it is not the only sharp divide in our nation now.

Pledge SUUSI

SUUSI is approaching; it is coming at the end of July. I am a veteran of 11 SUUSIs so I was thinking this would be just another SUUSI. The Pledge of Allegiance ruling changed all that. The 9th Appellate Court ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance could not be recited in public schools because it contained the words "under God". Right away, the entire government of this country condemned the rating. This includes many other judges, the entire Senate, and all but three members of the House, and the President. So I find it comforting when I hear that the President of the Unitarian Universalist Association welcomes the ruling, and members of my congregation support it. I am glad to hear of people wanting to keep church and state separate.

This could not come at a better time for SUUSI. A group called Relative Viewpoint will be performing at SUUSI. To me they are the musicians who play "I Pledge Allegiance", where they pledge allegiance to the world we live in and to peace. I would like to hear the Pledge without "under God". Maybe I will at SUUSI. But for sure, I believe that I am going to hear Relative Viewpoint's Pledge, probably several times, and it may become a de facto theme for SUUSI. This pledge is especially inspiring when it is played to music. Pledge SUUSI. And now I am getting psyched up about going to this annual summer wonderland where anything can happen, and has, and will.

Wow! What a day! A lot happened.

Pledge of Allegiance

Today the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because it contains the words "under God", thus making it an establishment of state religion.

To me, this is good news. I remember when the words came into the pledge first from a scholastic magazine that I read when I was in 4th grade. Congress passed it in 1954, and this was followed by bombastic words from President Eisenhower. I did not think much of it then, but during the years since I wondered whether those words were a violation of separation of church and state. I felt they were. I do not believe in a Christian God, and when the words "under God" are put into the pledge, to most people that means the Christian God, even if people intend it to mean whatever the person saying it chooses it to mean. So I feel that the court decision was appropriate. Further, I feel that people leading the pledge in government or public places should not say "under God", but I also feel that people reciting it can say what they want, or even say nothing.

But having "under God" stricken out by a court is good news. Now maybe they'll include in the pledge a word that got deleted long ago: "one nation, indivisible, with equality, liberty, and justice for all".

The Economy

So Worldcom cooked the books. The stock market took a hit but recovered nicely. I have watched as the averages, such as the Dow, hold steady, then start a steep decline. The market does not go up and keep it up when good news comes, but it goes down when bad news comes. The investor does not have trust in the market right now, and the bookcookers of Enron and Worldcom don't help things much.

The economic signs seem good, however. Interest rates are low and are likely to stay that way. Unemployment is going down. Bonds are holding their own or going up slightly. People are spending more, and gasoline prices are still low. So what seems evident is that a negative bubble is forming. This is like a positive bubble, such as the one hitting the Nasdaq in late 1999 and early 2000, but one forming in a downward direction. The Nasdaq soared, then it collapsed in March of 2000, once people realized that all this gain was illusory. The same holds now, but in the other direction. Much of the loss of the stock market is unwarranted. Once the economy gets going again, and many say it will, then people will find stocks cheap and buy in droves. This will break the bubble and cause the averages to soar. They will eventually correspond to the long-term growth, which is about 5-8% or so for the next few years, at least.

Construction

Today they took out a large part of our kitchen floor. It was damaged by water when a valve under the kitchen sink broke. In two weeks they will install new flooring, but in the meantime we walk on plywood floors and may have to keep our cats in a room upstairs. The end result will be worth waiting for - a new kitchen floor. So it is with much construction in life. If something gets torn down, then when it gets rebuilt it is better than ever. Sometimes we need to tear things down to get out of the rut we are in.

Worst events in American history

Yesterday I read an editorial by Kathleen Parker in which she says that the worst event in our history ought to have a better name than 9/11. I came up with a name and sent it into her. However, I don't agree with her statement that 9/11 was the worst moment (meaning day) in American history. Except for the war on terror and a recession, things are pretty much the same as in premillennium days. But not so with some of the other events in our history. Here is my ranking:

10. Assassination of John F. Kennedy, 1963. This one event ended "Camelot" and signaled a change of mood in this country (see http://www.fourthturning.com - it was the beginning of a Second Turning).
9. Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, 1865. Undoubtedly the worst event in our history was the Civil War, which took four years. It was Lincoln who brought the North to victory in this war, so it was a sudden jolt when the bullet came flying into his brain scarcely a week after the war ended. The result was endless bickering between a Republican Congress and President Andrew Johnson.
8. Defeat of South Vietnam, 1975. The think tank people thought they could win this one. But the most we could muster is a stalemate, and we questioned our need to be in Vietnam. When we pulled out, the enemy gathered forces and overran South Vietnam in two years.
7. Black Monday, 1929. There have been many stock market crashes, in 1873, 1987, 2000 and other years. But the one in 1929 heralded a long period in which nothing seemed to go right with the US economy as bread lines built, labor unrest increased, and rich people suddenly found themselves begging for dimes.
6. The Terrorist Attacks of 2001 September 11. I feel that the attacks, which killed 3,056 people, fit in the number 6 spot. True, it was a horrifying event, and it came from overseas. But it so far has not caused the kind of pain that wrenches the entire country, the sort that events 1-5 did. Note that this is the worst event of our country for anyone aged 57 or less. Maybe the reason why we think it is the worst in history is that we have not gotten an appreciation for what happened before we were born. So let's go on...
5. D-Day, 1944 June 6. This was a planned event, and it was the start of the turn of World War II in our favor. But it was a horrible event, as anyone who has seen "Saving Private Ryan" can appreciate. Many, many of our loved ones overseas died in those days that we started to reclaim France from the Germans.
4. First Battle of Bull Run, 1861. Three of the top four come from the Civil War, the worst thing that has happened to this country. This battle was noteworthy in that the South won it, and it made the US realize that this war was not going to be easy; it was going to be several brutal years.
3. Pearl Harbor attack, 1941. From out of the blue it came, just as on 2001 September 11, and it killed thousands. Unlike last year's attacks, however, this attack came from a powerful enemy nation. It therefore led to four long years of fighting World War II, with its heavy toll on our people.
2. Battle of Gettysburg, 1863. This was the turning point of the Civil War. But it was one of the bloodiest days in our history. The death toll was in five digits, but at least we won this battle. Not so with number 1:
1. Battle of Antietam, 1862. This is the worst event in our history. Like Gettysburg, it killed five-digit numbers of people. Unlike Gettysburg, it was a win for the Confederates, who were already in Union territory in Maryland. From here they could invade Pennsylvania and turn around and threaten Washington. Although it looked like the Confederates were losing out west, this battle was another reminder that this war was going to be long and bloody.

This is my quick estimation of the worst events in our history. I may have missed something (Korean War?). if so I will revise the list later. Tomorrow I will try to find something happier to talk about.

Gone with the Wind

I read a movie review of this movie. I saw the movie and read the book when I was young. The review points out that the main heroine, Scarlett O'Hara, is a relatively modern 1930's woman in a straitlaced Old South 1860's society. It makes me wonder if a 2000's woman were transported to 1860 Old South, how would she behave? I think she would have tried to organize other women and sought out to claim voting and other rights that our society now take for granted. She might even have picked up a rifle and went up with her husband to fight the Yankees. The book also said that there was a civilization of gentility that is now "gone with the wind", as the movie and book put it, back then; of course that society was based on the toil of slaves. The movie makes it sound like a Camelot, but I feel that I am glad that it is gone. Our society of opportunity and individual assertion makes life more meaningful than it ever was in the Old South. It was an interesting movie, though, and I may want to see it again, just to see Rhett say at the end, "Frankly, I don't give a damn."

Fireflies

This evening on our front lawn we saw more than the usual number of fireflies. They were blinking all over the place, on our lawn, and across the street in the woods. It reminds me of when I was a teenager going on a trip with my parents. Passing through Virginia, my brother and I caught about fifty fireflies apiece in glass jars. They were really numerous then, and have since been scarcer. Tonight's firefly explosion reminds me of those times, back in the early 1960's.

From the Internet, I find that fireflies are a beetle with a soft underside that glows under certain nervous commands. Fireflies usually glow to find a mate, but stress, such as a nearby Fourth of July firecracker, and cause them to glow. Males and females glow back and forth to communicate their location and to facilitate their coming together.

It made me think of an interesting thought. What if humans had the luminescence of fireflies? Since fireflies glow when they are finding mates, suppose humans glowed when aroused. I think we would hold back on getting aroused by the sight of an attractive person for fear of letting everyone know by glowing. What would be most interesting is a power outage at night, or in a windowless building. Then people would make out with each other to glow bright enough to see where they're going, and at campouts at night, people would get aroused and would not need flashlights. This could make the setting of a fantasy or science fiction story.

We'll have to settle for looking at these bugs that light up summer nights and marvel at how they do it.

Summer Nights

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice, which some say is the beginning of summer. According to the sun, it is mid-summer, since it is the day when the daylight is the longest. For the next six months, the day will get shorter until mid-winter on December 21. Because of lag caused by the atmosphere, summer weather will continue for the next three months. With it come hot days and mild summer nights.

Summer nights are one of my favorite times. You can go out without putting on a jacket. Nature is chiming a chorus of bugs and night birds and creatures. Summer nights are good for taking a walk in the neighborhood. Often there is a mild wind blowing. It reminds me of nights in the past of summer camps and night parties. Of course the stars are up there, and it is comfortable to look at them, although the night is short.

I went to a sky watch program last night as part of our local astronomy club activities. It was a beautifully clear night with the only clouds at sunset making that brilliant and hot-looking. The wind was blowing, which felt good but interfered with observations. I showed the public first Jupiter, which was in twilight skies - I could not make out the four big satellites, and then I showed Venus, in a gibbous phase. After Venus went into the trees, I showed the moon with its craters and seas. The biggest surprise was finding out that two people who I had known for some time separately had met and were going out with each other. The one thing I did not like was that few stars were visible, due to city light pollution and a nearly full moon.

Smattering

I just found out about Friday Five - five questions it asks you to answer, by Smattering. Here they are:

1. Do you live in a house, an apartment or a condo? We live in a house that is spacious and adequate for us but was poorly built and requires constant repair. Right now we are replacing or have replaced the kitchen floor, a side door, and some water valves, and have had repairs done to the roof.

2. Do you rent or own? We own the house.

3. Does anyone else live with you? My wife and three indoor cats.

4. How many times have you moved in your life? It depends on what you call a move. I counted my undergraduate college as 4 moves - a different dorm each year. A total of 14 times in my life.

5. What are your plans for this weekend? Show the public the stars at a skywatch, go to church, and make plans for the rest of the summer and autumn.

A name for my blog

Now that I've named computers, I need now to name my blog, with something other than JVBLog. I conceive of this series of blogs as some sort of journey; in fact a Journey through Blogspace. However, Blogspace is the name of a web logging program, so that's out. So I thought of Blogrealm instead, or even Blogual Reality. That sounds somewhat clumsy, but Blogrealm has some merit. The element of a journey, as my life journey, is not there, however. Blogjourney sounds too long. I then thought of Blogtrek. Now I have seen Star Trek occasionally, but I have not been a constant Star Trek fan; I'm not a Trekkie. But Blogtrek sounds nice, and what's more, it doesn't google. It will now. I have decided to call my blog Blogtrek. So now I shall boldly blog where no one has ever blogged before…

Supervisors

I don't think I have had much luck with supervisors. They have varied from somewhat above average to really abysmal. So I thought of what I would like in a supervisor and came up with three levels of them:

Level 1. Autocratic. This supervisor either criticizes a lot or barks out commands; a dictator. Some of these make me afraid of them. Needless to say, when I get one, I want to get out. Three of the supervisors I have had have been at the Autocratic level.

Level 2. Laissez-faire. This supervisor does not look over my shoulder all the time, but he or she either ignores me or is pleasant and easy to get along with all the time without really guiding me anywhere. This one leaves me wondering what to do next. It's as though we live in two worlds. Most of the supervisors I have had were at this level.

Level 3. Involved. This supervisor keeps track of what I am doing, but also gets substantial input from me. Relationship is friendly with a lot of discussion between us. We feel like we are a team headed towards a goal. He provides me with guidance, and I am able to provide good feedback to him. This is the type of supervisor I want. Unfortunately, I have had none. However, I have had two team leaders who were at this level - one of these on a real project and the other at a training session.

So maybe if I ever were to get another job, I would like it to involve a Level 3 relationship with my supervisor. How do I find such a relationship? It is not the most easily obtained thing from a job interview or from biographies of supervisory personnel. A similar conundrum exists in searching for a place to live. It may be that the most important criterion in buying a house is whether you can develop good relationships with the neighbors at that house. So far I see such choices as a gamble and want to turn the odds in my favor.

Naming Computers

Since I bought my first PC on 1992 January 29, I have named PCs and other computer equipment. My first computer was HAL because I got it on close to the date on which HAL 9000 was created in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey". Since then I have named other computers: Gooney Bird, because its CD-ROM sounded like a taxiing C-47; Izzy, after our cat, at work because our branch's symbol was CAT; Super v because there was a directory named v that could not be deleted, no matter what; Clunky, because the hard drive made clunking sounds and every once in a while gave the horrific message, "General failure error reading drive C:"; Slamrunner, because the computer ran a program called SLAM and because when it booted it beeped twice, like a roadrunner; and Boogie, because I like to dance a lot. Today I named a printer Tiger at work, because when you send a print job to it, it makes a raaooww sound much like that made by a big cat, and I say that when that color laser printer prints, it meows.

Do these names sound unworklike? I like them because they are easier to remember than some serial number or something like Workstation-23. Further they have the advantage of being portable. If I were to name a computer after some project I am doing, what if later the computer were to be used for something else? Izzy, for example, has nothing to do with my work, so it can be used anywhere there. Further, they make using a computer more fun. What's the name of your computer? By the way, this blog was written on Boogie.

Saving Time

Well now that I know what I want to do (probably), I need time to do it. But since I am currently employed, I have little time to do it. I have little time to update my web site, study mathematics, go to all my outside activities and clubs such as Toastmasters, astronomy club, and church events, and have some time to goof off and do whatever I want. What I do have is plenty of money from my full-time job. So I try to save time where I can.

I wait until a number of errands pile up, then I do them all at once, in the same store if possible, but stores like Wal-Mart are a time-waster because you have to hunt for the item you want in an illogically arranged store. I get out my clothes for the week and organize, especially if I have to work five 9-hour days in the week, and get ready for work in a precise schedule, so that I can listen to NPR's "Earth and Sky" and "Stock Market Song" (today it was "Stormy Weather", as the market was down yesterday) both. The time between them is almost as great as my commute time.

I do all sorts of things to trade money for time; i.e, buy time. For example, I grab any brand that happens to be out on the grocery shelf, even though it is more expensive than something I would have to hunt for. We call in plumbers, painters, and other people to do work around the house rather than do them ourselves. In purchasing stuff, I look for quality, durability, reliability, and especially I try to see, if possible (usually it is not), if I will have to spend hours on the phone haggling over software glitches, if the item is a computer, cellular phone, PDA, or the like.

In traveling I listen to traffic reports and avoid routes with construction, accidents and jams on them if I can. Two of my interests lead to my traveling frequently into a metropolitan area at evening rush hour time; I go many hours too early simply to avoid these jams.

I suppose if I were retired I would have to go the other way and trade time for money, even though time is precious; we each get only a day a day and once it is gone, it is gone. Then I would shop for the cheapest brands and learn to do work around the house and on the automobiles. I then would be able to use the time to make the most of my talents and capabilities.

What my blogs say about me

What do my weblogs reveal about my interests? I did a count and found out that 10 of them relate to mathematics or computers, and that 8 of them to literary interests, and 4 in public speaking. This says that I may have an interest in literary material more than I had thought. Of course, this blog is a journalistic and literary area, so this may distort the pattern. But I note that at SUUSI, , I most frequently choose personal growth and writing workshops. So maybe there is something to this.

My calling then appears to be to combine mathematical and literary/journalistic interests together; i.e., to write articles on mathematics. I already have ten such articles at my web site, but I need to get something out to the public, preferably as something of a business venture. This could be difficult, but that is what it looks like to me.