Kent's Life

Six Decades and Counting

2010-08-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

As a seven year old, one of my greatest ambitions was to own a pocket knife. My mom told me that I would have to wait until I was 10 to have that responsibility. I very clearly remember how I anguished over having to wait so long.

Today, I am sixty.

I tend to think in decades: I started work at HP in my twenties,, I was in my thirties when I first believed in Jesus, I was in my fifties when I finally found a psychiatrist who could help me.

What will I think of my sixties if I live to be 70 or 80?

- More and more I realize how important God, friends, and family are. All else seems to pale.

- I am at the start of a new career working as a peer specialist with folks who have struggled with mental health issues.

- I am finally beginning to understand what it means to "eat healthy".

- I rejoice in having a new knee that works so much better than my natural one did during my fifties.

- I love being a grandpa.

- I marvel at how my children are blossoming.

- Barbara and I love each other more and more. There seems to be no limit to how our love can grow.

Of course, this is also a season of loss. Skin continues to lose it's elasticity. Testosterone appears to be on the wane. It seems a bit harder to hear, and it takes just the right corrective lenses to see things right in front of my face. My thirst for adventure is greatly diminished. Comfort beckons seductively.

I have finally learned enough to understand how small my store of knowledge is and how vast is the potential to learn more.

As much as I love knowledge, I have come to prize wisdom even more.

I am delightfully near the end of my life on earth. As always, the day of my death may be today, or it may be decades in the future. However, the end is more plainly in view than ever before.

I am here as planned by God. But this is not my home.

The $100 computer for $100

2010-05-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

So far the one hundred dollar computer intiative is stuck making two hundred dollar computers with a black and white screen.

However, $20 cell phones are all over the developing world. They aren't capable of doing a lot of the things that would be useful in education. But how much might it cost to upgrade them instead of creating a whole new creature.

Smart phones seem to do most of what a teacher would want for the class. Probably more.

Here is a cost breakdown for the Motorola Droid in 2010.

Were one to shrink the memory some, make it a 1.5 pixel camera instead of five, and use a keyboard only instead of a touch screen, and a few other cost reduction measures, one could be within spitting distance of the $100 computer. Follow display and memory costs down the cost curve in 2011 and 2012 and I'm guessing that one would not even have to spit very far.

Volume is also a big factor. Here the third world model could piggyback of the sort of volumes that smartphones are enjoying.

We need to break the paradigm of phone vs computer and realize that what we have are less capable computers and more capable computers. All networked via LAN, WiFi, or cell signal.

Ponzi and the Pyramids

2010-02-28T20:35:00.000-08:00

We are flawed. Those flaws result in a variety of aberrations that recur over the centuries. Specifics may differ but the fundamentals are the same. Greed drives certain investment schemes that are doomed from their inception. It is greed that enables us to overlook the clear evidence of the coming collapse. It is also greed that motivates us to do our best to saddle someone else with the losses when the collapse does occur.

Decades ago, a friend,. Jane*, asked my opinion of a proposal made to her. At a gathering in Bob's home, a group of friends, acquaintances, and strangers listened to a speaker who offered them the opportunity to rapidly turn a $1000 investment into $64,000. The speaker made it clear that the 6400% return on investment could be theirs in a few months if they were spend a few hours each week simply sharing the good news about this investment with friends, family, co-workers, and others.

With some effort, I was able to convince Jane that the scheme was impossible. She decided not to invest. At least one of Jane's friends stopped speaking to her. She was frustrated that Jane would not participate. Other friends railed at her for being foolish to pass up such an opportunity.

To convince Jane that the scheme wouldn't work (for most of the participants). I drew a graphic similar to this pyramid.

Illustration credit: public domain, created by U.S. goverment

The pyramid shows that if each participant is able to find six new investors, the total number of investors will soon exceed the total population of the world Of course the number of willing investors would have been exceeded long before that. Once no new investors can be recruited, the participants who joined in the last few levels of the pyramid all lose their money. More than 90% of the participants will lose their money.

Jane was no math whiz, but she got the general idea. However, I was shocked to learn that among my coworkers, folks like Jim were participating. Jim has an advanced degree in engineering. At that time he was the manager for a group of dozens of professionals. He was responsible for budget management and profit and loss for an entire product line at a major electronics corporation. Only God knows Jim's heart, but from what I knew of him, he was an honest man. Yet somehow, he was helping to build the pyramid when a few simple calculations could reveal that it was doomed to failure.

I don't know if Jim lost money. Once a pyramid collapses, virtually none of the participants will talk about it. The minority who actually made money fear the wrath of those who did not. Those who lost are embarrassed by their gullibility. There is an additional incentive to stay quiet: the entire scheme is illegal.

There are a many variants of the basic pyramid. They have a few things in common. Only the very earliest participants have a shot at making a profit. New recruits are always told that they are "getting in early". The fact that most participants will lose their money is denied, ignored, or said to be irrelevant because "we are getting in early".

Pyramid schemes are illegal. To circumvent that difficulty, the scam is presented as a "multilevel marketing opportunity". As with the pyramid, there an initial investment is required. The participants are told to sell a product or service and keep a small profit from each sale. If it stopped there, the opportunity to make money would vary depending on the skill of each new sales person, the desirability of the product or service, the size of the market and so on. It is the multilevel aspect that should raise suspicion. In addition to selling products or services, each participant is exhorted to recruit a next level of participants who will also sell. The person who successfully recruits some number of participants in the next level, receives either a cash bonus or a cash flow created from a small percentage of that next level's sales. Every level is expected to recruit the members of a next level. As with the pure pyramid, the number of participants soon swells beyond anything sustainable.
The majority of players lose their investment. There are attempts to make multilevel marketing illegal in case where it is clear that the major incentive is recruiting new members. However, the gray zone is large enough to house any number of such schemes. Long distance phone cards. Household products. Dietary supplements. Those are but a few of the items pushed in multilevel marketing.

Ponzi schemes are a variant where a small number of people benefit a lot by convincing many other folks to trust them with their money. The return on investment offered ranges from very high to just consistently better than that available from legitimate investments. Participants are allowed to withdraw earnings on their investment. But the supposed earnings are simply cash extracted from new participants. Eventually the folks running the Ponzi scheme are unable to attract enough new investors to sustain the sham. A spectacular recent example was the investment firm run by Bernie Madoff. Madoff's scam cost investors tens of billions of dollars. The phony investment firm existed for decades and brought great wealth to Madoff and a few others. The majority of investors lost all that they had invested as well as large illusory gains.

For most of us, earning money is arduous. Saving requires discipline. Investments entail risk. Any offer that purports to eliminate even one of those barriers to wealth should be highly suspect. You can bank on that.

*All names fictitious with the exception of Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff.

Contracts, Warning Labels, and Liability Releases

2010-02-08T22:23:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: Don't Do It from brettneilson

Addressing a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1931, Alfred Korzybski said "The map is not the territory." A map is, of course a piece of paper covered in lines and printing. When I hiked the back country, I fervently hoped that my topographical map was a faithful representation of the trails I followed and the hills I had to surmount. On at least one occasion, I followed a trail to the summit of the Squaw Valley ski area, only to learn that the return trail I had planned to use was on the other side of an unscalable cliff. I read the map well enough, but it did not include sufficient detail to alert me to a cliff that was undeniably there.

In the same sense that a map is not the territory, a written contract is not an agreement backed by commitment and good will among those who sign it. For millenniums the most solemn pacts, treaties, and contracts have been made and then broken. Nonetheless, we are using more and more contracts of greater and greater complexity. The contracts have become so complex and lengthy that even an expert lawyer has to study one long and hard to deliver an opinion on its applicability to a specific situation. Any two lawyers might easily disagree. Furthermore, contracts are often signed by folks without access to legal counsel. Worse still, contracts are often signed by at least one party who has not read it at all.

Software can be expensive to create and cheap to copy. Consequently, buyers are required to sign a legal agreement regarding making copies and terms of use. Very few of buyers read the terms of use. The percentage is likely so small as to approximate zero.

Consider the Microsoft Service Agreement. Those who buy Microsoft products must accept it. The agreement is 12 pages (6594 words) long. Plus the main agreement refers to ancillary agreements, such as the 6 page Microsoft Privacy Policy. The privacy policy references the Microsoft Anti-Spam Policy, a mere lightweight at 460 words. These agreements include far more than a prohibition on copying the software. There are limits on Microsoft's liability. There are conditions on how the software may be used.

Similar agreements are required by most companies who sell software.

There is no value in those agreements. U.S. software is presumed to be copyrighted once it is written. Besides, what sense does it make to require someone to indicate agreement, when it is well known that they have virtually no knowledge of what they are signing.

The same applies to the "liability releases" that we sign continually. My sons loved paint ball competitions. To enable them to participate, I sometimes signed releases that said I couldn't sue the paint ball range, even if they harmed my son on purpose! That sort of release would be useless in court. We cannot sign away another parties's responsibility to take reasonable safety precautions.

Whether or not an agreement is required, warning labels proliferate. There are incredibly stupid warnings such as "Do Not Place Feet or Hands Under Mower Deck". We see coffee cups with the warning: "This Coffee Is Hot". Many common objects are covered with various warnings, and even if the object cannot support the labels, the same nonsense is included in owners manuals.

Contracts can be a valuable way to insure that the parties involved have carefully considered what they are agreeing to. However, our current plethora of boiler plate contracts, labels, and liability releases have become as ridiculous wall paper covered in print saying "running into this wall at high speed may result in injuries".

Legalese nonsense will continue to proliferate until a few brave citizens or companies dare to do business without it.

Meanwhile, please be aware that reading these blog posts can result in eyestrain, headache, blurred vision, and somnolence. Consult with your health professional immediately if you experience any discomfort whatsoever.

Popular Delusions and Madness Revisted

2010-02-08T21:07:00.001-08:00

Photo Credit: Nazi Rally, Nuremberg 1934

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, was written by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, and first published in 1841. I highly recommend it. I confess, however, that certain aspects of the book are deeply disturbing. The book includes a selection of investment bubbles which resemble the Enron, Dot Com, and Credit Default Swap stories of our era. Mackay confirms that the madness has existed for centuries. The book is not limited to financial follies. Alchemy, witch hunting, and the Crusades, to name just a few, reveal that the delusions crop up in every arena: science, spirituality, and affairs of state.

Since the second and final edition of Mackay's book was published in 1853, humans have had an additional 16 or 17 decades to devise new, yet eerily similar, schemes for bring about financial ruin, persecution of innocents, and world wide religious wars.

In future posts, I will examine delusions prominent in the second half of the 19th century and the entire 20th century. As for the 21st, although I see a number of likely candidates, it is probably too early to document our current delusions.

Books

2010-02-04T17:51:00.001-08:00

photo credit: Book Rowsby Jasoon

Thirty million book titles have been printed. Clearly the idea of being well read does not mean reading a substantial portion of those titles. At the rate of one book per week, a person with an 80 year "reading life" would read approximately 4,000 books. Even at one book per day, 80 years is only enough to read about .1% of those thirty million titles. Assuming each book is about an inch thick, 4,000 books would require more than 300 feet of shelf space. A modest size shopping mall bookstore has about 20,000 titles on hand. The book superstores have about five times that many.

Now that online bookstores exist, millions of titles may be available to anyone with an internet connection.

I'm not sure that the term "well read" has any useful purpose now, even if it did at one time.

Most of the books I have read have been for entertainment. A small number like my college calculus text were strictly for learning purposes. Some subset of the books I read for entertainment are also informative, even edifying at times.

There is only a small number of titles that I have read more than once. The bible tops the list with more than 20 readings. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is number two with about 12 readings. After that I can remember perhaps dozens of books that I have read twice, but certainly less than 100 (uh, not counting certain kid's books that I read over and over again to demanding toddlers).

At most I average one book per week. So if I live to be eighty (and keep reading!) I have time to finish another 1000 titles. I was shocked when I first did that calculation. A thousand books feels very limiting to me. I suddenly regretted all the poor quality titles I have read in the past 50 plus years. I also regret that my choice of books has been so incredibly haphazard. I don't know what reading plan I might have followed, but I do know that I haven't followed any sort of plan at all.

Of course, I have read a lot more than just books. I think of stacks and stacks of newspapers, magazines, brochures, junk mail, e-mails (well virtual stacks), and more. I have definitely benefited from reading. No question. What I wonder is, could I have benefited more by reading less or more selectively.

During most of my life I feared that I read too little rather than too much. Now I think more in terms of having read valuable things versus useless ones. But how shall I value any given bit of reading? I really don't know.

I am having one of those days where I question the value of just about everything I have done. I'm glad that loving my family and having a few friends has been part of the equation. I have also prayed a bit and served a few folks. However, a great deal of what I do seems utterly purposeless.

I pray that I will be more able to do work that pleases God and spend less time worrying about it. Colossians 3:23

How I Met GOD

2010-02-01T10:31:00.000-08:00

photo credit: God is moon by Grégoire Lannoy

One day a friend and I were shooting arrows straight up and seeing how close we could let them land without flinching. We took a break and talked about God. I think I was 10.

"God, if you exist, show us right now. At least send a lightning bolt or something."

No show, no bolt. So we were pretty sure that the whole God thing was just made up.

For a kid dumb enough to rain arrows on himself, you might be surprised at how smart I was in science. I loved it. I studied it for fun. By the time I was 14, I had won a science competition over 400 other kids. I pretty much cheated. I studied the general science book that all the questions were to be taken from. I read it cover to cover. The book didn't mention God.

Years later. I was an engineer. I helped invent computers, the Internet, and LEDs. There were probably only a few million of us working on that stuff. We divided the work into pieces. Really, really small pieces. Nonetheless, I felt smart.

I continued to love science. In my early thirties I performed an experiment to see how much alcohol and illicit drugs it would take to destroy me. It took a lot. My zeal for the experiment waned. I decided to shut it down.

Now I had a chance to do personal research on how hard and how miserable it is to quit. Various people told me that I would probably fail to stay quit if I didn't get help from God. Oh yeah. God. I hadn't met him and was still almost positive he didn't exist. That made it hard to ask him for help.

I started reading books that did talk about God: The AA "big book", William James, and Carl Jung. I decided God was really just a name for some of the amazingly complicated chemicals in my head. I was a lot more comfortable then. I knew quite a bit about complicated chemicals.

However, I realized I had not spent much time thinking about the chemicals named God. Now that my life was on the line (not to mention my comfort), I decided I better put a high priority on getting to know God better. I decided to spend almost as much time thinking about God each day as I spent listening to the car radio while commuting. Major commitment.

Apparently talking to yourself is actually good so long as your self is really big and important. I figured the God chemicals must be the big, important factor since the rest of my chemicals composed an o.k. human, but not one that could inspire worship from anyone other than a dog.

Of course I am simplifying things a bit. I knew God wasn't just chemicals. I knew there was also electricity and a lot of genetic information painstakingly crafted by eons of accidents. Once again, I realized I was smart. Most people did not understand how accidents could result in people.

I did.

I wrestled hard with my own head, seeking to get a glimpse of the God part of it. I really needed to get to know God, because I was having a very tough time staying quit, just like everyone said I would. I even got up early most days to make time for wrestling. I hate getting up early. Early is a sharp pain, whereas late is just a dull ache.

I got frustrated. I thought to myself , "I need to work harder on my concept of God."

That was when GOD chose to speak to me. GOD said, "I am not your concept, you are my concept." Speak is the only word I have for it. But it wasn't a matter of vibrating air molecules. Neither was it that little voice inside my head that I use for talking to my self.

I was scared. Not because I thought I was hallucinating, but because I knew I wasn't.

I knew I had met GOD.

Over the past 25 years or so, I have gotten to know GOD much better. However, when a person is infinite (well, three persons), the things you learn seem quite small compared to the things you still don't know.

I don't feel as smart as I did. I am, however, much happier.

Fractals: Who Knew?

2010-01-29T09:24:00.000-08:00

The word fractal was coined in ca. 1980 by the mathematician who was the first to demonstrate how an obscure branch of geometry could be used to generate remarkable models that show properties that are stunningly similar to complex configurations in nature: the branching of trees, coastlines, broccoli florets, galaxies and clusters of galaxies, and many more.

I had heard the word, but didn't know much about them until I read a post in Christine Quigley's blog (my favorite blog!). I especially recommend the 50 minute video she showcased, it is entitled Fractals: The Colors of Infinity.

Despite my engineering education, advanced mathematics (Calculus and beyond), has always been a weak area for me. Even after the excellent explanations and examples in the video, I could not actually generate an image using a fractal. Nonetheless, one property of fractals really popped out at me.

A fractal is a short mathematical expression (example: Z = z times z plus c) which can be iterated to produce artifacts of enormous complexity, endlessly unique shapes with recognizable similarities.

Thus fractals can be used to create geometries more characteristic of nature than of a machine shop's product. One example would be the shapes of trees. Although every oak tree branches in a unique pattern, the patterns of oak tree branches is readily distinguishable from the patterns of pine tree branches. The coastline of Ireland is quite different from the coastline of Puerto Rico, and yet island coastlines are easily recognizable as such on a map. The scale is not important, a bonsai cypress bears a striking resemblance to a huge old growth cypress. Australia's island coastline is clearly in a class with Jamaica's .

What struck me was that a process composed of a few simple steps can create infinitely complex shapes with easily recognizable similarities. I see a parallel with Christian lives. Following Jesus

requires us to invite him to help us iterate on relatively straight forward set of teachings: love one another, forgive one another, give generously, serve humbly, and so on. As each of us repeats those steps over and over, a pattern emerges that is unique to our own life and yet recognizably similar to the lives of other faithful followers of Christ. In a similar way, the pursuit of worldly goals consists of iterations of pride, greed, lust, hate, and so on. Again, each worldly life will differ from all others and yet there are easily recognizable patterns that emerge.

Scale is not important here, just as with fractals. A small kindness resembles a large kindness; a small theft resembles a large one.

Simple steps are not necessarily easy steps. Even small simple steps may be very difficult. Forgiving a small injury may prove more difficult than forgiving a larger one. Giving a billion dollars may be easier for Bill Gates than giving a thousand is for a single mom of limited means.

Generosity cannot be measured by the size of the gift.

Fortunately, each of us is simply responsible to follow God's leading, one step at a time. And because God knows that we will fail apart from his help, he has provided the grace we need.

High Priests of the Big Bang

2010-01-19T11:06:00.000-08:00

Wonder. Humans wonder. We want to know.

Journalists created five W's and an H as a mnemonic to help them satisfy our curiosity any time they report an event.

Who? Who was involved?
What? What happened (what's the story)?
When? When did it take place?
Where? Where did it take place?
Why? Why did it happen?
How? How did it happen?

We are most satisfied when all of those questions are answered. Of course, for even the most trivial stories, say a fender bender at rush hour, it is possible that we will never get all the answers.

It should be no surprise, therefore, that we humans struggle to create a story about the origin of the universe that satisfactorily answers all of the Five W's and the H. A quick survey of cosmological theories over the centuries shows that we have had a tough time answering even one of the questions. It is not surprising that there have been attempts to shorten the list of questions.

For many centuries, physicists supposed the when question to be irrelevant. The universe was declared to have had no beginning and no end. Timeless and infinite. But, for most of the last century, scientific thought about the physical universe seems to point to a beginning: the big bang. Before the big bang, neither when nor where existed. Space and time did not exist until the big bang happened. The clock couldn't start ticking until then. Many physicists estimate that the clock has been ticking for about 14 billion years.

There is no strong consensus on when (or even whether) the universe will end. Consequently, one may find several scenarios: The big freeze, the big rip, the big crunch, The big bounce, and the multiverse. Cosmologists seem overly fond of the word big. Big compared to us I suppose, but I thought we had given up having man be the measure (and center) of the universe. Multiverse is a contradiction in terms, since universe is meant to describe all that is.

It surprises me that one of the more literate cosmologists hasn't proposed the the big whimper, thus allowing us to start with a bang and end with a whimper.

Cosmologists have done their best to answer the what, when, and where questions. Things get messy when we move on to who, why, and how. Those who are disinclined to the spiritual side resent the suggestion that a who is involved. With no who, the question of why is difficult to entertain. Theists propose a Big Who and believe that the Who knows why.

Cosmologists have an o.k. story about the how follows the big bang. They don't have much to say about how the big bang happened. It would be a description of no space and time suddenly spawning a singularity that contains all space time and proceeds to spread out over as many dimensions as we care to do the math for. So nothing results in everything tightly compressed , followed by expansion ended by freeze, rip, crunch, bounce or the poet's entry, whimper.

This would seem to be a story that suits both theists and atheists. The matters of who and why could be declared outside the scope of the cosmological debate. However this seems to trouble some atheists, who insist there is nothing outside the scope of the physical universe. Theists, like myself, wonder what makes the atheist care about the who and why questions, since they seem to insist that who and why don't exist. It seems the atheist wants the theist to play by the rules while insisting that there are no rules.

It is those atheists who want theists to shape up and fly right that I would call the High Priests of the Big Bang. The High Priests seem to damn the theists, and not with faint praise. I pray God would bless the atheists, and sincerely hope that damnation is not their fate nor my own.

Living Poised Between Heaven and Hell

2010-01-12T10:36:00.000-08:00

photo credit: Heaven & Hell by J. Lozano

When things are great, we say "this is heaven on earth". When things are really bad we say "I am going through hell".

Neither is true.

Our lives are a mixture of pain and sorrow, pleasure and joy. We work to move closer to the good and further from the bad, but we know that bad things of one sort or another will dog us to the end of our days on earth. When life is particularly difficult, we may despair, yet the sun rises each day, flowers grow, children laugh. We could not survive if all things were evil.

We exist somewhere between the worst and the best we can imagine. We may rest easy at a spot where the hellish events on this earth seem to be far from us, but we know that in a single moment, terrible suffering may beset us.

Recently a friend and five of her seven children were in a van, on a freeway, returning from a vacation. Her son was driving and made a common mistake for a new driver, he over corrected the steering in response to a small difficulty. Even at the legal speed limit, that one error was enough to cause the van to careen and then roll several times. The friend and four of her children were battered badly, but sustained no serious injury. However, one daughter repeatedly struck the pavement. When all movement stopped, she was badly injured and pinned under the weight of the van.

Disease. Accidents. Financial ruin. Each can occur at any time. I thank God that I have enjoyed a life where such difficulties have been the punctuation in sentences, rather than the body of the story. There are some who struggle to see the few bright spots in their otherwise bleak existence.

Optimists and pessimists are both frequently correct. However, both are fallible and unable to predict the future accurately. From conception to death, we live poised between heaven and hell. Our best efforts may not succeed in moving us closer to heaven. Our personal failures and our worst enemies may not be able to move us closer to hell.

God knows the troubles we experience. He became a man and walked the earth. He suffered and died. He has not forgotten a single one of us. He calls us to him, that we may be assured a home with him for all eternity. We must focus on what is ahead as we endure what is here. We can be thankful for the good things in this life. Better is yet to come.

Do not pray for an easy life. Pray to be stronger. Pray to serve better.

What Most People Need Is A Good Listening To

2010-01-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Photo credit Ear by Travis Isaacs

You probably have a lot to say, a lot on your mind, a need to vent a bit. So do I. So do most people. There is a plenitude of folks who want to talk. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of folks who want to listen.

Perhaps you are thinking, "That's not true. I have to listen to others all day long. I am lucky to get even a scrap of air time." That may well be. There are plenty of people who feel that they have to listen. I am talking about people who want to listen.

It is much more difficult to listen when compelled to do so instead of desiring to do so. You may very well hear every word spoken. You may even remember most of them. But as John Milton wrote "The mind is its own place and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven". The ear can pick up the sound waves, the brain can process and store the message, while the mind is stubbornly pursuing its own agenda. Sometimes that agenda is well meaning, as when we are wondering what is the best thing to say in response to what is being heard. Other times the mind is simply bouncing about from topic to topic and only occasionally stopping in to participate in the current conversation. Very little true listening is going on. Regardless of whether we are sympathetic or merely bored, hearing is not listening.

If I want to listen, I must start with the proper motivation: How can I best serve this person?. Desiring to serve differs fundamentally from desiring to be served. How we grow our desire to serve is a topic outside the scope of this essay. For my purpose here, I am going to assume that we want to serve.

We must dump the idea that listening is a passive activity. To really listen, we must actively consider the words, the tone, the body language, and the context. Our goal is to understand what the speaker is saying, as well as why they feel it needs to be said. We can gauge the efficacy of our listening by checking to see how well we understand. The simplest way to check is to occasionally rephrase a part of what you have heard and feed it back to the speaker. You will often get a response ranging from "No, that's not what I mean" to "Well, sort of" and on to "Exactly!".

I like to fish. Fishing is most exciting when I feel the line tug in a way that makes me cry out "fish on!". When I paraphrase what someone has said and they say "Exactly!", we both get a similar thrill. I use exactly as a representative word. The speaker may actually say "Yes!", "That's it", or any of a wide range of exclamations and affirmations. It may even be a nonverbal response. One of my friends energetically points his finger at me when I understand him well; another widens his eyes and nods.

That moment of understanding is precious to both speaker and listener. It is a building block for relationships.

Another way to check understanding is to respond to what you have heard by telling an anecdote. Strive for a quick story that shows how you have experienced or observed something very similar to what the speaker hopes to convey. When you miss the mark, common responses include a frown, a puzzled look, or even a head shake. Verbal responses may be as direct as "That's not what I am talking about" or as passive as a vague "oh". In those cases you may need to reestablish the speaker's train of thought by referring back to what was said earlier or by asking a clarifying question.

Speaking of questions, avoid asking questions that are really disguised advice. It isn't nearly so disguised as you think. Advice should only be offered when asked for. Even then, offer it sparingly. People with advice are abundant. People willing to listen well are rare, and correspondingly more valuable.

You may find yourself longing for someone who will listen well to you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just be patient. Model the behavior you would like to see. Remember to encourage those who listen even a little, and to cherish those who listen well.

Been There, Failed That

2010-01-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

Sometimes failure can be a powerful source of comfort. Not so much for the person failing, but for all of their friends, acquaintances, or even anonymous observers. One place I have noticed this is in meetings. When I just can't follow what is going on, and I have to stop everything to ask for an explanation, I almost always see relief on some of the faces in the room. Maybe they too needed help to understand, or maybe they are just enjoying seeing how dense I am. Either way, I have contributed to their sense of well being.

As a young engineer, I dreaded making presentations to audiences that were either large or full of people to whom I was a peon. However, one day I was standing near my boss's boss when he was called upon to address a large room full of people. I was close enough to see his face twitch a bit. I could hear a small tremor in his voice. I saw that deer in the headlight look in his eyes. Once I realized he was nervous, I could have decided that it simply proved that I was right to be afraid of speaking to groups. I had often thought that way. This time I was struck by a new idea: if he is two levels up ladder, 15 years more experienced, and still quaking about sharing a few words, then it is no big deal if I suffer that same anxiety. That epiphany occurred 35 years ago, yet I remember it vividly. It has helped me countless times.

I made sure I shared lots of my failures with my kids. I knew they would eventually learn that I was fallible, even if I tried to hide it from them, but I really enjoyed giving them advance notice. Sometimes I blushed when they laughed heartily at my shortcomings, but my shame was only momentary. It was soon supplanted by the warm glow of knowing that they had just been freed to make a few mistakes themselves without undue worry.

False humility drains failure of much of its value. I mustn't pretend that I always fail. I don't. Very likely some of my successes have inspired others. I too enjoy seeing someone surmount a challenge.

Seeing others both fail and succeed allows me to see them in depth. I am far more able to identify with them. We share a common plight.

I hope we can all find the courage to showcase at least a few of our failures. It will make the world a better place.

What's Different About Facebook?

2009-12-20T14:57:00.000-08:00

Raeanne Gardner Olivier June 21 at 9:34pm

Are you THE Kent Schnake that attended Harris in the 60s?

Kent Schnake June 22 at 9:27am

Yes I am. Are you the Raeanne who went on the hayride with me but wouldn't let me kiss you :-)

Raeanne Gardner Olivier June 22 at 11:41am

hehehe...Yes, I am, but I hope you won't hold that against me...Surely the statute of limitations has run out after 45 years..

I remember Raeanne very well. But when she wrote to me, that was the first communication we had had in about 44 years. I suppose there are other ways that our paths may have crossed. However, she still lives in Metairie, LA where I went to junior high. I am in Oregon thousands of miles away. We have no friends in common that we have stayed in touch with. And I am pretty sure that if we had walked right past each other on the street, we may have had a fleeting sense that we knew each other, but I doubt that it would have prompted us to speak.

What's different about Facebook? It enables me to maintain a bit of social contact with folks in Louisiana, Chicago, Seattle, Latvia, Tanzania, Norway and more. It is almost effortless. We don't have to write to each other, we can just check our news feed or take a look at each other's walls. We can share photos and even videos. Snail Mail, Telegraph, Telephone, Radio, TV, and E-mail don't work that way. There is a fundamental difference.

I am watching and wondering how it will impact the world.

I Walk, I Talk, I Write

2009-12-19T20:19:00.000-08:00

I walk about three miles most days. I do it because when I am done, I feel better. I do it because I know that it will help me maintain a reasonable weight and decent health, I don't do it to impress anyone else.

I probably utter a few thousand words every day. I guess I am a member of the chattering class. A large percentage of the words are uttered without much thought. Quite a few are reflexive responses like "thanks" or "excuse me". However, much of what I say is directed to other people. I put a lot more energy in working to make an impression on others with my words than I do with my walking. I almost wrote that that only makes sense. Not so. I can imagine actors, dancers, young people flirting, and others, whose walk might be just as important to them as their talk. And I mean walk, not as a metaphor, just locomotion.

I write a fair amount each day. A lot of it is like my speaking, pretty much just a reflexive response. I write e-mails that answer questions. I write short notes on Facebook as a way of staying in touch with another person or a group of people. I do think before I write, but mostly I'm just trying to be clear, not profound.

This blog has been different. It is not a record of my day to day life. It has no particular theme like sports, films, or music. It is all over the map. I've written about gold prices, life experiences, people I have known and people I have only read about or seen in the media.

Some of the posts may seem a bit philosophical, others humorous, and many probably seem pointless to anyone who happens to read them. My first few posts were written with my daughter in mind. I was sharing a little bit about what my life was like in the early years. There have been a few posts (out of hundreds) that describe more recent events in my life. However, early on I decided that for most posts I would write about anything I felt like writing about.

For a while my writing was like my walking. I wrote because it felt good when I was done. I also figured it would probably help keep me mentally fit, the way walking helps me stay physically fit, and it would enable me to write better over time.

After a while, some influences crept in that have all but crippled me. I began to realize that there were a small number of people who read a significant number of my posts. My readers, so to speak. I have tried hard not to cater to any particular audience, but over time I have begun to feel the pressure of those few pairs of eyes that read my posts. Another problem was that I learned that folks find my posts when doing web searches. They stumble upon what I have written. It may be related to that which prompted them to do the search, as when someone types in the film title "American Meth" and finds my review of it. Often the search that leads to my blog has been an image search. One common way folks come upon my blog is typing the simple question: how do I make a good choice.

Not only have folks found my blog, they sometimes have spent a bit of time reading it. My tracking software began to show me that I was getting hits from many countries. 79 different countries in the past year. There are only a couple of hundred countries in the world. I became somewhat obsessed with watching the hits come in day by day. Another thing that surprised me was that my blog is read in other languages. Apparently folks have used Google language tools to read my blog in a 39 different languages.

Now I find that I spend too much time thinking about who might be reading my blog and how they come upon it.

I need to take concrete action to bring myself back to writing because it feels good and it is good for me. A good place to start would be to eliminate my site tracking tools. I can't be influenced by data I don't have. I can't spend time obsessively reading the reports if they don't exist. So as of tonight, no more tracking software.

The only way I will be aware of readers is if they choose to comment. Since that seldom happens, I imagine I won't be very aware of readers.

I am going to leave the blog public. If someone is encouraged or entertained by what I have written, I am glad. It is freeing to know that the blog doesn't push itself on to anyone. The only people who will see it are those who deliberately decide to take a look. I have always intended that what I write could be read by anyone who chose to do so. I have private journals where I record thoughts that are only for my consumption.

I feel a bit giddy. I feel as if I am breaking free of fetters. I am stepping outside after an incarceration. Relative to writing, I will be returning to my first love: spinning tales, histories, and ponderings simply because I feel like doing so. I will treat comments just as I might respond to someone on the street who speaks to me. If they are obnoxious, I will ignore them. If they are friendly or asking a question, I will very likely respond to them.

How We Think About Time

2009-12-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: View with a grain of sand by lepiaf.geo (better off slipping into blur)

Time is the one commodity that is uniformly distributed among the billions of people on this planet. Every one of us receives 24 hours, 3600 seconds per hour, doled out once each day. The only folks who do not receive their daily allotment are those who are not yet born and those who have died.

Time can be neither stored nor borrowed. The 24 hours given to each us passes inexorably at the same rate for all of us.*

Time flows uniformly, yet we seldom speak of it that way.

I have no time.

I need to kill some time.

We will lose time.

We are out of time.

He worked overtime.

I need to find some time.

Please give me some time.

Your time is up.

I saved some time.

I spent too much time.

We must remember that we do not spend time. Rather we make choices about what we will do as time passes. We may try to fit too many, or too few, activities into a span of time. It is our choices that may vary. Time does not change.

We speak of time passing quickly, or slowly. However, it is our awareness of time passing that varies, not time itself. A common change in awareness occurs as we grow older. We say that each year is shorter. In other cases our perception of time's flow can change in an instant. Time flies when we are having fun, yet it nearly stops altogether when we are in great pain. A moment is all that is required to pass from one state to the other.

Now is a moment. All other time is past or future. The events in time past are unchangeable. Events in our future on this earth cannot be predicted dependably. Not by us.

What we do. What we are. What we hope to be. We impact with each choice we make during each moment we are given. Plans have no value for predicting the future. Their value is in helping us to choose now.

I thank God that my plans (and yours) are not the basis for our hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 (New International Version)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God grants us the ability to make choices in the moment. He retains sovereignty over the outcome. If there seems to be a conflict between our ability to choose and his ability to plan, it is because God's relationship to time is not constrained as ours is.

2 Peter 3:8 (New International Version)

⁸But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

It is only by God's grace that we can redeem the time we are given.

*There are concepts in relativistic physics that allow a clock to tick measurably slower (relative to ours) when it travels at high speeds (relative to us). The effect here on the face of the earth is so small that very few are ever aware of the minuscule variations.

American Culture: Why Do We Pretend?

2009-11-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: Does Anyone Ever Actually Read This by sweens308

As a culture, we pretend that any number of completely useless things are necessary:

1. That it matters if we check the little box on the long contract that we don't read and couldn't understand if we did.

2. That a sign saying "small parts; choking hazard" is required on every toy even though kids play with pebbles, pieces of wood, dirt, dust mice, and lost buttons all day long.

3. That a lawnmower needs a label that tells you not to put your hands or feet under it.

4. Saying "fine, great, etc." every time someone asks how we are doing, even if we are miserable.

5. Asking people how they are doing when we really don't want to know.

6. We bend the law, but others break it.

7. A kid with a joint should be punished about the same as a guy who burglarizes your house.

8. An executive who steals 10,000 peoples livelihoods should be treated far more leniently than a murderer who takes a life.

9. Signing a contract makes us safer from people who want to slack off or be deceitful.

10. We are doing our best, but so many others just aren't trying very hard.

11. That it matters how nice our watch is or isn't (insert shoes, clothes, house, car, etc. etc.)

10. We don't have time to do important stuff when we have time to watch Dancing with the Stars.

11. Faster is always better.

12. We aren't going to die any time soon.

13. Bigger is always better (Big Gulp, gross)!

14. People who get sick or weak must not have taken good care of themselves.

15. It's o.k. to break our most solemn vows, and then jump all over the kid who gives you a cheeseburger instead of a Big Mac.

16. We can tell a lot about people by the color of their skin.

17. Having lots of money makes us "safe".

18. Having lots of stuff makes us "happy".

19. Getting a newspaper every day is OK, but using paper napkins destroys the environment.

20. That a person's life is more valuable than any amount of money, when we let others starve for want of a few bucks.

21. Kids now are worse than kids were when we were kids.

22. Alcohol is a safe legal drug, but all those other drugs would be a disaster if they were legalized.

23. Nothing really bad is about to happen.

24. Nothing really good is about to happen.

25. Life will pretty much go along as it always has.

Blue Sky, Storm Sky, Gray Sky

2009-11-05T18:07:00.000-08:00

photo credit: Who painted the Sky by bbjee

Two days ago the sky was clear. My spirit soared. All was vivid. Children ran and my heart was with them. Peace. All was well. Pain and sorrow took a break. Particles of light flooded the atmosphere. So many that the air couldn't hold them, and turned blue trying. When ink black night moved in, it had to wrestle day to the ground, choking it until day bled a rainbow sunset and expired.

I can welcome the storm blowing in today. A capricious wind wreaks havoc among the leaves. Clouds scud, fleeing and yet gathering. Rain drops are thrown against the windows. Danger hovers near. The probability of sudden change. Possibilities abound.

But then will come the gray clouds. Drifts of semidarkness, piling from horizon to horizon. They will twist slowly, strangling a dripping world, extinguishing the light despite the sun’s heroic efforts. Stillness, but no peace. No color.

Doom will bide its time.

Will Gold Reach $2000 Per Ounce?

2009-10-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

photo credit: Contando Dinheiro by Jeff Belmonte

The bad new is that it already did. Gold last peaked at about $850/oz in 1980. Adjusted for inflation, that equals well over $2000 in 2008 dollars (much more according to some measures). Anyone who bought gold in 1980 and has faithfully kept it somewhere safe, has lost at least 50% of their investment if they sell now.

Some may say that is unfair. I have picked an absolute peak from historical data. Why not pick something like the 1983 low of $300/oz? OK, let's do that. Adjusted for inflation according to the Consumer Price Index (which may be conservative), that means we invested $690 2008 dollars.

So with gold at 1000 dollars per oz this year, we made $310. Break out the champagne. Oh, wait a minute, if in 1985 we had bought $300 dollars worth of 8% treasury bonds, we would now have about $1900 in 2008 dollars. We would have made about 4 times as much with the bonds.

Of course, were these calculations widely published, folks could find any number of ways to nitpick them. Math was never my strongest subject. But they would be missing the point. If I get to look back and choose my starting point, I can make most investments (gold, stocks, bonds, real estate) look wonderful. However, when I invest today, I don't know where things will be in 25 years. I am kidding myself if I think I do. And to those who say they wouldn't wait 25 years to cash in, I ask when will you cash in. When will gold (or whatever) reach that wonderful peak price in the next couple of decades? No one knows that either. So one must guess when it is a good time to sell.

I haven't even talked about what happens if you need to draw some income during the term of your investment. Things get much more complicated.

Can't we look at long term trends and extrapolate? Yes, but it will be small comfort when the year to year fluctuations are large. It will always be a wild ride.

Here is one estimate of how gold has performed over the past 400 years:

My precision calibrated eyeball estimates a long term trend of zero interest. Of course, that may be a lot better than this estimate of gold over 600 years (sorry my eyeball can't extrapolate from this):

My apologies to the author of this chart, I can't seem to find my original source so that I can give credit. I will try again soon.

What am I saying? Is there no way that we can judge what is the best investment right now for any given person ? Exactly, there is no way. I comfort myself with all sorts of conventional wisdom, but I can't see that any of it can be trusted.

However, I have found one reference that seems to be holding up very well over the centuries:

¹Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. ²Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ³Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. ⁴Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. ⁵You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.^{]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; "} ⁶You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

James 5:1-6 (New International Version)

How we use what we have is infinitely more important than how we will get more.

Why Do Kids Take Drugs?

2009-10-22T20:16:00.001-07:00

photo credit: Your Face on Drugs by azrainman

There will never be a simple answer to this question. Very likely there are many factors and some play a bigger role than others.

However, I strongly believe that scare tactics don't work to reduce drug use. I talked about that a bit in my post reviewing the documentary American Meth.

Today I saw a piece of research that found that scare campaigns may actually increase drug usage. Of course, since the research supported my point of view, I was quick to give it credence.

However, based on my own experiences, I think I have some idea of why scare campaigns could actually backfire.

If a young person is looking for excitement, they certainly don't find it by following advice from authority figures about how to be safe.

At 18 I had heard all sorts of lurid tales of what drug use could do to a person. The first time someone offered me a chance to try marijuana, I had a strong sense that it might be dangerous.

Danger did not deter me. I think it drew me in. I wanted to do something scary.

Smoking marijuana was scary in 1968 for several reasons. I had been warned that using it could lead to more dangerous drugs. Also, marijuana was illegal in Pennsylvania. I knew that some kids actually wound up in jail for simple possession. Consider, this was an era when a young man sporting long hair was considered to be a dangerous rebel by the mainstream. A number of folks were convinced that sex, drugs, and rock and roll heralded the end of civilization. I hadn't had sex yet, but I sure wanted to. I loved rock and roll. I was already two thirds of the way toward being a major social menace. I was almost compelled to explore that last third.

The high I got those first few times was mildly amusing. When I did not immediate become unhinged and start looking for heroin, I decided that all the warnings I had heard were nonsense. I was actually a bit disappointed that the drug seemed so tame.

I did wind up progressing to more addictive drugs in the decade following that early experimentation. I don't think it was the power of marijuana that led me on to new experiments. On the contrary, I wanted to up the ante. To see what it would be like to do something truly dangerous. I tried LSD and found that it was anything but tame. I snorted cocaine and felt like superman. Ditto for methamphetamine. I tried various opiates. Needles scared me too much (mostly because they hurt when you stick them in). So I decided needles really were for losers. That was pretty much the only boundary line I knew: if it hurts too much, don't do it.

I knew there were other, more socially approved ways of achieving a thrill. However, it would be a long time before I had a chance for international travel, rock climbing, or diving off high cliffs. The drugs were immediately available. It was actually easier for me to buy marijuana rather than beer.

By the time I was a sophomore, I had befriended any number of drug users and even drug dealers. The boundary between the two is vague. One quick way to get money for more drugs is to sell part of what you have for more than you paid. I liked the idea that I was part of an underground. A dealer fearing possible arrest asked me to store some hashish and hundreds of hits of acid for him. I did so. I thought it very clever that no one would ever suspect Kent, the clean cut engineering student, would have a small fortune in drugs in his desk drawer.

It is quite possible that by now you wondered, "WHAT WAS HE THINKING!". The answer is simple. I wasn't thinking. I wanted thrills and this was a quick and easy way to get some.

Remember those scare tactics? They are essentially an incentive for many young folks to try drugs.

Eventually I learned that drug use really did have serious negative effects. It took more than a decade for me to arrive at that conclusion. Meanwhile, I wasted a lot of time. I probably injured myself, and I was passing lots of money on to some very unsavory people.

I wish I had known that there really are a lot of positive ways to get thrills. I'm not talking about rock climbing or motorcycles. I came to love the thrill of accomplishment. I loved the thrill of marrying and starting a family.

Eventually I realized that the biggest thrill of all is knowing God and inviting Him to make me more like Jesus. The irony is that at 18 I would have thought that would be one of the most boring and completely foolish things I could do.

Well, I got part of that right. I am a fool for Christ.

How Much Do We Care

2009-10-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit: Food crisis in the Horn of Africa by IFRC

I read an article recently that claimed an expenditure of $60 billion dollars on basic health care and education would be enough to effect an enormous change in child mortality rates and eliminate extreme poverty and hunger.

If that is true, it would amount to about .1% of the World Gross National Product. If the estimate is 10 times too small, it would really take 1%. It would seem that the cost of eliminating the worst of the world's poverty is not an economic issue. If we could all give up 1% of our luxuries, or if we could all be 1 % more productive in our work, there should be plenty for everyone.

I don't think most of us can even measure our personal wealth accurately to plus or minus 1%. And certainly not to plus or minus .1%. Fluctuations in real estate prices, stock prices, or even the value of goods are enough to hide a per cent. The recent hiccup in the U.S. economy wiped out about $8 trillion dollars of personal wealth (or at least, of our wealth "on paper").

Out of all the things I care about, do I care about starving people and sick children with at least 1% of my capacity for caring? I'd like to think so. In fact, I'd like to think that most folks can easily muster 1% of their caring towards such issues.

Things look easier on the macro scale. It has been said that the devil is in the details, and that certainly seems appropriate here. I can think of an example close to home that indicates that more than money is required. A lot more. I volunteer at an outlet for free kids clothes. We have a selection of free adult clothes nearby. We are across the hall from the Food Bank and Gleaners. They provide lots of free food. Those are good things, but I have no illusion that free food and clothes means that all kids in our town will be warm and well fed. There are lots of other problems besides the material resources: substance abuse, depression, dysfunctional families, and the list goes on and on.

Sin is the big obstacle. It seems that worldwide, men in particular are snared by alcohol, gambling, and prostitution, just to name a few. Fighting wastes lots of energy at both the personal and the national level. Substantial changes in those sorts of behavior could have a huge impact.

Of course, we try to engineer changes in behavior with laws, taxes, and social and cultural strictures. It is rather disheartening to see just how ineffective things like laws against drug use have been. Ditto for taxes on cigarettes and disgrace for public figures discovered to be involved with prostitution.

I will continue to give some of my resources toward eradicating some of the worlds nastiest problems. I will vote for laws and support positions that may have some effect in changing behavior. However, I think these are the least of my contribution.

I am convinced that by far the biggest impact I can have is by seeking to be more like Christ. And let it be clear that I don't believe I have the will or the strength to change myself much. More and more I see how dependent I am on God for those changes. This is spiritual warfare at ground level. It is personal and immediate. I don't have to wait for anyone else to do anything.

I simply have to seek God and obey him.

If I don't do what I can, why would I expect others to do something?

Doomsday

2009-09-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

Why are doomsday scenarios so compelling? Each of us will end this life, sooner or later. It seems that most of us avoid dwelling overmuch upon our personal end. Yet even the remote prospect of dying en masse inflames our imaginations and sparks energetic conversations. That strikes me as a perverse delusion. The video below is rather dark, avoid watching it unless you are prepared to face some of your deepest fears. (It is only really feasible to watch it in full screen mode, so hit the little rectangular icon on the control bar at the bottom of the video)

Why Are We So Busy?

2009-09-05T12:41:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit: Who's the Boss by Alex E. Proimos

I seldom meet anyone who says they have too much time on their hands. When I do, they are usually disabled by injury, disease, or age related deterioration. They are physically or mentally unable to "stay busy".

Busy people almost always seem to believe that their busy schedules have been forced upon them. "Things are crazy right now" they may say. They talk about bosses, spouses, or kids who have loaded them with obligations. "I have too much on my plate" .

I find it strange that such busy people find time to watch a lot of television. They cruise the Internet. They have time to stand in a hallway or a street corner and talk at length about their busy schedule. These same people play games or watch games. They buy new music to listen too and books to read. They frequent craft stores or hobby shops seeking new projects. These same busy people go to movies, go window shopping, and camp, fish, or boat.

Yes, people work and take care of chores. The work allows them to own the TVs, pursue the hobbies, or buy the music. The money they earn enables them to buy houses and cars which require maintenance or inspire embellishments as varied as patios, wallpaper, or chrome plated wheels.

It is hard for me to believe, but I am sure that it is true: we want to be busy. We make choices that will ensure that we are busy. Although we say that we long for "down time", when we get that time, we are anxious until we find something to fill it. A trip. A puzzle book. A phone call.

I am speaking of American culture, which I know well. I have seen evidence of the same in parts of Europe and Asia. There may be cultures that have tranquillity and rest at their core, but I have not experienced them.

We choose to be busy, even as we complain about our busyness. We consistently err on the side of scheduling too many activities rather than too few.

Why?

At most, I can speak for myself. I am aware of a fear that my life has little significance. I harbor the suspicion that many others are making better use of their time. When I load up my schedule, it is a futile attempt to assuage anxiety about who I am and what I have accomplished.

Alternatives are available. I seek to spend more time listening to others. I also hope to quiet myself enough to hear the still, small voice of God. As I focus on others and trust God, the anxiety lessens.

We have come to revere folks who can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. And those folks are non existent. It would be the equivalent of reaching down and pulling both my feet off the ground. Try as hard as I might, I will never move even a fraction of an inch higher.

However, I perceive that it could keep me very busy.

Contentment in a Sin Cursed World

2009-08-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

Photo credit: Selfie by exfordy

A child dies of hunger every few seconds and I am content.

The sentence shocks because contentment is misunderstood to be complacency. Complacency means being unmoved when evil is revealed. Sadly, it is far too easy for me to be complacent. I pray to God for compassion. I want to overcome evil. I do not seek to be complacent.

I am content when I am satisfied with what I have. I am complacent when I am satisfied with what others have.

I want every person on the planet to have wholesome food and water. I pray that they will have comfortable clothing and shelter. I long for peace and joy in every life.

I know I am content when I am thankful for the many good things in my life. I know I am complacent when I make no effort to help others enjoy good things.

Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor is a flawed notion. It depends too much on the thief's ability to discern how material wealth would be best distributed. Even a democratic approach to taking from the wealthy requires that the majority have a clear vision of who deserves what they have and who does not. It is all too easy for each of us to decide that what we have is "about right" and that if others have much more, they are rich. Furthermore, this sort of redistribution is focused on material goods. Those goods are necessary but never sufficient.

Giving is far more powerful than taking. I can give material goods. I can also give affection and encouragement. I can show patience and forgiveness. In short, I can love. Love conquers all.

I must not live my life insisting that others love more. Rather, I must realize that I do not love as I could. I can always give more. I can be more patient. I can forgive more readily.

God is love. I must seek to know God better so that I can love more and be content with less.

I have much to learn and much to do. May God grant me wisdom and strength.

Culture and Fashion; Good and Evil

2009-08-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

Sumo in Hawaii by hellochris

A four hundred pound man in an industrial strength thong bows with his back to you. At a park with your kids, you might think about calling the cops. But at a Sumo match, it's simply a memorable moment in a grand spectacle which includes the little guy in a bathrobe and pointy hat. It's a glimpse of Japanese culture and centuries old fashions. It's as if you made a little hole in time and space and peeked through it. Hopefully you will not be offended. Instead, pat your self on the back for embracing diversity.

cellphone gladiator by newlow

Now walk out of that match and chuckle a bit as you see a gladiator in full regalia pausing for a cell phone chat and smoke break.

Nice. Another colorful outfit and glimpse of another culture. But when you walk around the corner. A still warm corpse in a pool of blood indicates that the gladitorial reinactment included a fight to the death. Authentic, but unacceptable. This time you will call the cops.

But wait, are you simply narrow minded? Isn't this just another look through a tear in the space-time continuum? You have read about gladiators. You have seen movies depicting their fights to the death. This time it is simply a lot more real.

I doubt you would dither. You'd call 911. Some aspects of another culture are o.k. You can put up with being mooned by a fat guy. But you wouldn't countenance homicide or even man-slaughter.

Is it colorful or is it criminal? It's a decision that we must make from time to time. Shorts and a tube top are colorful in California. They are criminal in Saudi Arabia. Add a veil to a Victorian woman's garb and she could walk unmolested in Riyadh. How can we know if there has been an evil change in culture or a benign fashion shift. Does it really depend on who you ask?

Alfred Stevens: In Memoriam photo by

freeparking

The outfit below would bring a swarm of police in Riyadh. :

Mini Jupe by Carolco

Culture and fashion cannot dictate what is good and what is evil. Good and evil have to do with the state of your heart and not the particulars of your garb. Only God can see the true state of your heart and compare it to his own.

May God have mercy on us all when we presume to know the heart after only seeing the outfit. Time and relationship may reveal a bit more of a person's heart.

A glance never suffices.

You Couldn't Make This Stuff Up

2009-08-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus Leucocephalus)by Savannah Grandfather

So a couple of dozen of us are sitting in a circle under the big blue sky, singing worship songs. As I look across at Barbara, a bald eagle swoops down to roost on a tree directly behind her. Some crows assault the eagle. Barbara runs along the riverside until she can spot the eagle flying away. A few minutes after she sits back down, a sparrow lands on a chair in our circle. Then it flits over and lands on Barbara's head. She flaps her arms wildly. Too bad says Juliana, our Brazilian friend, I pray everyday for a bird to land on my head and crap on it. It's very good luck in Brazil. Still, even just having a bird land on you is very good fortune. All this plus our brother, a doctor, tells us how he worked as a barker at a carnival when he was 10 (before he graduated to be snake man in the freak show). His dad died when he was four and he was eager to make some money. Later we all laughed as a four pound beef roast burst into flame on Rick's BBQ grill. He handles it just fine. I smell like wood smoke and haven't showered for a couple of days. But I am enjoying eating rice cooked by our pregnant Filipino friend while I wait for a slightly charred piece of Kielbasa and some potato chips. Then we all rolled up our tents and drove away.

I'm not making this up. You couldn't make this stuff up.

Does Your Job Feel Tedious?

2009-07-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

Watch this. You will probably feel fortunate.

Amen

2009-07-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

I have set a goal of doing at least one post each week. This week the energy went into a guest post on Christine Quigley's blog: Quigley's Cabinet. It is about the word Amen.

Listening, Encouraging, Grieving, Rejoicing

2009-07-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

I was about thirty five years old when I first managed a large group. There were more than two hundred production workers. A couple dozen supervisors. Four section managers. I had managed small groups of engineers and technicians before that, but it was a whole new world with all those people and the layers of management.

I was able to lead and to make some difficult decisions. Yet I became more and more aware that I had nowhere near all the answers for the questions that people asked me. I was often uncomfortable when folks came to me and asked for my help. At times I found I was rendered speechless. All I could do was listen. I could offer no easy fix nor even a promise of an eventual solution.

I was astonished to learn that most people were very grateful just to have me listen to them. It was a revelation. As an engineer I had always felt that unless I offered a fix or at least some sage advice, I had failed. Not so. Actually, some of the people who appreciated my listening the most were the ones whom I couldn't offer anything more than my sympathy.

Almost a quarter century has passed. I have come to understand that many people value a listening ear far more than they value my idea for how to make things better. Often, the best thing I can offer is a simple affirmation that the situation being described is a difficult one. "I am sorry to hear that." "You must be hurting" "That would be hard for anyone". There are even times when simply nodding my head and holding someone's gaze as they pour out their tale, seems to be valued the most.

It has taken many years to learn to listen patiently. I am still far to quick to jump in with suggestions, plans of action, and the like. But I am learning.

When I listen well, I can often tell that I have encouraged the one speaking. They say so. Or their countenance lightens at least a little. There are other times when I really don't know what the other person is thinking. I know more and more that it is best for me to have faith that a listening ear offers encouragement, regardless of what I am seeing right then.

I also find that as I listen better, others are more likely to open their hearts and share very deep pain that they are bearing. Consequently, I have become aware that virtually everyone is struggling with some dilemma, some hurt, or some fear. There are times when I am overwhelmed by the knowledge that so many are struggling so much.

Now I believe I must learn to grieve with others. And even as I grieve, I can rejoice. I can rejoice that I have been given the opportunity to listen. I can rejoice in knowing that God cares deeply for the person who is hurting.

Decades pass. Bit by bit, I learn a little more about listening. I gain some confidence that I am encouraging. I accept the fact that I will grieve. I know a little more about rejoicing.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster: a movie review

2009-07-10T16:38:00.000-07:00

Photo by jcoterhals

My first take on Bigger, Stronger, Faster was that it might be an interesting documentary about athletes and the use of steroids. I am convinced that writer/director Christopher Bell would have crafted a fine documentary even if he had simply examined the athlete subculture. Instead, he broadened his inquiry and crafted a superb revelation of our fascination with appearance and performance.

Bell is a stocky young man who enjoys lifting weights. He can bench press more than 500 pounds. He has known for years that he could probably lift an additional hundred pounds if he added anabolic steroids as a part of his training regime, but he doesn't. Bell's two brothers do use steroids, and the benefits seem clear to them.

Bell conducted research, performed interviews, and reviewed media depictions. He is incredibly diligent. His hard work lends a depth to this film that any documentary should aspire too. In addition, Bell investigates with a cool detachment, yet he also has the dogged persistence that is most often seen in zealots. Bell chased the facts and sought the truth. Many myths about anabolic steroids are blown away. He also exposes the strange incongruities and the hypocrisy in our attitude to drugs of many kinds.

As the investigation plays out, the viewer begins to realize that steroids are a bit player in the drama that unfolds when hundreds of millions of people decide that they need to be not just better, but best. Looking good is just not enough. We want stunning physiques. We don't want to compete well and do "our best", we want to be "the best".

We struggle to find simple indicators for success in life: riches, strength, beauty. We know that it is unlikely that we will attain the pinnacle, but oh how we long to rise above the herd.

A quiet, anonymous life blessed with simple pleasures and genuine love should be enough. However, our discontents and secret longings reveal that too often we discount what we have.

And we don't just want more. We want more than others have. We crave reassurance that we are better than others.

Pride has been called the greatest of sins, even "the father of all sins". Pride powers our obsession with being bigger, stronger, and faster. See the movie. It will give you a clearer view of what is worth pursuing and what is not.

Why Write?

2009-07-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

photo credit: Graffiti near Borough Market by dan taylor

Google is working to scan every book on earth. There are more than 30 million titles available for scanning. If one person in a million publishes a book, we get about 7000 more titles. Add in magazine articles, e-mails, blogs, plays, movie scripts, advertising copy, annual reports, meeting minutes, and a whole lot more. A vast amount of writing has happened and will happen.

Why write?

It appears that body language and vocalisations preceded writing. There are thousands of languages that have no written version. What did writing bring to the game for the languages that have it?

It is pretty easy for me to imagine situations where a record was desirable: A last will and testament. A contract. A warning.

Prior to the twentieth century, humans could not record sounds. Even more recent is the ability to record sights. Before audio and video recordings, writing was the only option for recording our thoughts, our intent, our desires.

Writing also allowed us to communicate across distances before the advent of telegraphs, telephones, radios, and many newer options.

However, as I write this humans have had the ability to record and transmit both sounds and sights for decades. I see evidence that we might drop writing; current alternatives include voice mail, podcasts and video blogs. What purpose does a written record serve when every vocal nuance and change of expression can be recorded for all time and transmitted billions of miles?

The ability to very rapidly search text is a recent innovation. We can only do relatively primitive searches of audio and video, but once we upgrade our ability to search those records, we may find little reason to convert speech to text. We will need means for filing, editing, and summarizing our audiovisual records, but it is not hard to imagine that we can develop those.

Writing may be nearing the end of its useful life, despite having served us well for thousands of years.

Major Media and Google Searches

2009-06-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit: Media Influence by psdfan

Sometimes I get hints that some bigger media phenomenon is causing a lot of people to do searches on a particular term They show up in clumps as hits to my blog.

Today, I have had eight hits in a row where someone had searched the term "Men Without Chests" and found my blog post which includes that title (an essay by C.S. Lewis). Here are the locations:

United States Fayetteville, Arkansas

United States Madison, Wisconsin

United States

United States

United States Jacksonville, Florida

United States Lisle, Illinois

United States Rochester, Minnesota

I can only speculate as to what may have triggered such an anomaly. Perhaps an AP article, or a TV program televised nation wide, provoked a number of people to search the Internet for more information on that article. I won't do the math here, but I am certain that it is extremely unlikely to be a chance grouping of searches.

Real Time Revolution in Iran

2009-06-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

All those camera/video phones and social networks are providing incredible near live coverage of the events in Iran. Here is an example I just watched posted Sat. June 20 about 1pm PDT. Warning, lots of blood.

Local Is The New Imported

2009-06-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

French wine. Swiss watches. German beer.

When I was a kid, imported was good. Italian leather. Dutch cheese. Russian vodka.

Now, for many people, imported is bad. Carbon footprint. Economic imperialism. Lost jobs. Now local is good. Farmer's markets, micro brews, nearby wineries.

Although there may be a shred of truth in each assertion, both are oversimplifications with little merit. By all means, let us pursue that which is good. Good glorifies God. Evil, or badness, is a corruption of that which is good. Let us focus on rooting out the corruption, wherever it resides, near or far.

The source of corruption we know best is our selves. Let us ask God to make our selves better.

You Need Somebody to Love

2009-06-15T20:52:00.000-07:00

God has blessed me with lots of people to love. I am asking him to help me love the unlovely, and he is working with me on that. I am very thankful that he has also given me lovely people to love. Here are two of my favorites. My wife, Barbara, and my grandson, Daniel.

Plamela Joy

2009-06-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

Plammy is my second daughter. She was born a few months ago and is getting married this week.

I have such rich memories, and yet it all seems to have passed so quickly. As I scan photos for a slide show, I am overwhelmed. I guess that is how it is supposed to be. I know it has been great loving her and watching her grow up. I know that she loves me. I plan to stay in touch with her and continue following the fascinating story that is Pamela.

Men Without Chests and Eyebrow Shavers

2009-05-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

image attribution: el juicio by drusbi

Penn Hills School District officials have recommended expulsion for a 15 year old girl because a random search turned up an eyebrow shaver in her handbag. The same officials have expelled an exemplary college bound senior who was found to have a 1" utility knife on his key chain. Criminal charges are also being pressed.

Are these school administrators insane? No, they are cowardly. But don't be too quick to condemn them. Our society has carefully cultivated cowardice, especially in anyone who must manage or administrate.

We we want brave, vigilant leaders who will watch carefully for threats and eliminate them whenever that is possible.

However, threats vary greatly in severity. Most folks would agree that the loaded pistol, which slipped through Penn Hills school security a few days before the eyebrow shaver incident, is the sort of threat which should be eliminated. Outraged parents besieged the administrators and school board at Penn Hills for more effective risk management. So random searches were instituted.

Even the searches may have been an overreaction. But the real damage starts when the people empowered to search are incapable of making a judgment on what constitutes a genuine threat. When a threat is found, those same people must also make a judgment on the appropriate response, including disciplinary action if needed.

Good judgment is a virtue. Good judgment brings justice.

Unfortunately, the idea of passing judgment on a person's actions has become confused with passing judgment on that person's worth or eternal destination.

How many times have you heard these phrases recently "Who am I to judge", "Who are they to judge?" and "We are in no position to judge". This is relentlessly drilled into our collective consciousness. Consequently, one of our great fears is that we will be caught passing judgment. It is a powerful fear because we know it may bring censure when we so desperately crave affirmation. If we allow the fear of disapproval to goad us into committing an injustice, we are cowards. Injustice is assured when we attempt to establish rules so particular and so inflexible that we are freed from the responsibility of utilizing judgment.

Men Without Chests, by C.S. Lewis is a profound essay, worthy of a careful reading. Echoes of Lewis' closing paragraph came to mind when I read of the "eyebrow shaver incident":

And all the time—such is the tragi-comedy of our situation—we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more 'drive', or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or 'creativity'. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.

I would add that we abhor judgment, yet demand justice.

Oregonians Take Note: A Proud Moment in Our History

2009-05-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Christine Quigley for calling attention to this video of the famous exploding whale incident.

What Would Google Do? A book review.

2009-05-28T13:12:00.001-07:00

In the preface for "What Would Google Do?" Jeff Jarvis writes, "This book is about more than Google and its own rules and about more than technology and business. It's about seeing the world as Google sees it, finding your own new worldview, and seeing differently. In that sense, this book isn't about Google. It's a book about you. It is about your world, how it is changing for you, and what you can gain from that."

For those who seek to better understand how the Internet has wrought great changes in their lives, Jarvis' work is very helpful. Those who crave a facts and figures detailed history of how Google became "the fastest growing company in the world", should look elsewhere .

The book is divided into two parts. The first part explores the rules by which Google operates. For example, "Focus on the user and all else will follow" is a direct quote of Google's corporate philosophy. Chapter one is entitled "Give the customer control and we will use it". Jarvis intentionally delves deeper in his exploration of Google's operating principles. So he does much more than simply quote Google's ten rules and explain them. Chapters explore relationship with customers, the impact of live links on information exchanges, changes in business models, the influence on society, and more.

The second part of the book, entitled "If Google Ruled the World", explores how various industries and institutions may be impacted by those rules. Media, Advertising, Retail, Utilities, Manufacturing, Service, Money, Public Welfare, and Public Institutions each merit a chapter.

The Google rules are already causing considerable disruption in media and advertising. Jarvis gives examples of current events ( newspaper failures, etc.) but also looks ahead to how various forms of media must adapt to survive the new regime. In other arenas, manufacturing or utilities, Jarvis has to report less and forecast more.

Jarvis weaves together narratives of his personal experience as a customer, a blogger, and a journalist with more traditional feature writing describing events where he had little or no personal involvement. Jarvis skillfully spins stories. I found them captivating. One such story is

"Dell Hell " . Jarvis is able to remain humble while telling a story of how the Internet allowed him, a disgruntled customer, to wield great influence. Jarvis feels free to express his opinion strongly, as when he writes " It is insane to treat Google as the enemy. Even Yahoo doesn't .." That makes for entertaining reading, but at times Jarvis comes across as cocksure about highly complex matters. He redeems himself from time to time with admissions such as "I am a hypocrite. If I had followed my own rules...you wouldn't be reading this book right now, at least not as a book."

Jarvis shares many, many examples of new businesses, new social sites, related books, etc. Just those references would be enough to justify the book's price for many readers. I have considerable experience roaming the WWW, nonetheless, Jarvis was able to surprise me with lots of new links that I will enjoy exploring.

There were a couple of spots where Jarvis struck me as naive, even ignorant. That may have been inevitable in a light hearted tome with a vast scope. When he writes "Free is a business model" he is parroting a bit of nonsense that I frequently encounter about the web. Few things are truly free, and certainly not a web constructed of millions of servers connected to billions of user computers through thousands of miles of expensive fiber optic cables. Many web based business have foundered when confronted with the sad truth that access to the Internet costs money. More access costs more money. The fact that an individual's access to the Internet cost less than $50 per month may be misleading. Access to broadcast television is virtually free, but we pay for that by allowing our eyeballs to be bombarded with commercial messages. My blog account on blogger had no cost for start up, but I have no doubt that a price will be extracted in some manner over time. Advertising, archiving fees, and the like will creep in.

Sorry Jeff, free is NEVER a business model.

Jarvis makes his living manipulating words. I suppose that makes it easy for him to believe that we may all be able to dispense with concrete objects. So he writes phrases like "Atoms are a drag" or "Nobody wants to be in the business of making stuff anymore". He taps the words out on a plastic keyboard resting atop a collection of material objects (microprocessors, disk drives, memory chips, light emitting diodes, batteries) that are marvels of achievement in the material world. Never, ever, take cleverly arranged atoms for granted!

"What Would Google Do" is an entertaining and informative read, loaded with material that a reader can use to do further exploration of the world 2.0. I highly recommend it.

What Is Stress?

2009-05-24T21:31:00.000-07:00

Photo credit: stressed by rick

Hans Selye was a researcher in the biological sciences during much of the twentieth century. He is widely believed to be the first to use the term "stress" to describe a biological phenomena.

While experimenting with hormone injections in rats, Selye discovered that a wide rage of irritating substances would produce the same response in rats. There was an impact on their adrenal glands and damage to their gastrointestinal tract. In other words, the rats got all wound up and their guts hurt them.

I heard Selye speak during the mid 1970's. He made it clear that stress was the organism's response to the irritants, not the irritants themselves. He called the irritants stressors. The general use of the term these days confuses stress and stressors, but the basic idea is retained:

as we are impacted by various irritants, our stress level builds up. We get anxious. We have various physical complaints, especially gastrointestinal problems.

However, an important point is often overlooked. Selye learned that stress is generated by both irritating (or bad) events and by exciting, even pleasurable, good events. To much of a good thing can make a person sick in a way that is identical to what would occur if they got too much of bad things.

It seems that we too often forget that the good events in our lives can help make us sick. In fact, I have a hard time believing it despite having heard Selye in the flesh explaining it all.

So getting divorced will generate stress in people, but so will getting married. Deaths, but also births. Financial losses, but also winning the lottery. Annoying people clearly create stress in us, but the truth is that stress is also generated when we spend time with a loved one.

There are some great coping strategies for dealing with stress: exercise, avoiding caffeine, and various sorts of attitude adjustment. However, I doubt that many people think to employ those strategies when lots and lots of good things are occurring. I have been reminded of this during a period of weeks when we are enjoying many visits from loved ones, a daughter is getting married, and all of my children are doing very well.

I find it difficult to believe that great things like those can make me uptight. But it is clearly true.

Bad things will come, and hopefully good things will come. My prayer is not that God would remove the bad and certainly not that he would hold back the good. My prayer is that I would mature, grow stronger, and attain the wisdom needed to cope with the good and the bad.

Pray for strength, not for an easy life.

How Will You Spend Eternity?

2009-05-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

In the interview below, Richard Dawkins is asked if he had a choice between death ( as "that's it") or heaven, which would he choose? He answers, "Give me two or three hundred years. But I think no longer than that. Eternity would be awful."

Dawkins is healthy, intelligent, and affluent. If two or three hundred years of that seems good, were it offered, why not a thousand, ten thousand, or more? What would make eternity awful?

Earlier in the interview, Dawkins was asked whether he would like it if there was a God. His answer : "What matters is what is true. The universe doesn't care what I like."

Eternity in an uncaring universe, apart from the God who is love, would indeed be awful.

It would be hell.

Incorporating the Incorporeal has Consequences

2009-05-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

photo credit: the corporation is powerful by markhsx

Why do businesses incorporate? In other words, why don't we just stick with businesses where the owner or owners are personally culpable for wrongdoing by that business.

The shoemaker has to take the heat if his shoes hurt his customer's feet. If he adds employees and equipment to his workshop, he may crank out lots and lots of shoes. In a sense he is now capable of hurting a lot more feet. At some point he realizes that he is in a risky position. Angry customers could bankrupt him and blacken his name. So he incorporates.

The law allows him to pretend that his business is a someone. That pretend someone can be bankrupted and reviled, but the shoemaker takes comfort that he personally can walk away with the rest of his assets in tact. He may even escape notice and keep his good name.

Henry Ford made cars. He and his descendants ran the company for a while. However, once Ford Motor Company was incorporated, the Ford family's other assets were safe, even if Ford Motor Company went broke. Over time the Ford Motor Company was sold to investors. Eventually the Ford family no longer managed the company. The Ford Corporation is an idea, not a flesh and blood person or persons. We have incorporated the incorporeal.

So when Ford Inc. does something nasty, who takes the rap? The investors might lose the money they spent to buy in. A board of directors has responsibility to ensure that the corporation is well run. The board of directors is elected by the investors. Sort of.

Although my personal fortune is modest, it is invested in a large number of corporations. A little bit of GM. A particle of Dell. A very small piece of United Airlines. Lots and lots of little pieces that add up to my life savings. I spread it around that way on purpose. My hope is that I may lose a piece here or there, but most of what I own will still be around for me to live on.

Perhaps I owned a tiny piece of Enron, and it disappeared when Enron went bust. I have no idea. I own too many little pieces in too many places (mutual funds, annuities, etc.) Nor do I have any idea who the directors are for any of those corporations that I own tiny pieces of. One way or another, my "vote" gets voted by someone else. Theoretically I could keep track of every piece and vote every vote to ensure that every deficiency is addressed in every company. That will never happen. I couldn't do it even if I devoted all my waking hours to keeping track of it all.

Yes, there are some folks with very large personal fortunes. However, for the most part, they spread their money around as well. They may own bigger pieces of companies than I do, but they will often own so many pieces of so many companies that they too will be woefully ignorant of what is going one in most of those companies.

Incorporating the incorporeal has consequences. Accountability is lost. The personal touch is gone. The management is simply tasked to make more money, at least for a while, until they can bail out with a golden parachute or get severed with an awesome severance package.

So it goes.

How Do You Vote?

2009-04-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

In rich countries, most people vote every day, many times a day. You are one of those people.

Perhaps you are not registered to vote. Perhaps you have never stepped into a voting booth or mailed a ballot. Nonetheless, you vote often.

You vote every time you read a story, watch a program, or listen to a song. You vote when you buy something, visit somewhere, or pay someone.

The secret ballot is the exception rather than the rule. Safeway knows what you choose to buy. Netflix knows what you choose to watch. An ATM snaps your photo every time you use it.

Yes you vote early and often. You vote all day long, every day.

The majority may not always rule, but there is power in numbers. One million clicks on the latest Brittney tragedy insures that the paparazzi will continue to hound her and publicize her struggles. Double stuffed Oreos? As more people choose them, they are stocked in more stores on more feet of shelving.

Some years back, New Coke was voted out. Classic Coke was voted back in.

What troubles me the most is that often we get what we vote for. Junk food. Crooked politicians. Bloated CEO salaries.

We voted to give the bank execs big bucks to drive their businesses into the ground. We voted when we used that bank, bought their stock, or ignored the proxy statements that came in the mail. We elected the politicians that hurriedly found a trillion dollars to bail the banks out and keep the executive bonuses flowing.

The impact of our votes can be a lot more important than a mere trillion dollars. We smile or frown. We gossip or encourage. Each time we choose, we influence those around us. Do we really want more frowns and gossip? No? Then let us choose wisely.

Any choice is really a vote. And any vote impacts us all to some degree.

Oh, and please remember, refusing to choose still constitutes a choice.

photo by jugbo

"Gore" is a much easier way to spell "hypocrite"

2009-04-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Barbara Cleaver for this post.

781 visits used 21 languages

2009-04-26T20:39:00.000-07:00

Recently I started using Google Analytics to get the big picture regarding visits to my blog. I was startled to see that people had visited who were using 21 different languages. I take it for granted when I do a search that most of what I find will be in English. Ocassionally, however, I have had ocassion to use Google Translate to read a page in a language I don't know. For example, I can read my daughter and son-in-law's Norwegian language blog using the translate feature. Generally speaking, the translation comes out pretty well.

A few months ago I was searching for potential Chinese manufacturers of wheelbarrows. I was astounded when I saw that Google could translate an entire page of Chinese characters into passable English. And it does it really fast.

I already think that it is very cool that the world is so interconnected via the internet. Now it occurs to me that automated translation is good enough to facilitate communication between folks who do not share a common language.

Amazing.

On Being Watched

2009-04-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

I have met many people who are very concerned about the fact that so much can be known about them via the Internet. I understand their concern. I have given the matter a good deal of thought.

However, I always come back to the fact that many more people have seen me in the flesh than are likely to ever learn about me on the Internet. Thousands and thousands of people have seen me in person. No doubt it is true that the vast majority had little interest in what they saw. Most promptly forgot me.

Hundreds of people have read about me on the Internet. The vast majority were not interested. Most of them have also forgotten me.

So if thousands have seen me in person, why should I worry about hundreds who read about me on the Internet. It is true that I have revealed some private things about myself in my blog, on Facebook, and elsewhere. However, actions speak much louder than words. People read my body language. They see how I respond to others. If they are close enough to hear me, they sense the anger, fear, or confidence in my voice.

I smirk at another's misfortune. I shed tears in sympathy. I shout in anger. Every one of these things can be observed. My eyes speak volumes more than I will ever be able to communicate via the written word. My shoulders can slump in defeat, shrug in puzzlement, or straighten as I stand unafraid. My hands gesture continually. A wave of greeting. Clenched fists of rage. Palms opened in submission. From my hair to my toes every part of me shouts out before I even open my mouth.

And I have only spoken of humans so far. God, creator and lord of the universe, sees every move, hears every word, and knows every thought. He sees the good and the bad. The beautiful and the ugly.

Yes I am being watched. Each moment is an opportunity to glorify God or to show my failings.

God help me.

Photo by zachstern

Good versus Evil as seen on Youtube

2009-04-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

One of my many strange compulsions is checking Youtube periodically to see which video is the most viewed of "all time". The number one spot is currently occupied by a music video: "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne, with almost 120 million views after being posted for about 14 months. Susan Boyle's performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" has 26 million views (on one version of the clip, there seem to be many posts) after a single week.

Will Susan Boyle's video climb to number one for all time after a few weeks or months? Seems likely.

Suppose Susan Boyle does pass Avril Lavigne. Would that signify anything?

Lavigne's video is a celebration of nastiness with a pretty face. The refrain is "Hey, Hey, You, You, I don't like your girlfriend". Avrile bullies and torments a pretty but "uncool" girl and finally steals her boyfriend.

Boyle's video is, as one judge declares, a wake up call for all of us. Her appearance is not cool and far from what we seem to hold as an ideal. Even though I knew ahead of time that she would sing superbly (I was late learning about the video), I was still stunned when she began to sing. I got goosebumps and came close to shedding tears. I felt exactly as though I had received a wake up call from God.

Our sick fascination with the type of characters and antics Lavigne portrays will most likely continue. I don't exempt myself from that club. I am all too aware of my own predilection for the dark side. However, perhaps Susan Boyle has been sent as a reminder of how foolish we are to long for the dark, when the light is so much better.

I hope we can all remember her as needed. Thank you, Susan. Thank you, Lord.

All Religions Are The Same, Right?

2009-04-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

WRONG!

The next time someone tells you that all religions are the same at their heart, ask them to watch this video.

Google Chrome Won't Get You Home

2009-04-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

I guess it had to happen. Until now I was very pleased with each new Google application that I tried. Unfortunately I have just run into my first "Microsoft-Like" experience with Google.

The Chrome browser seems to load web pages faster than Internet Explorer. Great! But I realized my Google Toolbar was no longer present (I needed the translate function). When I tried to install Google Toolbar, I get this message:

We're sorry, but Google Toolbar 5 is only available for Internet Explorer and Firefox.

How weird is that?

I decide to write a friendly note to Google to help them see how absurd that is, when I ran into the next "Microsoft-Like" experience: Nobody to write to. I couldn't find an e-mail address anywhere. Not for feedback. Not even for questions. Everyone is inexorably steered toward an uber-geek forum where we get to ask and answer our own questions. Totally unsatisfactory.

Meanwhile, the good news is that Google is free. The bad news is that Google is starting to show tendencies that are deadly:

1. The left hand does not know what the right is doing (as with no toolbar on Chrome).

2. They are unwilling to give me a simple way to provide feedback.

I predict that soon we will encounter the next phase: "Oh, we decided that part isn't free anymore.". I just went through that with Kodak's picture storage site. I didn't buy enough prints, etc. to suit them, so they deleted my account. I wonder how long before Picassa treats me that way.

One Big Reason Newspapers are Dying

2009-04-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

US weighs fate of surviving Somali pirate

CNN - ‎2 hours ago‎

By Terry Frieden WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal law enforcement authorities are discussing what to do with the lone surviving pirate captured Sunday off Somalia's coast after a successful military rescue abruptly ended a five-day hostage standoff at sea.

'3 Rounds, 3 Dead Bodies' Washington Post

New Somali Government Hails Obama’s Promised Piracy Fight Voice of America

Los Angeles Times - New York Times - ABC News - Christian Science Monitor

all 15,052 news articles »

I cut and pasted the paragraph above from Google news. There is no question that this is an important story that people around the world will want to read. But did we really need 15,000 plus sources publishing the same or similar stories? If we really do want that much choice, the paying public will find a way to fund it. However, I suspect that a lot of the energy used to create those 15,000 "posts" could be used more profitably. Competition is great. Fifteen thousand competitors might be a bit much.

March and April Blog Visitors

2009-04-13T20:23:00.001-07:00

I get visitors from all over the world, 45 different countries in just the past couple of months. A few are people I know, but most do a Google search on a topic, and my Blog is listed as a source. One search that continues to draw hits from all over the world is "How Do I Make a Good Choice" and similar terms. Click on the chart below to see it in a readable size.

What Is The Meaning of Life?

2009-04-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

From time to time, I wonder if my life has meaning. Purpose. A reason to go on. I thank God for friends and family who quickly reassure me that my existence is important to them.

However, when I am at my worst, I find myself wondering whether my friends and family really mean what they say.

It occurred to me that the meaning of life has been a big question for millenia. People far more intelligent and educated than me have pondered the matter and have written extensively on the subject. As I was searching for some of those writings, I stumbled upon the Wikipedia article entitled Meaning of Life. It is a marvelous compilation of many, many schools of thought on the subject. Each of the many entries ( for example see the one on existentialism ) provides an excellent short summary of a philosophical or religious attempt to find meaning in life. The possibility that life is meaningless (i.e. absurd) is also included.

As I read the long list of summaries, I suspected that a true follower of any one philosophy may find the summary of their thoughts to be inadequate. However, Wikipedia is particularly helpful with broad topics like this one. A profusion of links exist in the article that can take one to deeper and deeper explorations of any one philosophy or belief. If public domain articles become inadequate, there is always a nice list of links to weighty tomes that should satisfy the most voracious appetite for reading. One could also find and enter into discourse with many fellow adherents of any given line of thought.

I read the long list carefully. I found the summary for Christianity to be a fine start for anyone seeking to understand that faith. Here is a key sentence from that passage:

Under the Christian view, the main purpose in life is to live like Christ did (perfect altruism) to love God with all one's heart, soul, and mind, and to love fellow human beings as you should be loved.

I could quibble with bits of that sentence, but its heart and soul is a phrase that is repeated throughout the bible and quoted by Jesus in the New Testament: "to love God with all one's heart, soul, and mind, and to love fellow humans as you should be loved".

I am without excuse if I fail to remember the purpose of my life. I am a christian. Loving God means knowing and obeying God. Knowing and obeying God means that I will grow in love for each and every person I encounter. I can rejoice that God will help me to grow in love if I ask him to.

There is not a moment in my waking hours when I cannot turn my mind towards loving God and loving my fellow humans. Often I can act on the thoughts. Serving. Listening. Praying. Forgiving. Consequently, the meaning of my life has been made abundantly clear by the God I love and serve.

I thank God for meaning in my life.

He Is Risen Indeed

2009-04-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

That's My King - S.M. Lockridge

Full Disclosure: Kent's Life as a Suit

2009-04-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

As I posted about executive compensation and "the suits", I grew uncomfortable.

I imagine it would be easy for most folks to read those posts as a diatribe against those rotten executives with their bloated salaries, dressed to assert their importance. I am sad to say that the worst parts of me were thinking exactly like that.

As always, the full picture is a lot more complicated.

Perched in the middle of this crowd of suits is me. I was attending several days of meetings in Japan. Several comrades and I were meeting with the American and Japanese management of a major supplier for the electronics company that employed us. (In the tradition of HAL in the movie "2001, A Space Odyssey", I have decided to refer to our employer as GO.) By major supplier I mean that they supplied GO with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of a single type of component. The color of my beard reveals that this photo was taken more than a decade ago.

GO has a particularly informal culture. Six figure execs wore jeans to work. Seven and even eight figure execs frequently wore slacks and a dress shirt with no tie. I was definitely a jeans guy. However, I did have some small understanding of other cultures. Wearing jeans to a meeting with Japanese business men would rival wearing a Speedo to church (which I have done, but that is a story for another time).

I was the senior representative for GO. GO is very large. So despite the fact that I was four or five levels above entry level, I was also six or seven levels below CEO.

In my own way, I was one of "the suits".

As I write this I am struggling mightily to forgo telling you what a lowly suit I was. Because although I was wearing a cheap sports coat and khakis, I was definitely a suit. In fact, in the photo below, I am seated as guest of honor, directly across from the head of the Japanese operations.

Yes, those Geisha are the real thing. As for the dinner, I hope I never find out how much it cost. I seem to recall eight or nine courses. The most memorable dish was the raw sea slug served in a little igloo of ice. No, I'm not kidding. See the next photo.

The seat next to the Geisha is empty because someone was sick and couldn't come. You can see the various dishes that had collected at his spot up to that point.

O.K. I was not a nine figure CEO, but I was a suit. And if we want to play the multiples game, it goes like this. My income was about 6 or 7 times that of one of GO's U.S. factory workers. It was also 300 to 500 times that of a Tanzanian worker.

It is only the hypocrite in me that thinks of the nine figure CEO as some sort of monster. He or she is just riding the wave like I was. I can't really blame the executives if the stockholders for a corporation allow the board to vote crazy high compensation. It really is a democracy. Board members are elected by shareholders. In America, a vast number of us are direct shareholders via our 401Ks, IRAs, and pension funds.

Of course, that leads to this question: "How can a democracy fail so miserably to prevent that kind of excess." I think I know, but I'll save the answer for another post.

The Suits

2009-04-04T16:05:00.001-07:00

I am pretty sure that the term "the suits" did not come into common usage until I was a young adult.

Now I hear it in a number of contexts, but none of them make me think that it is a good thing to be one of the suits. For example, an office worker might say, "The suits from corporate will be here tomorrow." First thing that would come to my mind in that situation would be, "Crap, now we have to waste a bunch of time showing them around the place (and that means cleaning up)."

Between 1950 and 1970, U.S. and European culture made a pretty radical change. Before that period, male manual laborers and tradesmen wore "work clothes". People who worked in offices, universities, etc. wore suits. What we call a suit today is a dumbed down version of a military uniform. It developed during the 19th century. Before that a man who wanted to display status, pretty much dressed like a peacock, like Henry below.

And, no he is not glad to see you, that is a codpiece. It was de rigueur in Henry's time.

But in recent decades we find our selves in a tough situation. The suits all look alike. How can we know if they are lower level suits or top of the heap suits? Fortunately we still have a few clues. If there is a woman with an important suit, she will also be dressed in a suit, or she will look like a peacock. Another tip would be the car the suits arrive in. If the car is worth more than your house and your children's college education combined, then he is a very important suit. Watches work the same way. I really don't know why, but it is perfectly o.k. for a suit to drive a Rolls Royce or wear a Rolex, but they seem to be shy about looking like a peacock.

I think it would make it easier for everyone if we returned to the sable collars and scarlet capes. We could be a hundred yards away and still tell that it was a guy who believes himself to be important. That would give us more time to clean up our act.

suits photo credit: The CBI

henry viii photo credit: Sleepless in Somerset

Executive Compensation - Part 2

2009-04-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

CEO pay: Sky high gets even higherA new report shows top-dog pay bites shareholders, and alleges war profiteering among some CEOs.
August 30, 2005: 12:24 PM EDT
By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN/Money senior writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – If sky-high executive pay at publicly traded companies gives you vertigo, you might want to read this sitting down.

In 2004, the ratio of average CEO pay to the average pay of a production (i.e., non-management) worker was 431-to-1, up from 301-to-1 in 2003, according to "Executive Excess," an annual report released Tuesday by the liberal research groups United for a Fair Economy and the Institute for Policy Studies.

That's not the highest ever. In 2001, the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay hit a peak of 525-to-1.

Still, it's quite a leap year over year, and it ranks on the high end historically. In 1990, for instance, CEOs made about 107 times more than the average worker, while in 1982, the average CEO made only 42 times more.

The cumulative pay of the top 10 highest paid CEOs in the past 15 years totaled $11.7 billion.

And though the specific individuals in each of those annual top 10 lists changed year to year, many bosses did pretty well throughout the entire period. Citigroup's Sandy Weill, for example, has made $1.1 billion since 1990.

Executive Compensation

2009-04-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

On average, chief executives at Japanese companies with more than $10 billion in annual revenues are paid about $1.3 million a year, including bonuses and stock-option grants, according to Towers Perrin, a consulting firm, based on data gathered between 2004 and 2006. But chiefs in the U.S. are paid about $12 million, and chiefs in Europe are paid $6 million.

The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 28, 2008

Welcome To Downtown Magugu

2009-04-02T11:24:00.001-07:00

Do you see anything in this picture that might make you want to move to this town?

Probably not.

My daughter and her husband live near here. They plan to stay for a couple of decades. They had to learn Swahili, the national language of Tanzania, just to get started.

Most people in the area around Magugu don't speak Swahili as their "first language". If you want to have a serious, deep discussion with them, you should learn Mbugwe. Of course learning the Mbugwe language will also entail working hard to understand the culture of the Mbugwe people. The Mbugwe (20,000 or so of them) are one of more than one hundred distinct people groups among the 30 million people of Tanzania.

Julia and Viggo want the Mbugwe people to have better access to the good news about Jesus Christ. They want it enough to move here and devote their lives to understanding the culture, learning the language, creating a written version, promoting literacy, and translating the Bible.

May God grant them the strength, the endurance, and the love that will enable them to succeed.

Beating The Odds

2009-03-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip on 6 August 1945 when a US plane dropped the first atomic bomb.
He suffered serious burns and spent a night there before returning to his home city of Nagasaki just before it was bombed on 9 August.

Above is a link to a BBC article about a man who survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. In 2009, he is still alive at 93.

What are the odds? Well for Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the odds are 100%. That's the way it works for individuals. Either something happens to you or it doesn't.

It is a different matter for populations of individuals. Identify a group of 1000 American men my age. The probability of death by heart disease for a member of that group is pretty high. Let's say 30%. However, each one of those men will or will not die of heart disease. On a more personal level, I will or will not die of heart disease. We may construct the sentence "Kent has a 30% chance of dying of heart disease." That is actually meaningless. Either I will die of heart disease, or I won't.

What is the probability that someone in the same group of 1000 men will be killed by hand gun? Let's say it is .1% So one guy dies via handgun. That tells me that most guys my age would benefit more from taking measures to avoid heart disease than they would benefit from wearing a bullet proof vest. But what if I am the one guy who will be shot. Dang, should have worn the vest! And I could have eaten all the bacon and eggs I wanted.

Here is another way to look at it. If I can convince 1000 men to change their diet and exercise, perhaps the probability of death by heart disease might drop to 20%. Two hundred men die of heart disease, instead of 300. So one hundred lives are saved, right?

Wrong.

Those one hundred men will die of something else. Perhaps the average age at death might go up a few years (that is not a foregone conclusion). However, I cannot conclude that preventative measures mean that I will live longer.

Hearing what the probability is for a population really can't tell me much about what will happen to me. I may have other reasons for eating well and exercising. I might obtain a relatively immediate benefit. But I shouldn't be surprised if I am hit by a truck, struck by lightning, or choke to death on a chunk of steak.

The good new is that I may be the next guy who lives through two nuclear attacks. I may be the guy standing next to the guy killed by lightning. There are a huge number of possiblities open to me, regardless of how many heart attacks hit the middle aged guys around me. I want to live my life thinking about the possibilities for good stuff happening.

I plan to put more energy into the "immediate benefit" stuff.

Photo Credit: Licorne by Pierre J.

Scene of the Crime

2009-03-22T00:16:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map

I drove my mom's 1962 Chrysler back and forth from my job at the A&P grocery when I was 16. Coming home late at night I always looked forward to this corner. I tried for a four wheel drift as a turned off Transcontinental and onto a long stretch of service road.

There were no houses or crossroads along it as there are in this more recent photo from Google Maps street level. So I felt free to floor the accelerator and see how high I could move the speedometer needle before I had to hit the brakes and slide into the turn to go down the street to my house.

I seem to remember 70 miles per hour as about my top speed. Four wheel drifts in a big hog like a Chrysler Newport are a dicey affair. I can't recall any bad consequences, except pretty serious wear on the tires. I remember the thrill like it was yesterday.

Two Versions of the Gospel: Which Will You Pick?

2009-03-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Wrap Your Head Around This

2009-03-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

"To see a world in a grain of sand,And a heaven in a wild flower,Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,And eternity in an hour"

from Auguries of Innocence
by William Blake

I spent a little time trying to figure out how much computers have changed since I was born in 1950. That was right about when the first commercial version of an electronic computer was developed.

It was roughly the size of a cargo container and cost about $10 million in today's dollars..

Today, all the circuits in that 1950 computer would fit into something roughly the size of a grain of rice which can be produced for around one penny.

Of course, the speed at which the circuits operated would be different. The grain of rice would do math approximately 1 million times faster.

Can computers keep getting faster? Most people think so. In fact, many people think they will get faster faster:

The Law of Accelerating Returns
by
Ray Kurzweil

An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense "intuitive linear" view. So we won't experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century -- it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today's rate).

Spit for Brains

2009-03-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

There is a campaign afoot to get Linn Benton Community College students to stop spitting in the water fountains. A crudely captioned picture in the student paper followed crudely drawn little signs taped near the fountains. Now I am beginning to see beautifully printed little signs above some fountains.

It has been more than half a century since I first happened upon evidence that someone had hocked a loogie into a drain designed strictly for unused drinking water. Even then, as a grade school kid, I wondered who would do something so gross. Now that some students enjoy chewing tobacco as a pastime, it appears that even spitting into a disgusting paper cup is not low enough. Apparently either a. they can't figure out that their snoose juice doesn't flow through the drain or b. they don't give a rip. Either way, it indicates an astonishing lack of cranial capacity. For you guys who spit in the fountain, that means you are dumb as a stump.

Photo by arimoore

Living with Poison

2009-03-06T13:34:00.001-08:00

Humans didn't invent poison. This two inch frog contains enough poison to kill 10 humans.

There is a lot of poison in the world. Occasionally we feed it to our kids by accident. But are things as bad as they seem to be when we scan the news? Here is some toxic food for thought.

It took more than sixty years for the U.S. to realize that lead laced exhaust was dangerously toxic and phase lead out of gasoline. We also learned that lead paint flakes were poisoning children in older homes. We are still cleaning up that mess.

During 2007 headlines like this one sprouted everywhere: “35 percent of toys contain lead, report says, Testers bought most popular children’s products at large retailers” (AP Dec. 5, 2007). Eighty percent of the toys in the U.S. are imported from China, the same place where "The scandal, in which melamine was added to raw milk to make it appear higher in protein, led to the deaths of six babies and made some 300,000 ill."says the BBC, Jan. 22, 2009.
The Chinese took action on the melamine problem. They executed two men who added the substance to milk. The U.S. congress used a different approach for lead, they passed H.R. 4040: The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Effective Feb. 10, 2009.

You bet. This is America. We don't just hang a couple of guys. We hit the problem with sweeping legislation.

Not so fast.

The law is absurd and ineffective. Manufacturers, retailers, and thrift stores can't immediately conduct required tests to prove that their products do not contain more than 100 ppm of lead. Too complex. Too expensive.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission began to back pedal in January when used clothing stores were exempted from the testing. In February the commission voted to postpone the testing requirement a year for most children's products. However, you are still culpable if your product exceeds the 100 ppm limit.

Congress demonstrated ignorance. Their law will not eliminate the lead. It took decades to deal with gasoline. One commodity. Easily tested. Engines had to be revamped. Refineries had to create new blends. Gas stations had to buy new pumps.

According the Centers for Disease Control , accidents are the number one cause for children's deaths. Poison is involved in some of the accidents. And the number one poison? Medications. That stuff in the adult proof bottles.

Lead?

A March 2, 2009 AP article says, "In a stunning improvement in children's health, far fewer kids have high lead levels than 20 years ago, new government research reports — a testament to aggressive efforts to get lead out of paint, water and soil."

Did it take an act of congress to get the lead out? Yes. It also took years of carefully coordinated efforts in an number of industries. Let's not stop now. But, please, can we skip the hysteria.

Let's see a few headlines that say "Thousands Die Because Parents Leave Medicine Laying Around"

Photo credit: Poison Dart Frog by Ucumari

How to Make Good Grades: Two Things I Learned In Junior College

2009-03-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

I restarted my college career at age 58. My intention was to learn a bit about journalism, but I have learned other things as well.

When I was a member of the Philomath school board, I sat through a lot of awards ceremonies. I hate awards ceremonies; there are so many other things I would rather be doing. I only attend them when socially obligated. I found I was frustrated with successful high school students who were asked to say a word about how they had done so well. Over and over they said some form of "Do your work and turn it in.". I had finished high school, a bachelors degree, and a masters degree back in the sixties and early seventies. I did o.k. but it was not easy. I resented the idea that all you had to do was complete the assignments your teacher gave you. Now, after one course at LBCC, I see that the students were right and I was wrong.

During my first tour of duty as a student, I thought I worked hard. Looking back I see that I didn't have much concept of what hard work was. Oh, I spent plenty of time in the library, but a lot of it was spent sitting at a study table wishing I was somewhere else. Also, I was chronically sleep deprived due to certain lifestyle choices. I often found myself waking up with my head stuck to the table by my own saliva.

Now I realize that I put in a lot of hours but often I failed to complete my assignments. I would have been far better off just hacking something out and turning it in instead of procrastinating while I told myself that I was "studying". I am making the same mistake this time, but I am more aware of it.

All I needed to do to score some extra points in my class was write at least two posts a week.

Adding graphics would have helped. Using the AP style book to check things like how 9/11 should be written would also have helped. Now, a couple of weeks from the end of the quarter, I look back over my posts and wonder how I could have failed to take advantage of those opportunities. It's not that I care about my grade (much), I am just appalled that I could be taking only one class and still fail to do the obvious.

The second thing I learned was how fast a week goes by. Of course, it is a cliche that as one grows older time seems to pass more quickly. I heard a story about a 100 year old lady who asked what life was like now that she had reached the century mark. She said, "I feel like I eat breakfast every twenty minutes."

I posted this quote near my desk in November of 1978: "You are young and life is long, and there is time to kill today, then one day you find that ten years have got behind you, no one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun" ( "Time" on "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd.) I have carried that quote to every desk I have occupied for thirty years. Bit by bit I am learning to heed its warning. Yet I am still surprised to see time fly.

I will end with a bit of good news for anyone who may relate to my failings.

Change is possible.

I was probably already a procrastinator in the cradle. Nonetheless, I have been able to finish school, work for 33 years and help raise four children. Some lessons just have to be learned over and over again.

Do your work. Time flies.

photo credit: Studying Hard by Kyle Kessering

Three Things I Learned from Stephen King's book, "On Writing"

2009-03-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

Three items that particularly stand out are as follows:

1. Write a lot, read a lot: I have always read a lot. I have always thought that I would like to write. However, I didn't write much at all until a few years ago. Writing a blog has given me the incentive to write more often, but I find that I still only write a few posts a month. When I read how much time someone like King puts into a single book, I realize that I need to up the ante quite a bit.

2. King says, “If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all.” I was encouraged. A variety of family members, friends, and acquaintances have all taken a shot at making me feel lousy about writing my blog. The most frequent comment seems to be this: “You must have way to much time on your hands”. Often I feel defensive when someone tosses that comment at me.

It is good to know that even a writer of King's caliber has had to endure those sorts of taunts. More and more I realize that we spend lots of time on all sorts of things: TV, fishing, reading gossip columns, collecting stamps, watching sports, playing video games, etc. ad nauseam. I don't want to make other folks fell bad about how they choose to spend their time. I certainly don't want to let them make me feel bad about how I spend mine. It is estimated that King has sold 300 million copies of his books. However, even if he never sold one, writing them is nothing to feel lousy about.

3. There are no great story items hidden in the earth, just waiting to be dug up. I think way too much about what might be the very best thing to write about. I would do better to just watch for ideas that seem decent and then run with them. I won't even have wasted paper in this era of word processors. I may create something that I really enjoy. Perhaps others will enjoy it.

Seldom can I tell in advance which ideas are going to result in a great final product. First I have to write something As King says, “ Let's get one thing clear right now shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, No Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn't to find those ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”

Is This a Financial Crisis?

2009-02-21T18:58:00.000-08:00

Photo Credit to Lumaxart http://www.lumaxart.com/

My life savings have shrunk by about 40 percent since I retired eighteen months ago. I am sympathetic with folks who are worried about the state of the U.S. economy. I just don't think it is a crisis.

We use the word crisis far too freely.

Second by second, throughout the world, individuals have crises. Death of a loved one. Crippling accident. Debilitating disease. Starvation. Innumerable types of suffering.

There are almost seven billion humans on this planet. The majority live what most Americans would consider a wretched existence. The Miniature Earth Video illustrates their plight vividly.

When I walk into my local Safeway, I find the amount and variety of food overwhelming. I grew up in this culture. Imagine how it would seem to someone who eats only a bowl of rice or a plate of cornmeal mush every day, if they are fortunate.

I know that millions of people in this country are losing their jobs. Many are losing the houses they worked hard to acquire. I know that is painful. But I refuse to call it a crisis. To do so is callous in a world where children starve for want of a few cents worth of grain each day.

Let us work long and hard to stabilize our economy, but let us not forget that we are incredibly blessed. And let us remember those truly in crisis.

Judgment

2009-02-18T19:37:00.000-08:00

Muzzammil Hassan was a man with a mission. He hoped to counter negative impressions of Muslims post 911. He founded a TV network to get the message out.

Then he was charged with murdering his wife and cutting her head off.

Hassan is a Muslim. I am a Christian. Yet, he and I have something important in common. Both of us are incapable of living a life that is completely consistent with the ideals we profess.

I am horrified by Hassan's alleged crime. But were I to assume that one horrible act makes a definitive statement about all Muslims, I would be a hypocrite. Some Christians have committed horrific crimes, but I do not accept those crimes as being evidence of the failure of Christianity as a belief system.

One act cannot define even a single human being, much less a whole people group. We are far too complex to be characterized by one action, even if it is a wonderfully good one or a terribly evil one. Unfortunately, I am slow to believe that for anyone other than myself. I am inclined to see Hassan as a monster. I wonder what good can he possibly have done that could outweigh the evil of his alleged crime? However, I am quick to believe that whatever good I have done can cover all the evil I have perpetrated, with plenty of cover to spare.

Judging an action can be straight forward. For example, it is wrong to murder. But judging a person would entail knowing all that they have done and weighing each of those things on a cosmic scale.

We can distinguish right from wrong. We can hold people accountable for their actions. However, we are too limited to make a final assessment of a person's life.

Hassan will stand trial for his wife's murder. We humans can pass judgment on whether he committed the crime. We can decide the penalty he must pay in this life. We cannot decide his eternal fate.

I leave that judgment to someone infinitely more qualified than me.

Photo Credit: Where Evil Lurks by Stacie Babenko http://www.flickr.com/photos/laciebabenco/2654548292/

Googling without a keyboard

2009-02-12T19:18:00.000-08:00

You know the drill. A question arises. Even if you have an Iphone in hand, there is a period of laborious typing and clicking that is required to get the information you like. Or so I thought.

I got a new cell phone recently. I usually bottom feed on the cheaper phones, and this time was no exception. Even so, I soon learned that the phone has remarkable voice recognition capability. I can just say the name of a contact and the phone finds it for me and one button push launches a call to that contact. I didn't even have to teach the phone how I pronounce the entries in my contacts list. It does a remarkably good job of understanding me and getting the right contact. If it is wrong, I get to try again and it learns to do better next time.

Then it occured to me that voice recognition can allow devices like mobile phones to hear a search phrase, such as "zygote definition". Bam, up pops a nice list of possible web references.

Oh, but it doesn't stop there. A friend bought software for his Iphone that allows him to hold the phone up to hear music playing in a room. The software figures out what song is playing and gives a link to all the information you might like to have about the song (Hey, that is the Yardbirds and it was 1963!). I imagine it also allows you to download the song for a buck.

But why stop there. How about adding a tiny web cam to a bluetooth earpiece. When you meet someone and blank on their name, you quietly say "who", or maybe use a special little clicking sound. The camera snaps a photo of their face and searches a data base to find not only their name, but notes you have made about them (Amway fanatic, divert, divert). One more little clucking noise and you hear the last twenty entries on their twitter feed. (Oh, hi aunt Tilda, how is that hysterectomy healing up!)

No need to stop with faces. Yep that is a 56 Chevy. No, that's Vesuvius, not Krakatoa.

I see some real possibilities.

Twitter and Tiny URLs

2009-02-12T19:02:00.000-08:00

At first I found Twitter pretty boring. Even the most succinct among us may have trouble saying something of interest with 140 characters. I get it that the idea was to simply let people know what you are doing from hour to hour. Frankly, it generally seems a case of TMI (too much information).

Then I ran across Twitter streams from news sources. An example: nytimes The Caucus: Caterpillar CEO Contradicts Obama Over Jobs http://tinyurl.com/c4asr3

I will sometimes check news sources frequently if I know there is some hot story going on. But twitter posts form news sources would be a very high tech version of some much older news feed technologies. The advantage is the ability to include live links (as above). However, I kept noticing the url's with tinyurl inserted. Then it occurred to me that many URL's are quite long. They would easily consume a lot of the 140 characters that Twitter allows. Tinyurl is a service that takes a typical long URL and creates a new URL that directs folks to the same web page.

As far as I can tell it is a "free" service funded by advertising and donations. There seem to have been a few glitches, but as the service catches on I imagine lots of smart people will be working out the bugs.

So Twitter plus Tinyurl, now that might turn into something.

Even as I write this, I imagine that lots of other smart folks are thinking of other innovative ways to use short frequent messages to offer a potpourri of info in a compact stream. So maybe I won't count the idea out just yet.

Fairview 1956

2009-02-05T14:49:00.000-08:00

This video was created by the state of Oregon to communicate the need for special care for citizens with special needs. The intent of the video is to show that humane care was being provided at Fairview, but also to remind the public of the need to support such institutions financially.

Many will find the video disturbing.

In Our Care from Oregonian News on Vimeo.

I am posting it because as I wrote my post about Bud Fredericks, it occurred to me that many younger people would have little idea of what it meant for a special needs child or adult to be cared for in an institution.

Fairview is closed now. Generally, if care for special needs children and adults cannot be provided by their families, a system of group or foster homes is relied upon to provide care.

When feasible, special needs children attend public schools, receiving extra attention as required. This is referred to as mainstreaming.

Two Roads Diverged For Bud Fredericks

2009-02-04T15:12:00.000-08:00

Twenty years into his career, on a fast track toward becoming a Marine Corps general, Bud Fredericks resigned his commission. He was in his early 40s and had no immediate prospects for employment. Why did he do it?

Bud's military career was very gratifying, but the birth of his fifth child, Tim, forced him to choose between the Marines and a whole new direction that would provide more direct support for his family.

Bud graduated from a highly competitive Jesuit run high school in 1944. The military offered support for college, followed by Officer Candidate School.

Bud's military career flourished. By the mid 1950s he was a major and a strong candidate for further promotion. The Marines sent Bud to Stanford University to study history as a part of his preparation. He completed the requirements for a doctorate in history, lacking only a completed thesis.

Bud's marriage to Dot also prospered. She adapted well to life as an officer's wife. She also coped with Bud's long absences as they raised four children. In the 1960s Bud commanded one of the few military units that had trained to fight guerrilla warfare. His unit was ordered to Vietnam in 1964.

When he returned from Vietnam, Bud was posted to the ROTC at Oregon State University. He was able to transfer his credits from his studies at Stanford to a graduate program at the University of Oregon.

Bud and Dot's fifth child, Tim, was born in 1966. Tim has Down syndrome.

Bud reminisced, "We were fortunate to have a doctor who told us to take Tim home and love him". Forty years ago, children with Down syndrome were usually placed in institutions.

Bud and Dot supplied love, but did not know how to foster Tim's early development. Books at the UO library were oriented toward institutions. “They were sad books. There was nothing in them to help us.” said Bud.

In 1967, Bud was about to be reassigned to Vietnam. Dot dreaded his absence. Their teenage children were opposed to the war.

The decision to resign was not an easy one. Bud cherished his time in the Marines. He loved the camaraderie. He excelled as a Marine Officer and had an opportunity to grow. However, Bud could see that his family needed him.

He never told them how much it hurt him to leave the Marines.

Bud changed his focus to special education at UO. He also sought a paying position. A chance conversation led to a job at Teaching Research, an arm of the Oregon higher education system.
While working on his thesis, Bud met Vic Baldwin at Fairview Hospital. Vic admired Bud's research and helped him procured a $40,000 federal grant.

While pursuing his second career, Bud worked with Tim to help him reach his full potential. Bud and Tim actually travelled on a lecture circuit where Tim delivered a speech about what it is like to have Down Syndrome. See page 2 of this newsletter for the full text. Tim joined the Boy Scouts. He attained Eagle Scout status.

The federal government began to see a need to mandate special education opportunities for children. Bud and Vic gained support in Oregon and at the federal level. Decades passed. Bud contributed to special education projects worldwide.

Today, Tim, 42, lives independently, works and is married. Bud's dedication contributed to a richer life for Tim, and for countless others.

Missing La Roca

2009-02-04T11:21:00.000-08:00

S0me businesses are a victim of their own success. La Roca has become La Rockita and is located in a spacious, gleaming, restaurant a block from the old taqueria.

For many years La Roca was a fixture on the main drag through Philomath. The tiny building was crammed with a small kitchen, pop dispensers, and storage for beans and rice. No seating inside. Fortunately an aging roof shot out of one side of the building, supported by steel poles painted a hundred times, yet still showing numerous spots of rust. Under this canopy one could sit at small picnic tables adorned with plastic table cloths.

Ordering was an odd experience. You stooped before a small window. The relative gloom inside the restaurant combined with the screen on the window make it almost impossible to see who his taking your order. But immediately after the words leave your mouth, they are are shouted loudly and rapidly in Spanish. Soon the rushing noise of the soda dispenser assures you that your beverage is on its way.

But the best is yet to come.

Soon your name is shouted at a small side window and you are presented with a steaming, foil wrapped bundle. The multitude of delightful cooking smells from the take out window motivate you to rush back to your table and peel away the foil to reveal a burrito that looks just like any other, only larger. However, inside the bland flour tortilla exterior is a cornucopia of flavors, textures, and smells. Highly seasoned meats. Slow cooked beans. Vivid green guacamole with a perfect smooth, creamy texture.

From the first bite to the last, your mouth explodes with flavor.

As you eat, the pleasure is so great that the gritty highway traffic twenty feet from where you sit becomes a pleasant vista. The roar of passing log trucks may not quite drown out the local riff and raff telling sophomoric jokes at the next table, but your profound bliss allows you to see them as colorful and engaging.

The food is still great at La Rockita, and it is nice to be able to see the staff and chat with them. Nonetheless, I find myself missing La Roca.

Guilty Until Proven Guilty

2009-01-30T17:41:00.000-08:00

I like the idea of innocent until proven guilty. But it doesn't always seem to work that way.

The first time I sat on a jury, I was shocked when we were told that we would be passing judgment on a man accused of assault with a deadly weapon, a sledge hammer. The defendant was a big burly guy in his thirties. The alleged victim was a petite, middle-aged mom type.

My brain switched into feverish overdrive, as I considered what kind of man would go after a woman with a sledge hammer. Intellectually I was aware that he was innocent until proven guilty. However, my gut feel was that we needed to move quickly through the trial and hang, draw and quarter the wretch. The prosecutor made it clear that the defendant was a dangerous man. I felt a little nervous being in the same room with him. What if he grabbed a chair and attacked the jury?
After many hours of testimony, the real story seemed to emerge. The defendant and his little
girl had to scurry to safety to avoid being run over by a speeding car driven by a local hoodlum . I shall refer to him as "the dude". The dude lived with friends in a shabby vacation cabin nearby. The defendant knew the dude well enough to believe that talking to him would be counterproductive. However, he noted that the dude's parents were visiting.

"Maybe they will be reasonable", he thought.

Big mistake.

The defendant drove to the cabin and got out of his pickup to make his complaint. The dude's mom (I shall refer to her as "the witch".) grabbed a shovel and ran toward the defendant. The defendant picked a sledge hammer from the bed of his truck and held it up saying, "Look, I have a weapon too, but let's be reasonable". The witch lowered the shovel and the defendant put the sledge hammer back in his truck

As the defendant turned back from tidying up his tools, he met the dude charging him with a hatchet. The dude and the defendant wrestled. The dude chopped at the defendant's head and hands. Defense evidence included vivid photos of the resultant carnage.

Meanwhile, the dude's dad ("Clueless", not his name but rather a derisive term) began searching beneath the seat of his automobile. It was conjectured that fire arms are often kept under auto seats, but that was grist for another trial.

Clueless refused to testify on the grounds it might be self-incriminating. We were instructed to ignore him. I felt I was trying to overlook a man who refused to decry a pit bull who had savaged a neighbor.

Jury deliberations created new problems.

One juror proclaimed she had prayed about the case with her husband, and God had shown her that the defendant was innocent. She offered to sit quietly and read her bible while she ignored our discussion.

The first secret ballot, (and the second, and the third, etc) was 11 to 1 in favor of the defendant. We were instructed to stay in the jury room until we arrived at a unanimous decision. The alternative was to call a mistrial. The judge was willing to let us stay in the jury room for days, if necessary, to avoid a mistrial.

As foreman, I reasoned with, exhorted, and begged my fellow jurors. One by one, they said "I didn't vote him guilty". Just one sad little man remained quiet about his vote. Nonetheless, he insisted that the act of picking up a sledge hammer and holding it in front of the witch constituted assault with a deadly weapon. We paused to ask the judge for clarification. He refused and sent us back to our deliberations.

I became frustrated . I picked up the sledge hammer that lay as evidence on the table in our midst. I shook it in the sad little man's face.

"There! Call the cops. I assaulted you with a deadly weapon."

"Maybe we should conduct another secret ballot" said the sad little man.

We did. It was 12-0.

American Meth: A film review

2009-01-27T11:55:00.001-08:00

Emaciated, glassy eyed, walking dead. Rotted teeth. Paranoia. Abused children. Vats of toxic chemicals.

"American Meth" is a horror movie. Sadly, it is not fictional.

The film documents the spread of methamphetamine use in the U.S. It explores the impact on communities, families, and individuals. Statistics, graphic images, interviews, and a gut churning video of the daily life of two meth users and their four children illuminate the epidemic.

Apparently Justin Hunt (writer, producer, director) hoped to frighten his audience. Interviews with law enforcement and medical professionals provide startling statistics and grim anecdotes. The visual power of film is used to engender dismay and disgust. Photos from an Oregon anti-meth campaign, Faces of Meth , shock the viewer with the rapid degradation of many meth user's countenances. Posters and videos from the Montana Meth Project evoke horror by depicting the depravity that often proceeds from frequent meth usage.

Interviews with meth addicts currently in recovery are edited to emphasize the effects of addiction their lives, and humanize addicts in a way that statistics and anecdotes cannot.

Justin Hunt's film works as a wake up call regarding the extent and depth of the meth problem. However, young people who have not tried meth may be harmed by Hunt's tactics. The film lacks a satisfactory investigation into what motivates people people to use meth the first few times.

The film fails to explore the seductive powers common to many drugs . Meth is depicted as a unique drug with a power to ensnare that other drugs cannot match. However, similar power has often been attributed to cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and even alcohol.

In a British campaign to abate cocaine use Dr. Ken Checinski says, "Cocaine is psychologically more addictive than many other substances, such as alcohol and cannabis, and can easily become a habit that controls your life. "

This poster from the temperance movement in the 19th century showed the progression from a single drink with friends all the way to death by suicide. Eventually alcohol consumption was made illegal throughout the U.S.

Many drugs, including alcohol, are physically addictive when used in excess. Addiction has been a problem world wide for centuries, from opium dens in China to coca leaf chewing in Peru. Humans often seek comfort in drugs to escape pain, fear, or even boredom.

"American Meth" could be retitled American Myth. It imputes the sort of mystique to methamphetamine that could easily encourage a young person to try it. The drug is actually nothing extraordinary. Methamphetamine has been available since it was first synthesized by a Japanese chemist in 1919. Over the past century it has been used to energize troops, enable weight loss, treat depression and calm hyperactive children. Its popularity has waxed and waned.

I grew up in an era of rampant experimentation with drugs. I used alcohol, marijuana, hashish, opiates, LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, barbiturates, and benzodiazapines (Valium and it's kin). And yes, I used methamphetamine for a season. Each time I tried something new, I felt that I had been misled by anti-drug campaigns. I did not experience immediate strong cravings for more. Friends used various drugs regularly, generally with no apparent ill effects. As a young person, my thinking was mostly very short term. I seldom pondered the possibility that drugs would prove to be dangerous in the long run. In the short run my experience seemed to refute the hype often used in those campaigns.

"American Meth" is worth watching as a means of learning about the drug's current popularity and the problems attendant to frequent illicit usage, however I recommend against showing it to young people in hopes of deterring them from experimenting with meth.

Photo Credit: One Woman... by d70foucs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23905174@N00/435934694/

Photo Credit: Drunkard's Progress Lithograph by Nathaniel Currier ca. 1846 Public Domain

Lost and Found In Cyberspace

2009-01-25T20:34:00.000-08:00

As a part of my journalism feature writing class, I included a post about the new law regarding lead in children's clothes. Originally I was going to title the post "The Unintended Consequences of Law". However, my professor pointed out that although the title had a nice ring to it, it would not show up very often in web searches done by people trying to get information about the new law. I changed the title to H.R. 4040: the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008
Almost immediately I began to get new hits to my blog regarding this post. Many of the hits are the result of Google searches. The number of people searching for an article regarding "The Unintended Consequences of Law" was destined to be near zero. Although I am not specifically trolling the Internet for more readers (well, maybe a little), I am glad to share a post with someone interested in its subject matter.

Why did I pick the "catchy" title first? I was thinking like a print media person. Headlines, chapter headings, short story titles and magazine article titles are often written to catch a readers eye and spark a readers interest as they scan printed pages. However, web readers cannot possible scan all the web pages on the world wide web. There are billions of such pages. So we use search engines . Search engines look for web pages that seem most likely to contain information relative to the search term. Blogspot (the blogging software I use) creates a unique URL for each post. The URL generally incorporates some or all of the words in the title. Although the exact algorithms used are a closely guarded secret, I am betting that a web page with a URL containing words that might commonly be used in a search term is much more likely to be prominently displayed in a list of search results.

It's been a great lesson for me. I have already seen a substantial increase in the number of hits to my blog. Imagine if I had employed this idea in my last 270 or so posts!

Why is it called a credit crunch?

2009-01-17T11:54:00.000-08:00

Although there is certainly no shortage of reporting on our current worldwide economic woes, I still have felt that I couldn't quite grasp the big picture. This audio slide show by the business editor for BBC World News is the best summary, by far, that I have seen.

"Living Beyond Our Means" might be a good phrase summarize the root of the problem.

Please Don't Leave Me

2009-01-16T20:49:00.001-08:00

I know there are a few folks who check this blog from time to time. I imagine you are thinking, "Wow, I just thought his other posts were boring. Now that I read letters from congressmen and articles about lead in children's clothes, I have a whole new appreciation for how boring Kent can be."

Well, boring for you, but great fun for me. The odd posts are related to my Feature Writing Journalism 217 class. I love it. I attended school for 18 straight years during my first try at it. I would never have believed that I would think of school as fun after that. But, I love this.

I used the lead in clothing topic because I volunteer at a children's clothing outlet that provides free clothing and supplies for families that could use a little help. Now it appears that we may be subject to a fine of up to $15 million dollars for distributing clothing that has not been properly tested for the presence of lead. I don't think it will actually come to that, but it has been a great learning experience researching the law and trying to understand what will really happen.

It is also the first time I have received calls and e-mails from congressmen. It seems this topic has a lot of people riled up. When I said I was writing a news feature about the impact on businesses, I actually got taken seriously. I've even had a few hits from Google search as people look for explanations of the law.

However, I realize that posts like "A letter from Congressmen Peter DeFazio" are not likely to hold many people's attention. So while I am busy with this stuff, perhaps you'd like to look back to some of my older posts such as 50 Things That Should Have Killed Me or Do I Look Like A Racist . Wonder what it was like being a college freshman in 1968? Try Mustache Story . Ever wonder if you are losing it? Try What Is It Like to be Mentally Ill?

Of course, stooping to reminding you of my old posts may seem desperately needy. That's probably true. However, it also serves as a way of meeting my two posts per week quota for my class (with live links inserted).

Rep. Peter DeFazio regarding HR4040: The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008

2009-01-16T09:25:00.000-08:00

The following letter (quoted in its entirety) is Rep. Peter DeFazio's response to inquiries about the new law regulating lead content in children's clothing:

Dear Mr. Schnake: Thank you for your recent message regarding the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. I appreciate hearing from you. As you know, on February 10th the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act becomes effective. The bill was a response to importers bringing in dangerously unsafe products from China. The bill passed the House by a vote of 407 to 1 as it was considered a common sense piece of legislation that was designed to keep our children safe. Unfortunately the Bush Administration's Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is in charge of drafting regulations in order to enforce the new law, did a poor job of explaining what was expected of retailers and consumers and have written what I believe are overly strict interpretations of the law. As a result, countless retailers, thrift stores, charities and even small toy manufacturers have contacted my office in confusion not knowing what they are or are not allowed to do when the law becomes effective. One if the main points of contentions is the new provision that bans lead in excess of 600 parts per million in children's products. While we can all agree it is important to protect our children from this dangerous substance, the CPSC provided little to no guidance to consumers, retailers or manufacturers on exactly what is expected of them when the law becomes effective. As a result rumors spread across the internet and amongst retailers about the new law, many of them untrue. The CPSC recently released a press release (located at www.cpsc.gov ) intended to provide guidance to consumers that did speak to some of these concerns. The release stated:The new law requires that domestic manufacturers and importers certify that children's products made after February 10 meet all the new safety standards and the lead ban. Sellers of used children's products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits, phthalates standard or new toy standards.The new safety law does not require resellers to test children's products in inventory for compliance with the lead limit before they are sold. However, resellers cannot sell children's products that exceed the lead limit and therefore should avoid products that are likely to have lead content, unless they have testing or other information to indicate the products being sold have less than the new limit. Those resellers that do sell products in violation of the new limits could face civil and/or criminal penalties. Furthermore, in response to complaints from small manufacturers, the CPSC is now considering some exemptions to the new regulations. Specifically, they are considering an exemption from testing certain materials that are not scientifically known to contain lead (like wood, cotton, gemstones, leather, etc), as well as looking into easing restrictions on batch testing for small manufacturers. The current regulation mandates all products be tested for lead, as well as all of its components. This is a burden for small manufacturers. Some groups have responded to this confusion by trying to delay or even eliminate the implementation of the new lead standards. Others have asked to exempt these new standards from unsold or used inventory. I am opposed to this. If a product is unsafe, it is unsafe. It doesn't matter when it was made. That being said, I feel the recent efforts by the CPSC have provided some clarification for retailers and manufacturers, but more can be done. I recently sent a letter to the CPSC asking them to respond to a series o f detailed questions so people will get accurate information about this new law. Once I receive a response I will forward it to you. Thanks again for contacting me. Please keep in touch.
Sincerely, Rep. Peter DeFazio Fourth District, OREGON

H.R. 4040: the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008

2009-01-11T20:34:00.001-08:00

In August 2008, the U.S. Congress passed a law prohibiting the manufacture, sale or distribution of any children's products containing lead. It will be in force effective Feb. 10. The votes in the Senate and House were almost unanimous in favor of the bill.

Can Americans relax, knowing that their children will be protected from lead in clothing and toys? Perhaps not.

Many retail outlets for children's products are unaware that the law exists. Others are aware of the new bill but do not know how they can comply. Most of the existing inventory at retail outlets, distributors, and factories was fabricated before manufacturing companies could have known about the requirements of the new law.

Children's clothing, toys, and other supplies are often composed of fabrics, dyes, plastics, and metal parts from sources all over the globe. Testing to ensure compliance with the law requires a chemistry laboratory, skilled technicians and a capability to perform x-ray fluorescence or inductively coupled plasma spectrometry.

Consequently, it is expensive to test a completed children's item.

Lead is not a rare ingredient. It is used in a wide variety of production processes. When the expense of testing for the presence of lead is spread over large quantities of paint, fabric, and plastic, the cost impact on any one item manufactured from those raw materials might be small.

However, current understanding of the law is that all products must be proven free of lead, including existing stock. All items for sale after Feb. 10 are considered guilty until proven innocent.

Retail outlets and small manufactures would find the cost of testing their goods to be prohibitive. The alternative is to scrap their current inventories.

Errol Noel, owner of a retail shop named The Toy Factory, replied “I don't know what the impact will be, and that's what so scary. I don't know how to insure that my suppliers are in compliance." Carey Oien, the manager of The Kids Kloset said, “I haven't seen the actual law. I don't know if it applies to nonprofit organizations like ours."

Enforcement of the law is at the discretion of each state's attorney general. Surveys conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2006 enabled estimates that the annual clothing expenditure in the U.S. is roughly $400 per child. Total spending is in excess of $50 billion dollars annually.

Rigorous enforcement of the law at every retail establishment would be difficult. However, when a business is found guilty of a violation, fines of up to $1 million or more can be levied.

The situation is difficult for shops that sell used clothing. A single shop may have clothing from thousands of different manufacturers, and the clothing may have been created long before the bill was first considered.

Imagine that Congress passed a law that all cars sold must meet extremely tight tail-pipe emissions standards, effective immediately. Used car lots would have a real problem. Even car dealers holding an inventory of new cars manufactured before the law was passed would be in trouble. However, emissions laws have been written to impact only future car models. A grace period allows for the manufacture and sale of current models. Existing cars are exempt. Meanwhile we have to live with the emissions from older auto designs.

Children's clothing and supplies are more sensitive politically. No legislator wants to go on record as saying that it is acceptable to continue to sell lead containing items for children, even if only for a season while stricter manufacturing standards can be implemented and existing stocks can be sold. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 contains no grace period. It passed 421 -1 in the U.S.House and 89-3 in the Senate.

Did legislators anticipate the impact of their bill? It appears that they didn't.

As the bill was being processed through Congress, a section required to assess the bill's economic impact was left blank. Congressman Peter DeFazio of Oregon sent a detailed letter in response to inquiries about the impact of HR4040. He attributes the confusion surrounding the bill's implementation to poor management by Bush administration officials, "The bill passed the House by a vote of 407 to 1 as it was considered a common sense piece of legislation that was designed to keep our children safe. Unfortunately the Bush Administration's Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is in charge of drafting regulations in order to enforce the new law, did a poor job of explaining what was expected of retailers and consumers and have written what I believe are overly strict interpretations of the law."

The number of news stories about the law has increased dramatically as the February implementation date draws near. Members of the public, not just business owners, are becoming concerned.

Bethany Fegles, a mother of two small children commented, “I just heard about this earlier this week and have wondered myself what would happen to so many smaller second-hand retailers. Or all the moms selling their kid's clothing on Craigslist. Or all the parents that use garage sales to earn back a little bit of what they spent on all the kid toys/clothes.”

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission web site
http://www.cpsc.gov/ has the latest news updates and answers to frequently asked questions.

The Unintended Consequences of Law (story idea)

2009-01-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

The U.S. congress passed a bill requiring all clothing outlets to test their wares for lead content. It was passed hurriedly during the scares regarding lead in Chinese toys etc. It takes effect as of February 10, I volunteer at "The Kid's Kloset" where we collect and distribute clothing for families in need. I have to investigate more, but it appears that this law would effectively shut down used clothing outlets and small business that cannot afford to test their inventory.

I can interview the manager of the Kid's Kloset, call DeFazio's office (and Wyden/Merkel). I can also interview other used clothing outlets in Corvallis as well as some mom and pop shops. I will research what major manufacturers are doing as well.

How Do You Eat An Elephant?

2009-01-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

One bite at a time, of course. Here is an example of a technique for taking a big topic (in this case, language) and dividing it into smaller and smaller pieces.

A Note to My Readers

2009-01-08T19:37:00.000-08:00

First of all, welcome to a hyper-elite minority: those who choose to read my blog more than once! I only have hints that you exist: occasional comments, multiple hits from one city. (I can't track by computer or person, just location).

You will notice postings that may seem unusual. I am taking a journalism class (feature writing), and some of my work for the class will be posted on my blog.

Of course, as always, one really beautiful thing about blogs in general, and my posts in particular, is that you can ignore or relish them in almost total anonymity. So if you have enjoyed a number of my past posts, please seek professional help. Oh, and don't be surprised by increasingly odd posts for a season.

Who Am I?

2009-01-07T17:43:00.000-08:00

I wonder that myself. I have so many titles that it's easy to get confused about what role I play in this world. Despite my 58 years, I am still a Child of God. My marriage is a great one, so I am a happy Husband. We have raised four children, and although the youngest is almost 18, I will always be Dad to each of them. Two years ago I added Grandpa. Fortunately, I had added the title Father-in-Law years before that.

At work I was often referred to as the Boss, since I was an engineering manager for most of my 33 years with HP. Nonetheless, I am enough of a nerd that many friends and family still think of me as an Engineer. After all, I can still get pretty excited about the latest developments in light emitting diodes (LED's), computer chips, and fiber optics.

These days I can refer to myself as Retired, although I prefer the title Freelance. That shift has allowed me more time to be a Volunteer for several outfits. It has also allowed me to become a Student, which is a title I hadn't used for more than 34 years. Perhaps upon completing my journalism class I will qualify as a Writer. That sounds like fun.

Well, that's enough about me. I would prefer to ask, “Who are you?”

Seeing Ourselves as Others See Us

2009-01-02T10:25:00.000-08:00

O would some power the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us.
(O would some power the gift to give us to see ourselves as others see us.)

Robert Burns, Poem "To a Louse" - verse 8 (from http://www.quotationspage.com/)

Picture a nice breakfast in your mind. Something you could enjoy on a regular basis.

Now imagine that a new acquaintance tells you that the photo below is a pretty good example of a breakfast they would enjoy. (thank you to Jenn Kelley for the photo)

Most of us would find it hard to believe that our new acquaintance was serious. If we were to see them consume this as we would eat a bowl of cheerios, what would we think? Gluttony. Insanity. Illness.

I have wondered why Burns describes it as a "gift" to be able to see ourselves as others see us. I have feared the gift would be a curse. I see myself as living in the "reasonable center". People who exercise a whole lot more than me are fanatics or freaks of nature. People who exercise a lot less are couch potatoes or just pitifully weak. I am in the middle with the other "reasonable" people. In the same way I tend to think that I am just about as patient, kind, or generous as most "reasonable" people. In the past we referred to those folks as "normal", but language morphs. Now normal implies boring and unimaginative. Ah, but reasonable is greatly to be desired. After all, if everyone were reasonable, imagine what a wonderful world this could be. Were I to see myself through other's eyes, how quickly the illusion would be dispelled. I suppose that is why Burns calls it a gift. He was wise enough to know that we would benefit from having our illusions shattered.

If we scratch through the surface of what we mean by reasonable, we quickly see it for the sham it is. Reason alone cannot lead us to a vision of a life worth living, because our ability to reason is warped by our pride and our greed. Only a revelation of all that is good can allow us to see all that is not good in us. Yet even revelation plus reason is not sufficient. We must make choices that are good, and we soon find that we fail to do so far too often. We make resolutions for the New Year and then are shocked by how quickly our resolve is exhausted.

Reason and revelation must be sought in conjunction with relationship with God. God is the base on which we stand. Without a base, we float rather than stand. We are a helium balloon, moved by the prevailing winds of our era. Untethered and unteachable, making progress toward nowhere in particular.

Plus 24 Years

2008-12-26T20:55:00.000-08:00

Me with our first child.

Me with our first grandchild.

The Value of Experience

2008-12-25T21:27:00.000-08:00

As I have aged, I have accumulated a lot of experience. At 58 I have experienced the segregated south, hippies, peace marches, cocaine parties, the bar scene (several varieties), small companies, big companies, being on a school board, being chased by a bear, raising four kids, true love, several hairy car wrecks, numerous broken bones, black outs, pass outs, several major surgeries, low income, high income, 48 of the 50 states, visits to a dozen countries on four continents, conservative politics, liberal politics, a few weeks in a wheel chair, blizzards in the mountains, rip tides at the coast, parasites, LSD, assault with a deadly weapon, twenty years of teaching Sunday School, snorting meth, ballet recitals, SAT, GRE, BS, MS, opiate addiction, high tech, steel mills, abandoned mine shafts, hurricanes, winos, con artists, encounters with God, communion with saints, attending child births, rocks concerts, drag races, zipping my father into a body bag, body building, engineering, managing, studying. I could keep going, but you get the idea. I have experienced many things.

I would like to think that all of that experience has earned me a special status as a wise man. However, I have long since realized that experience is only valuable when one learns from it. One person gains more wisdom in a trip to the mall than another might in a trip around the world. Do I learn? Do I remember when I need to? Do I act according to what I know to be true?

I will continue to enjoy, endure, and accumulate experiences. Lately I feel little need to seek them out but neither do I want to avoid them. I want to learn from the experiences I have, even if it is via hindsight. I want to remember what I learn, even when the distractions and temptations to forget seem overwhelming. I want to use every second of living to grow closer to God and to love my neighbors as I want to be loved.

I also want to drop the idea that being a geezer gives me much of an edge on anyone else. Perhaps the one thing I can say is that I have certainly been given many, many opportunities to learn and to put that learning to use. That makes me blessed. It doesn't make me better than anyone else.

How to Make a Difference

2008-12-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

"I want to make a difference" . Yes, it is a cliche. "Vote for Change" is also a cliche, yet it seems to be effective decade after decade. In either case, the presumption is that the difference or change will make the world a better place. In most contexts it is presumed that the world will be a better place for all people. That is particularly true for "make a difference".

Of course, we all make differences all day long. Every breath we take diminishes the supply of oxygen in the atmosphere and adds a bit more carbon dioxide. Every step we take causes a bit of wear on any surface. In ancient temples gentle steps by small men have worn ruts into hard stone. However, is difficult to imagine that every such difference contributes to a better world.

We certainly long for a better world, even when our time in this one has been relatively pleasant. A young, healthy person sooner or later discovers that pain will come to them. The pain of loss. The pain of sickness. And if a person has the least bit of compassion, they will surely be aware that all around them are people suffering. Some suffer a greatly.

There was a time when I could have thought of exhaling as being neutral at the very least. Now I am told that each breath brings the world closer to destruction via global warming. No matter how lightly I tread upon the earth, I contribute to a sort of decrepitude where life is destroyed and buildings are rendered unusable. My impression is that many people have begun to perceive the human race as parasitic at best and perhaps even cancerous. As a Christian, I believe that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That is the bad news. The good news, the gospel, assures us that God loves us and has paid the price to redeem us all and promises a new heaven and a new earth where there will be no more death, no sorrow, no crying, no pain. In no way does that mean that we should simply endure this life and wait for the next. We are called to action. The desire to make a difference is a wonderful Godly trait.

So where's the rub? Why do people speak of wanting to make a difference as though it were difficult, perhaps impossible. There is a lie abroad that discourages us. The lie is that right now, given our current constraints, we make only insignificant differences. First we must grow stronger, richer, wiser. The difference we make should be easy to see, not only by us, but by all those around us. Preferably it should be such a noteworthy contribution, that we must struggle to remain humble in the face of popular acclaim.

It is a terrible lie that snares us and squeezes tighter as we fight to escape it. But a lie is not destroyed by our struggles. A lie is destroyed by the truth. It is the truth that can set us free.

The truth is that every tiny act of compassion, every feeble attempt at patience, every halting effort to love has an eternal impact. Even better, each microscopic contribution to the common good strengthens us to enable us to do just a little better in the next moment. The truth is that we participate in the redemption of the entire universe each time we choose to do good rather than evil. Faith is required because most often we will be unable to see the difference we have made. Courage is required because we may feel very much alone in our efforts. Focus is required because we will be tempted to look about and see whether our contribution is appreciated, rather than look forward to see what we might do next.

Humility is required so that we will remember that we participate in creating a better world but we cannot orchestrate it. God conducts the orchestra. We simply seek to sound one harmonious note, followed by another and another.

Church With The Mbugwe

2008-11-19T19:12:00.001-08:00

This post will have some photos of the Sunday that Julia and Viggo took us to a church located in one of the Mbugwe villages. First, below are a couple of photos of the first "workshop" that Julia and Viggo had at one of the villages a few weeks before that Sunday. I think it is important, because you will see that we were welcomed warmly and with a lot of special events. That is because Julia and Viggo had already been traveling from village to village, getting to know the Mbugwe pastors. The various pastors and their congregations are excited about the prospect of getting scriptures in their own language. The language is currently only spoken, no writing. So there will be lots and lots of hard work of which the workshop was just the very beginning. Julia and Viggo have to accumulate vocabulary, understand the sounds and decide how to represent them with an alphabet. They will have to learn the grammar for Mbugwe. While they are doing all that, they need to gain a deeper understanding of Mbugwe culture. Cultural context will be important in deciding how to best translate so that they will communicate effectively and help the Mbugwe understand the scriptures.
This first workshop is taking place in the middle of an Mbugwe village. You can see houses and fences in the background.

The church that we visited had one of the largest church buildings in the area. It is built of bricks with a dirt floor and a metal roof. The windows and doorways are openings in the walls.

We sat in the back so that we would not distract people during the sermon. Here is shot looking forward in the building before everyone had arrived.

Eventually the pews became filled until there was standing room only. This shot shows Julia sitting on the women's side of the aisle. The ladies helped out by holding Daniel during the church service.

Worship was lively. Lots of hymns were sung accompanied by a battery powered keyboard. One of the local pastors preached a sermon in Swahili. Even though the audience was almost 100% Mbugwe, the hymns and scriptures are in Swahili, so the sermons are in Swahili. Comprehension of Swahili varies widely, and any one of these folks would find it far easier to understand the sermons and biblical concepts if they were presented in Mbugwe. Below a line of dancers enters in for a special period during the worship where the singing was in Mbugwe and traditional dancing was performed. It was a treat for everyone. The crowd loved it.

The striped sticks are used a lot. I asked how they were made. The bark is removed from slender poles. The stripes are burned by holding a hot iron against the stick while rotating it.

Barbara and I are sorry that we forgot to bring our video camera that day. The still shots cannot convey all the movement and sound. The Mbugwe have a particular dance where they gather in a circle facing each other and bend at the waist while undulating their shoulders. There is a still shot of that below.

Near the end of the service, Barbara, Samuel, and I were asked to step up to the front. We were given gifts and many kind words were spoken. Julia translated.

In the shot below, we posed with a couple of the pastors. Folks had come from a number of different villages to attend. I was asked if I wanted to say a few words. Fortunately, I had seen one lady wearing a T Shirt that had "Jesu ni Bwana" on it. I knew bwana was a word like boss or lord. So I was able to call out "Jesus is Lord" in Swahili. Julia had learned a few words of Mbugwe, so she thanked the congregation in Mbugwe. That was a big hit.

After the service we were treated to a dinner of rice with stew on it and bottes of soda. We sat on folding chairs with a number of the local pastors. For Sam, Barbara, and I the language barrier was a bit of problem. But Julia was able to translate back and forth between Swahili and English.

Below is a shot of a few of the many children who gathered around to stare unabashedly at us. Occasionally a child would call out "Good Morning, Teacher", which was one of the few English phrases they knew. One little girl counted to ten in English while I tried to match her in Swahili.

As we first began to drive out of the village, I got the shot below of one of the houses. Sticks are loosely woven into a wall. Then mud it packed among the sticks to fill all the spaces. The roof is thatch.

It was great to be able to actually meet a representative group of the people to whom Viggo and Julia will be pouring out their lives. Active Christians are a minority among the 25,000 or so Mbugwe people. So the translation work will be important for the churches, but it will also be very important for enabling evangelism. Wycliffe often works with the translators to supply literature and films, such as the Jesus film, in the local language as the translation progresses.

The Mbugwe are primarily farmers, so the villages are small and scattered widely. After Julia and Viggo have learned more of the language and the culture, they will very likely want to find a house in one of the villages, rather than live only in Babati. They will also be recruiting workers from among the Mbugwe to join them in the translation effort.

Life in Babati

2008-11-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

I had trouble finding data, but I believe the population of Babati is in the tens of thousands. It felt smaller (more like Philomath, population 5000). I suppose the narrow streets, relatively few cars, and small buildings all contributed to that smaller feel. Nonetheless, Babati is a relatively large population center compared to Mgugu a half hour away. Mgugu is sort of the epicenter of the Mbugwe populated region. For now, it was much easier to find housing and get established in Babati than it would have been to move into a village like Mgugu.

Here we are walking down the side street that goes to Julia and Viggo's house. Julia and Viggo live in a neighborhood that is about a 45 minute walk from central Babati.

Here is a neighbors house (below), but that is also a neighbors house above. I didn't get the impression that there was zoning or rich versus poor neighborhoods. A really nice house might be next door to the simplest of huts.

Here is a roadside stand on the outskirts of town. There are lots of these. Each has a variety goods and services to offer. Each seemed a bit unique in it's offering.

Below the road enlarges as it approaches city center.

This is a new school building, one of the nicest public buildings in town.

You can see the small hospital next to the school.

Now we begin to approach the central part of town.

Public transport varied. Often folks rode in the backs of trucks or trailers. There were also minbuses that were packed with 15 or 20 people (about the size of a VW van).

The streets were lined with low buildings like this one. There were very few larger buildings.

A shop that was big enough to have a room in a building usually spilled out onto the sidewalk as below (and yes, I have a gut, but here it is amplified by my travel wallet under my shirt).

You might think the scene below was out in the country side. No, it is the road immediately across from the shop I am standing at above.

Here is the interior of the local produce market. There was a central building shown here. The market spilled out into the square nearby.

One day I got really hungry, so we stopped shopping and had a meal at one of the nicer restaurants in town. That really isn't saying a lot, but the food was good and we didn't get sick.

The plate of rice topped with a meat stew would be a typical upscale meal.

We also ordered a half kilogram of bbq'd meat. There was a fly covered carcass hanging nearby. When someone ordered, the cook hacked random pieces off and tossed them on the grill. There was no discernible order to how the pieces were hacked off; bone, fat, skin, internal organs?, and meat are heaped together on the platter.

The white stuff next to the meat is "ugali". That is boiled corn meal that the waiter referred to as porridge. It is completely bland and has been boiled and cooled to make a thick substance something like very stiff mashed potatoes. Ugali is the local staple. One fellow told me that rice cost about four times as much per serving as ugali. Although it is bland, if it is the main dish it will usually be topped with some boiled greens or other vegetables. Adding meat is going upscale.

That's BBQ sauce and a little pile of salt on the plate next to the meat.

This square surrounded by low buildings full of shops reminded me of a strip mall. Some of the larger squares like this were full of people. Intercity buses literally hurtled into the busiest square honking like crazy. I have to believe that people get run over on a pretty regular basis.

The buses drive as fast as possible wherever they go. We saw one flipped over by the side of the highway as we were driving home one night. We saw another going around some stuck trucks by driving through a ditch that was plenty challenging for our Land Rover.

We drove into the square and parked near the seamstress shop that was making cushion covers for Julia and Viggo's new living room furniture.

Bicycles were much more common than cars. But people on foot were much more common than bicycles. I was hesitant to photograph people head on, so you don't get much feel for the fact that the center of town has lots of pedestrians. Many carried bundles on their heads. A lot of the bikes were pushed and loaded with heavier loads.

The sign must be old, because this is not a guest house or bar. This is the entrance to the tiny carpenters shop where the wooden parts of Julia and Viggo's furniture was built. If you want the wood stained, you have to buy pigment and bring it to the carpenter who mixes it up into stain and applies it.
Everyone stared at us every where we went. Especially if we got out of the car and walked. Babati is hours from the nearest touristy area. So white faces are still unusual enough to attract a lot of attention. If we stayed in one place very long we soon had a crowd of children milling around us. Often they would say "Good Morning Teacher", apparently that was the one bit of English they got at school. One little girl showed me that she could count to ten in English. Of course the kids (and adults) seemed to enjoy it when I stumbled through the few Swahili phrases that I learned.

Grandpa Gone Wild

2008-11-07T18:15:00.000-08:00

I felt this overwhelming urge to share Daniel pictures. At least I'm not mailing a 50 megabyte file to my whole mailing list :-)