Random Notes 20150220

New Orleans

We went to the French Quarter back on New Year's Day.  It was surprisingly nice.  Some areas were kind of disorganized as is expected of New Orleans, but we felt safe walking around there as a family.  We ate dinner and strolled all around until it was dark.  I even bought some cigars. 

I was on business this past week in Mandeville and Covington.  I drove across the longest bridge in the world, the Ponchartrain Causeway.  It is a steady drive from New Orleans to Mandeville.  I think the bridge is 24 miles.  There are two bridges with two lances each side by side.  There are a few drawbridges along the cause way to let ships pass through.  I think I also saw a lot of microwave towers, apparently to relay cell phone signals and other types of signals.  There were also call boxes from the old days of before cell phones.  The strange thing is that there are no break-down lanes on this bridge.  If you have car trouble, you will be stuck in one pan or another.  There are turnaround u-turn like structures every few miles for police, wrecks, and break-downs.  

Mandeville/Covington

Mandeville is on the North Shore of Lake Ponchartrain.  It is where the Causeway ends at the North side.  I was surprised at how neat and clean this area was.  We had spent a few hours in the French Quarter in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, and of course noticed some of the disorganization in the Big Easy.  But this North Shore area was spic and span.  I was told that in this area you do not have to worry about home invasions - you do not have to lock your doors at night on the North Shore.  

Fort Lauderdale

I flew from New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale before my final destination in Indianapolis.  It was 68 degrees when we boarded the plane in Florida.  When I landed in Indianapolis, it was 10 degrees!

On this flight, I had forgotten how much room you get sitting in the exit row seats.  I could sit in the middle seat without having the guy on the aisle seat get up.  I need to file this away next time I fly Southwest.  I prefer Delta, though.  First Class.  

Fear

People who watch the news are constantly in a state of Fear.  Can the networks sell good news and how good people are living the life?  Nope.  People are more likely to pay for a removal of pain than for an increase in benefits.  This is the sad fact of human nature.

But, for those wishing to break through to the top 20%, focus upon the upside of an issue instead of the downside reaps big benefits.  We can always find something wrong.  We can always feel nuts about the risk.  But, so what?  Life is risky, and there are always bad things we can focus on, but why torture ourselves?  Why worry about things you have no control over?  We are producing stress hormones doing this and we are harming our health.  We need to focus on the problem 20% of the time and on the solution 80% of the time.  This is what a winner does.  It is the path of health, too.  Moving forward into possibilities instead of fretting over non-existent, or unlikely risks.  Don’t jump off of a cliff.  But, once the pilot of the plane completes the checklist, it is time to open the engines full blast and take off.  Do not stop at 90% of the runway, because you will just crash.  There comes the point of no return where you have to takeoff and open the engines full blast because you cannot stop.  This is the point where faith that you have done your best does its magic.  Then, the sky is wide open.  

///

J Istre 

Gazing at the Hourglass

Gazing at the Hourglass

by J. Istre

I

No Time for yesterday

No Time for souvenirs

The calendars I threw away

The graves of dusty years

Gazing at the hourglass

Remembering nothing lasts

II

No time to feel the thorns

No time to smell the smoke

Engines running way too long

To stop’s the only way to slow

Gazing at the hourglass

The sand is dripping way too fast

Br

Gazing at the hourglass 

Staring down cemented past 

III

In Time the Mirror shows

In Time reflection finds

The pictures we’ve come to know

are images within the mind

Gazing at the hourglass

The Future arrives at last 

Random Notes 20150210

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Community Coffee

Growing up in Louisiana, I grew up drinking Community Coffee.  Eventually I got sick of it from over use.  But, I drink it occasionally now that I live far away and cannot purchase the stuff in local stores.  Perhaps once every two weeks I may drink 2 cups of the stuff.  I have the Dark Roast Select, which is a little better than the regular stuff.  

Coffee is the social Sacramental Drink par excellence.  You cannot just pour the stuff from a bottle like soda drinks or bottled water.  You must go through several procedures to make it.  And, like tea, it is good for the essence of social life: conversation.  Gather around a cup of coffee and have communion with conversation.  Take this, all of you and drink it for this is my coffee, made for you. 

Tony Robbins Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle says that 20% of the causes produce 80% of the effects.  Tony Robbins says that the formula for success is 80% Psychology and 20% Mechanics.  Coming from anybody else, this may sound like another feel good, positive thinking bull crap statement.  But, Tony Robbins has the credibility to back up this assertion as he is one of the richest men in the world.

So, we should focus on managing our mental, emotional and spiritual energies most of the time, and only focus on the mechanics of execution 20% of the time.  A lot of this means to focus on the most important things, and delegate everything else.  Are we “stressing the small stuff”?  Outsource that stuff to India, China or the Philippines.  That is what I do.

The Problem of Induction

I have studied philosophy since 1992 - it has been 23 years.  The Problem of Induction is perhaps, still, the most haunting problem, the most persistent, and still there is no solution in sight.  What is the core of the Problem of Induction?  It is the foundation of the Scientific Method.

Consider the following.

• I have observed one million swans.
• All one million swans are white.
• Therefore, all swans are white.

Or, more scientific:

• I have observed 1000 pieces of copper.
• All 1000 pieces of copper conduct electricity.
• Therefore, all copper conducts electricity.

From the first, do you consider that there are any Black Swans?  

This process, my friends, is the Problem of Induction.  It is the foundation of the Scientific Method.  Yet, it has absolutely no basis in logic or proof.  It is a method that works most of the time, but not all of the time.  

• Jets crash.  
• The conclusions of medical studies change every 2 years.  
• Nobody can predict the stock market.

So, if we are dazzled by the supposed success of our “scientific civilization” we must remember that there is no reason to conclude the truth of any scientific claim - none whatsoever.  

This, when you think about it, is absolutely shocking.

///

Freddy Martini  

Random Notes 20150203

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Random Notes

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The Flip Side of the Coin

It is well known that many people who have posited things in the first half of their lives turn around and repudiate, abandon, or refute these same things in the second half of their life.  Ludwig Wittgenstein was one of the most important examples.  He was perhaps the towering genius of philosophy in the 20th Century.   Simply, in his life’s first half, he had solved philosophy’s problem with the examination of the underlying logic of propositions and sentences.  The second half of his life, he insisted that all language was word games, and at the root of things, we could not get to the logic or structure of things on a fundamental level.  

Rhetoric Versus Truth

It is often said that there is a difference between Rhetoric - say, the things of rousing speeches and perhaps advertising where others attempt to seduce our emotions and feelings to either vote a particular way or purchase something - and Reality - the substrate of Truth: things as they really are.  However, this depends upon personal preferences, stage of life, and experience.  For some people, Rhetoric is Reality.  Emotions and feelings are the substrate of reality for these people, and the material construct of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics merely provide background support for feelings and emotions.  For many, a movie, a novel, or literature is the path to Truth, while Science is only entertainment.  Those of us well-trained in science, mathematics, and technical subjects need to understand that we perform our craft on only a subset of the reality experienced by humanity.  There is more out there - a lot more out there.

Spirituality and Commerce

McDonald’s is the symbol of the Lack of Spirituality.  When you consider the physical difference between coffee at McDonald’s versus coffee at Starbucks, the Chemistry is probably not that different.  However, the spiritual significance of the places are worlds apart.  One is a place to feed animals: exchange money, and put something in your belly.  One is a place to linger, contemplate, and meet others of like mind with the smells, atmosphere, and architectural layout that seeks to evoke lingering, study, and something more than shallow conversation; exchange money, a smile, or a joke, and get a product delivered with style and with a flourish.  Go slower to achieve quality of experience rather than fast Chemistry merely to feed the stomach.  There is an attempt to feed the soul, too.  This is why poverty can debase us: exchange the lowest cost for the barest essentials for the belly.  It is also why spiritual poverty debases us, too: cut pennies and go meet your friend at McDonald’s over coffee instead of Starbucks.  At what price of spirituality does one forego when going to McDonald’s?  The Good Book said that “Man cannot live by Bread alone,” which means, we are not animals that can live merely by some mixture of chemicals called “food” that we can ingest without the Ritual of a Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner.  Humans need rituals, or we will not Live.  It has to be more than just Materials (merely animal feed); it has to be Materials plus Meaning.  Someone once said that Man can life without almost anything, except, he cannot live without meaning.  This is essentially what the Good Book is trying to tell us.  We must assign meaning to material things or we will die spiritually.

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Freddy Martini