Water Water Everywhere

There have been a lot of people talking about how fresh water is going away and in the next few decades we are going to see massive shortages. I haven't lived where water shortages have been a real thing so admittedly I have kind of ignored the topic even though it, at least on the surface, promises to be a big deal.

There is a piece of news that I have found though that makes the expectation of a waterless apocalypse a little less likely. Israel is located in an area that is... a desert. There just isn't a lot of fresh water around. However, like they do with pretty much anything they have scienced the crap out of it and have succeeded at doing something that I figured would happen eventually, but wasn't thinking it was so close. They have perfected desalination.

It turns out that over the past few years they have figured out how to get all the pesky salt out of the sea water that they have plenty of and use it to do all the things they need to. And cheaply to boot. Isreal uses desalination plants to provide 55% of the water the country uses and at $0.58 per 1000 liters (264 gallons) it is cheap enough that the average Israeli water bill is about $30 a month. Not bad at all.

They are already exporting the technology and are building several plants in southern California. Pretty soon we will be able to produce as much water as we could ever want to and at a price that works. It will require building some infrastructure (desalination plants and pipelines) but the issue of water doesn't have to be a big deal anymore. And that is a big deal.

College

Going to college has become an almost universal requirement on everyone's list of "things required to succeed". Let's talk about that. Does that make sense?

I'm sure you have heard or read it multiple times that people who have a college degree make a lot more money over their career than people with just a high school diploma. And those statistics become even broader as you add advanced degrees. So that seems like an open and shut case. Get a degree or suffer from lower wages and overall employability the rest of your life.

There is a bit of a wrench I want to throw in that general assumption. Not all degrees are created equal. Someone graduating with a bachelors in philosophy can expect to start making somewhere around $40,000 a year. Compare that to a chemical engineering degree starting at over $65,000 and you start to see the value differences, especially over time.

The thing to understand though, is why there is such a range of incomes despite them both being 4 year degrees. The critical variable is how much the degree prepares you to be skilled labor. This allows for an apples to apples comparison between college and non-college career paths. For example, welders on average make about $16/hour which isn't a ton, but is certainly a lot more than minimum wage.

$16 an hour equates to a bit more than $30,000 a year, which is less than even the philosophy major. So on the surface it seems that the degree is a sure win. However, a philosophy major (arts degree) has a pretty high unemployment rate at about 7.1% and on top of that there are probably associated student loans that drop that effective salary by a bit for quite a while. All that combined with the four or five years it takes to get the degree where the student's salary is very low. Welding on the other hand is in very high demand and it doesn't require four years or loans to get trained. So you start earlier and without the debt.

All that to say, it is more about whether or not you are able to develop a skill set that puts you into the "skilled labor" category or not. A college degree doesn't guarantee that, and there are lots of paths that don't include college that can prove to be quite lucrative.

So don't just blindly march yourself or kids off to college because it is the "smart" thing to do. Know your options and know where you are going before you make the investment of time and money that college requires.

A Turning Point

Let's start with a little story. The forest creatures of the 77 acre wood decided that they were going to appoint a new leader of the forest council. Two of their number wanted to hold the position, the fox and the hair. The weasel volunteered to be the judge and to set the rules. Everyone agreed and a date was set.

The race was much anticipated and all the woodland creatures came out to watch. The course looped around the whole wood and was lined by every resident of the wood.

Weasel waved the flag and the fox and hair took off down the path shoving and pushing each other to take the lead. Around the first curve the hair looked like he was getting ahead but then members of the council began throwing rocks at him. He kept running, but over the course of the race he began to fall farther and farther behind. Despite all the rock throwing the hair made a good show if it, but the fox finally rounded the last curve and ran to the finish line with the weasel waving the checkered flag.

As everyone was standing around congratulating the fox on the victory when someone mentioned that the weasel had been throwing rocks at the hair for much of the race as well. A number of the forest citizens were upset about this because it wasn't fair. The weasel was forced to resign from being the race judge.

The fox though immediately decided to have the weasel join the forest council making some of the forest creatures even more upset.

This is a unsubtle allegory about the Democrat party and their primary process.

When the super delegates favored Hillary Clinton in the general over Sanders it showed the Democrat primary process was biased.

When Debbie Wassermann Schultz and the DNC as a whole, who were supposed to be overseeing the primary, were found to have been collaborating with the Clinton campaign to discredit Sanders and hand her the nomination it showed the party and the Clinton campaign to be corrupt.

When Hillary Clinton immediately hired Schultz as her assistant campaign director after Schultz resigned from the DNC over the emails it showed Hillary to be not only corrupt, but blatantly unrepentant.

Democrats have a clear choice. It is black and white. Rarely is a choice so clearly defined. They can set aside their ethics and support their nominee, or they can remove their support with their morality as intact as it was.

Every member of the party is making this choice now whether they intend to or not. The Democrat party from this point on will be proceeding down a road paved with overt corruption and deceit.

There is no middle ground on this.

Treating People Like People

When you apply for a job in most big companies these days it goes like this:

1. Create an account (username, password, email) on their website
2. Upload your resume(s) and cover letter(s)
3. Fill out a lengthy questionnaire that is largely a duplicate of your resume
4. Possibly take some competency tests

All that can take hours to go through at which point you might get a "thanks for submitting an application" form email. This is then followed by weeks of silence.

If they like you they will then subject you to weeks of intermittent phone and email questions interspersed with total radio silence. Eventually it culminates in an on site interview. These usually aren't so bad, but they often aren't the most pleasant either. This will then be followed by a few more weeks of silence.

The big day finally comes and they give you an offer! After weeks or months of dealing with the process they will most likely insist you respond to the offer in 2-3 days. A week at most.

That of course is if they like you. If they do not like you chances are you will hear nothing else ever after that initial email. If you are lucky you will get a second form email saying "thank you for applying but we have found other candidates who more closely fit the job description" or some other legalese verbiage. That email might not get to you though for months and I have gotten them over a year after I applied.

Why is it such a dumb and painful process? There are a lot of reasons that go into it, but one of them is a lot of companies are ignorant of how bad it is. When you are applying for a bunch of jobs you can literally spend days going through these painful forms. If all that work led to meaningful interactions it might be ok. But it is met with little or no communication.

Imagine now if a company looked at its hiring process like it looked at its sales and marketing processes. What if a company tried to make the hiring process fast, easy, and enjoyable? The one-click equivalent of recruiting. They would increase the quality and quantity of their candidates. It would make the people applying for the jobs feel valued and important. Even if they didn't get an offer.

I applied for a job at Google a few years back. I didn't get the job, but I got an email from a real live human telling me this. That was win #1. Win #2 was that he responded to my application within 10 minutes of my application. That floored me. There was no waiting and wondering. I was able to move on and look for something else. Win #3 was that I responded to the rejection and asked why. He responded with a meaningful answer that showed he actually read my question. So while I didn't get the job my already high opinion of Google was increased and I would be very willing to apply in the future.

Compare that to the frustration I experienced after applying for jobs at places like Boeing or Northrop Grumman. I'm not sure I'll ever apply for jobs with them again.

Party Unity

We officially have our general election roster now. After over a year of pain and suffering we are finally to the main event. Both parties have had a tough time of it though.

The Republicans went so far as to have the party establishment push an anyone but Trump platform during the primaries. The fact that they put their final hope in Ted Cruz, who was the most anti-establishment person on the ticket, shows how divided the party is. But despite that the voters thumbed their nose at the Republican leaders and with a collective "screw you" put him into the general.

Ted Cruz's speech at the Republican National Convention made it clear that not everyone was willing to get fully into the same boat. There are very clearly rifts in the party beyond Trump's lack of universal party acclaim.

Moving on the the Democrats they had a similar story running through their primary season. An anti-establishment(ish) candidate Sanders fighting the embodiment of establishment Clinton. The difference there though was that the Democrat primary rules are stacked so the party leaders can put a significant finger on the scales to get the outcome they want through super delegates. And if that was all that had been used to ensure the coronation of Hillary as the Democrat presidential candidate things would look much more rosy for them.

Of course, that was not the case. Due to some friendly neighborhood hackers we have all been able to see the insides of the Democrat organization and the fact that the Democrat National Committee (DNC) actively collaborated with the Clinton campaign to deny Sanders the nomination. Going so far as to get informants in his organization and plant false stories and negative questions.

Because of that outright race fixing it has put a decent chunk of the Democrat party out into the cold. I think that the Democrat party has done a pretty thorough job at alienating most of the young vote because of this. Millennials mostly supported Sanders and beyond that are a lot more cognizant of fair play than older generations it seems. I doubt that will translate into much of a boost for Trump since Sanders was about as left as it gets, but it very well could be the death knell for Hillary Clinton's presidential hopes.

So both parties are full of cracks and holes and factions and grudges, but the Democrats have it the worst by far. The only way this could get messier is if a meaningful third party candidate stepped up. That would make it a full three ring circus.

A Place for Community

Community is important. But it doesn't grow just anywhere. There are a lot factors that contribute to an environment where it can thrive. A major element is spaces to be together.

In the days before air conditioning and especially before TV most people went outside in the evenings. So the street became a common space for kids to play and adults to interact. Today with people mostly staying inside, and houses and lots being larger there isn't that natural neighborhood interaction anymore.

There are still places that help in providing a space for interaction though. Bars, coffee houses, community events, and of course people's houses, but they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

Bars offer a laid back environment and offer various levels of entertainment and beverages. They often aren't great for kids though, and some people like to understandably avoid environments with alcohol.

Coffee houses do a lot of the same thing bars do, but they still aren't great for kids and often aren't open very late. Also, coffee houses (and bars) aren't the cheapest places to go so if you want to socialize frequently it can really put a dent in your wallet.

Community events can be a lot of fun and a great place to interact with friends, neighbors and meet new people. They often have activities or at least space for kids to play which is a big plus. However, they are events that only happen at specific times. So you have to work with their timing. Also, there is usually a boring person who gets up and talks about something for a bit of it so it isn't a purely specialized time for community.

People's houses can be great. They can have toys and space for kids to play. They can have alcohol (or not). They can be open whenever the host wants it to be. They are super flexible. However, they are going to be personal space to some extent. Not everyone lives in a place that is good for hosting (or wants to host). You can't invite yourself over (usually). And probably the biggest challenge is space. Houses can only handle so many people. So houses too are a mixed bag.

I'm sure this idea exists somewhere (I haven't looked), but it would be cool if there were community centers for people to just go to to hang out. Parks can be used this way, but they are limited due to weather/season. Have toys and space for kids to run around. Tables and chairs for the adults to sit around and talk. Play games. Maybe even a kitchen for making food for the group. People can come and go without it being awkward being someone's house. People can spend as much or as little on whatever they want to bring to play or eat or drink.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to get a community to actually use a space like that, but if they adopted it it could really be a neat thing.

200!

Today is my 200th post. Now it should have been my 205th post, but that's ok. I've had a couple bumps, but they have not unseated the process. I am pretty thrilled. It is a neat milestone. My posts usually about 300-400 words (let's say 350) so I have written about 70,000 words this year. That is the equivalent of a novel.

That is what happens when you stick with it. I don't think I have been consistent enough with my topics to have anything close to enough content for a single book, but I just might by the end of the year. That would be so cool.

Well, I'll give myself a slight pass today and leave it at that. But remember, doing a little bit every day adds up fast.

Adulting Sucks

Some days, I'm sure you've had a couple, everything just conspires against you. You stayed up too late the night before for some reason. You woke up feeling terrible. The kids are up way too early, and their snooze buttons don't work. Work still is a thing you have to do, and there are chores to do around the house, like the three foot tall pile of clean laundry you need to take care of.

On days like that adulting is just not a thing that makes you happy. The simple thing about it though is that no matter how big the pile of stuff is it just has to be done. So you buckle down and adult away despite it all. It might be the suckiest day ever, but you get through it. Eventually. Maybe not without tears and oaths to G-d that if He lets you survive the day you'll be a missionary to Africa or wherever else.

There is something in there though that is worth learning. Beyond the knowledge of exactly where your emotional limit is, because you crossed it a half dozen times in an afternoon, but a deeper understanding of what you are capable of.

Because a big part of adulting is optional. There are really no limits on what CAN be done. There are lots of limits we put on ourselves dictating what WILL be done though.

So after those days, take a moment to look back and admire what didn't kill you, even if just barely. And realize that you can use that on optional things. You are capable of pushing forward with your super adulting powers to make the world a better place. Not just survive.

Don't try this when you are just surviving though. It will just make you feel bad. Wait until later.

So go out and adult all over!

How To Respond

Raising kids is tough. I'm not sure anyone has ever said it was easy, but there are certainly things that you come across that aren't exactly gone over in the kid manual.

For example. Our three year old is having trouble going to bed. She says she is scared. Scared of her bed, scared of different rooms, scared of the smoke detectors, etc. It does seem genuine. However, on occasion she has instantly stopped being scared when it has suited her because the "fear" got in the way of something she wanted.

That in and of itself is a puzzle and challenge, but then you layer it on to the fact that the evenings are the only time Debra and I get time together so a toddler running around or crying or snuggling us is not conducive to good conversation let alone anything else. So there is a certain level of frustration on my/our end that makes dealing with this a bit more difficult.

I want to be compassionate and caring. But I don't want to coddle her just because she says she is scared. If I figure out a silver bullet solution I'll let you know, but until then it is a daily trial full of errors.

Maybe it's a phase and she will snap out of it some Tuesday.

Disasters

Another annoying thing that I hear said, is when a disaster hits an area they view it as an economic stimulus. All the construction and repair and other economic activity surrounding the restoration of the damaged area. The flood of insurance dollars.

This is dumb on two levels. First, if you look just at the local community it might look like a good thing. All that money flowing in and the hustle and bustle of economic activity. However, that activity is there to rebuild things that were lost. And not everything that was lost will get rebuilt or repaired. So while some people end up better off, like construction workers and merchants selling replacement goods for things that were lost, overall the impacted region is worse off.

Even if a region ends up better off and in a better economic situation afterwards if you look at the country as a whole you lose any hope of benefit. All that money and those resources that were sent to build back up the impacted area have to come from somewhere. Some of it came from past insurance payments from the disaster zone, but most of it comes from outside of it. This is reflected in higher insurance premiums for everyone. Also, any trade or business that was done with the damaged region will be impacted, which will negatively affect the business operations of everyone.

All that to say, there is always a net economic loss when a disaster, natural or otherwise, hits an area. That's what happens when property is destroyed. Increased demand for products and infrastructure results stretched supply which then results in higher prices for everyone.

So please, please stop saying it's an economic stimulus.

Income Tax

This is a technical explanation of the US (and state) income tax bracket system. A lot of people seem to get confused by it and since I have a huge audience I figured I'd share it with the three of you.

Here is Bob (Hi guys). He makes $100,000 a year (yaaay!) because it makes the math easier (oh). He has to pay income tax on that money (boooo). The fictitious tax bracket system is as follows:

0 to $10,000 - 0%
$10,001 to $50,000 - 10%
$50,001 to $100,000 - 30%
$100,001 and up - 90%

The way this works is that for the first $10k Bob makes he pays 0% tax which totals up to $0. On the next $40k ($10k to $50k) he pays 10% so $4000. On the next $50k ($50k to $100k) he pays 30% which comes out to $15,000. He doesn't make anything above $100k so it doesn't apply. That gives him a total tax bill of $19,000 or an average tax rate of 19%.

Now, a lot of people think that if Bob gets a $1 raise (That's not much) he will have to pay a 90% tax rate or $90k so he is much better off not getting the raise. That is not the case. The tax rate only applies to the money in the range specified. So the 90% tax rate only applies to that $1 above Bob's original $100k salary. Meaning, he will make $0.10 more because of the raise.

A raise is never bad tax wise. You won't ever make less overall. You will make less per dollar earned if you go into a higher bracket, but that's it. I recommend Bob move to a different country though because that tax rate is ridiculous (For sure!).

What Matters?

What makes something matter? What goes into it? Does an apartment complex burning down matter more than a commercial jet crashing? Does working for a medical device company matter more than working for a toy company?

At least in part, what matters is subjective. I know some people who think that whether the Mets win or not matters. For them I guess it does, but I know that what really matters is whether the Yankees are winning or not. So personal preferences plays a role.

Things that are closer to me tend to matter more too. As sad as a plane crash is that kills a couple hundred people is, my apartment complex burning down matters more to me even though no one was hurt (made up example).

But is there a less subjective way to determine what matters? Removing personal biases from the picture, the plane crash probably matters more. Intuitively that is obvious. But why? What exactly makes it different?

There is the obvious loss of human life that makes the plane crash go up the matter scale. But there is also the fact that the $80 million plane is scrap compared to the $800,000 apartment building. But again, why? Why does human life matter? Why does the value of the property matter?

I think one way of looking at it is what is gone that cannot be gotten back. When someone dies you can't just get them back. And you can't interchangeably replace them with a different person. Also, creating a new person takes a lot of time, resources, and effort. Years of education, food, housing, etc. Beyond that too there is the spiritual value that can't be quantified very well.

The material loss is a bit more straight forward. At least to some extent the dollar figure can be equated to time and effort put into the creation of the destroyed stuff. There is a lot less economic output required to rebuild the apartments than build a new airplane.

But what about building? Creating? Fixing? I think those can be measured in the same way. If you create a nifty tool that makes heart surgery much faster and easier you can save hundreds or maybe thousands of lives. Building a new GI Joe character is productive, but not quite on the same scale.

I got onto this because of my job. Does my job really matter? I mean, it matters to me. I rely on it to provide for my family. That matters. But there are lots of jobs doing a wide range of things that would provide well. Liking your job is of course valuable. That matters. But that is personal preference, important yes, but on a less subjective scale quite unimportant.

I'm still pondering the answers to all that, and maybe I'm overthinking it. But it has been a good think.

Listening

Everybody has a "thing". Something they know a bunch about and will talk for hours about it given the chance. Sometimes though I hear people say things like "oh don't get Jim started" or "Don't encourage him". That's not nice. Even if the topic is silly, or a conspiracy theory, or just boring, if it is that persons "thing" it is tied deeply into their interests and probably into their identity to some extent.

Discouraging them or shutting them down or ignoring that part of them can be very hurtful. And if it is done regularly and consistently it can push the person into themselves and damage their view of the value they have.

Showing some interest, even if you know nothing about the topic, and giving them a chance to share their knowledge can go a long way in building a bond and encouraging them. It is fun to watch their face light up as they get to share their passion. Especially if it isn't something they get to do much.

So be a friend. Listen. Even if it isn't your thing.

Take It Easy

Yesterday as I was writing about conspiracies a concept began to form in my mind and I wanted to explore it a little more.

Not worrying about conspiracies isn't very hard for me. They are either tenuously true or they don't affect me or both. So ignoring them seems like a good tactic. But I realize, there are a lot of things that I get worked up over and spend lots of time and energy thinking about... that don't really affect me and that I don't know a ton about.

There are a few things that really do affect me. My job, my family, and my church/community. Those are things that I should care about. And while there is plenty to learn about how to do all those things better, the things that really have the greatest impact are simple. Spend time with people. Pay attention. Be present. Care.

Life can be so simple if we don't overcomplicate it with cares and concerns that really don't play into our lives. I get worked up about all sorts of things that I don't need to. I mean, read my blog and see all the things I write about. The stuff is good, but I think I do put a little more thought into them than I should.

So keep it simple. Focus on what you really have an impact on.

Tin Foil Hat Time

Today we are going to discuss conspiracies. It is a very interesting topic overall and I will hardly touch on it here. Mainly just sharing how I think about them in general.

There is a subset of people, and I'm sure you've met a few, who are caught up with conspiracies. They think the Illuminati, the Masons, little green men, and the Loch Ness Monster are running the world. It is really easy to just to dismiss them and view them as cranks.

However, despite their terrible representatives, conspiracies are actual things. Maybe the president isn't a lizard man, but somebody had to plan and attempt the coup in Turkey. Someone shot JFK. Conspiracies exist and they do do things. So categorically dismissing them offhand is intellectually  lazy and also potentially false.

Now at this point, you may think I am getting good at making tin foil hats. However, there is a second piece of this. How I react to them. Unless the content of the conspiracy impacts me very directly I usually ignore them.

To explain, if the Illuminati really is running the world and directing the flow of world affairs, how does that affect me directly? Not a lot. Also, even if it was, what am I going to be able to do about it? Nothing. They choose presidents for crying out loud so I certainly am not going to be able to rid the world of them.

So even if the president is the head Mason of the Illuminati's lizard man division I am not going to worry about it.

Murphy

We have been testing a new system out the past few weeks at work. It has been a real learning experience. There have been more than a couple 12+ hour days, early mornings and late evenings.

The testing was simple. Operate the system at various levels and make sure it works as intended. Nothing complicated. However, when you are testing something that touches fifty other somethings it doesn't take much for things to break. Murphy just loves complicated interconnected systems. To give you an idea of the scale of the challenges we've had the testing could have taken us about four days if nothing had gone wrong. Not long days either. Just normal work days. It has taken us three weeks.

We have had days where nothing got done because Murphy was poking EVERYTHING. There were a few points where we might have been able to shortcut issues or avoid them, but I only see those now in retrospect. Others just came out of the blue.

We overcame them one at a time and have trudged through it all to success. It has been a battle like no other challenge I have had in my engineering career. Through it though I have learned a lot about teamwork, troubleshooting, perseverance, and the nuances of complex systems.

It is one of the most satisfying points of my career to date.

Scientists All Agree

I have been looking for more evidence for/against the whole "99% of scientists agree" about global warming, and found this video. It is a little long, but it is worth watching. It doesn't talk to the science too much, but it makes it clear that not only is there a lack of consensus, but the voices speaking most dramatically in regards to global warming are in the minority.

 

Time Management

Stephan Aarstol is the founder and CEO of Tower Paddle Boards. His company decided that they would shift from a standard 8-9 hour work day and make it a 5 hour work day. This may sound super dumb, but they realized that operating using a work day structure designed by Henry Ford for manufacturing workers 100 years ago didn't make a lot of sense. They say the 5 hour day isn't necessarily the ideal schedule, but it is a lot better.

They discovered something. Despite shortening their storefront and call center hours their sales didn't drop. People just adjusted when they called or came to the store. Shipping processing times dropped from 5 minutes to 3 minutes without managerial intervention. The employees managed to get their work done in three fewer hours. They were motivated to do this because they were still getting paid the same as they had for an 8 hour day. They were motivated.

It isn't that they were being lazy before. It is that work expands to fill the time allotted. Obviously there is a minimum time work can reasonably be done, but if you incentivize faster cycle times, especially with, "you can go home now" it makes that time shrink.

One way that I have applied this to my own life is by setting timers or little personal deadlines to artificially shorten the time allotted. It usually works pretty well.

I respect Mr. Aarstol's thought process and motivation. Rethinking core assumptions is important occasionally. Sometimes the things that made actions make sense stop being true and our foundational structures become out of date, sometimes to the point of being silly. I think he has found one of them.

Stagnation

I am surrounded by resources. I own hundreds of books. I have the internet at my fingertips. I have good teaching from any number of sources. I have been learning for years. That only gets me so far though.

I can learn diligently from all the collective wisdom of the ages, but if I do not do anything with that it doesn't do me much good. In fact I am probably worse off because I know what has been done. I know what can be done. I know what I am called to. But if I still do nothing I might as well not have learned that all.

For the past few years I have not done much of anything that was outwardly directed. I have been focused on myself and my family. That's good, but you can't do just that forever. I think it is time for me to get involved and contribute to my church and community. I don't know exactly how I will do that, but it needs to become a thing.

Inspiration

Today I worked a FULL 11 hour day. I then played softball and got home in time to put the kids to bed. All in all I am just coming up for air.

Normally if I don't have a specific post idea I just think about what has been on my mind today. It isn't always deep or profound or maybe even interesting, but today... it was just about nothing. I am writing because that is what I do, but the inspiration fairy got stuck in traffic or something.

So happy birthday, good luck on your next adventure, and I am going to bed.

Shootings

The shootings in Minnesota, Louisiana, and Texas have rocked the country. There is justifiably a large amount of emotion for all parties involved in this issue. All of the deaths are tragic. It is critical though to work through the emotion and find healing solutions that can bring communities together, including the members who are police officers. Rule of law requires a functional and effective police presence. The communities with the highest crime rates (and the most shootings) NEED the police to make help make them better and safer.

Demonizing the police is NOT the solution that will bring about positive change. Even if they are criminally liable in EVERY SINGLE ONE. I don't believe that to be the case, but even if it were, solutions that build up the police and include them must be found.

We as a society cannot afford to expand rifts between communities and our law enforcement organizations. It makes everyone less safe than they already are.

Any organization that encourages violence against the police is actively working against the health and safety of our communities and should be repudiated at every opportunity. By governmental leaders as well as community leaders as well as individuals. The propagation of narratives calling for violence should not be tolerated within a functioning and structured society.

Celebrating Friendship

Friends are important. Good friends are invaluable. It is a good thing to tell them that occasionally. It makes them feel good. I could talk about this a lot, but it isn't very complicated.

So go, pick a friend and tell them what you appreciate about them and that you are glad they are your friend.

Camping

Camping and hiking and backpacking and kayaking and probably every other predominantly outdoor activity share a common trait. When I am done I can pretty confidently say "I'm glad I did that". However, during most of those trips there is at least one point where I am saying "why did I want to do this?". And alternatively "wow, this is so awesome."

Getting outside and really engaging with nature brings me into a connection with life that normal day-to-day stuff just doesn't bring. The beauty experienced, bruises and scratches, exhaustion, camaraderie, frustrations, danger, learning, adventure, and sunburn all bring something to the table. I grounds me and connects me with the world, my mortality, and those around me.

Living in a little home/work/internet bubble keeps me so far from the edges of my comfort bubble that sometimes I forget I'm even living. Camping fixes that one mosquito bite at a time.

Attitude

I know this will come as a shock, but sometimes I have a bad attitude. There will be something to do and I will get grumpy about it. Sometimes it is the laundry, some times it's the dishes, and sometimes it's going to a fireworks show. I've done this for as long as I can remember. I get grumpy because I don't want to go somewhere or do something. Then when I get into it it actually isn't bad and I enjoy myself.

I'm better than I used to be, but it still happens on occasion. I try to remind myself of all the past times where it ended up being fun, but that doesn't always help.

I'm not sure why I decided to write about that today, but maybe it will help somebody. Just do the thing. Once you are into it it probably won't be nearly as bad as you imagined.

Because It's Important That's Why

I figured something out a while back and I just remembered and wanted to share it with you because... it's important, that's why.

So it has always seemed a bit arbitrary that humans only develop long hair in a few spots. Particularly on the head. Why is that? It's just weird. I mean, I appreciate not having to shave my whole body just so my clothes will fit right, but why do we have long hair on our head?

Well a few months back I shaved my head. Cue-ball short. When I did that I discovered something, my head temperature fluctuated a whole lot more than it had before. I know, duh right? But then I started thinking about it and realized that the top of our head is in fact different than the rest of our body. It's just shy of being an exoskeleton. So there is a very thin layer of flesh there to manage temperature changes. The rest of our bodies has inches for the most part.

So following my exhaustive scientific study, the top hair on our head is for temperature management.

The end.

Plus it looks nice.

Really the end.

And how else would they do shampoo commercials with the model flicking her hair as she burst from the sparkling ocean?

Really seriously the end.

The Value of Constraints

Imagine you had 48 hours in every day, your bank account refilled to 1,000,000,000 every morning, you never needed to sleep, you were the smartest person in the world, and you had the charm and charisma to persuade anyone of almost anything.

Super cool right? Your horizons would be limitless. However, there is a problem here. Your options, being unlimited would make doing anything a challenge. How could you ever decide? How could you ever focus on any one thing long enough to make progress? Once you did you would have ample opportunity to second guess your decisions.

That being said I would love the chance to deal with that terrible problem. However, that's not where I am. I have constraints. I don't have extra time, energy, money, intelligence, or charm. I just have me.

So if I want to make a difference, be successful, or even accomplish what I want, I have to work with what I have. I have to work inside my constraints. This is helpful though. It forces me to appreciate the assets I do have and get creative with how I use them. Creativity whithers when there are no bounds. Brute force is too appealing. When there are tight spaces it forces the elegant and truly beautiful solution. There simply is no other way.

So next time you wish you "just had more time" or "just had more money" think about what you can do with what's already available. Beauty will come of it.

Scientific Discovery

In the video I referenced a couple days ago, one of the guys mentioned scientific research reform. It brought to the front of my mind some thoughts that I have been thinking in my head for a while.

Scientific advancement is like a maze. You run along until you hit a dead end and then go back and start again. Trial and error. The issue that I have seen and that I think the guy was alluding to, was that at a certain point, if you have been going down a path long enough, it becomes politically dangerous to back up or not be on that path. Even if the path has dead ended there is enough organizational inertia that turning around and starting over just isn't an option.

When that happens funding for non-conforming views dries up. Careers are at risk for embracing apposing views. It is logistically difficult to do the actual science.

So I think there should be a research institute for "crackpots" and I mean that in the most endearing way. We need to explore those routes in the maze that are probably dead ends. Even if the "experts" "know" it is. If the actual science has not been done it needs to be. We are not good at judging things like that as humans. That is why the scientific method is so important.

We need to provide funding so "dumb" ideas can be rigorously tested so we KNOW it is a dead end and that we can move ahead with confidence. The confidence of data and not just "there is no way that is true".

The risk is that we push a dead end for years and years and lose precious time and resources on "the obvious truth" when in fact it isn't. A few tens of millions of dollars is totally worth the confidence we are heading the right direction.

Ancient Trees (The sky is falling - Part 6ish)

In my global warming digging I came across the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive.



They are collecting and planting the biggest and best trees in the world in order to try to expand their footprint. It's really cool.

I want to take this opportunity to make a differentiation between my skeptical stance on global warming and my overall perspective on what should be done with the environment. As a Christian we are called to be good stewards of what G-d has given us. Part of that is nature and our planet as a whole. I think it is very important that we put a strong focus on making the negative environmental impact of our necessary economic activity as small as possible. Additionally I think it is important to do things, like the tree archive, to restore nature to a healthy and robust level.

I believe our ability to conserve and restore the health of our planet's natural resources is critical to our ability to live happy, healthy, and prosperous lives.

A big reason why I am so concerned about the global warming debate is that a focus on greenhouse gasses, if misplaced, will have a very negative affect in distracting conservation funding and focus away from necessary and critical conservation efforts. If global warming is a concern though we do need to address it appropriately.

But for now, I am confident that big trees should get planted all over. I want a redwood in my back yard.

The Sky is Falling? (or melting) - Part 5

This is outside the question framework that I made, but it was very interesting and spoke directly to the argument that is often made that "99% of climate scientists agree" with whatever new policy is getting proposed.

The video shows three scientists from Australia discussing comments made by the former Australian Prime Minister Julia Guillard.

1. Garth Paltridge
2. Peter Read
3. Bob Carter

These guys are all legit academics. Admittedly the Bolt is not a liberal show, but the questions and presentation overall is not super hardline conservative.

The discussion is interesting. The biggest takeaway I have here is that these guys very much object to the over dramatization of the topic. Also, the amount of uncertainty and ambiguity with which they discuss the topic shows that it is not a clear cut discussion.

A Learning

Doing this blog has changed how I interact with ideas and information. While I was interested in things before, and I researched stuff for the fun of it, the blog has changed how I go through life.

I am more aware of the ideas and concepts that flow around me. I regularly pull my phone out to jot down a note of an idea or blog topic. It has really made the world a deeper place for me.

Through the process of taking ideas from the ether and forcing them into words I have gotten a deeper understanding of things. I have been forced to articulate things that I never have before. It has added clarity of thought to my life.

All in all I think a daily blog, public or not, is a valuable tool for becoming a more informed and thoughtful person. It is worth the time.

Milestone

Well, today is day number 183 of 2016. In that time I have posted 177 times. :D

That's not a perfect score, but it is pretty darn good. It's a 96.7% posting rate.

I've learned a lot in the past six months. I've thought about and written about a ton of things. Some of which I might not have spent the time to think about if it wasn't for this blog.

Being that it is late, and an anniversary of sorts I'm going to let today slide and make this a super short post. Wooo!