Two very different books

Bossypants by Tina Fey - We have watched about 80 episodes of 30 Rock, which is short for an address at the Rockefeller Center in New York city.  Much of the show is simply silly and some of it is definitely crude by my standards, which are pretty loose.  However, some of the show is very clever and interesting.  Lynn read Bossypants by the talented Tina Fey, who is a real TV writer and also acts in the 30 Rock show.  She was part of Second City improv previously. 

Now, after seeing the show many times and hearing Lynn laugh over it, I am reading her book.

Many young writers and actors seem to find that any and every use of the "F" word very funny and try to use it regularly.  I don't find that word or any word that is overused to be funny.  But reading Fey's book, there are many sentences that are very clever, funny and good writing.

The Universal Sense by Seth Horowitz - I am a fan of Mary Roach, another clever writer who writes about real life, often scientific, subjects.  Looking through the science, math and computing section of a large Barnes and Noble store, I came across the Horowitz book with an endorsement by Mary Roach, "this book is for anyone with ears."

I was and still am impressed by statements from the Posit Science group that hearing and brain sharpness are closely related.  I have some hearing loss and often wear hearing aids.  I find that I can tell when someone is talking but decoding their utterance into a meaningful message is difficult. I can tell from everyday interaction with my wife how much not being able to hear affects social relations.  Also, I have read that the first sense a baby develops is hearing.

So, I respect hearing and am interested in it. 

Hearing is the universal sense Horowitz is referring to..  He is a sound engineer and researcher.  He says that there are species of animals that are born blind and stay that way throughout life, such as fish that live in a completely dark cave.  But, there are no species who have no hearing or sound-decoding at all.  I have tweeted some of the best parts of the book up to where I am and the tweets include citations on fish that signal each other with farts, snapping shrimp that have very high-powered sounds, and general discussions of the power of sound as signals.

While writing this post, I learned about the mosquito ringtone.  It is a signal of an incoming cellphone call that is so high in pitch that only people under the age of 25 can hear it.  The ringtone is specifically designed to allow kids to hear it but not their teachers.  Lynn could hear the easiest one but I could not hear any of them.

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety

Where can I keep my valuables?

Ever since the recent troubles involving a recession and Wall Street and derivatives, I have heard about banks.  So, I asked an economist friend of mine about them.  What is a bank?  What is the Federal Reserve Board?  What is a gold standard?  Why did my friend start laughing when I mentioned some people being interested in 'returning to a gold standard', whatever that means?

As I think about, read about and research a little about these matters, I begin to see strong feelings, fiercely held opinions and strong language.  In fact, there seems to be about the same amount of fervor as one finds in politics.  So, what is at the bottom of the matter?  As always, it seems that fear and limits are involved.

What fear and what limits?  I am not a traditional Christian but I often find that the Old Testament or the New Testament include something relevant to an issue.  Not guidance in many cases, mostly because our lives today are different in many ways but indications that at bottom, we are still the same sorts of beings as people were 2000 years ago.  "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal" Matthew 6:18-20.

You see from the wording that Jesus and those of his time fully understood the difficulties of keeping one's valuables after acquiring them.  Modern savers have more factors to base fears on.  What about inflation and price changes?  I have been saving up for a new snowmobile and I am nearly there.  Oh, no!  The price just jumped up!  What was almost a new snowmobile is now less so.  Now, I am a couple of months away.  Rats!

What about acceptability?  If I offer to buy your gizmo for $100, will you accept a one hundred dollar bill for it?  Probably.  If you are in the US and plan to use the piece of paper in the US.  However, if you are in a foreign country, it may be far more trouble for you to make any use of the greenback and you might require I give you currency of your country.  I can buy such currency but I will incur a cost from a moneylender for the exchange and I will lose a little of my 100 dollars just to get your currency.  How can I keep my valuables and not lose any to mechanics and bookkeeping and fees and other nibbles that I consider irrelevant?  Answer: I can't.

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety

Mini-industries and business-ettes

There is a comment near the end of the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes which says "Of the making of books, there is no end."  Since I am interested in books, the sources of books and the supply of them, that line has caught my attention many times.  It is quite true: comments on other comments, revisions, new insights, rehashes of old opinions, new put-downs, the human conversation goes on and on.  Are we destined to live in crowded spaces, surrounded by books, magazines and hard drives that retain all our ebooks, email, posts and such? Maybe, but I am not worried.

It seems to me that human need, coupled with ingenuity and energy, continually spews out new businesses and combinations of services and activities, just as our minds make for endless streams of comments and messages.  Of course, the whole business of communicating using 1's and 0's sent over wired and wireless signals has opened up dozens of new jobs and occupations.  

But there are other, more specialized occupations and specialties that are interesting.  In the 70's and 80's, because of one chance event and another, I became professionally interested in the future and the business of prediction.  The key events for me were the publication of "The Limits to Growth" and my academic need to specialize in some area of writing and thought.  By the way, I learned that the fundamental truth in the futures business is that we know and we don't know.  Much like other biases of our minds, all the things that we assume about tomorrow that turn out to be true can passed over without notice.  But those times when dramatic predictions are made that do not come true are waved about as examples of how tricky life can be, especially life in a time of research and desperate innovation, where millions are working hard to make something brand new and valuable.

Just as there is a surprisingly large body of workers, publishers, movie and tv makers (that now include YouTube and immediate personalized world-wide cinematography artists) aimed at the future, there is a related group, often older people, who are interested in decline and decay.  In this country, because of our history, the rocks and hills are "old" but we don't see that much that is human that is more than 100-200 years old.  However, seeing the pyramids of Egypt or the coliseum of Rome, one gets reminded that others before us have lived happily and profitably until…  Until the volcano exploded (Pompei), until the tsunami hit (Lisbon), until the overly long drought and other things we can worry about - until somethings changes our circumstances.

I was interested when Jacques Barzun, one of my favorite writers, came out with his last book "From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present".  The man was smart and imaginative.  Were we in a period of decay?  Didn't seem that way to me but what do I know?  I knew there was a Biblical tradition of jeremiade, defined by Wikipedia this way:

A jeremiad is a long literary work, usually in prose, but sometimes in verse, in which the author bitterly laments the state of society and its morals in a serious tone of sustained invective, and always contains a prophecy of society's imminent downfall.

The word is an eponym, named after the Biblical prophet Jeremiah, and comes from Biblical works attributed to him, the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Lamentations. The Book of Jeremiah prophesies the coming downfall of the Kingdom of Judah, and asserts that this is because its rulers have broken the covenant with the Lord.

From that knowledge and from learning about the existence of "The Idea of Decline In Western History" by Arthur Herman, a scholar with the Smithsonian and the son of a good friend of mine, I learned that we do have a mini-industry of predictors and gazers into the future but we also have those who specialize in doom-saying.  Further, the tradition of noting and bemoaning the gray clouds that are gathering is at least 300 years old.

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety

The Husband's Secret

"The Husband's Secret" is a light, fast read that is highly superior writing.  We get into the lives of several women and their husbands, parents and children.  The author astutely takes us right into their heads.  Liane Moriarty is top-knotch at showing the exact steps by which a character moves from here to there, however unlikely or difficult the trip.  The book is a Kindle bargain at $5.99 and deliciously good writing.

Generally we don't like to read two books in a row by the same author but I am confident that I will get back to Liane Moriarty again before long. Her books have high ratings by large numbers of commenters.

We have read some other books that might be called women's stories, such as "Wife 22" by Melanie Gideon, which was quite enjoyable.  It too is an unusual book and in a memorable format. We read "Married by Monday" and "Wife by Wednesday" by Catherine Bybee.  The books I have mentioned in this post are listed in my version of their quality and worth.

As a guy, there is a limit to how much feeling and fear I can stand before something has to blow up or somebody gets pushed out a window.  I was impressed at how deeply Moriarty could get me caring about a character's double, triple and even more complex worries, fears on top of other fears.  The book "Gone Girl" was also elaborate psychology but before I finished reading it, I pretty well detested all the characters.  Not so with "The Husband's Secret".  Moriarty had me pretty well caring about everybody and their feelings and futures.  There were times when both of us were a little fed up with quite so much agony and sensitivity but generally, the characters were easy to like and care about.

The Husband's Secret (you probably will not guess beforehand what the secret is) has ratings by more than 1000 readers but just to show you how much my opinions can differ from others, Gone Girl has well more than 10 times  that many raters.  However, I note that the five star raters for Husband outnumber the 1 stars roughly 20 to 1.  For Gone Girl, that ratio is roughly 4.5 to 1. I guess just like in real life, gentleness and sympathy and honesty win.

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety

What is your hourly rate to stay away?

A friend was complaining about a few of his customers, who are real pains.  Nasty, impolite, grumpy, certain they have been cheated, or are about to be.  He was wondering if he could inquire about paying them not to do business with him. "What is your hourly rate?", he planned to ask.  How much do you need to take your business somewhere else?

There was an interesting article the other day on the Wired magazine web site.  Basically, it is about the comments section of web sites, the feedback attempts, being broken.  A common term these days for someone who has only nasty comments is "troll".  There are those who are handicapped by gender, personality or upbringing to be afraid of being anything but negative.  Being negative usually means a minimum of vulnerability.  Being open often feels like more of an invitation to be ridiculed or dismissed.

The idea of having a payroll to meet of those who have qualified for pay to stay away reminds me of 10th grade Latin class where we read Caesar's Gallic Wars.  We learned that Roman legions with experienced soldiers would show up at a Gallic village and informed the inhabitants that the chief of the village's children were to be taken off to Rome as hostages for the next year, at which time, a stated amount of crops or other goods would be due in Rome.  That is more or less what one might call a "protection" racket.  It is more or less a deal whereby we promise not to push your face in if you pay.

There has been some thinking that robots will replace all jobs and that there will be nothing left for people to do.  On the way to that situation, there may be a time when I agree not to gripe or complain or utter profanities on your website in exchange for a small monthly fee.

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety

Relaxing in the haze

I realize I am stepping here where I don't really belong but a little venturing might be a good idea.  It seems to me that acceptance is a very valuable way to approach life.  When I read many of my favorite authors these days, they are frequently discussing awakening and how to be awake and aware.

This subject is related to some aspects of teacher training.  People who want to be teachers sometimes need to work on awareness.  There is only so much people can be aware of, at any one time.  For a beginning teacher, thinking of what part of the lesson or educational activity he is working on is certainly important.  However, too much mind power directed to what is going on with himself and instruction can blind him to the bullying that is going on in a corner of the room.  With even a small number of students, a great deal can be transpiring that the teacher needs to be aware of.  This subject is sometimes referred to as "withitness", that is, "with-it-ness".

The teacher who is aware that the one little boy is again trying look up the little girl's dress is referred to as being "with-it".  We ourselves may have experienced the teacher or the parent "with eyes in the back of her head", who seems to know what we are up to before we know ourselves.  Nearly half a million people have watched this TED talk by Apollo Robbins, a pickpocket expert, who knows how to direct your attention over there while relieving you of your wallet over here.There has been a recent New Yorker article about the man, too.

But an experienced teacher, like any experienced person, is not going to get too disturbed by finding that they missed something that went on.  We only have some much attention capacity.  When we are tired or depressed, we may be even less alert.  So, yes, I applaud the idea of being awake to both our blessings and our burdens but I think a certain amount of hazy time, fantasy time, mindless time is an important component of a good life.  There can be such a thing as the American problem, which is related to "hitting the ground running", subscribing to the "Go, go, go" philosophy.  Too much effort, too much emphasis on improving in whatever direction or project is a current focus and one loses the chance to both enjoy oneself and at the same time, appreciate the opportunities and beauties that come our way unbidden.  We can develop trust in ourselves and reliance on our guidance systems to alert us to what we need to be aware of and allow us to ignore what doesn't need attention.

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety

Same old thing for 90 seconds

See, it tends to be a pushing and shoving match.  Your ankle hurts and you should do something about it but you are tired of the problem and you don't want the problem to exist.  You want something different from what you have.  Understandable and a common human problem.  So, you push the problem to the back of the pile.  It wants attention.  It has a duty to alert you to a need.  It tries to creep or crowd forward, seeking attention.  You push it back, just for now, just until later.  Later quickly arrives and it …..you get the idea.

The Buddhists, both American and others, advise us to stop the pushing.  Sit with the problem, they say.  That is, intentionally face the difficulty, the quandary, the puzzle, what you hate or fear.

Jill Bolte Taylor in "My Stroke of Insight" says that many of our neural circuits need about 90 seconds to fulfill their function.  Their mission is actually some sort of warning, some sort of alerting: "you are hungry: eat" or "these stairs are steep: hold onto the railing".  Taylor is a neuroscientist and knows a good deal about how our minds and brains work.  She modifies the Buddhist idea a little by quantifying it: sit with the problem, wallow in it, suck it up, smear it all over, for 90 seconds.  That can be a surprisingly long time: once around the whole clock face and half again.

That's it: you listened. You faced the problem, you addressed it, you heard it out.  Now for the slower, fuller brain power: what is the next step?  Am I aiming toward some solution or partial solution or palliative?  If so, where am I in the process and what is next?  If not, have I concluded there is not much to do with that particular difficulty other than suffer with it. That is an ok approach: just suffer.  Suffering ennobles.  Suffering earn points, both in heaven later and in increased sympathy and empathy for all humans before, now and later, all of whom have suffered something, are suffering and will suffer, just like you and me.

It can be a gentler problem.  Maybe you see the same old scene out the window.  Maybe you see the same old face in the mirror.  So, sit with the same old thing, seek the depth of the sameness, the very most trying of the same location, the same food, the same for those 90 seconds.  After that, newness will descend all over you.

fans of blogs and those considering their own blog

For fans of blogging and those considering their own: http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/09/how-successful-networks-nurture-good-ideas/  1.5 Libraries of Congress each DAY!

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety

In and around our minds and brains

A friend wants to take a big step but is scared.  She asked what might be a good book for getting comfortable with fear. The most moving book I have read recently is Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's "My Stroke of Insight".  Her description of experiencing a stroke as a 37 year old neuroscientist is riveting.  As she worked to recover her abilities, her knowledge of how the brain, our feelings and brain circuits work was illuminating.  Throughout, she mentions ideas and insights that are quite similar to Buddhist and psychologists's ideas of how to live and guide one's self through life.  Some of the most helpful post-stroke statements are on this web page.

Pause

An intelligent and thoughtful friend said that the best book she had read recently was Pema Chodron's "Taking the Leap."  I am usually up for a good book and this former elementary school teacher/grandmother turned Buddhist nun almost always has good ideas on how to live well couched in good, useable and memorable language.  

What has my attention, so far, is Chodron's discussion of the value of a pause.  I love the fact that in our multilingual, global world, we are developing a sign for "PAUSE".  It is the two short vertical marks in a circle pictured above.  The two strokes don't have to be in a circle.  On many devices, there is simply a sign of two short parallel vertical marks and they mean click here to make the video pause.  

Pema Chodron advises making good use of a pause in our lives:

Pausing is very helpful in this process. It creates a momentary contrast between being completely self-absorbed and being awake and present. You just stop for a few seconds, breathe deeply, and move on. You don't want to make it into a project. Chögyam Trungpa used to refer to this as the gap. You pause and allow there to be a gap in whatever you're doing. The Vietnamese Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches this as a mindfulness practice. At his monastery and retreat centers, at intervals someone rings a bell, and at the sound everyone stops briefly to breathe deeply and mindfully. In the middle of just living, which is usually a pretty caught-up experience characterized by a lot of internal discussion with yourself, you just pause. Throughout the day, you could choose to do this. It may be hard to remember at first, but once you start doing it, pausing becomes something that nurtures you; you begin to prefer it to being all caught up. People who have found this helpful create ways of interjecting pausing into their busy lives. For instance, they'll put a sign on their computer. It could be a word, or a face, an image, a symbol—anything that reminds them. Or they'll decide, "Every time the phone rings, I'm going to pause." Or "When I go to open my computer, I'm going to pause." Or "When I open the refrigerator, or wait in line, or brush my teeth. . . ." You can come up with anything that happens often during your day. You'll just be doing whatever you're doing, and then, for a few seconds, you pause and take three conscious breaths.

Chodron, Pema (2010-09-14). Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears (pp. 7-8). Shambhala Publications. Kindle Edition.

She continues:

In highly charged situations, or anytime at all, we could shake up our ancient fear-based habits by simply pausing. When we do that, we allow some space to contact the natural openness of our mind and let our natural intelligence emerge. Natural intelligence knows intuitively what will soothe and what will get us more churned up; this can be lifesaving information. When we pause, we also give ourselves the chance to touch in to our natural warmth. When the heart qualities are awakened, they cut through our negativity in a way that nothing else can.

Chodron, Pema (2010-09-14). Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears (pp. 9-10). Shambhala Publications. Kindle Edition.

What I've noticed about the people whom I consider to be awake is this: They're fully conscious of whatever is happening. Their minds don't go off anywhere. They just stay right here with chaos, with silence, with a carnival, in an emergency room, on a mountainside: they're completely receptive and open to what's happening. It's at the same time the simplest and the most profound thing—rather like one continual pause.

Chodron, Pema (2010-09-14). Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears (p. 14). Shambhala Publications. Kindle Edition.

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety

Re-runs

I have over 1500 posts in my blog.  They started in 2008 although they were not regularly written at that time.  Of course, they vary in quality and relevance to any given day or person.  Still, from time to time, I like to go back and see what I wrote earlier.

Yesterday's post is the first time (as far as I can remember), that I have purposely reposted something from a previous day.  I didn't want to try and use my judgment so I used Excel to give me a random number.  I was directed to November 28, 2009, a post about computers, their changes over time and cloud storage.  That day was nearly 4 years ago but the material is still relevant, although more companies and organizations are vying for your attention, even if the cloud storage is free.

Sometimes people who receive the posts in email state that they haven't read them all.  It is no surprise to me and I think it makes lots of sense not to read them whenever a person gets too busy, too bored or too engaged with something better.

I mostly write the blog to record ideas, avenues, themes, directions, adventures, tendencies and puzzles that pop into my life.  I haven't felt as though I have a real writer's block and been unable to get any idea but I do sometimes get pinched for time.  If we take a trip or something comes up, it can be difficult to concentrate enough to develop a coherent statement. All the while, the large body of writings I have amassed haunts me.

I know that repetition, as in re-reading, reflection, re-consideration can be rewarding.  So, there are going to be times when playfully or seriously, I re-post.

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety

Computers, time and the "cloud"

Charles Babbage built a version of the computer in 1849.  There was an abacus much, much earlier and there have been increasingly complex and capable machines since.  Just before grad school, I read about the new wave of computers.  That was in the 60's.  During that same decade, I first "used" a computer and the Fortran computing language.  "Used" in the sense that I prepared a deck of cards that would supposedly make the machine do what I wanted.  I gave the deck to the operator and retrieved it along with a printout on paper about a day later.

I heard a little about the Texas Instrument machines, the Radio Shack machines, the Atari and the Commodore.  I was interested but the invention of the spreadsheet for math and finance and the word processor for typing lifted me beyond mild interest to the serious level.  It was the software program Appleworks that really nailed me.  I could write, calculate, and sort.  This was a program I didn't want to live without.  One way and another, I haven't had to do so since 1984.

Until email and networking, the computer was a machine that enabled me to do things I wanted to do faster and better with less error but everything was right there with me.  The World Wide Web and the browser changed the nature of what could be done and with whom.  But the history of getting the machine and the software applications to run on them continued and of course, still does.  

However, computing has gotten more cooperative and less stand-alone.  Google Docs (see the Google home page and use "More" to find the beginning of Docs) and Open Office (search for this term) provide free software to do the things we have come to associate with computers.  YouTube for vision, motion and sound and podcasts for sound show the added possibilities of sound, music, speech and vision which were not possible in the 60's for the ordinary person like me.  There is so much out "there" in space that the popular term "cloud computing" is being used to depict the services and possibilities available somewhere out there in the cloud of the internet.

Just as an example of what is available, I am typing today's post in Google Docs.  I used to using Microsoft Word but I don't want to depend on Microsoft any more and I don't want to spend money I don't need to.  I like to make my posts around 300 to 500 words.  Word has a feature that will continuously tell you how many words there are in a document or a selection.  Now I see that in Google Docs

(Drive)

, too.  So, to the internet! (Using Firefox of course

, or Chrome once in a while

).  

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety

Writing

The most interesting and exciting book I know on writing is Richard A. Lanham's "Style: An Anti-textbook".  It is a little hard to read in places since the opening doubles and triples the usual complaints about language use and ignorance.  But it is clever and memorable.  That was the first book I read that helped me grasp and remember that in many places on earth even today, being able to write in a way that someone else can read and understand what was meant is a specialized skill, not one that everyone is expected to master.

We actually have quite a few such skills in our lives: using a modern stove, a telephone, maybe a computer, driving a car as well as writing, both by hand and using a keyboard. But of these, writing may be the oldest requirement and maybe with good reason.  I am surprised at how often handwriting still enters the picture, even in this age of large and small keyboards. Being able to jot down a note, to one's self or others still matters.

It is true that Dragon Speaking and other software can hear spoken language and write out the words said but my experience with that method has not been very positive.  Since virtually all of my typing is composition, from my mind to the monitor screen, I would need a considerable amount of training to feel comfortable composing orally.

Writing for oneself and for friends is about reflection, reliving a day or revisiting an idea or experience and considering what happened, what the consequences may be, examination and re-participation in life.  Various things I have read about the emerging self around the world make it seem that my picturing myself as having a life and one worthy of reflection is a fairly recent phenomenon.  Maybe in the Middle Ages, I would not have thought of myself as a person, unless I had some sort of high rank or recognition.  

You can look at various emphases in art, literature and political life over the past 600 years or so and see that there has been a steady increase in the recognition of the inner life and the guiding intelligence inside each human being.  Writing, for self or others, is a good tool for expressing some of the inner as well as outer experiences of that self and what it has been like to be that person.  The idea that this store of intelligence and experience exists inside each person is just now emerging but tapping into it with writing, photography, poetry and other tools and records enriches us all.

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety

Hair triggers and fire hoses

very fast repeating keyboard keys??????????????

When you type the word "key", the time that lapses between your keystrokes can be used by the computer for other tasks.  The computer can perform many things at a much greater speed than a human can. I am reminded of what is essentially a John Henry and the steam engine problem each time I accidentally hold down a key on the keyboard for that extra moment and get a string of repeated lettersssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Sometimes, when people are looking for an image of a superhuman device or setup, they mention firehoses.  I have never actually held a firehose that was transporting a full load of water at fire-fighting pressure but I can imagine the difficulty of getting a leetle drink of water from a hose that has a tremendous stream of water coming.  Maybe it is enough water pressure that a finger accidentally dangled in front of the nozzle would get torn off or sprained. Clearly, trying to get a cupful of water without having the cup blown out of your hand or damaged would be a challenge.

A gun that can be fired with very, very little pressure on the trigger, a tv rewind that gets back to the first screen too quickly - many things can be built on a non-human scale of power or speed.  Somewhere I read that cars would not be involved in accidents if a very sharp bayonet was built on the steering column of the car, aimed at the chest of the driver.

A wise friend said the other day that we have to reserve our health decisions for ourselves to make, keeping our physicians' advice in mind but still making the final decisions.  I totally agree and in a similar way, we have to refuse to use technology that is too fast, too powerful, too intrusive or otherwise does not suit our needs.  We are not always in a position to make design decisions on our own but as consumers, users and technology critics, we can put aside items that are too small, too heavy, too fast or slow, too loud or soft, too expensive.

Some tender-hearted people tend to blame themselves for technology difficulties.  "I just don't have a head for computers", I hear.  It is true that if you never take the time to learn what a device can do, how to change its settings, you aren't giving it and its designers a chance.  But if you try slow your mouse down, you look up "mouse speed" in Google, maybe ask the local librarian for a book on your device and you still can't find a way to make a desired change, it may be time to get something different.

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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety

Just thoughts

It's thoughts, just thoughts.  May be good.  Often good but still thoughts, just thoughts:

I find it helpful to realize that my hopes, dreams and fears are thoughts, thoughts I had, thoughts I constructed, thoughts that I can concentrate on, accept, edit or discard.  They are like writing in a word processing document on a modern computer: a series of marks that can easily be changed.

It was probably in our visit to the Sheboygan art museum that we bought our Buddha board.  It is just a little board of some material that holds an image when painted in pure water for a few minutes.  That is long enough to see what was drawn or written but in a few more minutes, the water dries completely, leaving no sign. Just like our minds.

Sure, we can decide to concentrate, to hold on to that thought of getting the car washed or buying a backup hard disk.  But regardless of our efforts, it won't be long before something new is on the agenda of the mind.  Much like politics and the news generally, new events, new slants are always rolling in.

Won't too much concentration on the transitory nature of our thoughts, our lives even, bring on despair?  We are such tiny specks in the large universe, we are here for so short a time, our fortunes and memories are so quickly and easily forgotten, after all.  But that leads back to the fact that it is all just thoughts.  As Dr. Slygh advised years ago,"think in different terms."

What different terms? You can start with the senses.  What do you see, yes, right in front of you?  What do you see out of the window?  How about your other windows?  When you look at the list of files on your hard disk, what do you see?  When you look through your photos, what do you see?  When you look through your clothes, what do you see?

By the time you give your attention to sights, sounds, smell and touch, you will have different ideas and thoughts.  Again, just thoughts but they may be fun or valuable or promising.

If you want to keep roving through yourself, a good next focus is feelings.  Sitting alone and unbothered, what are you feeling right now?  If you stay still and alert, you can feel more separate feelings rolling through yourself in five minutes than you can adequately describe in 15 minutes.  Similarly, you can watch the themes that pop into your mind: adventures you relive, goals you picture achieving.

Like putting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together, you can sometimes assemble thoughts into a satisfying mosaic.

--
Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety