Two principles that surprise me

I have recently concluded that some leaders have a conviction that they must NEVER be wrong.  Somebody else can be wrong and others may have been mistaken about what the leader said or wrote.  Maybe they misunderstood what the leader was saying, misheard, maybe.  But wrong, as in "incorrect" - not ever, not at any time.

Reading "The Female Brain" by Louann Brizendine, MD and watching the movie "27 Dresses", I learned that some young women have an allegiance to the principle that there must not be ANYONE at all, anywhere, that dislikes them.  If it is discovered that anyone anywhere dislikes one of these young women, it is her fault.  Furthermore, she needs to make it right.  With the right smile, the right favors and efforts, she can change a disliker's opinion from dislike to LIKE.  She needs to work steadily at getting that person to LIKE her.

A teacher, a husband, a father, a member of a faculty spends quite a lot of time being wrong.  Further, old guys with faulty hearing can hear incorrectly, both by hearing someone, even a loved one, say what they did not say and by failing to hear what someone said.  That is just in the area of hearing.  There are many other ways such a person can be wrong, fully wrong, even dead wrong.  Most of the other ways have to do with (1) something that happened or (2) something that is happening or (3) something in the future that might happen. It looks very much like I will never qualify for the Never Wrong group.

My 9th grade English teacher informed our class that there would be people who don't like us.  She was quite right and I have become accustomed to people expressing dislike of my thinking, my appearance and other aspects of me.

Using Firefox's Pocket service

I regularly use the Firefox browser. One of the surprising things that web pages do these days is open a document right across the one I am reading.  It is surprisingly bad manners. When I am attracted to an article, don't come along and place something different right on what I am reading.  Doing that puts me in a bad mood quickly.  When I discovered Firefox's add-on "Reader View", I was tickled and I still am.  The Reader View takes the main document and strips out the live-action soccer game that has begun playing in the lower corner and all the other added items.  I still can't believe that somebody pays for an advertisement that is so impolite and irritating.  Does the money payor think I am going to be kindly disposed to an impolite intrusion?

One day as I was using Firefox, I went to open a new tab but I found that a series of articles was now housed right on the new tab page.  I have since learned that there was a feature called "Read It Later" and that Firefox bought the feature and housed it on the New Tabs page. I am not clear about who chooses what appears as offerings to me.  I imagine some algorithm or artificial intelligence tends to track which articles I choose to save to My List of saved articles.  As with book titles that seem promising, I have saved many more articles than I have gone back and read.

If you go to the trouble of looking for popular online publications, you will probably find enough of them to keep you reading all your awakened hours.  I have a habit of noting who wrote an article that I save to My List and looking that person up in Google search or Duckduckgo.  I imagine that young people trying to make a name for themselves often use some sort of wording that may excite or entice, like "World will end tomorrow!".  When I do take the time to read an article I have saved, it often does not tell me what I wanted to know.  I do often get motivated to look up words, questions, people or issues by the titles, the subjects or the unanswered questions I have.

Reading with a Kindle

I have several thousand Kindle books.  My friend is a scholar of Victorian literature and times and, like many other friends, likes "traditional" books.  Some people mention the smell of a book.  But, for me, the fact that I can get a book in 60 seconds of deciding to get it instead of going to the library is a big attraction.  As an older person, I like being able to have the print the size I want it.  Another feature of the Kindle reader is that I can highlight a stand-out sentence with my finger tip.  What can be very helpful is that a single file of the highlights I make in a book can be sent from the Kindle, without any connection of any kind, to my email.  It has happened that a book club or a presentation focuses on a book I read a while back and that file of highlights has brought the book back to me.  It is easy and quick to post the file as a web page on a Google site.

I have looked into competing products such as Nook and Kobo but I find the selection, the prices better with Amazon, another of the big tech companies that some people charge are ruining our country.  I am not such a person but I admit that Amazon is very aggressive about letting me know it has other books and other products I could buy.  We got into using ebooks at a time we happened to be surrounded by traditional books and we were in danger of getting lost among piles of them, never to be found.  Even my Victorian friend admitted that picking up a lightweight Kindle reader for travel, with dozens of books already in it, is quite handy.  

Another friend lives in Canada and is unable to accept and download an Amazon ebook gift.  However, I have sent ebook gifts successfully about 100 times.  All I need is the recipient email address.  In addition to buying ebooks, I sometimes use the apps Libby or Overdrive to borrow electronic books.  I can usually get them for a two week period, enough time for me to learn if I want to buy the book.  Borrowing ebooks is nice because the books simply disappear when their due date arrives.  Programs like Calibre can be helpful in finding and using ebooks. Kindle software is free for tablets, smartphones and computers.  As always, I recommend using a computer for most computing business because of its greater power but I like to keep a simple Kindle reader handy for just reading, not answering messages or other activities.

Google products and services

Some of my friends have a Gmail address, sometimes only that and sometimes in addition to other email addresses.  (One friend told me about having 17 email addresses.)

I try to write about things that matter to me, are useful to me and might be to others.  Here, I intend to mention Google services and focus on Pocket and Kindle another day.

If you have a Gmail address, you have free and easy access to the 271 Google apps and services.  I read recently that Google search is the most popular site on the internet.  If you have a Gmail address, the name and password you use for that will open any other Google program.  You can give yourself a Gmail login and password easily. The other major computing/tech companies, such as Apple and Amazon, may put the squeeze on Google, or on users, or both, to try to get less attention on Google products and services and more on their own.  

There is more than one way to get a look at the Google services but my favorite is to look for a small 3x3 set of dots in the upper right corner of the Inbox of Gmail.  

https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/2018/04/nine-dots-in-3-by-3-pattern.html

Another way is to search Google for "Google products and services".   

If you know the name of a service, say Google Drive, a place to put your documents 'in the cloud' instead of on your computer, you can get to that service using the format servicename.google.com in the address window of a browser like Edge, Firefox or Chrome.

I haven't tried to check but if it were me, I would offer a master's degree in the 271 Google products and services and what they do.  There may already be something like that.  I wouldn't be surprised.  

I should mention that some of my wiley friends stay away from Google stuff on the grounds that Google will sell their data.  I am very far from an expert in computer security, dirty tricks and cleaner tricks and scams but I have enjoyed my use of Google email, blog, web site(s), photo editing and storage for more than 10 years with very little trouble.  I try to avoid putting sensitive or valuable information anywhere on the internet.

Errors, mishaps and discoveries

Errors, mishaps and discoveries are all interesting and frequently unintentional.  Let's call errors "mistakes".  They can be physical mistakes as when I hit the wrong key.  I am surprised at how often I have my finger tip over a pair of Ipad choices and looking right at the one I want, my finger strikes the other one.  I suspect a momentary lapse of focus but I don't know why that happens.  

Let's call unwanted outside influences that cause trouble "mishaps".  Like when an earthquake shakes the salad dressing and spills it over the table top.  Let's call a fortuitous unplanned event a "discovery".  I know that finding the newspaper deliverer tossed the newspaper (what's a newspaper?) on the porch roof instead of the porch floor is a discovery too, but I want to reserve "discovery" for something that seems positive, at least at the time.  

Lynn is a potter and sometimes things don't go as planned in that art:

Here two items were accidentally placed in the kiln touching each other.  The glazes are a type of glass and the unwanted bond between a small vase and a mug is very strong.  If we put a pencil in the vase, we could  provide a poke in the eye along with coffee or tea.  Demand for that combination is estimated to be quite weak.  

One of the many limitations of human intelligence and judgment is that finding a positive discovery, like a good drug combination or a better way to do something, may turn out in 600 years to be a bother, a danger or worse.  We can't see very far into the future and we sure can't foresee all the interactions between habits, laws, devices.  Lead seems good until we find having it in dinner plates and auto fuel isn't good. 

Five worthwhile books

I have mentioned the books by Louann Brizendine, MD before but they are worth mentioning again.

• The Female Brain - women's brains get hormone baths all through their years of fertility

• The Male Brain 

• The Upgrade - after fertility stops, the female brain is even sharper

The book by David R. Hamilton called "Why Woo-woo Works: The Surprising Science Behind Meditation, Reiki, Crystals and Other Alternative Practices."  He has a PhD in organic chemistry, not the sort of background for a man who deals in, and uses "alternative practices." He got into the subject because as a research chemist, he learned he had to work with the placebo effect.  That is the sort of happening where a person in a drug evaluation experiment is told that he has been given the drug being tested but has actually been given a sugar pill.  Then, the person gets well!  This sort of occurrence happens and is an instance of the placebo effect. 

Book #5 is "The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous".  The book discusses the different psychological and cultural characteristics of Americans and Europeans and how they differ for other people on our planet. The differences matter since they affect the results and conclusions of much of the research conducted these days.

It's National Take Your Cat to Work Day!

Summer begins at 4:13 here tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow is the official longest day of the year.  While searching about that, I found a listing of themes and the days someone has tried to tie to those themes. I doubt there are an infinite number of possible themes and subjects that a day could be devoted to, but the possible number has got to be very high. 

I discovered that today is National Bald Eagle Appreciation Day, Ugliest Dog Day and Nystagmus Day, you know when we sympathize with those who suffer nystagmus.  I want to be sympathetic to all who suffer, are hungry, in pain, can't read, don't like to read.  Many charities helpfully place heart-stopping photos of people suffering on the envelopes they use to request some of our funds.  It is not just the negatives, though.  Flower Day, Tune Day, Physical Motion Day and Blueberry Pie Day all need to be on the calendar if they aren't already.  

There are several websites that will email you the celebration themes of the day if you will just kindly give them your email address.  You can search for what is celebrated today.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!  Just as we all had a mother, we all had a father.  It is famous that fathers can be and often are much less involved with our lives than mothers.  Garrison Keillor wrote some good comments about Father's Day:

Father's Day is a wonderful joke, a day on which you sit with your brood and someone turns to you and says, "When is Father's Day? Isn't it in June?" and you, the father, say, "I have no idea whatsoever." And that's the end of it. Mother's Day is the big deal when tanker ships full of French perfume dock at the bottling plants and four-star restaurants hire extra staff and Father's Day is the Sunday when someone gives you a bottle of cologne that smells like disinfectant. The price tag is still on it, $1.89.

Except for pastors and therapists, men can be strongly limited in their expression of emotions, sometimes even having limited ability to merely  perceive their own feelings.  If a guy is going to march into war, it can be a big help to have light or no emotions so you can whack the enemy or take a deep wound as lightly as possible.  Another issue is the knowledge that boys are full of spirit, often to the point that they can't hear or heed warnings and rules.  There are also times when girls are also convinced that what Dad says can be, maybe should be, ignored. Fathers come in many different sizes and personalities, but it is common for them to be rather stern disciplinarians, willing to restrict and punish without much concern for whether they will ever be liked.  

Many fathers are convinced that only strong enforcement will result in full development of good character.  You can sometimes see clear examples in male coaches of all-male sports teams.

I am not trying to say that fathers aren't loved or are unimportant.  Further, other adult males such as older brothers, uncles, family friends can serve father-like functions and serve as important examples and models.  I am just trying to explore the complexities of fatherhood.

So delightful!

Listening to The Elixir of Love (1832!) sung in English for the umpteenth time, I hear the trembly voice of the tenor Nemerino sing the praises of the town belle, Adina.  He informs us with passion that she is "So delightful".  You know the poor guy is struck.  He can't help it. We have learned from our own experience that if we met Adina, we might have a different opinion of her.  He is in a special state.

One of my favorite and helpful books is "Incognito" by David Eagleman.  He says that once it seemed to scientists that humans had no instincts.  They were free, it was thought, to be rational and thoughtful, not driven to fly south in the winter or make a nest of chewed paper.  Then, somebody started thinking about situations like Nemerino's.  It is clear that the dog, the cat, even the bees, don't seem enchanted by Adina.  They don't find each step she takes to be musical, bewitching. In fact, if we look into the matter, we may find that Nemerino's mother or his grandmother have very different feelings about Adina.

The book, The Female Brain, by Dr. Louann Brizendine, founder of the University of California - San Francisco's Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic explains many human actions and passions with an emphasis on hormones.  Still, Nemerino is so passionate, so in the grip of delightful Adina, that every thought of her, each sight of her is electrical, powerful. As older, wiser, more experienced people, we feel that Nemmy will someday be able to look at Addy and talk with her and be near her without quite such a drugged mind.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiQkYLF27f4AhUKD0QIHTuqDuAQtwJ6BAgiEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dxnti1E9MaKo&usg=AOvVaw2k4NQ0w8DmAx7IRRiiiGdh

Earworms

The term "earworm" is usually used to refer to a tune that keeps coming to mind, often to the point of annoyance.  I just looked up the word and found it is directly from a German word about the same thing.  People often say that sight is the most important sense and in many ways, it really is.  However, the value and importance of hearing is often over-looked.  My two fallback books on the human mind are "Incognito" by David Eagleman and "7 and a Half Lessons about the Brain" by Lisa Feldman Barrett.  Both books stress that the brain is bigger, more complex and involved in other taks that the conscious mind.

I have a few music recordings that I listen to repeatedly.  One is "Schubert: Songs for Male Chorus".  Franz Schubert only lived to be 31 years old but he wrote some terrific music. I am a third class musician, having only played the snare drum in high school for three years but some music turns me and my spirits on.  Eagleman and Barrett both emphasize the body and brain learn all sorts of things quietly and without formal instruction.  I reach of the spoons where they are kept without having consciously memorized their location.  Despite the fact that I can't read music and I don't play any instrument, I have learned quite a bit of Schubert.  I know the recording

On this disc, sung by the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers of "An die Nachtingall" quite well.  I can and do listen to it anytime I let my mind wander.  I read that Schubert felt he had an special knack for creating music and thought that his government should finance him to allow him to devote all his time to writing tunes.  I guess he was right.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-m&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=schubert%20nightingale&utm_source=pocket_mylist

What the fork!!!

We were vacationing with our family.   I accidentally snapped a DVD in half that belonged to my greatgrandson.  He and I went to a nearby store and I bought him a replacement.  When we came home, I told his mother I had found a replacement and given it to her son.  She immediately said,"Son of a……….biscuit!" She had plans to do that herself.

I often wondered whether her use of the name of something to eat instead of the more usual term was original with her.  I called her the other day to ask.  She said that she and her husband watch the tv program "The GoodPlace", about a heavenly place where you simply cannot swear.  People there cannot physically manage to utter "bad" words.  She and my grandson-in-law have some laughs from the program and have practiced alternative utterances used in the program.

I guess the famous F word is still one of the most forbidden words among Americans.  John McWhorten and others have made it clear that language is always changing.  When I was 10 years old, I was threatened with having my mouth washed out with soap if I said bad words, which I rarely did.  Decades later, I saw a video of a standup comedian who used the F word quite often and each use drew waves of laughter.  I didn't think it was all that funny.  

About ten years ago, I told my daughter something surprising and she said, "Oh, my goodness".  I just looked up "expletives" and one result explicitly mentioned "oh, my goodness" and "oh, my gracious".  Spitting out strong words can relieve tension but can be off-putting to some hearers.  I applaud my granddaughter's use of What the Fork! instead of the more usual phrase, the same one overused by gangsters in this except from a Donald Westlake novel.

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety1/overuse-of-illogical-expletive

Shade

I'm not much of a gardener or plant guy.  When Lynn discusses plants, she often says a given plant is shade friendly or sun friendly. Long before we moved to Wisconsin, I had a geography lesson about this area and it was said to have "long cold winters and short hot summers".  I remember thinking at the time, why would anyone want to live there?

I have now spent ⅔ of my life here and I like it.  Of course, living experience cannot really be condensed down to a short phrase. I feel that the seasons are more distinct here and pleasantly so.  The first year we were here, the winter temperatures reached -40 degrees several times but these days we feel that -20 degrees is ok for a winter temperature.  

We aren't used to heat much above 90 degrees.  Anytime we get in that range, we feel that it is hot.  One thing we have is more daylight.  So, sun is common and that is one factor that makes Wisconsin an agricultural state.  If a plant does well in sunlight, we have it.  I was surprised to see a photo the other day labeled from "Wisconsin Shade Garden".  I didn't know there was such a place.

When I look out on our back yard, I see pine trees, oaks and a few other trees.  There is underbrush and it is thick.  In winter, we can see into the neighbors' back yard but in summer, when the plants and bushes have leaved-out, we can't see a thing.  I am impressed at how dark plants can make shade using leaves. You can see that this was taken in bright sunlight but the dark parts are quite dark.

Living in retirement

I taught at the local university for 37 years and I wondered how I would do in retirement.  I scheduled a session with a counselor about the switch I was facing and another session that included my wife, since we would be spending more time together.  Those sessions went well and so have the years of retirement.

A young professional woman said to me that "every day was Saturday" for me, meaning that I had no responsibilities.  It is true that I don't report to work five days a week but I have many responsibilities.  Part of the evidence for them is the mutual use that Lynn and I make of Google Calendar.  We like that app since we can access it in many ways and on all our equipment.  We both use it and it is our source for knowing about events, especially one-time occasions that we might miss.  We didn't make much use of calendar notes while working since many of our days followed a pattern.  

I can tell you that people are not very competent at imagining wonderful situations. When they think of heavenly arrangements, they cannot think of all the extra details.  Besides, in general, we don't know ourselves or our lives in enough detail to know what we tend to do and what gives us a lift.  Often, we get a shot of happiness from some unexpected event.  It can be seeing a smile that we didn't expect to see.  It can be anticipation of something promising.  Remember that you and I are animals, creatures that enjoy motion, enough rest and enough variety.  For a person that prepared lessons and presentations for 5 days a week, an organization such as UWSP's learning in retirement organization, L.I.F.E. gave enough activity and mental stimulation, both as a presenter and an audience member, that it has been an important source of knowledge, friendships and stimulation. Similarly, Road Scholar (formerly called Elderhostel) has offered some fun trips and new friends and contacts.

I compose my blog posts in Google Docs and its grammar/spell checker is excellent.  After running the checker, I like to read my post aloud to Lynn to see her reaction and maybe catch a few writing problems.  I just read this post to her up to this paragraph and she said she was surprised at how her life seemed much the same before and after she had a chance to get accustomed to marriage.  That surprised her but it is clear that life is living plus as she said, "wherever I go, there I am".

"How Not to Hate Your Husband"

I haven't been a lady but I think it is more ladylike in most people's opinion not to hate.  I think guys are usually permitted to strongly dislike and offer to fight.  There was a time when I could be slapped in the face with a glove and challenged to meet the slapper at dawn with my sword or pistol.  According to the movies I have seen, I would suffer a severe drop in popularity if I declined and told the slapper to slap somebody else.  

A hospital employee told me recently that in an effort to stay happy in marriage, she had read "How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids" by Jancee Dunn.  I have a strong habit of looking up books that friends and others mention, especially if a particular book is said to be good and helpful.  When I look up a book, I look for the Kindle edition if there is one.  I love the quick download thru the atmosphere without computers, smartphone or other connection.  It is like a cellphone call but delivers a book instead of a voice.  This book was a bit above my price range but I saw a book, free for Kindle Prime subscribers called "How Not to Be an A-hole Husband and Lose Your Wife".  I got it and read half of it.  

I often find used books in paper at a much reduced price.  I ordered the Jancee Dunn book and I am reading it.  

I have been married to the same woman for more than sixty years.  She is smart, very smart and all the other things a wife should be.  I am lucky and I know it.  Later, on a walk, I asked her how useless I had been when we first had kids.  She laughed heartily and then asked if I remembered the time she asked me to estimate how many hours I had free each week.  

She was home with the kids while I bravely drove around the city to another section and taught an entire class of 5th grade elementary kids every working day.  I had papers to mark and lessons to plan.  I considered and estimated and found I had about 54 hours a week free.  She did the same and found about 8 hours free. 

We are in our 80's now and have greatgrandchildren (a word I like spell that way).  I think we are rather happy with each other and glad we are together.  I could rattle off various defensive statements but in general, it seems nature is rather tough on mothers, despite their endurance, approachability and intelligence. 

What happens later

Even with a less than perfect memory, older people can often remember contradictory times, positions, activities and opinions.  I noticed when teaching that a class I met at 10 was difficult to work with while the class at 2 was a real pleasure.  A couple months later, I would find myself leaving a 10 o'clock meeting with a deep grin and then expecting a down session at 2 after a rough class the last time we met.  

Family circus nails it today: 

https://comicskingdom.com/family-circus  [ Scroll UP the page]

Investigations and experiments enabled

 was impressed and surprised by reading in Louann Brizendine's "The Male Brain" that men have a tendency to strongly desire a QUICK solution to problems.  I rather thought I was the only one.  I certainly didn't know that a woman doctor knew that about me.  I hadn't found many clues in other men. I did see related clues.  Much male behavior seems to be seeking to be outstanding, noticeable.  So, the idea of "first" springs up.  Be the FIRST to score, be the FIRST to finish.  Often the FIRST is considered the best.

I have seen dozens of times that I feel impatient.  I want the program to end, the lecture to be over, the task to be completed.  I was impressed by reading in Walter Ong's "Fighting for Life" that "the female always wins because of her greater quiet".  It doesn't take all that much experience to notice that thinking carefully and repeatedly about something may turn up a better approach than merely latching onto the first or most obvious reaction.  

I do tend to notice when I feel impatient and that noticing is a help.  Noticing can suggest trying to find a solution.  That is a major reason that the idea of noticing what is going on inside one's self, usually labeled "mindfulness", is so popular.  If I am angry or discouraged or confused but I overlook my state or deny its existence, I will not have as much chance to test it, consider it, savor and enjoy it, notice its antecedents and consequences.  If I pick up a pen and jot down a few words about a problem, I strongly increase the chance of learning a good reaction or next step.

Anniversary

Today is the 54th anniversary of the day I taught my first classes at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point.  I ended up teaching there for 37 years.  I had little idea when I applied there that I would teach on Wisconsin State Television at 6 AM on Sunday mornings.  I didn't actually have to teach at that time since UWSP had good facilities and technicians to record statistics lessons.  They were made in the campus tv studio and were later made available on DVD.  

Many teachers are not attracted to statistics or math but when they write master's theses, they often plan to gather data and analyze it with statistics.  I taught other courses, too, of course.  I have written before about the fun I had teaching the course that surveyed the books that each student had read, ever.  The truth is that most people, age 40 or more, can't actually remember all the books they have read, not even the title.  Students often searched through aging parents' attics to see what books were stored there.  Sometimes, one person would see a title on someone else's list and suddenly remember they had read that book, too.

Abilities and potential are not always obvious

As my greatgrandchildren mature, I wonder about their future.  I have a suspicion that between high energy and high levels of ambition, advanced schooling is not appealing. Many colleges and high schools have counselors that know about occupations that might be of interest and how to get into them.  My experience is that students don't often make use of those counselors.  Many years ago, I discovered that a class of mine, nearly 100% elementary teaching candidates, felt that they had to land jobs as elementary teachers or they could not have a job.  I knew their curriculum was carefully planned and fought over so that they would graduate with a broad education, in addition to the specific training they would have for teaching.  

I see Garrison Keillor is re-posting some Writer's Almanac pages written in years back.  I understand the possibility myself.  I have more than 4500 blog posts and most are about thoughts or experiences I have had.  Here is a post from 2015 that relates to what I was writing about in my first paragraph above:

https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/2015/10/want-job.html

In summary, if you or someone you care about wants a job or a chance to do something, think about ways that can be achieved.  There are many possibilities these days and there are others who know about them.

New world! Fascinating world! Wow!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MyV8MVVQ37eH2PyF6iyWUNfA_QbfhLhI/view?usp=sharing

The link goes to a video Lynn made this morning.  It is not easy to catch the deer, and especially the fawn, with the phone camera.  The fawn this morning was incredibly energetic and buoyant, running this way and that, suddenly sailing through the air in a long jump.  The video just shows a fawn following along after its mother but our experience of it was mad, crazy exuberance, leaping, shifting.

The fawn ran to the center of our backyard and paused to stare at Lynn and me.  The effect on me reminded me of what I feel when watching some baby videos on YouTube.  I asked Duckduckgo and Google Search how many baby videos were on YouTube but after pages of ads and deflections, I never got an answer.  I did read that about 1/3 of all internet traffic in the world goes to YouTube and I read about famous YouTube stars.  I had never heard of them.  They tend to be members of a different generation.

Snapping off

One of the downsides of being different, atypical, is that when machines and mechanical routines are built, they may be constructed to perform in a way that assists the typical user but not so much me.  When I write that I am not typical, I am not referring to some order or ranking.  I just mean that I have preferences that are not widely shared.

For instance, many computer programs are built to resume what I was doing with them the last time I used them.  I know how to look at the history of my browser to see where I was, if I want to.  But, most of the time, I am purposely starting anew.  I often can't remember what I did yesterday and when I can, I have a new direction, a new purpose, a new interest and I don't want to be re-immersed in what I was doing.  

There was a wrestler whose technique interested me in high school and college. I was surprised to hear that if he was able to take his opponent to the mat but didn't feel he was close to pinning him and immediately winning the match, he would often step away from his opponent, releasing him to be free to start all over.  I like the idea of a full re-boot, a fresh start.  Depending on the activity, that may not be possible and it may not be a good idea.  But when possible, I like to make a decision, when I am ready, to end.  

Several computers I use ask if I am sure that I want to exit but I have learned that if I hold the off button down, the question panel goes away and the machine fully shuts down.  I see all sorts of parallels between turning off the engine, shutting down the operation, turning off the power and the death of humans.  True, when we pronounce a human "dead", we don't have the option of turning that person back on.  So, in a way, the artificial "death" from using the Off switch is not what we experienced in real death.  But, when you see the son or the next generation take over a business or an officer begin anew an investigation, when the 2nd or third volume or episode is available, the heroine has had a good night's sleep, she has re-loaded her revolver and she is into the new chapter.

Less

I had heard about shrinking.  It's not a pleasant subject for a short guy. I noted that when the Indian marriage broker asked wealthy Indian couples and their spotlighted daughter, the first word out of their mouths was "tall", as in "He should be tall".  But I heard that as I age, I can count on being a bit shorter.  So, I was prepared to lose height, maybe an inch or so.  I have.

No one mentioned less stomach capacity.  It is easy to find references to less appetite.  That is actually expected.  But feeling stuffed after one little peanut??  Ok, it is not quite that bad but I keep finding that I can eat only about half or a little more of what I used to.  Between covid and being about a century old, I am not getting much exercise so I can blame that.  But still, I am surprised at how little food fills me up.  

It seems that even a short guy develops a bit of the shape of a capital D.  I guess.  The spine shortens but the body mass hangs more, having less stretch and space.  So, despite the appearance of a capacious gut, there isn't a great deal of internal space.  I expect those in the know are aware of reduced capacity.  It is true that a small number of calories are more quickly burned up.  Expect me back at the table in about 20 minutes.

I heard

I think it is tricky to think about humans and language.  It is probably in Susan Langer's "Philosophy in a New Key" that she compares saying "Harry" to a person and to a dog.  She pictures the person saying back,"What about Harry?" while the dog starts wagging its tail at the thought of that delightful guy.  My wife and I have been together for more than sixty years.  I suspect that if she says the dill pickle sandwiches are strawberry jam sandwiches, I will taste strawberry jam and not dilled cucumbers.  Notice that she has to SAY the food is jam.  I doubt if I will be as affected if she hands me a note saying they are jam.  

Humans can speculate and they certainly do.  If you try an academic approach and try to pin down the source of the messages you read or hear, you may be surprised at how much of what you hear is speculation.  It may be good guessing and it may be poor, but lots of the language we use is about what SEEMS to be.  I recommend you not get too bent out of shape about verification, since you have to do what we always do, and just use your quick judgment as to what is worthwhile info and what is probably wrong or overly distorted.  

I am a partial academic in that a more traditional academic has studied an area of humanities or science.  I have a PhD but I didn't go to graduate school until after I had taught 5th grade for four years.  Teaching 5th grade or any other sort of teaching involves continuous use of judgment.  One tries to be polite and respectful while maintaining decorum and good order but there are few exact measures or procedures involved.  

There is a wonderful but subtle effect of being educated.  We usually say that a person is never finished with learning, that education is going on all the time, in all situations.  Still, after some years in this school or that one, the effect of all the lessons, and books, and the company of other students, one becomes better at gauging what is true or right and what isn't.

Athletics and young people

I read from David R. Hamilton that one way to be "younger" is to think younger.  Maybe you have heard of the "Counterclockwise" experiment where Prof. Ellen Langer of the Harvard psychology department arranged a setting for a small group of men in their 70's to appear as they did when the men were in their 50's.  The short experiment seemed to improve attitudes and some test scores.

Recently, the chemistry PhD who wrote "Why Woo-woo Works", said a way to be younger is to pretend to be, to visualize being younger.  I am not at all sure I want to be younger.

We went to our granddaughter's soccer game today and watched younger people display their skills and use their bodies, minds and senses to play against each other.  The teams of junior high school girls included many who were considerably bigger than I am and could certainly run faster than I can.  I played soccer in my freshman year and was probably the worst player on the team.  I not only had little sense of where the play was or where it was going, it didn't occur to me that running this way and that was not intelligent nor strategic.  

The soccer fields in the neighboring town are in a single big park area.  We asked a woman if she could tell us where field 6 was.  She told us and I asked her how she knew that.  She said, "From living on the soccer field for ten years."  If you have children who play on teams, especially summer or non-school teams, the players need to get to playing facilities all over.  I can certainly understand why parents might not be at too many away games. 

Modern valuables

We often hear praise for the human invention of language.  What is this "language"?  These days it is speech, both direct as when we are sitting together and you are telling me about the great buy you made yesterday.  It is transmitted speech, as when you phone me and I hear transmissions of your voice.  It is captured and recorded speech as with the lovely tape of you giving a talk.  

But there is another whole area: writing.  If you look into the history of writing, things often start with notches in a stick to record how many of your cattle I am to pay for.  Then, we can move to the note you handed that little red-haired boy in the 4th grade. One of the most memorable books I have read about both talk and writing is Tom Wheeler's "From Gutenberg to Google", which does indeed start with the printing press and goes to today.  I think it was the book "What Hath God Wrought" by Daniel Walker Howe that vibrated with excitement and incredulity over communicating with "lightning"!  How else can you understand what is happening with that new-fangled "telegraph"?

You try it.  Put your wife and kids in a wagon and drive from the East Coast to California being pulled along by horses.  Then, get told that people are "talking" from the East Coast to Californians in a minute or two.  Posh-tosh!  Can't be done!!

You did your ABC's and you read "Dick and Jane" or some other thriller.  Now, you can write "milk, bread and eggs" on the grocery list and tomorrow you can pull that list from your pocket and be reminded of what you need to buy.  When you can, watch PBS's Nova program "How Writing Changed the World" and see how much effort and thought and trials went into making those modern valuables.  

My generation??!!?

Today, a cute, energetic young mother said something to me about "your generation".  That is the first time anyone has classified me by my age, time of birth and the characteristics of the world at that time, at least to my knowledge.  

"Why, you young whippersnapper, I was using computers before you were born!"  Maybe true, but so what?  In 1965, the word "laptop" had not been invented.  No lap is large enough for all those cabinets and tape drives.  [What's a tape drive?]  I admit I am not on TikTok and I don't use Instagram.  In fact, I am way behind in my Facebooking!  At the time, I first used a computer, doing so meant sliding a deck of punched cards thru a clerk's window so the deck could be run thru the computer and cause some pages of the results of calculations to be printed.  

Sure, the world's preoccupations get young people's attention and that leaves a memory.  I was born at the beginning of World War II and I have heard about it ever since.  I was a graduate student during the Flower Generation but I was never convinced that shouting at police officers in riot gear was a useful path to a better world.

I have found many times that I am not a typical member of "My Generation" or most other groups.  When I was 10 years old, I joined the Boy Scouts.  It took a year or so to pass the requirements for Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, First Class, Star and Life ranks.  I was a poor swimmer and never made Eagle.  My first merit badge was the "Scholarship" badge.  My Scoutmaster said, "There's a merit badge for Scholarship?"  There was and the results of Google show there still is.

I tend to be atypical in everything so be careful about using me as an example of My Generation.