Z, oh glorious Z

I got to thinking about the "value propositions" of Z within the context of what you and I do for a living. It always struck me that those propositions are sometimes stated as if they're obvious and that everybody knows them but may need to be reminded of them.

I'm not so sure that's true. To that end, I got to thinking that perhaps there's really three "states" of this.

Value Propositions of Z Not Known or Not Understood

This is the case where someone either sincerely is not aware of the things we all might take for granted, or they've heard the words but do not really understand the meaning of them. In some ways I think I fall into the latter camp.

What does one do with someone like this? Educate them? Is it your experience that people who fall into this camp are open to being educated on the values?

Value Propositions of Z Understood But Dismissed or Rejected

Here's the case where some smart fellow is well aware of the concept and theory behind the stated values, but dismisses or rejects them.

What do you do with this person? Is there any real hope of overcoming objections here?

Value Propositions of Z Not Believed to be Exploited By Solution

This is the one I'd not given much thought to before today. It seems to me there may well be a group of people out there that are laboring under the misimpression that modern-day solutions run on Z, but don't really exploit Z to its fullest.

A simple HelloWorld java program runs the same on P or Z ... there's no exploitation of Z to really speak of.

I wonder if there's a thinking out there that other stuff -- SOA in particular -- doesn't really exploit Z? If so, then stating the value proposition might not make its mark. Listener may well agree with value proposition of platform, but not believe that solution does any more than simply run on the platform, in some dumb, unexploitive way.

Am I way off base with this one?

At Port Columbus Airport

Columbus, Ohio is a city smack in the middle of the great, expansive American midwest. Yet its airport is called "Port Columbus Airport." The word "Port" to me implies ships. A landlocked city cannot be a "port." Not in my mind. And my mind is all that matters.

* * *
But because we are tiny cogs in massive machinery, we often feel powerless to satisfy these needs - so in reality we don't feel that secure or important.

That may be the best summarization of our current dilemma as I've ever seen. Here in the U.S. people wonder why the American public expresses such uneasiness when by global standards we have it as good as can be dreamed. You provide the answer.

* * *
And hmm, there clearly is a certain type of woman you are attracted to buddy!

Oh, absolutely. My preferences were shaped by several factors, not all of which I am proud to admit:

• In 10th grade I developed a horrible crush on a girl named Deana Frederick. She was one year back from me. I had a sense from informal sources that she was interested in me as well, but a painful shyness and fear of teasing prevented me from acting. She had the most luxurious mane of long dark hair I'd ever seen. She wore glasses, which had the photo-tint option. That provided an air of mystery. That's where my preference for the Chrissie Hynde and Carolyn Jones look came from. (Three years earlier -- 7th grade -- I made the "mistake" of admitting to a friend I thought I could trust that I liked this girl who I knew also liked me. That "friend" promptly blabbed that around school, and the teasing I received was merciless. Every day. Total strangers. Throughout 7th grade. All through 8th grade. All through 9th grade. It wasn't until 10th grade, when that girl -- Marilyn Arnold -- blossomed and became a cheerleader did the teasing cease. For her benefit, clearly; not mine. The impression was deep and lasting. No effort to connect with Deana Frederick, no dating in high school at all. In the end that resulted in my "settling" for fear I'd get no other chances, which meant I married the second girl I ever dated. That marriage lasted 8 years. How different my life might have been had I a chance to do normal adolescent relationship development.)
  
• About that same time I started getting Playboy magazine, and Miss September 1976 was one "Whitney Kaine." Her most striking attribute to me was a near perfect pair of small breasts. I am to this day much more a fan of small than large. My lovely bride tends to the small, which she feels is a liability. Not a day goes by I don't remind her that I love that aspect of her. Of course, the source of that preference isn't something she likes. (Yes, she is aware of it. She doesn't celebrate that, but she does bask in the benefit of it.)

There you go. :-)

* * *
With regard to the SOA initiative -- we just finished our two "one day roadshow" versions of this thing. Ten people in the first; six on the second.

I have several "problems" with this effort:

1. I do not agree with the format and content of much of the lecture material, which I did not create. I feel it's really just a tremendous list of functional capabilities. I doubt people can absorb much of that after a spell.
2. The hands-on labs, which everyone loves, do not, in my opinion, really provide much educational benefit. They are point-and-click exercises. People complete the requisite steps and when it's done they see some expected result (hopefully), but in the end they don't really have a clue what just happened.
3. This workshop is really a introductory lead generation tool. I don't feel hands-on workshops are the best tool to achieve that. It can achieve some success, but it's a low-odds thing. Much of our company's marketing is along these lines nowadays: throw a plate of spaghetti on the wall and see if any sticks. The problem is there's a tremendous expense to this -- and not just money. Enormous amounts of time and energy is spent waving arms and flying around on the hope of some sale. All the "sales training" that's been invested in over the last decade or so is ignored. Do "we" really have any clue what our customers are doing, what their concerns and needs are? Or are we just a rag-tag bunch of peddlers, each with our basket of things, hoping someone -- anyone -- will buy something?
4. Is introductory marketing lead generation the best use of my time as a member of ATS? I would think not. But who knows ... maybe that's what our company does want of me.
   
5. I have a problem with my co-instructor. I am ashamed of my problem. In my heart I hold him in contempt. That is, for me, the most corrosive of emotions. It's different from dislike -- I like the guy -- I just have contempt for the way he achieves what he wants. It is hard for me to "love" him. I have myself convinced that for me to do so will necessarily involve getting chewed up and spit out, all for the fulfillment of his selfish desires.
   

I am trying to work my way out of this workshop. Unfortunately, to do so will necessarily mean I have to say "No" and be branded the uncooperative element in this equation. That's one tactic of his -- paint people into corners. He said as much last night: he admitted that he truly enjoys manipulating people. Another source of contempt in my eyes.

I am a troubled soul, my friend.

Great Turn of a Phrase

In a column written by George Will about Barak Obama, junior senator from Illinois, who is considering a run for the U.S. presidency, Will enumerates the reasons why Obama should grasp the ring now while his chances are at their best.

Obama is enjoying tremendous popularity at the moment, fueled by a fawning press corp and encouraged by Obama himself. To his point, Will writes:

... if you get the girl up on her tiptoes, you should kiss her

What a great phrase! I love the imagery of that.

The full paragraph is this:

Second, if you get the girl up on her tiptoes, you should kiss her. The electorate is on its tiptoes because Obama has collaborated with the creation of a tsunami of excitement about him. He is nearing the point when a decision against running would brand him as a tease who ungallantly toyed with the electorate's affections.

I am a big fan of George Will's writing. I in general agree with his political sentiments, and I greatly admire the way he uses words and phrases. It's tight and concise. Some words appears that I do not know, but it never seems to me to be overdone.

For what it's worth, I do not believe Barak Obama will be president. But I could be wrong. This country is in a fickle mood. It desperately wants to turn its gaze away from troubling things and go back to the big screen television and the fantasy shows that appear there. I'm not sure history is kind to those who look away from the brewing storm.

Finding Nemo

You know, for the life of me I can't seem to get my rational brain to take control of the irrational side. In one sense it's kind of fascinating. I wonder why our brains are wired this way?

Interesting question. There are always various levels to the "why?" question, and possible answers as well, so I think your (I assume) rhetorical question could be answered in any number of ways:

1. The structure of our brains is a mish-mash of circuitry, containing some mutations that worked well, others not so well, giving rise to differing behaviours and this is what we are left with

2. Because we'd be far less entertaining to watch if we didn't have conflicting emotions

3. Each of us has a divine spark inside that competes with the devil inside

4. We are made in the image of God, so are triune in nature

5. Something else

You, like all of us in the west, live in difficult times. We are bombarded by marketing and advertising that says we should be wealthy, fit, sexually vigorous into old age and have all the latest toys. As humans we have some basic needs, two of those are for security and power (in however small a quantity, everyone has thoe needs). But because we are tiny cogs in massive machinery, we often feel powerless to satisfy these needs - so in reality we don't feel that secure or important. We're creatures designed to forage for food and basically look after ourselves, and yet we can't do that in modern society, we are reliant on many others (eg. our bosses, our doctors, the ATM working) and this all leads to fear, and of course - as George Lucas as Yoda rightly pointed out - that is the path to hate and suffering and war, and the dark side in general.

So don't feel too bad, I sometimes wonder if my undercurrent of fear is that I don't really trust myself to look after and provide for my daughter, but I will do my best. Of course, if I didn't have that fear I'd have some other fears of course.

It's like the starving human being in Africa, if they are worrying about where the next meal is coming from they are unlikely to worry about string theory. It's only when we have the basic needs covered that we start worrying about things of a "higher" nature. I realized in hopsital that in the end, there aren't many things worth worrying about, and "staying alive" is a powerful drive indeed and forces out most other worries from the brain.

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Yes I am familiar with The Addams Family TV show and watched it as a kid. In fact one of Katherine's friends came as Morticia to her Halloween Party this year. I have to 'fess up though and say I can't see the likeness to Chrissie.

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And hmm, there clearly is a certain type of woman you are attracted to buddy !

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I haven't heard of Apocalypto the movie, I doubt I will get to see it soon, I only go to see kids films, which isn't all that bad - I have an excuse to be there! Note that most kids films, these CGI cartoons, seem to be turning into the same movie, like there is only "one" story, a successful formula that we see again and again and again .... that is why kids films like Finding Nemo are so refreshing, it's because they break the mold, and are well done.

Apocalypto

Do you have any plans to see this new movie by Mel Gibson? The IMDB.com reviews give this a 7.7 out of 10, which is not too shabby. From what I can gather, it's ultra-violent, but by being so over the top it crosses over into the fascinating and artistic. It was supposedly shot with digital high-def cameras ... no film stock.

I'm intrigued. That's not to say I'm going to see it, but I am intrigued.

All Things Come Back To It

Pretty much my every thought and deed is ultimately driven by fear. I mean that very seriously. My problem is that every situation that could possibly suggest a loss of approval in me triggers this reaction.

You know, for the life of me I can't seem to get my rational brain to take control of the irrational side. In one sense it's kind of fascinating. I wonder why our brains are wired this way?

* * *
I was always fond of "Brass in Pocket" -- an early one, I think. It stood out as uniquely different from everything else at the time.

* * *
Years and years ago I had a terrific crush on Carolyn Jones, the actress who played "Morticia Addams" on "The Addams Family." Are you familiar with that show?



Is there not a slight resemblence to Chrissie Hyndes?

London Calling

and any pushback is met with not-too-thinly-veiled threats that he'll go elsewhere and make sure it's well known who wasn't "cooperative."

And so does this play on some sort of fear within your good self sir? Imagine for just one moment that you had no fear, I mean why should you? God is in control and looking after you, plus you've just been made Senior Cert. And then imagine that perhaps if anyone was to have fear, it is him rather than you. Then, if you can really place yourself in this state of mind, don't you have control of this person and the situation?

It's easy for me to say stuff like that from far away when I don't have to work with the fella. But in my experience of dealing with such folks, it's all about ones attitude.

You are impervious, you are one of the best teachers and explainers there are in the company, so act accordingly, and smile a lot :-)

Soundbites - yep that's the modern world I am afraid, all diminishing attention spans and Hollywood. It's ok though, we'll be augumented with computers before too long and time will change as our thoughts move at near lightspeed compared to the chemical speeds of today. I am reminded of the movie Star Trek 8: First Contact, at the end when Data says to Captain Picard about the offer The Borg Queen made to him, he muses that he was tempted by her offer for a time. "How long?" says Picard, "0.68 seconds, sir. For an android, that is nearly an eternity".

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The Pretenders, great band, nice track, I prefer their earlier stuff though. Chrissie certainly was original and has been copied many times since. She's a good example of one of the many americans who came to London because that was where the cultural scene was at. Is that still true? Not sure.

My City Was Gone

I always liked Chrissie Hynde's vocals from "The Pretenders." I'm not much a fan of female vocalists in general, but I always thought her delivery had a certain something -- not just a pretty voice but rather some edge.

I bring her up because I'm in Ohio, and that makes me think of the line from their song, "My City Was Gone" -- "... Going back to Ohio" [insert kick-butt bass line here] "but my city was gone."

* * *
Kick some SOA butts back East there old buddy :-)

Yeah, well ... I'm here. I have profound disagreement with my colleague in this endeavor. This morning I more or less lost my temper -- he continues to push for more and more of these workshops. His style is this: he pushes and pushes -- all with a contrived "Gosh ... I'm just a dummy" persona -- and any pushback is met with not-too-thinly-veiled threats that he'll go elsewhere and make sure it's well known who wasn't "cooperative."

I've had it. His style is to throw as much factoids up as possible. The more the better. Any suggestions that I know a few things about education, and that I don't think certain elements of the workshop are working, are responded to with utter dismissal of my opinion as having any merit whatever.

I am, as you can tell, frustrated. What I'm trying to assess is how much of this is my pride? Probably more than I want to admit.

Motivation

I would have thought she would have vetoed the idea

Pleasure (hope?) and fear being the big drivers? .... I hate to say what I am thinking but anyway .... Katherine does not get on well with Alice's boyfriend according to Ellen, so maybe he will be visiting Alice more often when Katherine is living with me?

Perhaps I am taking too dim a view but in my experience Alice only does things when there is something in it for her good self.

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I thought that I had heard of some Hammam's saying that Islam was at heart a peaceful religion, but I don't believe it, from what I have seen of the Qu'ran (Koran) anyway. "The Black Cloud of Islam" is a song by Roy Harper (of Led Zep "Hat's Off To Roy Harper" fame) and is spot on unfortunately. There are many peaceful Muslims out there though.

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Kick some SOA butts back East there old buddy :-)

Bomb Throwing

Note: There are different scientific theories for sure, but I don't see classical Newtonian believers throwing bombs at Einsteinians :-)

You're correct. Nor do you see Church of England members hurling bombs at Methodists, or for that matter Christians and Hindus crossing swords anywhere. Buddhists and Taoist get along just fine, despite deep disagreements in faith and doctrine.

Truth is, there's only one major religion that has an established doctrine of violence towards others, and that's Islam. Sure, Christianity had its period of institutional violence back during the Crusades and the Inquisition. But that was never supported by the faith's core doctrines, and beside, the Church has more or less officially denounced both. Where individuals carry the Christian banner towards violence they are roundly condemned by the rest of Christiandom.

The painful truth is when we speak of physical violence in the name of religion, only one major faith appears to have a core principle based on it. And that one major faith is Islam.

(The usual retort I hear is "What about Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland?" Two points: one, I challenge anyone to find an official and generally respected representative of either denomination that endorsed violence in the name of their faith. Two, there are a lot of "Protestants" and "Catholics" who carry the name but not really the faith. In other words, they are largely faithless individuals who think that going through meaningless rituals is what God wants from them. I wish someone of prominence in the Islamic faith would denounce violence. But alas there are none. Violence is at the core of that "religion.")

Moving In

I must say, I am very happy, though not just a little astonished, that K's mother would permit her to move in with you for the majority of the week. Given the scene at the get-together you described, I would have thought she would have vetoed the idea out of spite, if nothing else. In any event, I'm happy to hear of this new development.

Have you ever considered training to be a counselor, or family mediator? You seem to have a real gift for maintaining a detached and calm view of things.

I am in Columbus, Ohio this week. We are teaching two one-day SOA workshops. I am deeply skeptical of the value of doing this. But I am playing the good soldier.

I am, however, very sleepy -- I did not get much sleep last night and I am stuffed with Chinese food. :-)

I'm on the New Version!

Despite the fact I had no clue about my previously defined Gmail ID, it allowed me to migrate the blog over. I guess it created a new Gmail ID and assigned me access to this blog behind the scenes. Who know? This post will be my test.

Migrated blog !

Well I got the invite to migrate to the new beta blogger and did so!

Yes posting is much (like .. way way ..) faster and more robust. It still shows you as an "author" able to post but I'm not sure how that works now as this seems to be integrated with gmail. I have just re-added your gmail id as an author, I think I sent you a gmail invite a while ago .. do you still have the userid/pw?

We may need to work this out via the Notes email system !

The message is:

"You can now access your dashboard at http://beta.blogger.com using your Google Account and start using the new features right away"

So my guess is that if you login to http://beta.blogger.com or http://www.gmail.com with your gmail id then you will see an invite to become an author of this blog.

She's Leaving Home

I see this reference to some new "version" of Blogger. Any idea what that is?

There wasn't a URL referred to in your above comment, however it seems as if the new blogger beta is "invite only" - no mention of GA date.

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/08/new-blogger.html

Faster posting is promised due to not having to republish indices or something.

I use docs.google.com to make blog post updates, this is the old www.writely.com company that Google acquired, it's a nice editor, although I haven't worked out how to make the titles of posts stick.

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Have been doing Christmas shopping this weekend and will be writing a few cards to the family today, it's such a circus!

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And that might very well be the downfall of human civilization.

The downfall of human civilization and humans is, in my opinion, inevitable. I think I once mentioned that I was sitting in a pub .. heck it was last New Year's eve and here is part of my post:

Things are always changing aren't they?

This was brought home to me one day when I and a friend nipped into a pub in London during a rainy summer lunchtime in 2001. As I was enjoying my pint of Guinness, I looked at the water droplets slowly evaporating from my umbrella. I was spellbound. It gave me great comfort to see it. I am not sure why. Just to know that the clock is ticking, that change is always among us, even if we don't notice it - that nothing stays the same no matter how much we wish it would. For me, a "perfect" moment. Thank you Guinness :-)

That really was a "lightbulb moment" for me in life, in seeing that we humans have some kind of inbuilt desire for things that we like to remain constant but that they just will not. This includes things like civilizations, which clearly rise and fall, and "humanity" which I believe will change into something else. Humanity has a few paths it could take

1. Die out completely (an extinction by a large stone - "The Wormwood", global war that wipes out all life, etc)

2. Evolve into something else (perhaps after a not-quite-extinction-level-event in 1, perhaps through the radiation of a nuclear war)

3. Become a hybrid augment of human + computer

4. Just end when Judgement Day comes

5. Something else

Now, the Bones-me will say that (4) above will definitely happen. The Spock-me says that, having found a way to avert (1), then (3) above will definitely happen, so I am in a quandry :-) Do we need techology? For sure, because of The Wormwood. Do we need religion? I don't know, it causes friction between different religious groups, but does provide hope to many. Besides, it may well be the Absolute Truth, but which religion to choose? It's not like you can measure it for Truth, it comes down to a personal choice, and one in which where you are born has 99% of the influence in the choice you make. Imagine if scientific theories and experimental results were dependent on where the scientist was born? That's funny, how would the scientists ever get other labs around the world to reproduce their results? So nothing would move forwards. Do we need "one religion" or "no religion" or something else I wonder?

Note: There are different scientific theories for sure, but I don't see classical Newtonian believers throwing bombs at Einsteinians :-)

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If the devil is "prince" of this earthly realm, and his goal is the cast humanity into chaos and destruction, what could possibly be his gain?

Well, putting aside the fact that humanity might well change into something else for one moment ...

Tough questions, you have to place yourself in the frame of mind that the Earth is this battleground between an omnipotent being (God) and one of his turncoat superbeings (The Fallen Angel Satan), and that anything that happens on this battleground happens with full knowledge and foresight on behalf of the omnipotent being and that the turncoat superbeing knows that whatever he does comes within the plan of the omnipotent being. Ok I think that covers the "If" at the start of your question :-)

What could be his gain? I really don't know. Because whatever his game is - it would fall into the plan of the omnipotent being, therefore he is stuck. Whatever the turncoat superbeing does, even if he "does nothing" falls within the plan, so the turncoat may as well get on with it and stop complaining. He is perhaps caught in a pointless rage against the omnipotent being.

This doesn't sound very likely I know. What are your thoughts to his possible gain?

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"She's Leaving Home" - this is a lovely McCartney song from Pepper. I did a version on acoustic guitar but my voice is nowehere near that of Macca's - still it kinda works and I would love to have heard McCartney do it on an acoustic. The reason I dug this song out is that I had a "meeting" with Alice and the girls to discuss why Katherine wanted to come and live with me, as now Alice has agreed to drive the girls to their old schools everyday.

Katherine still wants to move in with me and the reason she gave at the meeting is that she doesn't trust her mother. Things have been said and not delivered, important promises have been broken. I watched Alice intently as she got this feedback from her daughter and I saw the emotions of anger and rage! The red line in the song below just popped into my head! The current plan is for my daughter to move in with me on my birthday, next Saturday December 16th and then for her to spend one night a week at Alice's (Thursday) and every other weekend there, we'll see, it's happy times but also very sad. The song:

Wednesday morning at five o'clock as the day begins
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more
She goes downstairs to the kitchen clutching her hankerchief

Quietly turning the backdoor key
Stepping outside she is free.

She (We gave her most of our lives)
is leaving (Sacrificed most of our lives)
home (We gave her everything money could buy)

She's leaving home after living alone for so many years. (Bye, bye)
Father snores as his wife gets into her dressing gown
Picks up the letter that's lying there
Standing alone at the top of the stairs
She breaks down and cries to her husband "daddy, our baby's gone."
Why would she treat us so thoughtlessly?
How could she do this to me?

She (We never thought of ourselves)
is leaving (Never a thought for ourselves)
home (We struggled hard all our lives to get by)
She's leaving home after living alone for so many years. (Bye, bye)

Friday morning at nine o'clock she is far away
Waiting to keep the appointment she made
Meeting a man from the motor trade.

She (What did we do that was wrong)
is having (We didn't know it was wrong)
fun (Fun is the one thing that money can't buy)

Something inside that was always denied for so many years. (Bye, bye)
She's leaving home. (Bye, bye)

The E to Bm/D in this song is so equisite, the way the melody just dips it's shoulders, that happens on the words in blue above.

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Congratulations to you Mr. Senior Cert. Well deserved :-)

New Blogger?

I see this reference to some new "version" of Blogger. Any idea what that is?

Perspectives

Your last post brought up an interesting point -- the perspective from which one views the words used makes a difference:

• Perspective from point of view of speaker -- then this is indeed a variant of the "Golden Rule" -- treat others as you would like to be treated.
  
• Perspective from point of view of observer -- then we fall headlong into the question of standards; that is, reference by which we measure the relative merit of the words one uses

The question -- and we've wrestled with this for a long time -- is whether or not there is an objective outside standard that can serve as a measuring stick for judging the words and actions of others. There seems to be something out there -- there are certain things everyone seems to agree upon. For instance, it's not a good thing to club a helpless infant to death. But it seems even that might come under scrutiny and debate in some circles. For example, the question of an infant born helplessly deformed with little chance of living. Clubbing it might still be agreed to as inhumane, but there seems a growing consensus to, at the very least , allow it to die with no medical intervention.

Increasingly I'm coming to the conclusion that arguing the question of objective truth is nearly hopeless, since so many people have jettisoned the idea that there can be any objective truth. So the debate has fundamentally shifted:

1. From: "What is the nature of objective truth?"
2. To: "Is there objective truth?"

If one is arguing from the position of #2, then there is absolutely no anchor point. So further discussion is pointless.

And that might very well be the downfall of human civilization.

With that I shift gears. If the devil is "prince" of this earthly realm, and his goal is the cast humanity into chaos and destruction, what could possibly be his gain? Let's say all the humans kill themselves off. Would that please or dismay the devil? Would he have accomplished his goal, or eliminated the source of his "power" such as it was?

An application of the Golden Rule?

So let's rephrase it:

If what you're about to say is intentionally hurtful, and serves no useful or constructive purpose, you should not say it.

Would that be an inarguable statement?

Well, fiirst of all there are probably no inarguable statements, including the one I just made, but putting that aside for now .. :-)

Let me ask you .. does "intentionally hurtful" here imply intent on the part of the deliverer of the statement, or "observed intent" on the part of a third party hearing the deliverer give the statement to the person that the statement is intended for?

It's a subtle point -- which I think is the one you are making, if it's the former then the problem is covered by "treat others as you wish to be treated" (specifically for this case the part that says "I wouldn't like someone to hurt me therefore I will not hurt them") so I don't see the need for a special case statement, of which the above may or may not be an inarguable example of, to cover this scenario.

If it's the latter, and what one says -- unintentionally on the part of the deliverer -- hurts another (I do that all the time, foot-in-mouth syndrome or mouth-engaged before brain syndrome) then there might be a special case statement required for this scenario, but it will along the lines of "really put yourself in the position of the other before you speak".

What do you think?

And yes I agree with the parts of utility and constructiveness (is that a word?) in some scenarios.

Examples, if I shout at my daughter to stop her running into the path of a speeding car, this is constructive (and harsh) indeed. But we have to be careful here, the "constructive" part of the statement is linked to an implied moralistic value, in this case being that "her life should be prolonged for as long as possible" -- and the benefit of her living outweighs the harsh words.

Harder are the times when you might go on a course to learn how to sell something. You may receive constructive criticism that tells you that your behavior needs to change to achieve the goal of selling more. So in this case the implication is that changing the way you behave is a good thing, because you will sell more. After all that is why you came on the class is it not? So then it is up to the individual to decide how he or she interprets the constructive criticism and what he or she does with it.

"Constructive" is a highly variable term I think. One persons "constructive" might be another persons "destructive" might it not?

If you can't say something nice ...

... don't say anything at all.

That's how the old saying goes. There's some wisdom in that.

Now, I got thinking ... is the sentiment contained within that always true? Is it always the case that if you can't say something nice you shouldn't say anything at all?

That got me thinking about the word "nice" there. Appropriate? How about "constructive?" Or "necessary?" What I'm getting at is there are times when the best course of action is to say something not nice ... but perhaps something that needs to be said ("necessary") and in so saying will actually help the recipient ("constructive").

So let's rephrase it:

If what you're about to say is intentionally hurtful, and serves no useful or constructive purpose, you should not say it.

Would that be an inarguable statement?

Microcosm

What has science fundamentally shown us about the Universe?

1. It seems to run on laws, ie. what happens over here, happens over there
2. When you examine it real close under a super-microscope it gets fuzzy and doesn't let you look at it

A whole bunch of other stuff too. But what do those two things tell us? Well, to me it's increasingly clear, from 1) the place has an architect and from 2) we're a simul running in some "ram" somewhere, the Matrix film makers got that bit "right" at least.

So maybe we'll all have our own Universe one day? Who knows - it's possible but unlikely. Why unlikely? Because the architect of the one we are in probably doesn't want the hassle :-)

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I hope that you are healing gum wise, have you decided what to do yet? Sometimes the "do nothing" option is the best.

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My daughter has another sleep over (slumber party?) this evening with three friends so I am relegated to the small room. Ah, the power of laptops.

Pretty Soon Everyone Will Have One ...

... universes, that is.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6545246

Um ... okay.

Back in the 80's there was a show called "Cheers" about a Boston bar and the regulars who inhabited it. One of my favorite lines was uttered by Dr. Frasier Crane, played by Kelsey Grammer:

"They can put a man on the moon, but we can't put foil in a microwave!"

My point? I see this talk about "creating universes" from "mini black holes" to be a lot of fanciful talk; the stuff of dreams. It'll never happen.

Now hitch up the horses ... I've got to go into town. Where's my buggy whip?