Where I work we spend a lot of money on hardware and software to keep things going. When I say hardware and software I am speaking of much more than just computers in the building network so folks can check email and surf the interweb. I work at a broadcast facility and we broadcast, over the air using the first real wireless technology, 5 television channels and 5 radio channels so you can imagine the amount of gadgets needed to do that, there are A LOT. Anyway in this day and age we have satellite receivers that are hardware devices that have firmware in them and are running software. We have an HD switcher on the television side that is controlled with a software GUI, or graphical user interface for those who may not know what that means. We did not even purchase the big fancy piece of hardware in that case, saving to the tune of about 20-25 grand if I remember correctly. On the radio side we have installed some cutting edge audio boards that also have software and firmware that run on an almost infinitely upgraded bit of ubiquitous hardware. The march of technology is just AMAZING and if you think it is crazy on the consumer side, times that by 100 and you begin to understand how that march of technology is impacting the broadcasters, or content distributors as some have started referring to themselves as now. To me it seems even the name is loosing its tangibility.
I have been at my place of employment for over 11 years, when I started we did not even broadcast the one channel of television we produced in stereo so you can imagine the changes that have taken place over that time to meet the digital conversion mandated by our government. It was mandated to by the way, this transition was not the broadcaster’s idea, a story for another day for sure. Anyway over that time we have spent literally millions of dollars towards upgrading our facility to make the conversion to digital, which we have done in radio and television. So as the technology has matured more and more gadgets that I would never have thought could be improved have indeed been improved. Things that used to take hours to adjust and align now are completed with a bit of software that is gathering telemetry data from key points and using those metrics to perform the adjustments automatically in almost real time. Those things are weird for me to watch but I do see the advantages, better, faster and more accurate, for example performing an alignment on the TV modulator in the transmitter used to take a few hours and would have to be performed on a regular basis. A software system now has tentacles into the transmitter and it monitors every aspect of the signal specification and automatically adjusts it keep the signal perfect all the time. AMAZING. No more use of a tangible device (the electronic geek’s tweaker) to keep the system operating at peak efficiency, some intangible piece of software running in the background on a Linux kernel does it for us.
That kind of leads me into the reason on got to thinking about this topic in the first place. We are working a project that requires electronic files to manipulated, these files are quite large and the hardware and software are very specific. Although it is possible to purchase both the hardware and software together, we were able to save some money by buying the hardware separately. The hardware is basically a server that has sixteen 2.6gig processors in it and 32gig of ram. Quite a machine when you think about it, the cumulative amount of processing is about 42gig – that number itself is truly incredible when you think about it, I remember vividly my first 486 computer that was running at a blazing 20megahetz and that was less than 20 years ago. Anyway the software is made by a company and I purchased it through a separate company that represents the manufacturer for sales of their product. I was told by my representative that I needed to tell him which components of the software I wanted and he would provide me a license key that would enable those functions, cool I thought. Then I am informed that I will have to go to a web site and download the software, at first I did not think much of it. After a few days I began to think more about that and the more I thought about it the more I wondered how can that be. Here is a software application that costs over 15 thousand dollars and I do not get anything tangible for that money, other than the bill that is mailed to us. I am old fashioned to some degree, I still like working on transmitters that have tubes, I still like and old Simpson 260 analog multimeter and when somebody gets 15k from me I want something I can touch. It is funny in another way to because this software and the other infrastructure we are putting in place will be replacing our use of tapes and moving all of our content to video and audio files. So the very purpose of this project is to do away with the tangible real time program delivery method of a tape machine and shifting it to an intangible computer file based system and for some reason I am mad about the software we are going to use to do it not being tangible. Something is wrong with me I know, recognizing the problem is always to first step to solving the problem but……….
So anyway I call my vendor and tell him about my dilemma and tell him before I pay the bill I need something tangible for my money. Now my vendor is a great guy and I have known him for a long time, over the course of our professional relationship we have developed a fantastic personal relationship as well so I did not feel uncomfortable telling him I wanted a disk. Now that I think about that I would have done that even if we did not get along. So he starts by laughing at me and then kind of makes a joke out of it, promising a customized disk with our logo and maybe even the license key printed on it. He also implied that maybe he would print out the manual as well for me, yes it does not even come with a printed manual just a small PDF file. He also started accusing me of being anti-green, the system is like that to save the resources of the planet, he said ( I am paraphrasing but that is what I heard) on and on he went on that tangent. What is the right answer, tangible products for 15k or not? The real question for me was “why do I really care” if I get a disk or not and what difference will it make in the long run. Well I came to the conclusion that my buddy was right, it is more ecologically sound to not waste the resources on a plastic compact disk that haunt the planet in a land fill for the next 23,456 years. As far as the manual I do print those out because I have found as I get older it is harder for me to read manuals from the computer screen. I am a geek and one of my hobbies is to read technical manuals, leave me alone, it helps me relax. So just like my music library at home – gone are the CD’s (tangible real time hardware) and in are the music files in MP3’s (intangible, non linear, file based ether ware). You know after reading through this I realized it may have sounded like I am against the march of new technologies, the exact opposite is true, I love it, all the things we can do with technology are truly amazing and has turned out to be what I do, how lucky am I to get to do the hobby I love at work and get paid for it.
What are you doing for the environment?
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
For those who drink coffee it is truly the nectar of the Gods
Although not introduced to Europe until the 15th century coffee has been around for a long time. It was first consumed in the highlands of Ethiopia in the 9th century, where one species of the small evergreen like bush grew like weeds. From there its use spread over the Muslim world like a caffeine addict scratching and itch, first to Egypt and Yemen and then onto Azerbaijan, Persia, Turkey and Northern Africa. Northern Africa by the way is the first place the bushes were mass cultivated and grown. Its first foray into Europe was Italy and then quickly from there to France, Germany, Poland and Spain. It looks like the first recorded reference to coffee being drunk in North America is from 1668 but I find it hard to believe, although maybe I shouldn’t, since the bushes will not grow on the North American continent and without Hawaii and Puerto Rico we would be coffee barren.
The word coffee, I found, entered the English vernacular in 1598 via the Italian word caffè. The Italian word caffè was a translation from the Turkish word kahve, which in turn came into being via Arabic qahwa, this was truncated version of qahhwat al-bun or wine of the bean. There are many legendary stories about the origins of the drink itself. One account involves the Yemenite Sufi mystic Shaikh ash-Shadhil and it seems that while he was the traversing the highlands of Ethiopia he observed goats of unusual vitality. After watching and experimenting he found that if he ate this one particular berry that the goats were eating he to experienced a renewed vitality. A similar myth attributes the discovery of coffee to an Ethiopian goat-herder named Kaldi and the Legend of Dancing Goats, the dancing goats are a story for another day though. Another possible origin of both the beverage and the name was the Kingdom of Kaffa in Ethiopia, where the coffee plant originated, its name there is bunn or bunna. As you may or may not know Bunn is today a leader in commercial coffee brewing machines, coincidence – I think not. Since in Islam the use of alcohol as a beverage is prohibited coffee seemed to provide a suitable alternative to wine, or so it would seem.
Originally coffee was not consumed in the form we know it today. It was not until 1000 A.D. that it was brewed into something that resembles what we drink today for the caffeine boost. Before that the Arabs used it exclusively for medicinal or religious purposes. Obviously the feeling of exhilaration from the caffeine of the drink became a widely sought-after side effect. One popular legend tells of Sheik Omar experimenting with brewing some coffee from raw wild coffee berries. Thanks in part to the beneficial effects of the caffeine, the Sheik survives his exile and upon his return to Mocha, introduced his new way of preparing the drink. Bless Sheik Omar is what I say! The Arabs continued to refine their methods of preparing the drink for many years, over 300 to be exact. Originally coffee drinkers drank the grounds right along with the boiled water, talk about a caffeine buzz. Eventually they figured out how to get just the liquid, by letting the grounds to settle at the bottom of the cup. It did not take long for coffee to become so important in their lives that in Turkey a husband who refused to provide his wife with the drink could be divorced by her!
The coffee berries, which contain the coffee bean, are produced by several species of small evergreen bush of the genus coffea. The two most commonly grown species are coffea robusta and coffea arabica. Some of the less popular species include Liberica, Excelsa, Stenophylla, Mauritiana, Racemosa and are cultivated in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried, once the bean has been extracted they are then roasted. Those processes actually create several physical and chemical changes in the beans. Some controversy is associated with coffee cultivation, as it is with everything, because of the perception by some of its negative impact on the environment. As a counter to those claims others have studied it to death looking for a relationship between coffee consumption and certain medical conditions - the overall effects of whether coffee has a positive or negative impact is still heavily disputed.
These more recent debates are not the first for coffee, it has played an important role in many societies throughout history. It was used in religious ceremonies in Africa and Yemen and as a result the Ethiopian Church banned its secular consumption. It was not until the reign of Emperor Menelik II that it allowed back into society. Coffee became more widely accepted in Europe after it was "baptized" by Pope Clement VIII in 1600 despite appeals to ban the Muslim drink. It was banned in the Ottoman empire in the 17th century for political reasons because it was associated with rebellious political activities in Europe. At one time women were banned from even going into the coffee houses of the day. Although the practice was not universal, it does appear to have been common in Europe. Who knew is what I keep asking myself as I write this.
I was surprised when I found Germany to be the second largest consumer of coffee, 16lbs of the beans per person per year. I was not, however, surprised by the fact the United States is the world's largest consumer of coffee. We caffeine addicts import a mere 16 to 20 million bags annually, or 2.5 million pounds of the beans. This represents one-third of all coffee exported worldwide. I found that more than half of the United States population consumes coffee, that is like 152 million people, and considering the typical coffee drinker slugs down 3.4 cups of coffee per day I am glad that half of China’s population does not consume coffee. Imagine what 665 million people drinking 3.4 cups a day would do to the price and availability of our godly nectar. I was surprised, although I shouldn’t have been, that coffee is the second most traded product in the world after petroleum. World wide coffee production tips the scales at about 6 million metric tons. Another limited resource that us Americans are addicted to and considering it takes five years for a coffee tree to reach maturity and the average yield from one tree is the equivalent of one roasted pound of coffee we could be in serious trouble if the coffee fields fall into the wrong hands. I say we send troops to Brazil in a preemptive attempt to secure the over 3,970 million coffee trees currently planted and producing there. After we get those plants secured we need to move onto Colombia, they are second in production with approximately 2646 million plants. You know what on second thought, since coffee is the world's seventh-largest legal agricultural export by value I say we go ahead - invade and secure the 12 counties where it is the top agricultural export.
I mean seriously can you imagine a day without coffee?
The word coffee, I found, entered the English vernacular in 1598 via the Italian word caffè. The Italian word caffè was a translation from the Turkish word kahve, which in turn came into being via Arabic qahwa, this was truncated version of qahhwat al-bun or wine of the bean. There are many legendary stories about the origins of the drink itself. One account involves the Yemenite Sufi mystic Shaikh ash-Shadhil and it seems that while he was the traversing the highlands of Ethiopia he observed goats of unusual vitality. After watching and experimenting he found that if he ate this one particular berry that the goats were eating he to experienced a renewed vitality. A similar myth attributes the discovery of coffee to an Ethiopian goat-herder named Kaldi and the Legend of Dancing Goats, the dancing goats are a story for another day though. Another possible origin of both the beverage and the name was the Kingdom of Kaffa in Ethiopia, where the coffee plant originated, its name there is bunn or bunna. As you may or may not know Bunn is today a leader in commercial coffee brewing machines, coincidence – I think not. Since in Islam the use of alcohol as a beverage is prohibited coffee seemed to provide a suitable alternative to wine, or so it would seem.
Originally coffee was not consumed in the form we know it today. It was not until 1000 A.D. that it was brewed into something that resembles what we drink today for the caffeine boost. Before that the Arabs used it exclusively for medicinal or religious purposes. Obviously the feeling of exhilaration from the caffeine of the drink became a widely sought-after side effect. One popular legend tells of Sheik Omar experimenting with brewing some coffee from raw wild coffee berries. Thanks in part to the beneficial effects of the caffeine, the Sheik survives his exile and upon his return to Mocha, introduced his new way of preparing the drink. Bless Sheik Omar is what I say! The Arabs continued to refine their methods of preparing the drink for many years, over 300 to be exact. Originally coffee drinkers drank the grounds right along with the boiled water, talk about a caffeine buzz. Eventually they figured out how to get just the liquid, by letting the grounds to settle at the bottom of the cup. It did not take long for coffee to become so important in their lives that in Turkey a husband who refused to provide his wife with the drink could be divorced by her!
The coffee berries, which contain the coffee bean, are produced by several species of small evergreen bush of the genus coffea. The two most commonly grown species are coffea robusta and coffea arabica. Some of the less popular species include Liberica, Excelsa, Stenophylla, Mauritiana, Racemosa and are cultivated in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried, once the bean has been extracted they are then roasted. Those processes actually create several physical and chemical changes in the beans. Some controversy is associated with coffee cultivation, as it is with everything, because of the perception by some of its negative impact on the environment. As a counter to those claims others have studied it to death looking for a relationship between coffee consumption and certain medical conditions - the overall effects of whether coffee has a positive or negative impact is still heavily disputed.
These more recent debates are not the first for coffee, it has played an important role in many societies throughout history. It was used in religious ceremonies in Africa and Yemen and as a result the Ethiopian Church banned its secular consumption. It was not until the reign of Emperor Menelik II that it allowed back into society. Coffee became more widely accepted in Europe after it was "baptized" by Pope Clement VIII in 1600 despite appeals to ban the Muslim drink. It was banned in the Ottoman empire in the 17th century for political reasons because it was associated with rebellious political activities in Europe. At one time women were banned from even going into the coffee houses of the day. Although the practice was not universal, it does appear to have been common in Europe. Who knew is what I keep asking myself as I write this.
I was surprised when I found Germany to be the second largest consumer of coffee, 16lbs of the beans per person per year. I was not, however, surprised by the fact the United States is the world's largest consumer of coffee. We caffeine addicts import a mere 16 to 20 million bags annually, or 2.5 million pounds of the beans. This represents one-third of all coffee exported worldwide. I found that more than half of the United States population consumes coffee, that is like 152 million people, and considering the typical coffee drinker slugs down 3.4 cups of coffee per day I am glad that half of China’s population does not consume coffee. Imagine what 665 million people drinking 3.4 cups a day would do to the price and availability of our godly nectar. I was surprised, although I shouldn’t have been, that coffee is the second most traded product in the world after petroleum. World wide coffee production tips the scales at about 6 million metric tons. Another limited resource that us Americans are addicted to and considering it takes five years for a coffee tree to reach maturity and the average yield from one tree is the equivalent of one roasted pound of coffee we could be in serious trouble if the coffee fields fall into the wrong hands. I say we send troops to Brazil in a preemptive attempt to secure the over 3,970 million coffee trees currently planted and producing there. After we get those plants secured we need to move onto Colombia, they are second in production with approximately 2646 million plants. You know what on second thought, since coffee is the world's seventh-largest legal agricultural export by value I say we go ahead - invade and secure the 12 counties where it is the top agricultural export.
I mean seriously can you imagine a day without coffee?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
An addendum to yesterdays post
Ya know after rereading my post from yesterday I sure did come off like a very cold person. That is not the case. In my attempt to explain to my niece that her life is her life and she should not allow others to stifle her I think I sounded like I might eat my oatmeal cold. I want to try to dispel that feeling, mostly for myself but also for those who may not know me as well as others.
What I was trying to get across was the importance of our courage of our convictions and how important in life that is. Courage or fortitude is the most important of all virtues, without the courage of our own convictions how can any other virtues be freely practiced? Courage is the foundation that is laid which allows us to consistently, and without moral or ethical conflict, practice or live up to any other virtues. For example, without moral fortitude how can you properly judge your reasons for action with regard to appropriateness in a context, the virtue prudence. Without strong courage you may follow the crowd, you may not be strong enough to overcome a stronger negative personality. How would you be able to practice temperance or self-control, abstention, and moderation in all things without that courage of your convictions. It is hard to steer away from the pack, especially when you are younger and I think that is because you have not developed your convictions in a strong enough way.
Another virtue that would be on shaky ground without the foundation of courage is ones sense of basic human justice, or the proper judgment regarding individual human interests and rights. That leads nicely into Hope, the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. Hope is the feeling that what we want can be attained and that things will turn out for the best. Hopefulness is different then optimism in that hope is more an emotional state of mind and optimism is a conclusion reached through a deliberate thought pattern that leads to a positive attitude. With the courage of ones convictions how could one ever effectively and in a meaningful way have faith, in anything religious or otherwise.
So, I feel strongly that to able to consistently look and like who looks back from the mirror we have to keep our spirit from being bruised we must have courage, that quality of endurance and ability to confront fear and uncertainty, or intimidation while remaining lenient in our judgment of those who would judge us. For me, everything in my life is based in that courage of my convictions.
What I was trying to get across was the importance of our courage of our convictions and how important in life that is. Courage or fortitude is the most important of all virtues, without the courage of our own convictions how can any other virtues be freely practiced? Courage is the foundation that is laid which allows us to consistently, and without moral or ethical conflict, practice or live up to any other virtues. For example, without moral fortitude how can you properly judge your reasons for action with regard to appropriateness in a context, the virtue prudence. Without strong courage you may follow the crowd, you may not be strong enough to overcome a stronger negative personality. How would you be able to practice temperance or self-control, abstention, and moderation in all things without that courage of your convictions. It is hard to steer away from the pack, especially when you are younger and I think that is because you have not developed your convictions in a strong enough way.
Another virtue that would be on shaky ground without the foundation of courage is ones sense of basic human justice, or the proper judgment regarding individual human interests and rights. That leads nicely into Hope, the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. Hope is the feeling that what we want can be attained and that things will turn out for the best. Hopefulness is different then optimism in that hope is more an emotional state of mind and optimism is a conclusion reached through a deliberate thought pattern that leads to a positive attitude. With the courage of ones convictions how could one ever effectively and in a meaningful way have faith, in anything religious or otherwise.
So, I feel strongly that to able to consistently look and like who looks back from the mirror we have to keep our spirit from being bruised we must have courage, that quality of endurance and ability to confront fear and uncertainty, or intimidation while remaining lenient in our judgment of those who would judge us. For me, everything in my life is based in that courage of my convictions.
Monday, May 25, 2009
This one is an attempt to explain to my Niece one of the harsh realities of life. You have to guess which one of my 9 nieces it is for
I am not sure why but it seems to me that a lot of people like to sit in righteous judgment of others and I have some theories on why that is and some techniques that worked for me when confronted with that type of situation. One of the constants (in my experience and opinion) that I have found about folks who, in usually a holy than thou way, judge you against their mold of what life is supposed to be are often just jealous of the possibilities your have created with your life. I almost said “life has offered you” but one cold harsh reality is nothing in life is offered - without requiring a payment of somekind. Sometimes, I think, they are a little pissed about the locked in life of apparent misery they are forced to endure because of choices they made, or more importantly did not make. Wow that sounds harsh when I type it down in black and white but that is what I have found to be true in my life. I am not sure how people get to that place in their lives and I am only speculating but it could be the poor decisions that lead them to a jaded and sanctimonious perspective on life maybe. Maybe they have let life beat them into normalcy, or their narrow defined view of what normalcy might be. Maybe they believe everything they see and hear in the media and have not learned to ALWAYS and VIGOROUSLY question everything. I do not know the why but I do know that no matter how entrenched in the sea of negativity they might be, no matter how close to being all out a**()^’s they might be - there is hope for them to see the light of freedom, more on that in a moment.
There is one group who have a special ability to severely hurt us in very painful ways, in a way only a person who is deeply trusted can and that is our own family. Why is that? It is because, by and large, we give our family an unquestioned blanket of trust, no questions, we just give that to them because society has trained us to do so since birth. Why is that, a family member can be as big a jerk as the next guy. Most of the time they can be even worse simply because they know you in ways that others may not – they know what buttons work and trample them at their convenience. That has lead me, a long time ago, to stop the insanity in that regard. A pecker head is a pecker head no matter if the same blood runs through our veins or not. I do not give my family special privilege over me, they are treated like everyone else and must earn my trust before receiving it, why, give anyone a blanket trust and therefore the power over you? It is unfair and the match is fixed when it comes to family members sitting in judgment, they will get you every time, if you let them. The important thing to remember is that you are the one who has to look in the mirror every morning and most of the time you will not see anyone looking over your shoulder at you. So you have to live within your own convictions and if others do not like it – GOOD for them, but their self-righteous attitude can not be allowed to affect you or how you live your life. Don’t get me wrong I love every member of my family, I just chose not to give them to ability to adversely affect my well being by giving them the blanket of trust.
Lord knows I have created a lot of hate and discontent amongst my family members and I recognize that I am an equal opportunity offender, parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, siblings and even in-laws, I do not think I have spared anyone over the years. You know what though, I have not lost any sleep over it for a long, long time - not one wink. While that may go over like a fart in church most times, why do we care, especially if someone is attempting to be what they think is virtuous? I know it sounds harsh but you know what – it is your life and NO ONE has the right to tell you how to lead it, like Granny used to say “your 3 times 7” meaning when you hit 21 years of age it is all you! If you allow others to have the power over you it is NOT their fault, it is yours for not stopping it. Do I regret any of those choices in my life – NO. Should I maybe have been more diplomatic – Maybe, would the outcome still be the same – yes because I will not allow others to sit in judgment and wax philosophical about what my life should be, from their narrow perspective.
Earlier I said, “I do not know the why but I do know that no matter how entrenched in the sea of negativity they are, no matter how close to being all out A$*$^&#’s they are there is hope for them to see the light of freedom” and that brings to mind a question. Is it incumbent upon us to help them see that light? NO, every ones light of freedom is different and most attempts to provide assistance will be seen as judging them, the exact thing we get pissed and hurt by when done to us. We have to guard against that type of situation, I try very hard not to judge those family members I have had disagreements with and currently have forgiven each of them for whatever the situation was. Again that goes to being able to sleep and I found that not being able to forgive allows that bitterness to fester and then they have succeeded in drawing you into their world. It is a tricky rope to walk without becoming the very thing we loath but at this point in my life I have reached that balance and am at peace – I like the weirdo who looks back at me from the mirror and in a way that feels free and easy and that is what brings me peace.
I will never say, on my death bed or anywhere else, that I wished I would have fixed or nurtured this relationship or that relationship, if I wanted to do so I would do so today. That kind of speaks to the way you must live to be truly content with who you are, you can’t live your life with or in analysis paralyses, make the decision and move on. Sounds easy enough but it takes practice to be able to actually do it. I have no regrets in my life, not one and I would not go back and relive any of it! Wanting to go back and relive it implies you may change something about your life, if you want to change it you have to change it in the here and now, if you wait until later it is too late. For me, living my life that way has been very satisfying. It will require you to perform some soul searching for it to work, you must know who you are, even the ugly stuff. That you will find is a daily ritual, the soul searching part, and each days decisions need analyzed carefully and put into perspective before the day passes. When flying south with the birds, you will have a unique perspective on the situation, this will allow you to see the problems and recognize them for what they are, small and insignificant and just not worth your time and they should not be allowed to affect your life, not for a day or even minute. Remember the 5-10-15 rule I apply to situations like this. What difference will their opinion make on your life in 5 minutes, what difference will their opinion make on your life in 10 days and what difference will their opinion make on your life in 15 years. You may occasionally find that in 5minutes it might make some difference, rarely will you find it to matter in 10 days or never for me have I found in 15 years it made any difference.
Keep your chin up kiddo – and just like I said here, you can take this for what it is, someone else’s opinion. You will need to find your own balance and remember when folks accuse you running away or hiding just remind them you are running – running from their pessimistic judgmental attitude and hiding from their narrow minded divisive misery with the hopes it will not wear off on you.
There is one group who have a special ability to severely hurt us in very painful ways, in a way only a person who is deeply trusted can and that is our own family. Why is that? It is because, by and large, we give our family an unquestioned blanket of trust, no questions, we just give that to them because society has trained us to do so since birth. Why is that, a family member can be as big a jerk as the next guy. Most of the time they can be even worse simply because they know you in ways that others may not – they know what buttons work and trample them at their convenience. That has lead me, a long time ago, to stop the insanity in that regard. A pecker head is a pecker head no matter if the same blood runs through our veins or not. I do not give my family special privilege over me, they are treated like everyone else and must earn my trust before receiving it, why, give anyone a blanket trust and therefore the power over you? It is unfair and the match is fixed when it comes to family members sitting in judgment, they will get you every time, if you let them. The important thing to remember is that you are the one who has to look in the mirror every morning and most of the time you will not see anyone looking over your shoulder at you. So you have to live within your own convictions and if others do not like it – GOOD for them, but their self-righteous attitude can not be allowed to affect you or how you live your life. Don’t get me wrong I love every member of my family, I just chose not to give them to ability to adversely affect my well being by giving them the blanket of trust.
Lord knows I have created a lot of hate and discontent amongst my family members and I recognize that I am an equal opportunity offender, parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, siblings and even in-laws, I do not think I have spared anyone over the years. You know what though, I have not lost any sleep over it for a long, long time - not one wink. While that may go over like a fart in church most times, why do we care, especially if someone is attempting to be what they think is virtuous? I know it sounds harsh but you know what – it is your life and NO ONE has the right to tell you how to lead it, like Granny used to say “your 3 times 7” meaning when you hit 21 years of age it is all you! If you allow others to have the power over you it is NOT their fault, it is yours for not stopping it. Do I regret any of those choices in my life – NO. Should I maybe have been more diplomatic – Maybe, would the outcome still be the same – yes because I will not allow others to sit in judgment and wax philosophical about what my life should be, from their narrow perspective.
Earlier I said, “I do not know the why but I do know that no matter how entrenched in the sea of negativity they are, no matter how close to being all out A$*$^&#’s they are there is hope for them to see the light of freedom” and that brings to mind a question. Is it incumbent upon us to help them see that light? NO, every ones light of freedom is different and most attempts to provide assistance will be seen as judging them, the exact thing we get pissed and hurt by when done to us. We have to guard against that type of situation, I try very hard not to judge those family members I have had disagreements with and currently have forgiven each of them for whatever the situation was. Again that goes to being able to sleep and I found that not being able to forgive allows that bitterness to fester and then they have succeeded in drawing you into their world. It is a tricky rope to walk without becoming the very thing we loath but at this point in my life I have reached that balance and am at peace – I like the weirdo who looks back at me from the mirror and in a way that feels free and easy and that is what brings me peace.
I will never say, on my death bed or anywhere else, that I wished I would have fixed or nurtured this relationship or that relationship, if I wanted to do so I would do so today. That kind of speaks to the way you must live to be truly content with who you are, you can’t live your life with or in analysis paralyses, make the decision and move on. Sounds easy enough but it takes practice to be able to actually do it. I have no regrets in my life, not one and I would not go back and relive any of it! Wanting to go back and relive it implies you may change something about your life, if you want to change it you have to change it in the here and now, if you wait until later it is too late. For me, living my life that way has been very satisfying. It will require you to perform some soul searching for it to work, you must know who you are, even the ugly stuff. That you will find is a daily ritual, the soul searching part, and each days decisions need analyzed carefully and put into perspective before the day passes. When flying south with the birds, you will have a unique perspective on the situation, this will allow you to see the problems and recognize them for what they are, small and insignificant and just not worth your time and they should not be allowed to affect your life, not for a day or even minute. Remember the 5-10-15 rule I apply to situations like this. What difference will their opinion make on your life in 5 minutes, what difference will their opinion make on your life in 10 days and what difference will their opinion make on your life in 15 years. You may occasionally find that in 5minutes it might make some difference, rarely will you find it to matter in 10 days or never for me have I found in 15 years it made any difference.
Keep your chin up kiddo – and just like I said here, you can take this for what it is, someone else’s opinion. You will need to find your own balance and remember when folks accuse you running away or hiding just remind them you are running – running from their pessimistic judgmental attitude and hiding from their narrow minded divisive misery with the hopes it will not wear off on you.
Friday, May 22, 2009
As a techie I loved the new Star Trek movie, As a Trekkie I thought it was below par.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie, lots of incredible special effects, pretty good story line, lots of beautiful people – everything a movie needs to succeed. But being a die hard Trekkie I thought it could have done much better. I get the alternative time line and all, as soon as Nero come through time and met Kirk’s father the correct time line had been polluted and with events as substantial as what happened there was no way for those events not to contaminate and distort the original time line. But we have become accustomed to a specific sequence of events and a already established timeline, to alter, or pollute, it now would force us to believe in something, in our time and lives, that is only theory, hard to compute. And if it were actually that different of a time line why did so many events still follow the course that the original time line followed? Part of who Jim Kirk was is based on who he was growing up, are we supposed to believe that growing up in the absence of his father allowed him become the youngest Captain in Star Fleet? Reaching Captain was not a feat he accomplished until he was 31 in the original timeline (OT from now on), and he was not the youngest when he did it, and his father was present when he received the command.
So what is this red matter anyway, without which, Nero would not have been so pissed at Ambassador Spock anyway? Some say that the volatility of red matter is liken to the theoretic properties of red mercury, a material whose properties are very troublesome -- and with good reason...that is, if this stuff is really as nasty as they say it is. References to red mercury began to appear in major Russian and western media sources in the late 1980s. The articles were never specific as to what exactly red mercury was, but nevertheless claimed it was of great importance and was used in the building of boosted fission weapons. I suspect red matter is a similar hoax. When you compare such a theoretical substance to say a Dyson Sphere (or shell as it appeared in the original paper) is a hypothetical mega-structure originally described by Freemon Dyson, it does not hold up. He postulated a "sphere" would be a system of orbiting solar powered satellites meant to completely encompass a star and capture most or all of its energy output. Dyson speculated that such structures would be the logical consequence of the long-term survival and escalating energy needs of a technological civilization, and proposed that searching for evidence of the existence of such structures might lead to the detection of advanced intelligent extraterrestrial life. A Dyson Shpere is at least based in scientific theory, not tabloid speculation. Even the ancient Hirogen communication grid, which included a great number of arrays all built around quantum singularities was at least somewhat believable.
I remember speculating with Bride the day before watching the movie that it may be somewhat weird, the first of 11 movies where we do not know and have not seen these actors playing Star Trek characters from one of the five television series. No William Shatner, no Brent Spiner, no Kate Mulgrew, no Michael Dorn, and certainly no Lenard Nimoy, sure these new folks would be playing characters we knew but we would not have come to know them over time and did not have any idea how the actors and actresses would inhabit the characters. I was not sure how that was going to work, part of the joy that comes from a Trek Movie is that familiarity, at least for me. Someone let it slip right before I got to see the movie that Lenard Nimoy had a cameo, at first I thought OK time travel it is possible. I was stunned on how much it appeared they leaned on Nimoy, the whole story seemed pinned to the old Spock and I thought they could have done better so I was disappointed in that regard. Another thing I found strangely insulting was the continuous use of the lingo from the original series. I understand these folks are playing the same characters but it seemed odd to hear someone playing a young Doctor McCoy saying damn it Jim. I also did not like hearing Lenard Nimoy referencing back through the movies for comments – I am, and always will be your friend from the Wrath of Khan for example cheapened it for me. This was an opportunity to start a new franchise, which I have been waiting for since the “Enterprise” came on television, not even Scott Bakula playing Jonathan Archer could save that terribly written mess. I had pinned my hopes on a collapsing star. I was seriously bummed because I loved Quantum Leap.
I am not sure what I expected when I went to see the movie and in some ways I wish I did not know what Sto-vo-kor was and who went there when the died or who guarded it sacred halls. I wish I did not know who the Jem’Hadar are or know who they were slaves too, or why the Jem'Hadar attacked through the wormhole and I wish I did not understand why ketracel-white was important to them. I wish I did not know of the temporal cold war or the mysterious entity from the 27th century who used the Cabal, a group of genetically upgraded Suliban, to manipulate the timeline and change past events. I wish I knew nothing of the Continuum or the omnipotent beings who called it home. I wish I knew nothing of Tom Parris’s fascination with old hot rods or anything about the hot headedness of B'Elanna Torres. I wish I had never heard of Shakari or Sarek or know that the fal-tor-pan is a risky ceremony. I wish there was no formula for clear aluminum and I wish Dr. Tolian Soran was never born or at least never got ripped from the Nexis. I wish I did not even know what a Reman Praetor was let alone that when Shinzon held the post he was actually the product of a failed experiment using cloning technology. I know the episode, Plato’s Stepchildren had the ground breaking first interracial kiss ever on television, it was between Jim Kirk and Nyota Uhura so to see her and Spock sucking face in this movie was disconcerting for me. I so wish I did not know any of those things, but I do and so do lots of loyal Trekkie’s.
So how do we die-hards address the inconsistencies of the new movie? We don’t, maybe our day has past, maybe this is a movie series for a new demographic, maybe we true Trek fans no longer fall into the category of “desired demographic” and we are being replaced by a younger more affluent group. I am not sure how they can go back to the original timeline with the next movie, don’t they know the reason for the success of the franchise is based on the extreme attention to detail and ensuring they follow the original story lines, something that will now be hard to go back to. If this new time line (story line) is allowed to continue it invalidates everything else we already know about Star Trek.
Who knows for sure where this odyssey will take us?
I did really enjoy my first IMAX movie and overall I did enjoy the movie, being a Trekkie just made it harder for me.
So what is this red matter anyway, without which, Nero would not have been so pissed at Ambassador Spock anyway? Some say that the volatility of red matter is liken to the theoretic properties of red mercury, a material whose properties are very troublesome -- and with good reason...that is, if this stuff is really as nasty as they say it is. References to red mercury began to appear in major Russian and western media sources in the late 1980s. The articles were never specific as to what exactly red mercury was, but nevertheless claimed it was of great importance and was used in the building of boosted fission weapons. I suspect red matter is a similar hoax. When you compare such a theoretical substance to say a Dyson Sphere (or shell as it appeared in the original paper) is a hypothetical mega-structure originally described by Freemon Dyson, it does not hold up. He postulated a "sphere" would be a system of orbiting solar powered satellites meant to completely encompass a star and capture most or all of its energy output. Dyson speculated that such structures would be the logical consequence of the long-term survival and escalating energy needs of a technological civilization, and proposed that searching for evidence of the existence of such structures might lead to the detection of advanced intelligent extraterrestrial life. A Dyson Shpere is at least based in scientific theory, not tabloid speculation. Even the ancient Hirogen communication grid, which included a great number of arrays all built around quantum singularities was at least somewhat believable.
I remember speculating with Bride the day before watching the movie that it may be somewhat weird, the first of 11 movies where we do not know and have not seen these actors playing Star Trek characters from one of the five television series. No William Shatner, no Brent Spiner, no Kate Mulgrew, no Michael Dorn, and certainly no Lenard Nimoy, sure these new folks would be playing characters we knew but we would not have come to know them over time and did not have any idea how the actors and actresses would inhabit the characters. I was not sure how that was going to work, part of the joy that comes from a Trek Movie is that familiarity, at least for me. Someone let it slip right before I got to see the movie that Lenard Nimoy had a cameo, at first I thought OK time travel it is possible. I was stunned on how much it appeared they leaned on Nimoy, the whole story seemed pinned to the old Spock and I thought they could have done better so I was disappointed in that regard. Another thing I found strangely insulting was the continuous use of the lingo from the original series. I understand these folks are playing the same characters but it seemed odd to hear someone playing a young Doctor McCoy saying damn it Jim. I also did not like hearing Lenard Nimoy referencing back through the movies for comments – I am, and always will be your friend from the Wrath of Khan for example cheapened it for me. This was an opportunity to start a new franchise, which I have been waiting for since the “Enterprise” came on television, not even Scott Bakula playing Jonathan Archer could save that terribly written mess. I had pinned my hopes on a collapsing star. I was seriously bummed because I loved Quantum Leap.
I am not sure what I expected when I went to see the movie and in some ways I wish I did not know what Sto-vo-kor was and who went there when the died or who guarded it sacred halls. I wish I did not know who the Jem’Hadar are or know who they were slaves too, or why the Jem'Hadar attacked through the wormhole and I wish I did not understand why ketracel-white was important to them. I wish I did not know of the temporal cold war or the mysterious entity from the 27th century who used the Cabal, a group of genetically upgraded Suliban, to manipulate the timeline and change past events. I wish I knew nothing of the Continuum or the omnipotent beings who called it home. I wish I knew nothing of Tom Parris’s fascination with old hot rods or anything about the hot headedness of B'Elanna Torres. I wish I had never heard of Shakari or Sarek or know that the fal-tor-pan is a risky ceremony. I wish there was no formula for clear aluminum and I wish Dr. Tolian Soran was never born or at least never got ripped from the Nexis. I wish I did not even know what a Reman Praetor was let alone that when Shinzon held the post he was actually the product of a failed experiment using cloning technology. I know the episode, Plato’s Stepchildren had the ground breaking first interracial kiss ever on television, it was between Jim Kirk and Nyota Uhura so to see her and Spock sucking face in this movie was disconcerting for me. I so wish I did not know any of those things, but I do and so do lots of loyal Trekkie’s.
So how do we die-hards address the inconsistencies of the new movie? We don’t, maybe our day has past, maybe this is a movie series for a new demographic, maybe we true Trek fans no longer fall into the category of “desired demographic” and we are being replaced by a younger more affluent group. I am not sure how they can go back to the original timeline with the next movie, don’t they know the reason for the success of the franchise is based on the extreme attention to detail and ensuring they follow the original story lines, something that will now be hard to go back to. If this new time line (story line) is allowed to continue it invalidates everything else we already know about Star Trek.
Who knows for sure where this odyssey will take us?
I did really enjoy my first IMAX movie and overall I did enjoy the movie, being a Trekkie just made it harder for me.
Friday, May 15, 2009
The pursuit of happiness – a pipe dream or maybe even a pipe bomb dream.
If I were a guessing man, and as you know I am, I would bet the second most asked question in this life - behind "Why am I here?" - is, "How do I find happiness?" I may have the order reversed but I think those two are at the top. Chasing happiness is what we are all engaged in each and every day, even though I don’t think many of us even recognize it. So I started pondering - Why does it seem that happiness runs hot and cold for most and is very dependent and unpredictable? To be brutally honest - the fact is that we can't all be happy all of the time! For most of us (above 99%) our pursuit of happiness alone always and ultimately ends in frustration for us. The term “life’s a bitch and then you die” has some hard truth in it………. If you allow it. We so often base our happiness on things that outside of our control, external factors, if I get this raise I will be happy, if I lose this last 20 pounds I will be happy and on and on. My Mom used to say A LOT that “what if can go on forever” and when I was a kid, I did not have a full understanding of exactly what that meant. I am not sure my definition now is what she had in mind when she said it but “what if can go on forever” has taken on significant meaning to me now.
What if could go on forever – meaning we could spend our lives worrying about the raise, the last 20 pounds or whatever we think will make us happy. In the meantime we miss the ride because we are so focused on the achieving the goal, when I get this raise I will be happy because I will be able to do so and so with the extra money. Well if the raise never comes it tends to dash, violently against the rocks, our happiness. That approach has a more important resultant factor as well, it does not bring happiness but actually brings the inverse of happiness. We get upset and angry about it and then we get into a cycle that has the potential to make us jaded about the sheer wonder of life and of the beauty that surrounds us. So how do we get out of this vicious cycle? For me I gave up on the chase for happiness because I found it a futile cause. WHAT you might ask – especially for those who know me to be a fairly balanced dude who seems happy most of the time. What I found as a solution to the “life is a bitch and then you die” scenario was to learn to become content, because unlike happiness contentment is something that CAN last because it is not tied to external factors. It is something that CAN be enjoyed all of the time.
Contentment, in life, is the solid foundation upon which happiness and most other emotions can most easily express itself. Yet contented people do not depend on happiness for satisfaction in their life. I am not saying that I have no happiness in my life, I lead a very fulfilling life and happiness does arise now and again and when it does I savor and cherish it. I have faced adversities in my life, like all of us, but during those moments of struggle and strife when happiness seems impossible I still cope and still derive satisfaction from life. To me contentment is about eagerly accepting and embracing what are lives are, not what we want our lives to be. I use the hard times to explore the countless possibilities available to me, things that would not be apparent if I were being blinded by ego and enticed by those easy habits of fantasizing the pointless instead of focusing on the reality of my situation. If it sounds like I am cutting myself off from the high peaks and the low valleys I want you to know that is not the case. I find true happiness and true fulfillment in my life by examining what is truly real, in this moment and not worrying about what shoulda been or coulda been or what woulda been.
For me to be content I had to identify what I had to work with and meditate on that, or since I am a Hillbilly I like to call it ponderin, yeah with no G at the end. I had to find out who I was, not on a superficial level but who and what I truly was, deep down and at the core. After some long and very hard looks in the mirror I realized I did not like who was looking back. I may have hated what I saw, but by the time a saw it I did realize that hating it was all about my perception and preoccupation with happiness and ignoring the reality of my situation. Once I was able to honestly look at myself then came the hard work of changing what I found, not in an attempt to be happy but in an attempt to become a better person. If we cannot accept ourselves for what we truly are we will be lured into the trap and spend a lot of our time wishing we were someone else which was the hump I had troubles getting over. Once I was able to remove the rose colored glasses I was looking at my unvarnished life and was able to start seeing my true self with fresh resolve. I began to realize that I was the master of my own destiny and I need not be a slave to social convention. Never again was I going to compare myself to others or shy away from who I was, and would become. By finding the real me, I still did not like myself yet, I was able to take on the world with a renewed confidence, my footing was firmly planted in honest contentment.
Along the way I received advice from many corners, from the “Prince of Paradox”, G.K. Chesterton with his quote "True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare" Think about that for just a minute, get everything there is from each moment in your life – it does not matter what the moment brings pull it in, hug it and make peace with it. It may be distasteful at first but to get to the dessert….. And then there is old Marcus Aurelius with “Your life is what your thoughts make it” That to me just means your day is what YOU decide it is, it is completely within your control, all you have to do is shake off the restraints that society has imposed upon you. And then some of my favorite come from the Buddha, “believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense”. Agrees with your own reason and your own common sense, there is a lot to contemplate in those three quotes and they are much more than simple quotes in my life. My journey, quest if you will and I might, has brought me to the conclusion that ego is the biggest fantasy that has an enormous amount of destructive power for people. Once I found who I was and the shackles of ego were broken I got to see the world in a whole new way. No more were my own demons, fantasies and delusions going to impact my everyday decisions. No more was ego going to persuade me to make poor choices nor was I going to let the dark clouds of my oscillating emotions continue to rain on my parade, it is my life and I was not going to let outside factors ruin it for me.
For me, contentment is my normal state of mind, it is not a fleeting thing that is dependent on good luck, (I have none) money, (I have even less), beauty (less than none) or any other outside factor. I try hard to simply look at the world the way it truly is, without the white wash of “what if” I used to apply to it. I am not sure why I was addicted to the emotional rollercoaster of life, I guess it seems exciting and for a while it was but much sooner rather than any later the superficialness and impermanence of the experience will let us down, every time. A continuous and simple ponder session is what still works for me, I like to sit on the beach and watch the sun come up but I can simply sit quietly, where ever I am, and close my eyes and watch my thoughts, in an open minded and honest way. At first it was a cacophony of drivel, ridiculous thoughts, worries and concerns that really had no impact on my life and yet I was spending all this time pondering them, I had to turn them off. I modified a technique and adopted it into every aspect of my life, the 5-10-15 rule. I examine the stray thought and apply the 5-10-15 rule, what difference will this make in 5 minutes, what difference will it make in 10 days and what difference will it make in 15 years? The noise of life started to quite down almost immediately.
Like the Buddha, I encourage you to perform the self evaluation and not take my word for it, it is a different path for each of us and we each hold our own truth so each of our journeys are unique. We need to remember that we are so blessed, each and every one of us, if you are reading this you have an internet connection – you are blessed whether you want to admit it or not. When I was at the beach Saturday morning, I saw three houseless people making a home on the beach. We overlook the lucky existence we have as American’s, mostly because our ego blinds us the reality of the world around us.
What if could go on forever – meaning we could spend our lives worrying about the raise, the last 20 pounds or whatever we think will make us happy. In the meantime we miss the ride because we are so focused on the achieving the goal, when I get this raise I will be happy because I will be able to do so and so with the extra money. Well if the raise never comes it tends to dash, violently against the rocks, our happiness. That approach has a more important resultant factor as well, it does not bring happiness but actually brings the inverse of happiness. We get upset and angry about it and then we get into a cycle that has the potential to make us jaded about the sheer wonder of life and of the beauty that surrounds us. So how do we get out of this vicious cycle? For me I gave up on the chase for happiness because I found it a futile cause. WHAT you might ask – especially for those who know me to be a fairly balanced dude who seems happy most of the time. What I found as a solution to the “life is a bitch and then you die” scenario was to learn to become content, because unlike happiness contentment is something that CAN last because it is not tied to external factors. It is something that CAN be enjoyed all of the time.
Contentment, in life, is the solid foundation upon which happiness and most other emotions can most easily express itself. Yet contented people do not depend on happiness for satisfaction in their life. I am not saying that I have no happiness in my life, I lead a very fulfilling life and happiness does arise now and again and when it does I savor and cherish it. I have faced adversities in my life, like all of us, but during those moments of struggle and strife when happiness seems impossible I still cope and still derive satisfaction from life. To me contentment is about eagerly accepting and embracing what are lives are, not what we want our lives to be. I use the hard times to explore the countless possibilities available to me, things that would not be apparent if I were being blinded by ego and enticed by those easy habits of fantasizing the pointless instead of focusing on the reality of my situation. If it sounds like I am cutting myself off from the high peaks and the low valleys I want you to know that is not the case. I find true happiness and true fulfillment in my life by examining what is truly real, in this moment and not worrying about what shoulda been or coulda been or what woulda been.
For me to be content I had to identify what I had to work with and meditate on that, or since I am a Hillbilly I like to call it ponderin, yeah with no G at the end. I had to find out who I was, not on a superficial level but who and what I truly was, deep down and at the core. After some long and very hard looks in the mirror I realized I did not like who was looking back. I may have hated what I saw, but by the time a saw it I did realize that hating it was all about my perception and preoccupation with happiness and ignoring the reality of my situation. Once I was able to honestly look at myself then came the hard work of changing what I found, not in an attempt to be happy but in an attempt to become a better person. If we cannot accept ourselves for what we truly are we will be lured into the trap and spend a lot of our time wishing we were someone else which was the hump I had troubles getting over. Once I was able to remove the rose colored glasses I was looking at my unvarnished life and was able to start seeing my true self with fresh resolve. I began to realize that I was the master of my own destiny and I need not be a slave to social convention. Never again was I going to compare myself to others or shy away from who I was, and would become. By finding the real me, I still did not like myself yet, I was able to take on the world with a renewed confidence, my footing was firmly planted in honest contentment.
Along the way I received advice from many corners, from the “Prince of Paradox”, G.K. Chesterton with his quote "True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare" Think about that for just a minute, get everything there is from each moment in your life – it does not matter what the moment brings pull it in, hug it and make peace with it. It may be distasteful at first but to get to the dessert….. And then there is old Marcus Aurelius with “Your life is what your thoughts make it” That to me just means your day is what YOU decide it is, it is completely within your control, all you have to do is shake off the restraints that society has imposed upon you. And then some of my favorite come from the Buddha, “believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense”. Agrees with your own reason and your own common sense, there is a lot to contemplate in those three quotes and they are much more than simple quotes in my life. My journey, quest if you will and I might, has brought me to the conclusion that ego is the biggest fantasy that has an enormous amount of destructive power for people. Once I found who I was and the shackles of ego were broken I got to see the world in a whole new way. No more were my own demons, fantasies and delusions going to impact my everyday decisions. No more was ego going to persuade me to make poor choices nor was I going to let the dark clouds of my oscillating emotions continue to rain on my parade, it is my life and I was not going to let outside factors ruin it for me.
For me, contentment is my normal state of mind, it is not a fleeting thing that is dependent on good luck, (I have none) money, (I have even less), beauty (less than none) or any other outside factor. I try hard to simply look at the world the way it truly is, without the white wash of “what if” I used to apply to it. I am not sure why I was addicted to the emotional rollercoaster of life, I guess it seems exciting and for a while it was but much sooner rather than any later the superficialness and impermanence of the experience will let us down, every time. A continuous and simple ponder session is what still works for me, I like to sit on the beach and watch the sun come up but I can simply sit quietly, where ever I am, and close my eyes and watch my thoughts, in an open minded and honest way. At first it was a cacophony of drivel, ridiculous thoughts, worries and concerns that really had no impact on my life and yet I was spending all this time pondering them, I had to turn them off. I modified a technique and adopted it into every aspect of my life, the 5-10-15 rule. I examine the stray thought and apply the 5-10-15 rule, what difference will this make in 5 minutes, what difference will it make in 10 days and what difference will it make in 15 years? The noise of life started to quite down almost immediately.
Like the Buddha, I encourage you to perform the self evaluation and not take my word for it, it is a different path for each of us and we each hold our own truth so each of our journeys are unique. We need to remember that we are so blessed, each and every one of us, if you are reading this you have an internet connection – you are blessed whether you want to admit it or not. When I was at the beach Saturday morning, I saw three houseless people making a home on the beach. We overlook the lucky existence we have as American’s, mostly because our ego blinds us the reality of the world around us.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
The other day my friend Dewayne posted on FaceBook that he was wondering - What was the best thing BEFORE sliced bread?
I got to pondering that wondering of Dewayne’s, was he speaking about the pre-sliced and packaged bread of today or maybe just the first time we sliced bread. I thought I would explore both questions along with the phrase itself. The phrase "the greatest thing since sliced bread" and all of its variations are regularly used hyperbolic comments that usually refer to a new invention or innovation. I do not understand the seemingly arbitrary selection of sliced bread as the comparison item, or bench mark, that new products are graded against. It has been said that the phrase is the ultimate depiction of innovative achievement and American know-how but I am not sure I understand that. A bit of investigation and I found that Wonder Bread, the first mass marketer of sliced bread had a lot to do with the saying. Their marketing campaign launched in the 1930’s used the phrase. Wonder Bread was no new comer to innovative marketing strategies and the original company that produced the bread, the Taggart Baking Company debuted Wonder Bread after a lengthy “blind” promotional campaign that simply stated that a “Wonder” was coming on May 21st 1921. So in the 1930’s we thought sliced bread was here to stay – not so fast zippy. During WWII rationing of steel, which the bread slicers were made of, brought a quick end to sliced bread for the remainder of the war. Innovations such as the Sherman Tank and Liberty Ships were literally the greatest things since sliced bread, which was no longer being made.
While Wonder Bread was the first manufacturer to mass produce sliced bread it was not the first to package it. That distinction goes to a company that operated in the small Missouri town of Chillicothe that went by the name of the Chillicothe Baking Company. One of their early advertisements from mid 1928 announced that the greatest forward step in the baking Industry since bread was wrapped was the “Sliced Kleen Maid Bread." So it seemed that maybe the greatest thing before sliced bread was actually wrapped bread. I was shocked, little did I know that the bread industry had provided so many innovations to our world? Not much more investigation and I found this early boast was not without controversy. Battle Creek Michigan was the nation's cereal capital and also laid claims to being the home of sliced bread. However, throughout my investigation that claim seems, how shall I say it, half-baked. After some additional investigation on the actual bread slicing machines I found the Chillicothe Bakery had long been defunct and the machines had been junked. I needed more proof! There were stories from old timers who described how the bulky bread slicing machine raised and lowered its steel blades and stuffed the sliced loaves into wax-paper wrappers in one smooth operation. They could confirm that the machine used in the Chillicothe bakery was actually invented by an itinerant Iowa jeweler by the name of Otto Rohwedder. Although credited with the invention, Otto Rohwedder is all but lost to history, even the Smithsonian's American History Museum lacks information on the origins of sliced bread.
After researching a bit more, I began to realize that few inventions have so monumentally capitalized on the consumer's love of convenience. Were these the early threads of the beginnings of our “I want it now” and “I want it exactly the way I want it” attitude in this country? Think about it, sliced bread saved homemakers hours of drudgery. It created an entire industry in toasters, before sliced bread toasters were few and far between. The first toaster was invented in 1893 in Great Britain it was open faced and completely manual – you had to stand by and turn it off after it toasted one side at a time. It was not until the genius Charles Strite invented the modern timer, pop-up toaster in 1919 that the road was paved and all we needed was sliced bread. So was the greatest thing before sliced bread a toaster? With my head covered in sliced bread I got to thinking – what would a sandwich be without sliced bread? When John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich originated the name sandwich because he loved to eat beef between slices of toast, I was beginning to understand that sliced bread and toast have come a long way. The sandwich is proof again that necessity is the mother of invention, old John did not like getting beef juice all over the his playing cards, he loved cards and the bread allowed him have his dinner while enjoying a game of cards with his friends. You can imagine my complete and utter shock when I found out that multitasking is not a new concept either and was demonstrated by old John Montagu way back in the 1700’s.
So that kind of segues me into talking about before we started packaged it in the sliced form. I leanred that early cavemen made crude knives from pieces of obsidian which lead me to understand why we cannot really credit any single person with inventing the knife, or the slicing implement in this case. Besides that early cavemen from that era had not yet figured out that by grinding up grain and mixing some additional ingredients they could create bread to slice in the first place, hell he had his hands full with fire and was more worried about making his way to the top of the food chain. It would not be until we arrived, and firmly established ourselves I might add, at the top of the food chain that we could worry about such luxuries as bread period, let alone slicing it up. In prehistoric times knives of flintstone, shells, and bones helped folks kill and cut up animals for food and scrape their hides to make coverings that kept out the cold and rain, part of the path to the top of the food chain. The ancient Greeks and Romans made knives, and spoons for that matter, out of bronze. Some of these bronze implements had handles shaped like banisters. Others had plain handles with ends like the hoof of a deer. In the Middle Ages, Europeans made knife handles ending in a knob and later, in the 16th century, with handles ending in figures of saints or other religious figures. I soon found it was a lost cause trying to find when the first knife was put to use. It was a LONG time before we had bread to slice though so I will leave that at there.
The first evidence points to wheat being first grown in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the experts believe that it was likely that wheat was merely chewed. I am not sure when, or how for that matter why, someone thought – let me pulverize this grain and mix it with water and make a paste. I suspect it was an older fella who came up with that idea, after his teeth came out and he was not longer able to chew the grain. Then later some other person decided – hey lets throw this paste over a fire and they found that the paste hardened into a flat bread that kept for several days. Probably tasted like shit but it was chewable with no teeth and it could be kept for a couple of days before spoiling, this was probably critical as we had not yet shifted from hunter gatherers to settlers and farmers. How do you suppose that someone accidentally figured out that if yeast was added the bread actually rose. That accident happened a long time ago - In Egypt, around 1000 BC, inquiring minds isolated yeast and were able to introduce the culture directly to their breads, yep 1000 BC. Well once the power of yeast was unleased it did not take some miscreant alchemist long to come up with bread beer, which was developed around the same time. The bread was soaked in water and sweetened and the foamy liquor run off. Beer – it was as popular 3009 years ago as it is today. So maybe the greatest thing before sliced bread was actually beer. Now we are getting someplace, not really I quit drinking in 1989, but the story was getting good.
Well the ancient Greeks picked up the technology for making bread from the Egyptians, from there the art of bread making, and beer production, spread over the rest of Europe. Bread and wheat were especially important in Rome where it was thought more vital than meat. Bread was also a social indictor in Rome, the darker the bread, the lower the social station, that I found was because whiter flours were more expensive and harder for millers to adulterate with other products. That trend seems to be reversing in modern times, darker breads are more expensive and highly prized for their taste as well as their nutritional value. So after all that I realized that my friend Dewayne put me on a fools errand – there are so many things that were great before sliced bread and I have decided to call it quits on this quest.
What do you think it was??
While Wonder Bread was the first manufacturer to mass produce sliced bread it was not the first to package it. That distinction goes to a company that operated in the small Missouri town of Chillicothe that went by the name of the Chillicothe Baking Company. One of their early advertisements from mid 1928 announced that the greatest forward step in the baking Industry since bread was wrapped was the “Sliced Kleen Maid Bread." So it seemed that maybe the greatest thing before sliced bread was actually wrapped bread. I was shocked, little did I know that the bread industry had provided so many innovations to our world? Not much more investigation and I found this early boast was not without controversy. Battle Creek Michigan was the nation's cereal capital and also laid claims to being the home of sliced bread. However, throughout my investigation that claim seems, how shall I say it, half-baked. After some additional investigation on the actual bread slicing machines I found the Chillicothe Bakery had long been defunct and the machines had been junked. I needed more proof! There were stories from old timers who described how the bulky bread slicing machine raised and lowered its steel blades and stuffed the sliced loaves into wax-paper wrappers in one smooth operation. They could confirm that the machine used in the Chillicothe bakery was actually invented by an itinerant Iowa jeweler by the name of Otto Rohwedder. Although credited with the invention, Otto Rohwedder is all but lost to history, even the Smithsonian's American History Museum lacks information on the origins of sliced bread.
After researching a bit more, I began to realize that few inventions have so monumentally capitalized on the consumer's love of convenience. Were these the early threads of the beginnings of our “I want it now” and “I want it exactly the way I want it” attitude in this country? Think about it, sliced bread saved homemakers hours of drudgery. It created an entire industry in toasters, before sliced bread toasters were few and far between. The first toaster was invented in 1893 in Great Britain it was open faced and completely manual – you had to stand by and turn it off after it toasted one side at a time. It was not until the genius Charles Strite invented the modern timer, pop-up toaster in 1919 that the road was paved and all we needed was sliced bread. So was the greatest thing before sliced bread a toaster? With my head covered in sliced bread I got to thinking – what would a sandwich be without sliced bread? When John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich originated the name sandwich because he loved to eat beef between slices of toast, I was beginning to understand that sliced bread and toast have come a long way. The sandwich is proof again that necessity is the mother of invention, old John did not like getting beef juice all over the his playing cards, he loved cards and the bread allowed him have his dinner while enjoying a game of cards with his friends. You can imagine my complete and utter shock when I found out that multitasking is not a new concept either and was demonstrated by old John Montagu way back in the 1700’s.
So that kind of segues me into talking about before we started packaged it in the sliced form. I leanred that early cavemen made crude knives from pieces of obsidian which lead me to understand why we cannot really credit any single person with inventing the knife, or the slicing implement in this case. Besides that early cavemen from that era had not yet figured out that by grinding up grain and mixing some additional ingredients they could create bread to slice in the first place, hell he had his hands full with fire and was more worried about making his way to the top of the food chain. It would not be until we arrived, and firmly established ourselves I might add, at the top of the food chain that we could worry about such luxuries as bread period, let alone slicing it up. In prehistoric times knives of flintstone, shells, and bones helped folks kill and cut up animals for food and scrape their hides to make coverings that kept out the cold and rain, part of the path to the top of the food chain. The ancient Greeks and Romans made knives, and spoons for that matter, out of bronze. Some of these bronze implements had handles shaped like banisters. Others had plain handles with ends like the hoof of a deer. In the Middle Ages, Europeans made knife handles ending in a knob and later, in the 16th century, with handles ending in figures of saints or other religious figures. I soon found it was a lost cause trying to find when the first knife was put to use. It was a LONG time before we had bread to slice though so I will leave that at there.
The first evidence points to wheat being first grown in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the experts believe that it was likely that wheat was merely chewed. I am not sure when, or how for that matter why, someone thought – let me pulverize this grain and mix it with water and make a paste. I suspect it was an older fella who came up with that idea, after his teeth came out and he was not longer able to chew the grain. Then later some other person decided – hey lets throw this paste over a fire and they found that the paste hardened into a flat bread that kept for several days. Probably tasted like shit but it was chewable with no teeth and it could be kept for a couple of days before spoiling, this was probably critical as we had not yet shifted from hunter gatherers to settlers and farmers. How do you suppose that someone accidentally figured out that if yeast was added the bread actually rose. That accident happened a long time ago - In Egypt, around 1000 BC, inquiring minds isolated yeast and were able to introduce the culture directly to their breads, yep 1000 BC. Well once the power of yeast was unleased it did not take some miscreant alchemist long to come up with bread beer, which was developed around the same time. The bread was soaked in water and sweetened and the foamy liquor run off. Beer – it was as popular 3009 years ago as it is today. So maybe the greatest thing before sliced bread was actually beer. Now we are getting someplace, not really I quit drinking in 1989, but the story was getting good.
Well the ancient Greeks picked up the technology for making bread from the Egyptians, from there the art of bread making, and beer production, spread over the rest of Europe. Bread and wheat were especially important in Rome where it was thought more vital than meat. Bread was also a social indictor in Rome, the darker the bread, the lower the social station, that I found was because whiter flours were more expensive and harder for millers to adulterate with other products. That trend seems to be reversing in modern times, darker breads are more expensive and highly prized for their taste as well as their nutritional value. So after all that I realized that my friend Dewayne put me on a fools errand – there are so many things that were great before sliced bread and I have decided to call it quits on this quest.
What do you think it was??
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Wars on ideologies – how ridiculous a plan is that.
A war on an ideology is one of the most ridiculous thing we allow our government to declare, I will focus on two in today’s pontification. The war on drugs and the war on terror. According to Merriam-Webster.com the word War dates back to the 12th century Europe and definition 1 is “a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations”. Definition 2 is listed as “a period of such armed conflict”, definition 3 is the "state of war", the art or science of warfare”. The list goes on and on but I could not find one of them that work in these situations.
In 1937 Congress passed the "1937 Marijuana Tax Act" and made marijuana illegal and a highly fineable offense ,that was really the beginning of the war on drugs. Over the last 30+ years there have been many a modification to America’s drug policy. In 1968 the Johnson administration consolidates several drug agencies into the Justice Dept.'s Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD). In 1969 Washington DC’s Mayor approves a program to provide methadone to heroin addicts. In 1971 at a press conference President Nixon names drug abuse as "public enemy number one in the United States." The War drugs is officially started before the end of the other war going on at the time, the one that fits the definition although we did not officially call it a war. This is just another fine example of our government at work for us. It wasn’t until Nancy Regan took up the cause in the early 80’s which culminated with the “just say no” campaign that was launched in 1984. Since 1937 the number of dollars spent on a war against an ideology is not even countable and where has it gotten us? If we spent that much time and money on a real war our country would be protesting in the streets like they did during the Vietnam conflict.
So why do we do it, declare war on an ideology? I have a sneaking suspicion, at the core, that it is about politics and what the folks with the most money are passionate about. There is a long chain of events to get from having a cause to having a war declared by the US government, that road is paved with gold I assure you. Most people who have a passion and enough money to do something about it have non altruistic motives, it seems to me anyway. So what does that mean? It could mean they have a vested and usually financial interest in the success of their passion. One might ponder why Harry Anslinger claimed cannabis caused people to commit violent crimes, act irrational, and act overly sexual. Were those conclusions based on actual data or maybe from the propaganda films he had produced that promoted his views or maybe because Anslinger himself often commented to the press regarding his views on cannabis and maybe, just maybe he started believing his own press. There was political clout in the cause, it doesn’t really matter why he was able to get the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act passed but he did and I would bet anything that he benefited personally from its passage.
According to the Cato Institute, the US spends between 40 and 60 billion to fight the war on drugs. 40-60 billion, I remember when that seemed like a HUGE number, it still is but does not seem so big after the recent spending spree coming out of Washington. What that means is there are LOTS of people who are benefiting financially from the war on drugs. Moreover, you know what – they suck at it! In a big way, they suck at it and we allow them to continue to flush that money down the toilet - because they have not stopped folks from getting stoned on whatever their drug of choice is. There is no bad guy to go and get, not in Mexico, not in Afghanistan, not in Columbia and not on the corner in any town USA so how do we propose we actually win this ridiculous war. 40-60 billion a year is almost as much as we are spending a year on the actual war we started with Iraq. Where in the hell is that money going and why aren’t we asking why are we supporting a program that has never and will never succeed.
Speaking of the war in Iraq - the ugly but cost effective part of the War on Terror. According to the Talk Radio News Service the Pentagon estimates it has spent $527 billion on war on terror since 2001, if you do the math that is almost 66 billion a year or about or about 12 billion a month. So that 527 billion is only what the Pentagon is spending, what is the CIA spending, what is the FBI spending, what is the NSA spending what is the bottom line of this ridiculous concept of a war on terror. I understand the importance of keeping us safe after the attack of 9-11 but could it be that someone or a bunch of someone’s are benefitting greatly from its continuation. We have created monsters and have allowed them to probe into areas they have no business. In my opinion, companies such as Halliburton with their myriad subsidiaries are milking the system in a big way. For example their subsidiary known as KBR, formerly known as Kellogg, Brown and Root has contracts in Iraq worth up to $18 billion, including a single no bid contract known as Restore Iraqi Oil which has an estimated worth of $7 billion dollars, and that is just a subsidiary. After an audit by the Defense Contract Audit Agency there were 108 million in questionable costs. I remember when 108 million dollars was a shit load of money but since our understanding of scale has been blow up by the many magnitudes of order bigger numbers bandied about lately and really what is 108 million amongst friends.
The part of part of the equation that I left out to this point is, what is the cost in human life? I am not talking about just the folks in the Military who take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I do think that honorable oath is being cheapened by focusing on the other part of that same oath, where they state that they will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over them. What about all the innocent Iraqi’s who have died, what about all the innocent Afghanis who have died what about all the other innocent people we don’t know about who have died due to our war on terror. Our war on terror is just as ridiculous as our war on drugs and both have claimed WAY TO MANY lives and for what, so we can feel like we are doing something. My last tour in the US Navy was on the USS Gettysburg and that ships motto was “Deeds Not Words”, words like war on terror, war on drugs are just that – meaningless words. Without deeds words mean nothing, now if we had some deeds, like a comprehensive program that educated and treated people fighting drug addiction and maybe some kick ass Navy Seals just going in and getting the bad guys when we could have would have been a much better use of our tax dollars than what we are doing now.
War on drugs, war on terror – ridiculous!
In 1937 Congress passed the "1937 Marijuana Tax Act" and made marijuana illegal and a highly fineable offense ,that was really the beginning of the war on drugs. Over the last 30+ years there have been many a modification to America’s drug policy. In 1968 the Johnson administration consolidates several drug agencies into the Justice Dept.'s Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD). In 1969 Washington DC’s Mayor approves a program to provide methadone to heroin addicts. In 1971 at a press conference President Nixon names drug abuse as "public enemy number one in the United States." The War drugs is officially started before the end of the other war going on at the time, the one that fits the definition although we did not officially call it a war. This is just another fine example of our government at work for us. It wasn’t until Nancy Regan took up the cause in the early 80’s which culminated with the “just say no” campaign that was launched in 1984. Since 1937 the number of dollars spent on a war against an ideology is not even countable and where has it gotten us? If we spent that much time and money on a real war our country would be protesting in the streets like they did during the Vietnam conflict.
So why do we do it, declare war on an ideology? I have a sneaking suspicion, at the core, that it is about politics and what the folks with the most money are passionate about. There is a long chain of events to get from having a cause to having a war declared by the US government, that road is paved with gold I assure you. Most people who have a passion and enough money to do something about it have non altruistic motives, it seems to me anyway. So what does that mean? It could mean they have a vested and usually financial interest in the success of their passion. One might ponder why Harry Anslinger claimed cannabis caused people to commit violent crimes, act irrational, and act overly sexual. Were those conclusions based on actual data or maybe from the propaganda films he had produced that promoted his views or maybe because Anslinger himself often commented to the press regarding his views on cannabis and maybe, just maybe he started believing his own press. There was political clout in the cause, it doesn’t really matter why he was able to get the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act passed but he did and I would bet anything that he benefited personally from its passage.
According to the Cato Institute, the US spends between 40 and 60 billion to fight the war on drugs. 40-60 billion, I remember when that seemed like a HUGE number, it still is but does not seem so big after the recent spending spree coming out of Washington. What that means is there are LOTS of people who are benefiting financially from the war on drugs. Moreover, you know what – they suck at it! In a big way, they suck at it and we allow them to continue to flush that money down the toilet - because they have not stopped folks from getting stoned on whatever their drug of choice is. There is no bad guy to go and get, not in Mexico, not in Afghanistan, not in Columbia and not on the corner in any town USA so how do we propose we actually win this ridiculous war. 40-60 billion a year is almost as much as we are spending a year on the actual war we started with Iraq. Where in the hell is that money going and why aren’t we asking why are we supporting a program that has never and will never succeed.
Speaking of the war in Iraq - the ugly but cost effective part of the War on Terror. According to the Talk Radio News Service the Pentagon estimates it has spent $527 billion on war on terror since 2001, if you do the math that is almost 66 billion a year or about or about 12 billion a month. So that 527 billion is only what the Pentagon is spending, what is the CIA spending, what is the FBI spending, what is the NSA spending what is the bottom line of this ridiculous concept of a war on terror. I understand the importance of keeping us safe after the attack of 9-11 but could it be that someone or a bunch of someone’s are benefitting greatly from its continuation. We have created monsters and have allowed them to probe into areas they have no business. In my opinion, companies such as Halliburton with their myriad subsidiaries are milking the system in a big way. For example their subsidiary known as KBR, formerly known as Kellogg, Brown and Root has contracts in Iraq worth up to $18 billion, including a single no bid contract known as Restore Iraqi Oil which has an estimated worth of $7 billion dollars, and that is just a subsidiary. After an audit by the Defense Contract Audit Agency there were 108 million in questionable costs. I remember when 108 million dollars was a shit load of money but since our understanding of scale has been blow up by the many magnitudes of order bigger numbers bandied about lately and really what is 108 million amongst friends.
The part of part of the equation that I left out to this point is, what is the cost in human life? I am not talking about just the folks in the Military who take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I do think that honorable oath is being cheapened by focusing on the other part of that same oath, where they state that they will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over them. What about all the innocent Iraqi’s who have died, what about all the innocent Afghanis who have died what about all the other innocent people we don’t know about who have died due to our war on terror. Our war on terror is just as ridiculous as our war on drugs and both have claimed WAY TO MANY lives and for what, so we can feel like we are doing something. My last tour in the US Navy was on the USS Gettysburg and that ships motto was “Deeds Not Words”, words like war on terror, war on drugs are just that – meaningless words. Without deeds words mean nothing, now if we had some deeds, like a comprehensive program that educated and treated people fighting drug addiction and maybe some kick ass Navy Seals just going in and getting the bad guys when we could have would have been a much better use of our tax dollars than what we are doing now.
War on drugs, war on terror – ridiculous!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
I was in the throne room the other day and started to ponder what life would be like without toilet paper.
Toilet paper is so ubiquitous that we take it for granted, other than what our brand preferences are. It got me to thinking just how long ago was modern toilet paper invented? Then I started wondering Who was the genius who invented toilet paper", we should say thank you after each trip to the throne room. Another question came to mind as well, what items did people use before two ply was invented? I started to imagine all manner of items could be used, grass, leaves, fur, shells, corncobs. A bit of googling and I found that the ancient Greeks used stones and pieces of clay and the ancient Romans used sponges on the ends of sticks, kept in jugs filled with salty water. Mideasterners commonly used the left hand, which I found is still considered unclean in the Arabian region. I am not sure where this pontification will lead me, or you, since you are reading but here is the disclaimer this about toilet paper so if you are not interested stop now and check back later for new posts.
I found that "official toilet paper”, paper which was produced specifically for the purpose - dates back at least to the late 14th Century, when Chinese emperors ordered it in 2-foot x 3-foot sheets. 2x3 foot sheets, were all the Emperors the size of Sumo wrestlers or did they section the sheets into smaller more manageable sized pieces. Corncobs and pages torn from newspapers and magazines were commonly used in the early American West. The Sears catalogue was well-known in this context, and even produced such humorous spinoffs such as the "Rears and Sorebutt" catalogue. The Farmer's Almanac was popular because it had a hole in it so it could be hung on a hook and the pages torn off easily. Can you imagine wiping your but with a periodical, say the latest edition of Newsweek or Time. Just guessing I have no real left hand experience but I believe the Sunday paper would be better than a glossy paged periodical.
We need to all say a thank you to Joseph C. Gayetty of New York, he started producing the first packaged toilet paper in the U.S. in 1857. It consisted of pre-moistened flat sheets medicated with aloe and was named "Gayetty’s Medicated Paper". He was quite an audacious man, evidenced by the fact he had his last name printed on every sheet. With aloe no less, damn - Puffs has only been around since the 60’s and Puffs Plus with Aloe did not come out until well after that, what happened in the hundred years between those two? The rolled and perforated toilet paper we're familiar with today was invented about 20 years later, around 1880. Various sources attribute it to the Albany Perforated Wrapping (A.P.W.) Paper company in 1877, and to the Scott Paper company in 1879. Originally the Scott Paper Company was too embarrassed to put their name on this product. The concept of toilet paper was a sensitive subject at the time and that forced them to customize it for their customers... hence the Waldorf Hotel became one of the biggest names in rolled toilet paper during that time.
It was not until 1935 that Northern Tissue advertised "splinter-free" toilet paper. Yep, you read that right; early paper production techniques sometimes left splinters embedded in the paper. Can you imagine getting splinter while using toilet paper, we have a great life in 2009. Less than 80 years ago we got toilet paper that would not leave splinters, think about that for a minute. We humans have been roaming around for A LONG time and we developed the ability to wipe without fear of splinters only 80 years ago – that is almost unbelievable. It was not until 1942 that the St. Andrew's Paper Mill in Great Britain introduced two-ply toilet paper. Toilet paper has remained basically unchanged since then, other than roll size getting smaller and then larger and then even larger. Aside from the roll size we now have a greater variety of strengths and patterns as well. My favorite toilet paper commercial is still the bears using the bathroom in the woods, I can not remember the brand but it touts not needing very much to “shit in the woods” just like a bear. That is funny and most people I have asked about it don’t even get how funny that is, proof that bears do shit in the woods and they use toilet paper when they do it. You can laugh, that is funny.
After learning all that. I started looking for fun facts about toilet paper. One of the first things I came across was the toilet paper Ipod docking station, I shit you not it is pictured below – what in the hell is wrong with us, is what came to my mind upon seeing a gadget such as this. I also learned that only 7% of homes in Afghanistan have a flush toilet, but 19% have a television, according to The Week Magazine. I also found that the Pentagon uses, on average, about 670 rolls of toilet paper every day, being that is the largest office building in the country I thought that number was kind of low.” According to the folks at Charmin the average consumer uses 8.6 sheets per trip or a total of 57 sheets per day or 20,805 sheets annually, or is that anally? How would like to be on a committee whose goal is to determine the toilet paper usage patterns of the consumers, I am glad I do not have that job.
That lead me into what we used before toilet paper, I found that the Vikings in England used discarded sheeps wool. Sailing crews from Spain and Portugal during medieval times use the frayed ends of old anchor cables. The British lords would use pages from a book, early Hawaiians used coconut shells and French Royalty commonly used hemp before the invention of the bidet. Eskimo’s had it easy with Snow and Tundra Moss. Well I am about talked out about toilet paper but the next time you visit the throne room don’t forget to say silent thank you to Joseph C. Gayetty for inventing packaged toilet paper because without it our society, I fear, would crumble. Remember 8.6 sheets per trip, no squares to spare.
Like my bride told me, it was funny but she thought it was funny because I actually wasted (her word) my time writing about toilet paper.
I found that "official toilet paper”, paper which was produced specifically for the purpose - dates back at least to the late 14th Century, when Chinese emperors ordered it in 2-foot x 3-foot sheets. 2x3 foot sheets, were all the Emperors the size of Sumo wrestlers or did they section the sheets into smaller more manageable sized pieces. Corncobs and pages torn from newspapers and magazines were commonly used in the early American West. The Sears catalogue was well-known in this context, and even produced such humorous spinoffs such as the "Rears and Sorebutt" catalogue. The Farmer's Almanac was popular because it had a hole in it so it could be hung on a hook and the pages torn off easily. Can you imagine wiping your but with a periodical, say the latest edition of Newsweek or Time. Just guessing I have no real left hand experience but I believe the Sunday paper would be better than a glossy paged periodical.
We need to all say a thank you to Joseph C. Gayetty of New York, he started producing the first packaged toilet paper in the U.S. in 1857. It consisted of pre-moistened flat sheets medicated with aloe and was named "Gayetty’s Medicated Paper". He was quite an audacious man, evidenced by the fact he had his last name printed on every sheet. With aloe no less, damn - Puffs has only been around since the 60’s and Puffs Plus with Aloe did not come out until well after that, what happened in the hundred years between those two? The rolled and perforated toilet paper we're familiar with today was invented about 20 years later, around 1880. Various sources attribute it to the Albany Perforated Wrapping (A.P.W.) Paper company in 1877, and to the Scott Paper company in 1879. Originally the Scott Paper Company was too embarrassed to put their name on this product. The concept of toilet paper was a sensitive subject at the time and that forced them to customize it for their customers... hence the Waldorf Hotel became one of the biggest names in rolled toilet paper during that time.
It was not until 1935 that Northern Tissue advertised "splinter-free" toilet paper. Yep, you read that right; early paper production techniques sometimes left splinters embedded in the paper. Can you imagine getting splinter while using toilet paper, we have a great life in 2009. Less than 80 years ago we got toilet paper that would not leave splinters, think about that for a minute. We humans have been roaming around for A LONG time and we developed the ability to wipe without fear of splinters only 80 years ago – that is almost unbelievable. It was not until 1942 that the St. Andrew's Paper Mill in Great Britain introduced two-ply toilet paper. Toilet paper has remained basically unchanged since then, other than roll size getting smaller and then larger and then even larger. Aside from the roll size we now have a greater variety of strengths and patterns as well. My favorite toilet paper commercial is still the bears using the bathroom in the woods, I can not remember the brand but it touts not needing very much to “shit in the woods” just like a bear. That is funny and most people I have asked about it don’t even get how funny that is, proof that bears do shit in the woods and they use toilet paper when they do it. You can laugh, that is funny.
After learning all that. I started looking for fun facts about toilet paper. One of the first things I came across was the toilet paper Ipod docking station, I shit you not it is pictured below – what in the hell is wrong with us, is what came to my mind upon seeing a gadget such as this. I also learned that only 7% of homes in Afghanistan have a flush toilet, but 19% have a television, according to The Week Magazine. I also found that the Pentagon uses, on average, about 670 rolls of toilet paper every day, being that is the largest office building in the country I thought that number was kind of low.” According to the folks at Charmin the average consumer uses 8.6 sheets per trip or a total of 57 sheets per day or 20,805 sheets annually, or is that anally? How would like to be on a committee whose goal is to determine the toilet paper usage patterns of the consumers, I am glad I do not have that job.
That lead me into what we used before toilet paper, I found that the Vikings in England used discarded sheeps wool. Sailing crews from Spain and Portugal during medieval times use the frayed ends of old anchor cables. The British lords would use pages from a book, early Hawaiians used coconut shells and French Royalty commonly used hemp before the invention of the bidet. Eskimo’s had it easy with Snow and Tundra Moss. Well I am about talked out about toilet paper but the next time you visit the throne room don’t forget to say silent thank you to Joseph C. Gayetty for inventing packaged toilet paper because without it our society, I fear, would crumble. Remember 8.6 sheets per trip, no squares to spare.
Like my bride told me, it was funny but she thought it was funny because I actually wasted (her word) my time writing about toilet paper.
Monday, May 11, 2009
what Mothers day means after you lose your Mother
Yesterday was the first Mothers day I have spent with no Mother and I am not sure how I feel about that. For my family, you know, but for others - I am NOT a person who remembers important days or one that will send cards on those days, I might not even call on them - I am just not and I am betting I never will be that person. Hate me if you must but it seems to me that cards and mini celebrations seem phony to me, why do we need a special day to show our feelings for each other. Hallmark has a lot to do with it, that and our consumerist market driven society but that is not the point of today’s pontification. My first Mother’s Day without Mom has helped me too better understand my own grief and in a weird way it has helped wear the edge off of her recent passing. I have come to grips that my options have been limited, whether Mom and me were OK or arguing about this or that or not talking at all, I always had the option to call if I wanted to, now that option is gone.
I spent the last two days at the beach watching the sunrise. It is a magnificent event – it is a large-scale, grand and splendidly beautiful thing that is unrivaled and it is just one of the most incredible things. I spent a lot of time thinking about Mom. I cried out loud on the beach remembering Mom and all the moments in time we shared. I did not feel like I was crying about losing or missing her as much as it was about remembering her because I found myself crying and laughing at the same time. My Mom was the best, no matter what she “Always” put up with my shit, and I am here to tell you I was and am still full of that. I was a hellion as a child and I caused her no end of grief, forcing her once to paddle me in church on a Sunday morning but she was able to let it go and we were able to have a great Sunday afternoon at Kiser lake, with a stop at Middleton’s for those who remember that place. Looking back at my early childhood I realize she was “Shielding” me from the adversities of life, she wanted me to have a great childhood and not have the burdens of life interfere with that. No matter how bad those adversities may have been, I remember pitching tents in the kitchen around the gas stove to keep warm because we had run out of heating oil. She made even that adversity, one that we could have died of hypothermia from, a fun adventure.
Mom had a hard shell but she was there for me in my early adulthood when I really needed some “Help” and I am not sure how that situation would have turned out without that help. She had a unique ability to separate any anger she had toward me, there were times I made her so mad she could just spit and did, and her ability to still “Love” me, no matter what crazy thing I had done because I was her son – it amazed me. I do not think I took the opportunity to tell her thank you enough for “Everything” she taught me, through both good and bad example. It was probably about a 50-50 split but I learned a lot and that is the foundation my life is built upon. Mostly when I was younger I learned about things like, share your toys with your friends, play nice and more importantly play fair. I learned I should not hit others and put things back where they came from and in that I learned we should not take things that do not belong to us and most importantly I learned it was NOT alright to litter. I was still a troubled and rebellious youth and got a lot of “Yelling” from Mom, I am not sure why she did not send me off to a foster home. I was a horrible kid, not once but twice I had to walk home from St. Paris to Collins road before I was 9 years old, she was so sick of me she just put me out of the car or just left me. I guess I can tell that story of child abuse now she is gone she can not be prosecuted for it. I am laughing about that because that was an enduring story throughout my life.
While Mom was not what I would necessarily call a “Joyful” person she did bring joy into people’s lives. For a long time she had an “old dude”, let me explain before you jump to any conclusions. She somehow became friends with a guy who was in a nursing home and he was 100 years old. She went to see him all the time and she called him her old dude, I know she brought a lot of joy to his life. Later in her life I had to learn “Equanimity” due to the type of relationship I had with her. Sometimes good, sometimes bad I think it was because both of us were so opinionated and stubborn so you can imagine. She was also the queen of being “Anal”, it was so bad it made me laugh most of the time. She had a box for every gadget, a bookshelf for every book and a list for every occasion. My favorite list was the one she kept about movies, she knew what movies she had seen, when she had seen the movie, where she was when she watched the movie and who she was with and whether or not she enjoyed it. I have told friends if I ever get that anal to shot me in the head, large caliber, as I do not want to recover. Mom “Never”, even at the height of any argument we had, gave up on me. I do not think she had any particular future in mind for me as I was growing up, she never wavered from instilled in me that I could do anything I wanted to do, all I had to do was word hard for it. By burning that into my psyche, or breath of breath of life as the ancient Greeks called it she had laid the cornerstone of who I am. That helped me understand how important “Education” would be, not necessarily just a formal education for the piece of paper but education towards the goal of wisdom. I never reached to goal of a formal education, no piece of paper saying I am edumacated but I have spent my adult life in the pursuit of wisdom and I have not one regret about that. I see it kind of like the difference between theory and practice, in theory there is no difference between the two, in practice the difference is HUGE and I would rather have the practice any day.
I attribute a big part of who I am to the “Way ” she lived her life, her leading by example enabled me to learn a great deal. Don’t get me wrong, we are “Odd” the two of us, in so many ways that I could write a whole book but I live within my own oddity and find solace there as I think she did. The best example I can think of is during a game of trivial pursuit she knew the answer to what the medical condition diphallasparatus was, in case you were wondering it is a man with 2 penises, yeah and my Mom knew that off the top of her head – how weird is that. She was also a rabid opiniaster, that is one who obstinately holds to an opinion. She held her convictions very tightly and could be obstinate, that became more obvious the older she got. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing. I have inherited a great deal of my “Determination” from Mom, that attitude that it will all work out and we can get through anything will be with me forever. I wish I would not have been so “Selfishly” stupid towards the end of her life and am ashamed of the way I let our relationship end up where it did.
After rereading that I notice that I am all over the place and there is no real rhyme or reason or flow. Let me explain, I was idly scribbling on a pad with a faithful #2 pencil and ended up writing Mom’s name out on paper several times, Ashley Jeane Woods. After doodling it around I took each letter and started a word that I though described Mom and then put that word in “quotes”, in case you were wondering why those words were like that. I am at peace with my Mom’s passing, probably not because of the traditional reasons, I don’t care about those. Our lives, from the very first moment, are stuck in the loop of predestined surety with regards to the end, our bodies will all grow old and die – it is a biological fact. I have never gotten overly distraught at the death of family and friends, sure I miss them and my heart hurts sometimes but knowing intellectually and understanding spiritually that death of the body is the inevitable end for all us has alleviated me from any great suffering around death. It has allowed me to look back and reflect on the good times and the bad times I had with Mom because both are what formed our relationship. I loved my Mom and would not have traded one bizarre minute of our 44 year relationship.
Did you enjoy Mother's Day - I did
I spent the last two days at the beach watching the sunrise. It is a magnificent event – it is a large-scale, grand and splendidly beautiful thing that is unrivaled and it is just one of the most incredible things. I spent a lot of time thinking about Mom. I cried out loud on the beach remembering Mom and all the moments in time we shared. I did not feel like I was crying about losing or missing her as much as it was about remembering her because I found myself crying and laughing at the same time. My Mom was the best, no matter what she “Always” put up with my shit, and I am here to tell you I was and am still full of that. I was a hellion as a child and I caused her no end of grief, forcing her once to paddle me in church on a Sunday morning but she was able to let it go and we were able to have a great Sunday afternoon at Kiser lake, with a stop at Middleton’s for those who remember that place. Looking back at my early childhood I realize she was “Shielding” me from the adversities of life, she wanted me to have a great childhood and not have the burdens of life interfere with that. No matter how bad those adversities may have been, I remember pitching tents in the kitchen around the gas stove to keep warm because we had run out of heating oil. She made even that adversity, one that we could have died of hypothermia from, a fun adventure.
Mom had a hard shell but she was there for me in my early adulthood when I really needed some “Help” and I am not sure how that situation would have turned out without that help. She had a unique ability to separate any anger she had toward me, there were times I made her so mad she could just spit and did, and her ability to still “Love” me, no matter what crazy thing I had done because I was her son – it amazed me. I do not think I took the opportunity to tell her thank you enough for “Everything” she taught me, through both good and bad example. It was probably about a 50-50 split but I learned a lot and that is the foundation my life is built upon. Mostly when I was younger I learned about things like, share your toys with your friends, play nice and more importantly play fair. I learned I should not hit others and put things back where they came from and in that I learned we should not take things that do not belong to us and most importantly I learned it was NOT alright to litter. I was still a troubled and rebellious youth and got a lot of “Yelling” from Mom, I am not sure why she did not send me off to a foster home. I was a horrible kid, not once but twice I had to walk home from St. Paris to Collins road before I was 9 years old, she was so sick of me she just put me out of the car or just left me. I guess I can tell that story of child abuse now she is gone she can not be prosecuted for it. I am laughing about that because that was an enduring story throughout my life.
While Mom was not what I would necessarily call a “Joyful” person she did bring joy into people’s lives. For a long time she had an “old dude”, let me explain before you jump to any conclusions. She somehow became friends with a guy who was in a nursing home and he was 100 years old. She went to see him all the time and she called him her old dude, I know she brought a lot of joy to his life. Later in her life I had to learn “Equanimity” due to the type of relationship I had with her. Sometimes good, sometimes bad I think it was because both of us were so opinionated and stubborn so you can imagine. She was also the queen of being “Anal”, it was so bad it made me laugh most of the time. She had a box for every gadget, a bookshelf for every book and a list for every occasion. My favorite list was the one she kept about movies, she knew what movies she had seen, when she had seen the movie, where she was when she watched the movie and who she was with and whether or not she enjoyed it. I have told friends if I ever get that anal to shot me in the head, large caliber, as I do not want to recover. Mom “Never”, even at the height of any argument we had, gave up on me. I do not think she had any particular future in mind for me as I was growing up, she never wavered from instilled in me that I could do anything I wanted to do, all I had to do was word hard for it. By burning that into my psyche, or breath of breath of life as the ancient Greeks called it she had laid the cornerstone of who I am. That helped me understand how important “Education” would be, not necessarily just a formal education for the piece of paper but education towards the goal of wisdom. I never reached to goal of a formal education, no piece of paper saying I am edumacated but I have spent my adult life in the pursuit of wisdom and I have not one regret about that. I see it kind of like the difference between theory and practice, in theory there is no difference between the two, in practice the difference is HUGE and I would rather have the practice any day.
I attribute a big part of who I am to the “Way ” she lived her life, her leading by example enabled me to learn a great deal. Don’t get me wrong, we are “Odd” the two of us, in so many ways that I could write a whole book but I live within my own oddity and find solace there as I think she did. The best example I can think of is during a game of trivial pursuit she knew the answer to what the medical condition diphallasparatus was, in case you were wondering it is a man with 2 penises, yeah and my Mom knew that off the top of her head – how weird is that. She was also a rabid opiniaster, that is one who obstinately holds to an opinion. She held her convictions very tightly and could be obstinate, that became more obvious the older she got. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing. I have inherited a great deal of my “Determination” from Mom, that attitude that it will all work out and we can get through anything will be with me forever. I wish I would not have been so “Selfishly” stupid towards the end of her life and am ashamed of the way I let our relationship end up where it did.
After rereading that I notice that I am all over the place and there is no real rhyme or reason or flow. Let me explain, I was idly scribbling on a pad with a faithful #2 pencil and ended up writing Mom’s name out on paper several times, Ashley Jeane Woods. After doodling it around I took each letter and started a word that I though described Mom and then put that word in “quotes”, in case you were wondering why those words were like that. I am at peace with my Mom’s passing, probably not because of the traditional reasons, I don’t care about those. Our lives, from the very first moment, are stuck in the loop of predestined surety with regards to the end, our bodies will all grow old and die – it is a biological fact. I have never gotten overly distraught at the death of family and friends, sure I miss them and my heart hurts sometimes but knowing intellectually and understanding spiritually that death of the body is the inevitable end for all us has alleviated me from any great suffering around death. It has allowed me to look back and reflect on the good times and the bad times I had with Mom because both are what formed our relationship. I loved my Mom and would not have traded one bizarre minute of our 44 year relationship.
Did you enjoy Mother's Day - I did
Monday, May 4, 2009
Will you call or email if a product or service does not meet your expectations, will you if the product is meeting or exceeding your expectations?
I write letters, emails now, to manufactures and service providers all the time, probably about a 90-10 split between positive and negative, I have been doing it for years. The first letter I remember writing was in probably 1977 and it was to the Company that was producing Brawny paper towels, Georgia Pacific owns the name now but I do not think they did then. Brawny had just hit the market and they had some pretty outlandish claims in their commercials. As a 12 year old kid I decided to put the Brawny towels through the paces to see just how they actually held up. I guess I was beginning to realize, even at that young age, that television advertising is mostly overblown and not true. My Mom used to say, do not believe everything you see on television. So I was off with my paper route money to buy a roll of Brawny paper towels. By the way I was just as weird as a kid as I am now and I recognize and openly admit that. So I ran through the tests I saw on the commercial and then some of my own and I was surprised that the towel while not meeting all the claims actually performed very well. I wrote the company a letter telling them so, they responded with a positive letter and come coupons for free Brawny paper towels.
I remember writing to Puffs when they came out with the fabulous product, Puffs Plus with Lotion. I had a horrible cold and my nose was raw with blowing and sneezing - voila, I found Puffs Plus with Lotion. What a great product and after the first day my nose felt much better. I wrote them a letter telling them so, again in return I received a nice letter back with some coupons for more of their product. I have written to so many companies I cannot even begin to make a list. My most recent was just a week or so ago to the Colgate folks, this was in the form of an email. For the first time in my life I actually had a plastic tube of Colgate Total burst open on the seam. Since toothpaste is so expensive, I got some metal tape and attempted a repair, it also failed and the Bride indicated it was time to throw it away. I was somewhat disappointed because I had written to Colgate a couple of years ago to tell them what a great product they have, the contents and the container with the flip lid. After venting my frustrations about the poor quality of the manufacturing processes they have in place and suggestions for some additional quality assurance steps they may be able to implement I heard back from them. They indicated that they had indeed been having some problems with the manufacturing process and they recognized the breakdown to be on the QA side, enclosed were some coupons for free tubes of toothpaste as well as coupons for many of their other products.
So all that got me to thinking, why is it we (as a society) are more quick to say something when we are dissatisfied than when we are satisfied. We see examples of this everywhere in life, the clerk at the grocery is not fast enough we take it out on her. When was the last time you thanked the clerk, or better yet told their boss, when the express lane was speedy and kept moving at a good clip. If the plumber comes out and accidently leaves a mark on the hallway carpet, we are likely to go apoplectic, but when he comes out on Sunday evening and just gets it done do we call or write his boss to properly thank him or her, probably not. What about some of the most taken for granted service providers, ones you are not directly paying money too. Folks like the Mail Man, if he leaves you box open and your mail gets wet probably but he tirelessly brings your mail 6 days a week. What about the garbage man, the lawn debris man and the recycle dude, I used the males because those folks for me are males. If they drop, and leave, a bit of debris at the end of your driveway sure you call the city and complain. But do you thank them or call their boss to thank them properly when you do spring cleaning and put a humongous pile and they quietly pick it up, in the rain sometimes.
Everyone likes to be recognized for doing a good job, even if you do not want to admit it you enjoy being recognized for doing a good job. No one I knows likes being pounded and having any little accident or flaw pointed out, at least no one I know does. So why do we have such little patience for others when they make a mistake? I am quicker to point out good things than I am to point out bad, it is not so easy to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and recognize that maybe they had something happen that day that has them off their game. I know that I have had situations that caused me to be off my game, most would not consider anyone else having the same situation. We have come to expect leniency for ourselves in that situation but are so stingy handing out leniency for others when they do not meet our expectations. I am not pigeon holing everyone here but my experience has been more folks are like that than not. In my own small way, I try to give back by commenting, to the company, to the people and their bosses when I receive good service, at least when the service meets my expectations. This is another reason I make between 120-150 dozen cookies every year around Christmas time. We give a tin of cookies to the folks who have provided us service throughout the year. Our Doctors and Dentists, our garbage collectors and mailmen, our gas station attendants and the pizza delivery folks and the list goes on. It is a simple way to say thank you and it really is not enough but it is more than most do for them.
So the next time your pizza arrives at your house and it is hot and good say thank you, take a moment to call the company and tell the manager that it was good, so the makers were on their game and it was hot, so the driver was on their game. That will only take about 1 minute but it will make their day.
I remember writing to Puffs when they came out with the fabulous product, Puffs Plus with Lotion. I had a horrible cold and my nose was raw with blowing and sneezing - voila, I found Puffs Plus with Lotion. What a great product and after the first day my nose felt much better. I wrote them a letter telling them so, again in return I received a nice letter back with some coupons for more of their product. I have written to so many companies I cannot even begin to make a list. My most recent was just a week or so ago to the Colgate folks, this was in the form of an email. For the first time in my life I actually had a plastic tube of Colgate Total burst open on the seam. Since toothpaste is so expensive, I got some metal tape and attempted a repair, it also failed and the Bride indicated it was time to throw it away. I was somewhat disappointed because I had written to Colgate a couple of years ago to tell them what a great product they have, the contents and the container with the flip lid. After venting my frustrations about the poor quality of the manufacturing processes they have in place and suggestions for some additional quality assurance steps they may be able to implement I heard back from them. They indicated that they had indeed been having some problems with the manufacturing process and they recognized the breakdown to be on the QA side, enclosed were some coupons for free tubes of toothpaste as well as coupons for many of their other products.
So all that got me to thinking, why is it we (as a society) are more quick to say something when we are dissatisfied than when we are satisfied. We see examples of this everywhere in life, the clerk at the grocery is not fast enough we take it out on her. When was the last time you thanked the clerk, or better yet told their boss, when the express lane was speedy and kept moving at a good clip. If the plumber comes out and accidently leaves a mark on the hallway carpet, we are likely to go apoplectic, but when he comes out on Sunday evening and just gets it done do we call or write his boss to properly thank him or her, probably not. What about some of the most taken for granted service providers, ones you are not directly paying money too. Folks like the Mail Man, if he leaves you box open and your mail gets wet probably but he tirelessly brings your mail 6 days a week. What about the garbage man, the lawn debris man and the recycle dude, I used the males because those folks for me are males. If they drop, and leave, a bit of debris at the end of your driveway sure you call the city and complain. But do you thank them or call their boss to thank them properly when you do spring cleaning and put a humongous pile and they quietly pick it up, in the rain sometimes.
Everyone likes to be recognized for doing a good job, even if you do not want to admit it you enjoy being recognized for doing a good job. No one I knows likes being pounded and having any little accident or flaw pointed out, at least no one I know does. So why do we have such little patience for others when they make a mistake? I am quicker to point out good things than I am to point out bad, it is not so easy to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and recognize that maybe they had something happen that day that has them off their game. I know that I have had situations that caused me to be off my game, most would not consider anyone else having the same situation. We have come to expect leniency for ourselves in that situation but are so stingy handing out leniency for others when they do not meet our expectations. I am not pigeon holing everyone here but my experience has been more folks are like that than not. In my own small way, I try to give back by commenting, to the company, to the people and their bosses when I receive good service, at least when the service meets my expectations. This is another reason I make between 120-150 dozen cookies every year around Christmas time. We give a tin of cookies to the folks who have provided us service throughout the year. Our Doctors and Dentists, our garbage collectors and mailmen, our gas station attendants and the pizza delivery folks and the list goes on. It is a simple way to say thank you and it really is not enough but it is more than most do for them.
So the next time your pizza arrives at your house and it is hot and good say thank you, take a moment to call the company and tell the manager that it was good, so the makers were on their game and it was hot, so the driver was on their game. That will only take about 1 minute but it will make their day.
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