I was listening to Suze Orman on CNN yesterday and what she said I found disturbing for those presently out of work. She said paraphrased, "Why should companies who laid off workers hire them back if they are doing just fine without those workers?"
I was thinking about this and realized what she was saying. When you need to hold onto workers because of agreements or union contracts or the like companies do almost anything to hold onto good employees. However, when things get so bad that they have no choice but to lay off employees that may have worked 10,20,30 years and are loyal company employees, often it is easier to simply automate using new refined computer technology and eliminate those jobs permanently. Actually, when I first majored in Business Computer Data Processing in college in the late 1960s I thought this sort of thing would happen immediately. However, it didn't because of strong unions back then. But now, since Reagan sort of broke the back of most unions in the 1980s there is nothing to stop automation from permanently taking people's jobs and not rehiring anyone.
My solution way back when is that each person could be given a robot to work in their place and buy this robot on time like one does a car and stay home while your robot works in your place. However, it didn't turn out like that.
I think this precedent is very dangerous for the future of non-management workers in the U.S. If high paying middle class jobs can be permanently eliminated like this then it is a way for the upper class once again to turn most of the western world into Welfare Peons very reminiscent of the Middle Ages of Europe. If the middle class can be eliminated without a fight and without a shot fired think about the long term consequences of the past two years on the future of your children and your children's children in the Western world.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The New Economic World "Normal"
I read recently about a hedge fund manager that had predicted the demise of Enron and one other large company and who now is predicting that China is thousand times worse than Dubai. I sort of took this with a grain of salt until I talked to a long term investor friend of mine who spends up to 40 hours a week studying this kind of stuff as an investor.
I said, "Is it true that China could collapse economically?" He said, "There is some truth to this. However, don't trust the hedge fund manager because it is his job to sell short and bring companies and nations down. It is the way he makes money for his clients. So he is very biased in saying something like this. It is just a part of the way he creates wealth." So I was very surprised that even stable investors who aren't involved with the extreme form of investing that hedge funds comprise are concerned about China's long term economic stability. I said, "Is it because China doesn't have enough checks and balances in the form of enforceable economic laws in place?" He said, "Yes. That is one of many factors that could collapse China economically. Actually, the U.S. is much better positioned for a long term economic position than China presently is."
So I realized that even though China is doing many of the right things, even the doing of these many right things is also dangerous to China in that moving through too many changes too fast in a 5000 year old culture creates a lot of unseen hazards for a culture not used to this present fast pace of change. Even though some people on top of the Chinese pyramid might be okay it could be a disaster for the other 75% of Chinese people. And if that happens it would be a disaster for all Chinese.
My friend said, "I am limiting my exposure to Chinese investment by only owning stocks in Companies that are based in the U.S. but who do business in China. And I'm gauging what sectors might collapse first in China in the way I invest both short and long term.
So, as strange as it sounds investing in the U.S. and Europe still appears to be the relatively safest investments around whereas direct investment in China has to be viewed as Feast or Famine given present world hazards. In other words you could get rich or lose everytthing at any time. And this goes double for the Chinese investors who are investing in Chinese businesses. What very strange times we live in when everything is so extreme.
It makes me wonder what happens if China collapses eocnomically like some are predicting? Since the rest of the world is presently depending upon India and China to pull us out of the muck of worldwide recession this is not good news for anyone. And what happens if China suddenly becomes so desperate that they want the U.S. and other nations to pay back their debts to China? What happens then?
Also, what many nations don't seem to be considering is that the recession likely has roots in the growing scarcity of oil and food on earth. Oil is a limited resource and prices of $10 a gallon or more have been predicted for some time. In fact if you convert liter prices to gallons I know for sure that the price of gas at its highest was over $9 a gallon in parts of Europe within the last 2 years. So basically the world has already hit the $10 gallon once already in places.
So, when you combine $10 a gallon gas and diesel prices with Global Climate Change that is exponentially getting worse(look at the Western half of the U.S. and Europe's amazing deep freeze for example) That I think is still going on as I'm writing here and the ongoing aberrant weather (cold and hot and drought and flood and high winds) worldwide you can see why there isn't enough food or gas. Because you can't raise cheap food without cheap gas and cooperative weather, wind and soil and sun!
I said, "Is it true that China could collapse economically?" He said, "There is some truth to this. However, don't trust the hedge fund manager because it is his job to sell short and bring companies and nations down. It is the way he makes money for his clients. So he is very biased in saying something like this. It is just a part of the way he creates wealth." So I was very surprised that even stable investors who aren't involved with the extreme form of investing that hedge funds comprise are concerned about China's long term economic stability. I said, "Is it because China doesn't have enough checks and balances in the form of enforceable economic laws in place?" He said, "Yes. That is one of many factors that could collapse China economically. Actually, the U.S. is much better positioned for a long term economic position than China presently is."
So I realized that even though China is doing many of the right things, even the doing of these many right things is also dangerous to China in that moving through too many changes too fast in a 5000 year old culture creates a lot of unseen hazards for a culture not used to this present fast pace of change. Even though some people on top of the Chinese pyramid might be okay it could be a disaster for the other 75% of Chinese people. And if that happens it would be a disaster for all Chinese.
My friend said, "I am limiting my exposure to Chinese investment by only owning stocks in Companies that are based in the U.S. but who do business in China. And I'm gauging what sectors might collapse first in China in the way I invest both short and long term.
So, as strange as it sounds investing in the U.S. and Europe still appears to be the relatively safest investments around whereas direct investment in China has to be viewed as Feast or Famine given present world hazards. In other words you could get rich or lose everytthing at any time. And this goes double for the Chinese investors who are investing in Chinese businesses. What very strange times we live in when everything is so extreme.
It makes me wonder what happens if China collapses eocnomically like some are predicting? Since the rest of the world is presently depending upon India and China to pull us out of the muck of worldwide recession this is not good news for anyone. And what happens if China suddenly becomes so desperate that they want the U.S. and other nations to pay back their debts to China? What happens then?
Also, what many nations don't seem to be considering is that the recession likely has roots in the growing scarcity of oil and food on earth. Oil is a limited resource and prices of $10 a gallon or more have been predicted for some time. In fact if you convert liter prices to gallons I know for sure that the price of gas at its highest was over $9 a gallon in parts of Europe within the last 2 years. So basically the world has already hit the $10 gallon once already in places.
So, when you combine $10 a gallon gas and diesel prices with Global Climate Change that is exponentially getting worse(look at the Western half of the U.S. and Europe's amazing deep freeze for example) That I think is still going on as I'm writing here and the ongoing aberrant weather (cold and hot and drought and flood and high winds) worldwide you can see why there isn't enough food or gas. Because you can't raise cheap food without cheap gas and cooperative weather, wind and soil and sun!
The Dragon of Maitreya
The Dragon of Maitreya is not a person but a change in the consciousness of mankind. This change is a perceptual metamorphosis. It is like a caterpillar in a cocoon turning into a butterfly which is readying to fly away to somewhere else. But it begins feeling a lot like Rebirth, of something new, of whole new ways of thinking and being never considered before on earth.(at least in recorded history)
The Dragon of Maitreya is part of the natural evolution of all life upon earth at this time. Nothing that humans have known before in recorded history is a part of what comes now. It is completely different and No one is prepared for what comes now. It is and will be a complete surprise to all of us. The least painful approach is wonder and the most painful approach is resistance. It is coming and it is here. The only question is how will we choose to cope with all the changes?
The Dragon of Maitreya is part of the natural evolution of all life upon earth at this time. Nothing that humans have known before in recorded history is a part of what comes now. It is completely different and No one is prepared for what comes now. It is and will be a complete surprise to all of us. The least painful approach is wonder and the most painful approach is resistance. It is coming and it is here. The only question is how will we choose to cope with all the changes?
Life is a Balancing Act
life is a balancing act
when you're born you don't know the rules
Then someone teaches you their rules
Then you usually find those rules aren't quite right
Then you make up your own rules
Then you find your rules don't work either
Then you make up new rules
Some of those rules work
So you try them out on your kids
Then the whole thing starts over again
when you're born you don't know the rules
Then someone teaches you their rules
Then you usually find those rules aren't quite right
Then you make up your own rules
Then you find your rules don't work either
Then you make up new rules
Some of those rules work
So you try them out on your kids
Then the whole thing starts over again
Monday, January 11, 2010
Multicultural Critical Theory
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/10mba.html
Begin quote:
“The ‘Eureka’ moment was when I could draw a data point between a hotshot, investment bank-oriented star lawyer and an elementary school principal,” Mr. Martin recalls. “I thought: ‘Holy smokes. In completely different situations, these people are thinking in very similar ways, and there may be something special about this pattern of thinking.’ ”
That insight led Mr. Martin to begin advocating what was then a radical idea in business education: that students needed to learn how to think critically and creatively every bit as much as they needed to learn finance or accounting. More specifically, they needed to learn how to approach problems from many perspectives and to combine various approaches to find innovative solutions.
In 1999, few others in the business-school world shared Mr. Martin’s view. But a decade and a seismic economic downturn later, things have changed. “I think there’s a feeling that people need to sharpen their thinking skills, whether it’s questioning assumptions, or looking at problems from multiple points of view,” says David A. Garvin, a Harvard Business School professor who is co-author with Srikant M. Datar and Patrick G. Cullen of an upcoming book, “Rethinking the M.B.A.: Business Education at a Crossroads.”
Learning how to think critically — how to imaginatively frame questions and consider multiple perspectives — has historically been associated with a liberal arts education, not a business school curriculum, so this change represents something of a tectonic shift for business school leaders. Mr. Martin even describes his goal as a kind of “liberal arts M.B.A.” end quote.
I have always had I guess the liberal arts kind of multi view bias(in other words a blitzkrieg of points of view to solve any problem any way possible). (If you can't solve a problem one way then keep trying other ways until you succeed). You know, like our ancestors did when they actually survived ANYTHING.
Begin quote:
“The ‘Eureka’ moment was when I could draw a data point between a hotshot, investment bank-oriented star lawyer and an elementary school principal,” Mr. Martin recalls. “I thought: ‘Holy smokes. In completely different situations, these people are thinking in very similar ways, and there may be something special about this pattern of thinking.’ ”
That insight led Mr. Martin to begin advocating what was then a radical idea in business education: that students needed to learn how to think critically and creatively every bit as much as they needed to learn finance or accounting. More specifically, they needed to learn how to approach problems from many perspectives and to combine various approaches to find innovative solutions.
In 1999, few others in the business-school world shared Mr. Martin’s view. But a decade and a seismic economic downturn later, things have changed. “I think there’s a feeling that people need to sharpen their thinking skills, whether it’s questioning assumptions, or looking at problems from multiple points of view,” says David A. Garvin, a Harvard Business School professor who is co-author with Srikant M. Datar and Patrick G. Cullen of an upcoming book, “Rethinking the M.B.A.: Business Education at a Crossroads.”
Learning how to think critically — how to imaginatively frame questions and consider multiple perspectives — has historically been associated with a liberal arts education, not a business school curriculum, so this change represents something of a tectonic shift for business school leaders. Mr. Martin even describes his goal as a kind of “liberal arts M.B.A.” end quote.
I have always had I guess the liberal arts kind of multi view bias(in other words a blitzkrieg of points of view to solve any problem any way possible). (If you can't solve a problem one way then keep trying other ways until you succeed). You know, like our ancestors did when they actually survived ANYTHING.
Intuitive Genius January 11th
What is an intuitive genius? My definition would be some one who tends to always or almost always BE in the right place at the right time. I suppose you could say an intuitive genius could also be the ultimate opportunist in a way. However, the names that come to mind the most when I think of an Intuitive Genius would be Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Mandela and Martin Luther King and saints of all religions.
Whereas if I were to think of the famous geniuses of all time I might think of people like Einstein and just a few others.
And I suppose the best would be to be an intuitive genius at the same time one was an intellectual genius even though there is more than a slight chance that the two most of the time would cancel each other out through dysfunction and suicide because they both come from opposite ways of perceiving the universe. But as an ideal to be both would be the best as long as such a person was altruistic and working for the best outcome for all mankind.
So, if one aspires to be like Jesus, a very good start is to be a natural intuitive genius as long as that person also has common sense. Because like Einstein has said paraphrased, "Intelligence isn't very useful without common sense."
From personal experience the last 61 years I can vouch for that statement as well. Some of the most intelligent people I have known have over dosed on drugs, run their sports cars into a wall or over a cliff somewhere or crashed their plane into a mountain or the ground. So raw intelligence in some ways only brings people to just how mortal they really are. In a way you have to be less intelligent in order to want to stay alive for the whole thing. Or at the very least you have to pretend to be less intelligent in order to fake yourself out into staying alive for yourself or others.
So, I would say Intuitive intelligence and intuitive genius with a whole lot of common sense would be the most desirable outcome for all of us. And yes, let's throw a whole lot of regular intelligence in there too as long as it can co-exist with the intuitive intelligence living there already.
Whereas if I were to think of the famous geniuses of all time I might think of people like Einstein and just a few others.
And I suppose the best would be to be an intuitive genius at the same time one was an intellectual genius even though there is more than a slight chance that the two most of the time would cancel each other out through dysfunction and suicide because they both come from opposite ways of perceiving the universe. But as an ideal to be both would be the best as long as such a person was altruistic and working for the best outcome for all mankind.
So, if one aspires to be like Jesus, a very good start is to be a natural intuitive genius as long as that person also has common sense. Because like Einstein has said paraphrased, "Intelligence isn't very useful without common sense."
From personal experience the last 61 years I can vouch for that statement as well. Some of the most intelligent people I have known have over dosed on drugs, run their sports cars into a wall or over a cliff somewhere or crashed their plane into a mountain or the ground. So raw intelligence in some ways only brings people to just how mortal they really are. In a way you have to be less intelligent in order to want to stay alive for the whole thing. Or at the very least you have to pretend to be less intelligent in order to fake yourself out into staying alive for yourself or others.
So, I would say Intuitive intelligence and intuitive genius with a whole lot of common sense would be the most desirable outcome for all of us. And yes, let's throw a whole lot of regular intelligence in there too as long as it can co-exist with the intuitive intelligence living there already.
Nuclear Weapons and Terrorism
It is important to understand that the powerful types of terrorism that we have seen constantly growing on earth since at least the 1970s is the direct result of nuclear weapons. When they were invented and used there could be no more World Wars without extincting the human race. However, many grievances of all kinds on earth still remained that in the past would have resulted in Big Wars similar to World War I and II. So, terrorism and its increasingly lethal nature is a direct result of the impossibility of big wars happening anymore because of the extinction of all life on earth that would be caused in a climate of nuclear proliferation.
I don't know what the answer to this is. However, it is obvious to me given what is happening that eventually terrorist bombs will ever increase in size and lethality and possibly some terrorist will get a hold of a nuclear weapon.
I think we all need to figure out how to prevent that but also how to address human rights issues that are valid worldwide. As poverty and hunger declines I think you will naturally see terrorism decline as well. However, as poverty and hunger increases I think terrorism and the size of terrorist bombs will increase worldwide as well.
I think terrorism is an insanity, a form of suicide when someone feels there is no hope for another kind of solution possible. However, if this person is crazy it becomes everyone's problem. And even if the person couldn't be classified as crazy we all still need to address poverty and hunger worldwide or see terrorism of all kinds increase worldwide ongoing. When the disparity between the have and have nots stays the same or gets worse I really fear for world civilization.
Though trying to eliminate terrorism is always a good thing, realizing the primary cause is always hunger and poverty is the most useful realization of all.
I don't know what the answer to this is. However, it is obvious to me given what is happening that eventually terrorist bombs will ever increase in size and lethality and possibly some terrorist will get a hold of a nuclear weapon.
I think we all need to figure out how to prevent that but also how to address human rights issues that are valid worldwide. As poverty and hunger declines I think you will naturally see terrorism decline as well. However, as poverty and hunger increases I think terrorism and the size of terrorist bombs will increase worldwide as well.
I think terrorism is an insanity, a form of suicide when someone feels there is no hope for another kind of solution possible. However, if this person is crazy it becomes everyone's problem. And even if the person couldn't be classified as crazy we all still need to address poverty and hunger worldwide or see terrorism of all kinds increase worldwide ongoing. When the disparity between the have and have nots stays the same or gets worse I really fear for world civilization.
Though trying to eliminate terrorism is always a good thing, realizing the primary cause is always hunger and poverty is the most useful realization of all.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
World Warming to Greener Train Travel
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/10/green.trains/
(CNN) -- Take more trains and fewer planes. That's what Sarah Kendrew pledged to herself a few years ago. An astronomer at the Netherlands' Leiden Observatory, she travels frequently to nearby countries on business -- and prefers to not leave vapor trails in the sky when doing so.end quote
I like this idea. For example when I was in Paris last October I took a fast train from Paris to Nice in the Cote D'Azure(French Riviera). This we found useful on many levels. We realized since we didn't have to be at the airport two hours before we took off and getting our bags after we landed that by taking the High Speed Train to Nice we saved several hours travel and waiting time by taking the train. And when we arrived at the Nice-Ville train station right outside was the rental car place with our Mercedes 5 speed Diesel. And since the Europeans have mastered the non-stinky diesel with fantastic mileage(if you can drive a 5 speed stick shift) you are all set to travel. Also, if you have a driver's license from any state in the U.S. you no longer need an international driver's license to drive in most of Europe. Also, mainland Europe everyone drives on the same side of the road as the U.S. If you are jet lagged bad it is not a good idea to drive in Great Britain right away because you have to negotiate driving on the left side of the road from the right side of the car as a driver and usually with a floor stick shift to your left instead of your right. I found this out the hard way after losing a nights sleep on the way to London and Edinburgh in 1999 in October with my mother and then 10 year old daughter. I almost killed us all several times especially on roundabouts in a rental car until I got smart and headed north to Aviemore where there is much less traffic and one is out in the country. So, if you fly to Great Britain, sleep for the first 15 hours to put your internal clock in order so your family stays alive or just don't rent a car for the first couple of days. However, of course if jet lag doesn't bother you because you are still really young then of course do whatever you wish.
When we first arrived in Nice this last October 2009:
First we drove to our hotel and later to Monaco(which is quite amazing) and to local interesting places like Vence and Grimaldi Castle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_Grimaldi_%28Cagnes%29,
There are many other things to see as well. In October the water was still quite warm there at Monaco for swimming as well. Though I didn't swim I took my sandals off and stepped down the metal ladders into the water. However, many college age youth were swimming there at the time.
(CNN) -- Take more trains and fewer planes. That's what Sarah Kendrew pledged to herself a few years ago. An astronomer at the Netherlands' Leiden Observatory, she travels frequently to nearby countries on business -- and prefers to not leave vapor trails in the sky when doing so.end quote
I like this idea. For example when I was in Paris last October I took a fast train from Paris to Nice in the Cote D'Azure(French Riviera). This we found useful on many levels. We realized since we didn't have to be at the airport two hours before we took off and getting our bags after we landed that by taking the High Speed Train to Nice we saved several hours travel and waiting time by taking the train. And when we arrived at the Nice-Ville train station right outside was the rental car place with our Mercedes 5 speed Diesel. And since the Europeans have mastered the non-stinky diesel with fantastic mileage(if you can drive a 5 speed stick shift) you are all set to travel. Also, if you have a driver's license from any state in the U.S. you no longer need an international driver's license to drive in most of Europe. Also, mainland Europe everyone drives on the same side of the road as the U.S. If you are jet lagged bad it is not a good idea to drive in Great Britain right away because you have to negotiate driving on the left side of the road from the right side of the car as a driver and usually with a floor stick shift to your left instead of your right. I found this out the hard way after losing a nights sleep on the way to London and Edinburgh in 1999 in October with my mother and then 10 year old daughter. I almost killed us all several times especially on roundabouts in a rental car until I got smart and headed north to Aviemore where there is much less traffic and one is out in the country. So, if you fly to Great Britain, sleep for the first 15 hours to put your internal clock in order so your family stays alive or just don't rent a car for the first couple of days. However, of course if jet lag doesn't bother you because you are still really young then of course do whatever you wish.
When we first arrived in Nice this last October 2009:
First we drove to our hotel and later to Monaco(which is quite amazing) and to local interesting places like Vence and Grimaldi Castle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_Grimaldi_%28Cagnes%29,
There are many other things to see as well. In October the water was still quite warm there at Monaco for swimming as well. Though I didn't swim I took my sandals off and stepped down the metal ladders into the water. However, many college age youth were swimming there at the time.
Events 1-10-10
I'm writing this because directly because of writing this or indirectly I get that it will save lives that I write this.
I have been having an uneasy feeling about the first 3 or 4 months of 2010 in regard to earthquakes, tsunamis and the like. I haven't written about this because it was just too vague to do anything with. You know, like you have the feeling that something is coming but you can't quite put your finger on it. You just know for sure whatever it is going to be you don't want to be there when it happens.
I have a very intuitively gifted friend that once saved my life when I was about 21. She could then see that people who couldn't deal with my gifts were spiritually crucifying me and decided to make sure I didn't die in the process and she succeeded. So I have been grateful to her ever since for saving my life at that time.
Well, now she is in her 80s and is dealing with her own problems related to being 80. She is a church going kind of person so when she called and had had several beers I knew this was unlike her normal self. But the one thing she mentioned was that there was going to be a big earthquake soon. I have found her to be incredibly accurate and then today here was the 6.5 in Eureka, California one day later.
Normally, I would pick up that there would be an earthquake of this size too. However, whenever my son visits for Christmas vacation and then leaves back to college in Southern California it throws my senses off because my wife and 13 year old daughter and I really miss him, especially the first few weeks so that throws off all our senses.
This was one of those cases. However, since I also got a lot of earthquakes and potential tsunamis and possible volcanic eruptions I thought I would just pass along that people need to be aware where they are especially the next 4 months or so. Like for example, March feels pretty strange.
People can pray to change any and all events. However, it is important to note that the Earth needs to move just like people turn in their sleep at night. So stopping this movement only creates worse movements in the future. So, likely a good prayer would be to help people be more aware so they can be more prepared especially if they live on the "Ring of Fire" which makes a circle in the Pacific Ocean. If you aren't aware where the ring of fire is it starts in Alaska and follows down the Pacific Coast from there all the way to the tip of South America and then travels up through Indonesia and Japan up into the Aleutian islands and over again to Alaska. If you are any of these places along the ring of fire be very aware of earthquakes, faults, portential tsunamis etc. Just being more aware can save lives.
Another thing to be aware of: When wild animals like birds seem to do anything out of the ordinary like fly to higher ground or to suddenly leave a normal hunting ground like the San Francisco Seals suddenly did, make a note of their change in behavior. For animals and birds are much more tuned into the actions of the earth on all levels. Most of us humans have forgotten how to be aware. So, if you are more aware it might save your life and others.
I have been having an uneasy feeling about the first 3 or 4 months of 2010 in regard to earthquakes, tsunamis and the like. I haven't written about this because it was just too vague to do anything with. You know, like you have the feeling that something is coming but you can't quite put your finger on it. You just know for sure whatever it is going to be you don't want to be there when it happens.
I have a very intuitively gifted friend that once saved my life when I was about 21. She could then see that people who couldn't deal with my gifts were spiritually crucifying me and decided to make sure I didn't die in the process and she succeeded. So I have been grateful to her ever since for saving my life at that time.
Well, now she is in her 80s and is dealing with her own problems related to being 80. She is a church going kind of person so when she called and had had several beers I knew this was unlike her normal self. But the one thing she mentioned was that there was going to be a big earthquake soon. I have found her to be incredibly accurate and then today here was the 6.5 in Eureka, California one day later.
Normally, I would pick up that there would be an earthquake of this size too. However, whenever my son visits for Christmas vacation and then leaves back to college in Southern California it throws my senses off because my wife and 13 year old daughter and I really miss him, especially the first few weeks so that throws off all our senses.
This was one of those cases. However, since I also got a lot of earthquakes and potential tsunamis and possible volcanic eruptions I thought I would just pass along that people need to be aware where they are especially the next 4 months or so. Like for example, March feels pretty strange.
People can pray to change any and all events. However, it is important to note that the Earth needs to move just like people turn in their sleep at night. So stopping this movement only creates worse movements in the future. So, likely a good prayer would be to help people be more aware so they can be more prepared especially if they live on the "Ring of Fire" which makes a circle in the Pacific Ocean. If you aren't aware where the ring of fire is it starts in Alaska and follows down the Pacific Coast from there all the way to the tip of South America and then travels up through Indonesia and Japan up into the Aleutian islands and over again to Alaska. If you are any of these places along the ring of fire be very aware of earthquakes, faults, portential tsunamis etc. Just being more aware can save lives.
Another thing to be aware of: When wild animals like birds seem to do anything out of the ordinary like fly to higher ground or to suddenly leave a normal hunting ground like the San Francisco Seals suddenly did, make a note of their change in behavior. For animals and birds are much more tuned into the actions of the earth on all levels. Most of us humans have forgotten how to be aware. So, if you are more aware it might save your life and others.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Fred 1916-1985 Betty 1919-2008
I got an email from the folks where I put a granite slab vertical in memorium to my parents. Maybe one day my name and my wife's name might be on the other side of the vertical slab 2 or 3 feet high and 5 inches thick. They emailed me a picture of the memorial. It's still pretty fresh that Mom has gone now almost 1 1/2 years now. And I couldn't believe when I thought of it that Dad has been gone now since 1985 when I was 37 years old. Mom's ashes are where John Denver crashed his plane in the ocean and Dad's ashes have been in the Mt. Shasta area since he passed away.
I didn't really appreciate my parents very much until I went away to a private boarding school my last year of High School to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I was 17 at the time and I took the El Capitan Train the 18 hours or so from Los Angeles to Santa Fe and back several times that year. Then when I graduated in May my parents drove out for the graduation and took two other girls at the school to their homes, one in Sedona, Arizona and one back to Los Angeles County in California where we lived too.
Anyway,I finally realized when I went away to school how very sane my parents were compared to most people. I found most people pretty nuts in comparison, especially people my parents age. So, when I returned to Los Angeles I valued my parents a whole lot more than before. This made our family bond much stronger. I was much more there for them and they for me after that. I'm afraid my life experience up through my early 20s really tested that bond but still it held true for all of us. We were always there for each other in emergencies. There was only one emergency that this was not true of. It was my father's last year of life. As he approached the end of life I wanted to spend the last few weeks and months with my Dad. But my now ex-wife broke a clipboard over my head and demanded I not do that. I think that moment was the end of our marriage even though my ex and I were stubborn and held on because of the kids for 9 more years. However, for me, being denied those last days and weeks with my Dad and Mom emotionally ended my marriage at that point and it became only a mental discipline after that in reality.
However, the other side of that is that I probably couldn't have handled being there watching my father slowly waste away with bone cancer. Especially after he was given codeine as a pain killer and he hallucinated from it and was no longer rational a lot of the time toward the end.
One time I had to drive to Yucca Valley where my parents retired to to the house my Dad and I and Mom had built on weekends ourselves from 1968 until 1980 when they retired there.(I was there for the big stuff mostly like pouring the concrete and setting the roof Joice's in place and stuff like that and quarrying white dolomite and gold ore for the fireplace over the years. Until 1980 they lived in San Diego County where Dad worked Building the Encina Power plant near Carlsbad among other things there in the County.
When Dad died in 1985 Mom was like a ship without a rudder, she just kept moving and moving every year or two until she moved near us in 1994 to the Northern Coast of California and stayed near us until she passed on in 2008. But between 1985 and 1994 she lived in Palm Springs,Ashland in Oregon, Seattle in Washington, Hana in Maui, Hawaii, San Marcos(where Dad and Mom had owned a house) In California etc. Mom and Dad were married two years before I was born in 1946 for a total of 39 years and a few months. So Dad was married first at age 21 and then divorced and married my mother at age 30 when she was 27. This was her first and only marriage. So Mom was sort of an innocent person compared to most people I've met in my life. Since Dad had lived all over the western coastal states and Texas and Arizona growing up and had chartered a Yacht to Tahiti with his brother and first wife, Dad was always very worldly in a sense. But there was an innocence to my father as well in some ways that I can't really explain. He was very intelligent and I don't think his generation understood women as well as people tend to more now. So even though my parents were best friends and loved each other dearly and were always loyal and faithful to each other there relationship isn't like other relationships I have seen in my adult life. Maybe it was just the era. And it is like all relationships that actually work. You just have to say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Their relationship was like that.
Because the were in charge of a church from the time I was 6 to 12 years old they were mostly celibate during this time. I don't think this bothered my Dad but I know this did my Mom a lot because she told me it was very hard for her to be celibate and married to Dad at the same time.
What I took from this was that being celibate makes most people crazy as an adult. However, now as a 61 year old I don't know anymore for sure. However, I do still think of sex as like food or air and if one doesn't get enough for any reason it tends to make people bat shit crazy. This is just what I have observed.
Yes. People can stifle their emotions through will power. But if it isn't a real emergency like a war or someone chasing after you with a knife or a gun then I feel people just kind of get delusional trying to stay celibate and sort of nuts.
I kind of feel about celibacy like I do about people who try to become fruitarians. Most people who are disciplined enough to be fruitarians that are men usually die in the process. And one young woman I knew who was eating only fruit in Hawaii for several months got skinny as a rail and lost her period after the first month. So, I guess I think of celibacy a lot like that. Both tend to make people crazy in the long run. In the short run one might survive both but in the long run people might just not be around anymore or be nuts.
Luckily, my parents were only celibate for a relatively short time so it sort of worked for them during my ages 6 to 12 until my mother's father died and she had a nervous breakdown in 1960. They gave up the church then and I had my real parents back through my teens. Also, I had developed Childhood epilepsy at age 10 and I sort of needed them to be more present and not off running a church and never being around while my grandmother raised me mostly. By age 15 I grew out of Childhood epilepsy but became permenently psychically gifted in amazing ways through the process. I believe it happened because I wasn't allowed any medicine at all for my illness so I had to use mind over matter techniques to survive it. Because of this I became so mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually so self aware I tended to be about 10 years ahead of my peers in spiritual maturity just trying to survive what I had been through. Though it made me very serious I always had a girlfriend after I was 15 years old. So always having a girlfriend seemed to be one of many benefits to becoming so intuitively gifted after I grew out of the childhood epilepsy at age 15.
Though I was trying to make this some kind of memorial for my parents I don't think I succeeded. This is probably because my wife and daughter and I are missing our two other children ages 20 and 35 who were here at one point or other during Christmas vacation but are no longer within several hundred miles of us now. So we are all dealing with that now. So, anyway, my parents were really great people and I'm very grateful that they raised me and put up with me until they passed away. God Bless you Folks.The world seems very empty without you here physically in it.
I didn't really appreciate my parents very much until I went away to a private boarding school my last year of High School to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I was 17 at the time and I took the El Capitan Train the 18 hours or so from Los Angeles to Santa Fe and back several times that year. Then when I graduated in May my parents drove out for the graduation and took two other girls at the school to their homes, one in Sedona, Arizona and one back to Los Angeles County in California where we lived too.
Anyway,I finally realized when I went away to school how very sane my parents were compared to most people. I found most people pretty nuts in comparison, especially people my parents age. So, when I returned to Los Angeles I valued my parents a whole lot more than before. This made our family bond much stronger. I was much more there for them and they for me after that. I'm afraid my life experience up through my early 20s really tested that bond but still it held true for all of us. We were always there for each other in emergencies. There was only one emergency that this was not true of. It was my father's last year of life. As he approached the end of life I wanted to spend the last few weeks and months with my Dad. But my now ex-wife broke a clipboard over my head and demanded I not do that. I think that moment was the end of our marriage even though my ex and I were stubborn and held on because of the kids for 9 more years. However, for me, being denied those last days and weeks with my Dad and Mom emotionally ended my marriage at that point and it became only a mental discipline after that in reality.
However, the other side of that is that I probably couldn't have handled being there watching my father slowly waste away with bone cancer. Especially after he was given codeine as a pain killer and he hallucinated from it and was no longer rational a lot of the time toward the end.
One time I had to drive to Yucca Valley where my parents retired to to the house my Dad and I and Mom had built on weekends ourselves from 1968 until 1980 when they retired there.(I was there for the big stuff mostly like pouring the concrete and setting the roof Joice's in place and stuff like that and quarrying white dolomite and gold ore for the fireplace over the years. Until 1980 they lived in San Diego County where Dad worked Building the Encina Power plant near Carlsbad among other things there in the County.
When Dad died in 1985 Mom was like a ship without a rudder, she just kept moving and moving every year or two until she moved near us in 1994 to the Northern Coast of California and stayed near us until she passed on in 2008. But between 1985 and 1994 she lived in Palm Springs,Ashland in Oregon, Seattle in Washington, Hana in Maui, Hawaii, San Marcos(where Dad and Mom had owned a house) In California etc. Mom and Dad were married two years before I was born in 1946 for a total of 39 years and a few months. So Dad was married first at age 21 and then divorced and married my mother at age 30 when she was 27. This was her first and only marriage. So Mom was sort of an innocent person compared to most people I've met in my life. Since Dad had lived all over the western coastal states and Texas and Arizona growing up and had chartered a Yacht to Tahiti with his brother and first wife, Dad was always very worldly in a sense. But there was an innocence to my father as well in some ways that I can't really explain. He was very intelligent and I don't think his generation understood women as well as people tend to more now. So even though my parents were best friends and loved each other dearly and were always loyal and faithful to each other there relationship isn't like other relationships I have seen in my adult life. Maybe it was just the era. And it is like all relationships that actually work. You just have to say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Their relationship was like that.
Because the were in charge of a church from the time I was 6 to 12 years old they were mostly celibate during this time. I don't think this bothered my Dad but I know this did my Mom a lot because she told me it was very hard for her to be celibate and married to Dad at the same time.
What I took from this was that being celibate makes most people crazy as an adult. However, now as a 61 year old I don't know anymore for sure. However, I do still think of sex as like food or air and if one doesn't get enough for any reason it tends to make people bat shit crazy. This is just what I have observed.
Yes. People can stifle their emotions through will power. But if it isn't a real emergency like a war or someone chasing after you with a knife or a gun then I feel people just kind of get delusional trying to stay celibate and sort of nuts.
I kind of feel about celibacy like I do about people who try to become fruitarians. Most people who are disciplined enough to be fruitarians that are men usually die in the process. And one young woman I knew who was eating only fruit in Hawaii for several months got skinny as a rail and lost her period after the first month. So, I guess I think of celibacy a lot like that. Both tend to make people crazy in the long run. In the short run one might survive both but in the long run people might just not be around anymore or be nuts.
Luckily, my parents were only celibate for a relatively short time so it sort of worked for them during my ages 6 to 12 until my mother's father died and she had a nervous breakdown in 1960. They gave up the church then and I had my real parents back through my teens. Also, I had developed Childhood epilepsy at age 10 and I sort of needed them to be more present and not off running a church and never being around while my grandmother raised me mostly. By age 15 I grew out of Childhood epilepsy but became permenently psychically gifted in amazing ways through the process. I believe it happened because I wasn't allowed any medicine at all for my illness so I had to use mind over matter techniques to survive it. Because of this I became so mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually so self aware I tended to be about 10 years ahead of my peers in spiritual maturity just trying to survive what I had been through. Though it made me very serious I always had a girlfriend after I was 15 years old. So always having a girlfriend seemed to be one of many benefits to becoming so intuitively gifted after I grew out of the childhood epilepsy at age 15.
Though I was trying to make this some kind of memorial for my parents I don't think I succeeded. This is probably because my wife and daughter and I are missing our two other children ages 20 and 35 who were here at one point or other during Christmas vacation but are no longer within several hundred miles of us now. So we are all dealing with that now. So, anyway, my parents were really great people and I'm very grateful that they raised me and put up with me until they passed away. God Bless you Folks.The world seems very empty without you here physically in it.
Biggest ocean wave recorded 1720 feet high
http://www.surfersvillage.com/surfing/25499/news.htm
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 27 December, 2009 : - - The biggest wave on record occurred in Lituya Bay on the southern coast of Alaska in 1958. An earthquake measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale hit the area and shook loose an estimated 40 million cubic yards of dirt and glacier from a mountainside at the head of the bay. When the debris hit the water, a massive 1,720-foot wave was created and washed over the headland.
video of largest wave ever surfed with the surfer surviving:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nS_aR8XX_U
This research started with with my junior high age daughter doing research for a paper. However, I could not at first believe that it was even possible to have a 1700 foot high wave in the ocean. It turns out I was wrong. I have heard of many 100 to 300 foot high waves in the ocean and 40 to 50 foot high waves are common near Antarctica and other places certain times of the year. But I was completely taken aback by even the possiblity of a 1720 foot wave in the ocean anywhere or any time.
Also, the 1964 Alaska quake I remember I was probably 16 at the time and read a true life account of a man in a fishing trawler who survived a several hundred foot wave with his 10 year old son on his fishing boat by going full power over the wave just before it crested. He said the worst part wasn't cresting the wave but dodging all the full grown pine and fir trees as they were ripped out by the tsunami caused wave by the roots and thrown out to sea.
This is the story of the earthquake as I couldn't find the 1964 reader's digest story:
http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/quakes/Alaska_1964_earthquake.html
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 27 December, 2009 : - - The biggest wave on record occurred in Lituya Bay on the southern coast of Alaska in 1958. An earthquake measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale hit the area and shook loose an estimated 40 million cubic yards of dirt and glacier from a mountainside at the head of the bay. When the debris hit the water, a massive 1,720-foot wave was created and washed over the headland.
video of largest wave ever surfed with the surfer surviving:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nS_aR8XX_U
This research started with with my junior high age daughter doing research for a paper. However, I could not at first believe that it was even possible to have a 1700 foot high wave in the ocean. It turns out I was wrong. I have heard of many 100 to 300 foot high waves in the ocean and 40 to 50 foot high waves are common near Antarctica and other places certain times of the year. But I was completely taken aback by even the possiblity of a 1720 foot wave in the ocean anywhere or any time.
Also, the 1964 Alaska quake I remember I was probably 16 at the time and read a true life account of a man in a fishing trawler who survived a several hundred foot wave with his 10 year old son on his fishing boat by going full power over the wave just before it crested. He said the worst part wasn't cresting the wave but dodging all the full grown pine and fir trees as they were ripped out by the tsunami caused wave by the roots and thrown out to sea.
This is the story of the earthquake as I couldn't find the 1964 reader's digest story:
http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/quakes/Alaska_1964_earthquake.html
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Street Wise
I'm 61. So that means I grew up as a child in the 1950s. I was 12 in 1960 when JFK was elected President and 15 when he was assasinated. More people my age died in the Viet Nam War than any other sometime between their ages 17 and 25 years of age. I didn't have to go. I was lucky. I went to college instead in California.
However, I did grow up very blue collar even though my father won the highest grade in math and penmanship in the state of Washington when he was in junior High School sometime between ages 13 and 15. His father during the Great depression wouldn't let him go to college and become and electrical engineer so he became an Electrician and eventually an Electrical Contractor like his father, brother and even the youngest brother became an electrician and worked for their father until he died when his private plane crashed when he was 24.
So, for me growing up I was Blue Collar because my Dad was an Electrical Contractor in Los Angeles County. Though my Dad was incredibly intelligent he resented wearing the khaki colored clothes of a workman every day. He wanted to be wearing a suit to work. However, I always thought he wouldn't ever have been happy working in an office and was actually more suited to outdoor work and Building than anything else because he was very physical in addition to being incredibly intelligent and always was in tip top physical shape even until his death in 1985 at age 69. My mother lived to 90. She was 3 years younger. She only had a high School education.
So I grew up Blue collar emotionally. Even though I consider myself intellectually white collar I am still blue collar in my bones and emotions. The survivability and common sense of a blue collar person I value above all else. I value the intelligence applied of making great choices that a college education can bring. But still I value most the common sense survival values of the Blue collar people that spawned me.
So the people I value the most come from humble blue collar beginnings but succeeded anyway. I value them because I watched so very many fall by the wayside of the Blue collar people I grew up with. Starting in my teens people drove their cars off cliffs racing, died while surfing, died in fires, overdosed on drugs, killed themselves fighting over a woman, or just killed themselves because of a woman or went to war to die with honor because of a woman. Between the ages of 12 and 30 I saw so many people I knew disappear and be gone forever.
So, because of all the ones I lost that I knew or knew of I honor most of all those who somehow by some miracle stayed alive and succeeded anyway. In this I honor myself for surviving all the BS of my life and staying alive and taking care of my kids no matter what happened in my life and standing by all my friends that stayed alive.
How did I survive when all the others didn't? This is a question I ask myself sometimes. There are so very many times when I almost died and then I always would say like my father taught me, "A Miss is as good as a mile!" That was my motto for a near death experience. I would simply laugh and move on. I have found this a lot harder to do after I was 45 however. By age 50 I had almost died from a heart virus for 7 months I at that time I couldn't find anyone else who had survived one. All I heard of was that people with a heart virus were fatalities.
I suppose the best answer the I have for surviving everything in my life is that God wanted me to. This is the best answer I have come up with yet.
However, I did grow up very blue collar even though my father won the highest grade in math and penmanship in the state of Washington when he was in junior High School sometime between ages 13 and 15. His father during the Great depression wouldn't let him go to college and become and electrical engineer so he became an Electrician and eventually an Electrical Contractor like his father, brother and even the youngest brother became an electrician and worked for their father until he died when his private plane crashed when he was 24.
So, for me growing up I was Blue Collar because my Dad was an Electrical Contractor in Los Angeles County. Though my Dad was incredibly intelligent he resented wearing the khaki colored clothes of a workman every day. He wanted to be wearing a suit to work. However, I always thought he wouldn't ever have been happy working in an office and was actually more suited to outdoor work and Building than anything else because he was very physical in addition to being incredibly intelligent and always was in tip top physical shape even until his death in 1985 at age 69. My mother lived to 90. She was 3 years younger. She only had a high School education.
So I grew up Blue collar emotionally. Even though I consider myself intellectually white collar I am still blue collar in my bones and emotions. The survivability and common sense of a blue collar person I value above all else. I value the intelligence applied of making great choices that a college education can bring. But still I value most the common sense survival values of the Blue collar people that spawned me.
So the people I value the most come from humble blue collar beginnings but succeeded anyway. I value them because I watched so very many fall by the wayside of the Blue collar people I grew up with. Starting in my teens people drove their cars off cliffs racing, died while surfing, died in fires, overdosed on drugs, killed themselves fighting over a woman, or just killed themselves because of a woman or went to war to die with honor because of a woman. Between the ages of 12 and 30 I saw so many people I knew disappear and be gone forever.
So, because of all the ones I lost that I knew or knew of I honor most of all those who somehow by some miracle stayed alive and succeeded anyway. In this I honor myself for surviving all the BS of my life and staying alive and taking care of my kids no matter what happened in my life and standing by all my friends that stayed alive.
How did I survive when all the others didn't? This is a question I ask myself sometimes. There are so very many times when I almost died and then I always would say like my father taught me, "A Miss is as good as a mile!" That was my motto for a near death experience. I would simply laugh and move on. I have found this a lot harder to do after I was 45 however. By age 50 I had almost died from a heart virus for 7 months I at that time I couldn't find anyone else who had survived one. All I heard of was that people with a heart virus were fatalities.
I suppose the best answer the I have for surviving everything in my life is that God wanted me to. This is the best answer I have come up with yet.
The Paranormal
I was reading about "The Men Who Stare at Goats" at the Wikipedia site and got the idea to write this article.
First of all, there are thousands to millions or more people on earth whose lives include the paranormal every single day of their lives. It is very easy for governments to propagandize and just call such people as nuts or crazy. However, it is important to understand that this is very very self serving for all governments that do this.
For how does any Government control their people within any nation? The answer is that one dis-empowers the public by telling them lies or at best half truths. And once people believe the lies and half truths they are for all intents and purposes: Controlled and under the control of that government. In other words they are mental and physical slaves for all intents and purposes of that government no matter what governing body exists there. It has always been this way and I suspect it always will be.
So, to be or to become and Empowered member of society it is necessary to see that these lies and half truths are a governing necessity of Any government on Earth. So it is okay to listen to these lies but not okay to believe the lies if one wishes to be or to become empowered in their everyday lives.
Every successful person I have ever met understands what I am saying. You just generally don't become successful or stay successful without understanding what I have written here.
So, if you want to be successful it might be necessary for you to have your own opinions that are only born from your own direct experiences in life. The other component is that you learn not to trust what any authority tells you because you would rather go do the research yourself because generally most authority on earth cannot actually be trusted all the time but maybe only half the time(if that).
So, by becoming a self aware person who tests all information in a variety of ways including(but not limited to) the Scientific Method(Hypotheses, Theories and Laws), one becomes not only self empowered by also self sufficient in all ways.
If one then can add the paranormal to the mix (God) if you believe in God or Nature if you don't and actual tested use of psychic and other gifts then you will be successful and stay successful. However, if you want peace for yourself and all beings you will also seek to be enlightened and to help enlighten all others. For if one is truly successful then that one helps all others become successful too by encouraging all to become as compassionate and enlightened as possible in their lives.
First of all, there are thousands to millions or more people on earth whose lives include the paranormal every single day of their lives. It is very easy for governments to propagandize and just call such people as nuts or crazy. However, it is important to understand that this is very very self serving for all governments that do this.
For how does any Government control their people within any nation? The answer is that one dis-empowers the public by telling them lies or at best half truths. And once people believe the lies and half truths they are for all intents and purposes: Controlled and under the control of that government. In other words they are mental and physical slaves for all intents and purposes of that government no matter what governing body exists there. It has always been this way and I suspect it always will be.
So, to be or to become and Empowered member of society it is necessary to see that these lies and half truths are a governing necessity of Any government on Earth. So it is okay to listen to these lies but not okay to believe the lies if one wishes to be or to become empowered in their everyday lives.
Every successful person I have ever met understands what I am saying. You just generally don't become successful or stay successful without understanding what I have written here.
So, if you want to be successful it might be necessary for you to have your own opinions that are only born from your own direct experiences in life. The other component is that you learn not to trust what any authority tells you because you would rather go do the research yourself because generally most authority on earth cannot actually be trusted all the time but maybe only half the time(if that).
So, by becoming a self aware person who tests all information in a variety of ways including(but not limited to) the Scientific Method(Hypotheses, Theories and Laws), one becomes not only self empowered by also self sufficient in all ways.
If one then can add the paranormal to the mix (God) if you believe in God or Nature if you don't and actual tested use of psychic and other gifts then you will be successful and stay successful. However, if you want peace for yourself and all beings you will also seek to be enlightened and to help enlighten all others. For if one is truly successful then that one helps all others become successful too by encouraging all to become as compassionate and enlightened as possible in their lives.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
PS3 1-7-10
During Christmas the family purchased a PS3. There are many games available either in DVD format(the DVD drive also plays Blue ray movies) or online that can be downloaded into the PS3 hard drive. One I like is called "Flower" which at the first level is very restful and something nice to do to unwind before going to sleep. However, it is important to remember that many video games could possibly cause a seizure if one is epileptic or has epileptic tendencies. For example, I had childhood epilepsy but haven't had a seizure since age 15. However, I still have to be very careful around strobe lights like in a night Club when people are dancing or in October on the Eiffel Tower in Paris during the White Night one weekend when the Tower strobed and I was at the top of the ride. I found I had to halfway close my eyes and step back from the edge until the strobe all over the Eiffel tower stopped before I proceeded. Also, there are strobes in Disneyland in California that I had to be careful of this summer and other times I visited there in the past. So, just be aware of what you are experiencing with these games if you are sensitive in this way.
Another game I have enjoyed played with three other family members is "Little Big Planet" where my daughter enjoys putting her puppet like character in costumes while we all run around as puppets getting keys and other stuff on the planet.
I have watched my 35 year old son play Avatar also on PS3. I tried it tonight and because I couldn't get the view to work to my liking I couldn't focus on where wild animals were attacking very well and so my character died. Obviously, I'm not a today gamer because I don't like to kill things. I have just seen to much mayhem and blood and guts in real life to want to kill things in a game even in jest. However, in the 1980s I really enjoyed playing Asteroids.
However, like my son said, the price of the PS3 has finally come down enough to be fairly practical for a lot of people to buy. We have had a lot of Xboxes and they are great but it appears the hardware is of higher quality in the PS3 so there is much less chance of a breakdown. It is like the difference between a PC and a Mac. I have pretty much gone over to Macs almost completely because I got so tired of dealing with viruses and addware. My son still builds and rebuilds his desktops though in PC form even though he put a 1.5 Terrabyte hard drive on one of our IMacs which gave it ten times the hard drive memory for storage. He says it increased the life of this IMAC about 3 to 5 years.
My son discovered as he rebuilt and loaded new software on several of our and his computers this Christmas vacation from College that even though PCs are backwards compatible almost all the way back to the 1980s XTs that Apple computers because the software isn't supported beyond about 10 years can't be run online much beyond that if your software starts having glitches unless you have a CD or DVD of the software to reload. So for most people that means an Apple computer can live about 10 years. So even though Apple makes high quality products there tends to be a theoretically shorter shelf life than say PC desktops that can be taken apart and used and rebuilt in new or rebuilt computers as long as it is useful to you around the world. He also built me a special older desktop to run to stream netflix movies from on to my 52 inch flatscreen. He says I need to run the flatscreen unscaled for it to work right but the clarity is still pretty good even at 52 inches. We got the netflix DVD from PS3 to do it that way since the PS3 has a wifi connection if you have wifi in your home or office. However, he realized that it would just wear out the blue ray Dvd drive in the PS3 faster and besides the graphics card he put in the computer he built to stream netflix onto my flatscreen has a better graphics processor than the one in the PS3 at least for streaming netflix.
So, it has been a fun Christmas vacation and I'm sorry to see my son go back to college. It was nice to have another guy around the house to hang out with the past 3 or so weeks during Christmas and New Years.
Another game I have enjoyed played with three other family members is "Little Big Planet" where my daughter enjoys putting her puppet like character in costumes while we all run around as puppets getting keys and other stuff on the planet.
I have watched my 35 year old son play Avatar also on PS3. I tried it tonight and because I couldn't get the view to work to my liking I couldn't focus on where wild animals were attacking very well and so my character died. Obviously, I'm not a today gamer because I don't like to kill things. I have just seen to much mayhem and blood and guts in real life to want to kill things in a game even in jest. However, in the 1980s I really enjoyed playing Asteroids.
However, like my son said, the price of the PS3 has finally come down enough to be fairly practical for a lot of people to buy. We have had a lot of Xboxes and they are great but it appears the hardware is of higher quality in the PS3 so there is much less chance of a breakdown. It is like the difference between a PC and a Mac. I have pretty much gone over to Macs almost completely because I got so tired of dealing with viruses and addware. My son still builds and rebuilds his desktops though in PC form even though he put a 1.5 Terrabyte hard drive on one of our IMacs which gave it ten times the hard drive memory for storage. He says it increased the life of this IMAC about 3 to 5 years.
My son discovered as he rebuilt and loaded new software on several of our and his computers this Christmas vacation from College that even though PCs are backwards compatible almost all the way back to the 1980s XTs that Apple computers because the software isn't supported beyond about 10 years can't be run online much beyond that if your software starts having glitches unless you have a CD or DVD of the software to reload. So for most people that means an Apple computer can live about 10 years. So even though Apple makes high quality products there tends to be a theoretically shorter shelf life than say PC desktops that can be taken apart and used and rebuilt in new or rebuilt computers as long as it is useful to you around the world. He also built me a special older desktop to run to stream netflix movies from on to my 52 inch flatscreen. He says I need to run the flatscreen unscaled for it to work right but the clarity is still pretty good even at 52 inches. We got the netflix DVD from PS3 to do it that way since the PS3 has a wifi connection if you have wifi in your home or office. However, he realized that it would just wear out the blue ray Dvd drive in the PS3 faster and besides the graphics card he put in the computer he built to stream netflix onto my flatscreen has a better graphics processor than the one in the PS3 at least for streaming netflix.
So, it has been a fun Christmas vacation and I'm sorry to see my son go back to college. It was nice to have another guy around the house to hang out with the past 3 or so weeks during Christmas and New Years.
Oak Meadow School
http://www.oakmeadow.com/
When I was about 32 I was raising one biological child from my first marriage and two step kids from my second marriage. We lived in Mt. Shasta, California at that time and our kids were all in Mt. Shasta Elementary School. However, because there was a bumper crop of kids they moved the 4th grade to the junior high school there. Within one month an 8th grader broke a 4 grader's jaw. So we decided to take all our kids out of public school in protest and enrolled them in Oak Meadow School which is a correspondence school for kids 5 through High School. It was then in 1980 a very reasonable price to educate our kids in a home school setting which worked out well for us as we moved then to 10 miles from the nearest little town of McCloud and three miles from the nearest paved road and about 7 miles from the nearest electric line or phone line.
This began one of the most memorable and happy times in my lifetime. We home schooled our kids and went skiing with them as Gym and hiked in the forest and learned all the animals and birds of the forest together and learned the names of all the trees and mountains nearby. We also traveled to Idaho and Canada with the kids until the oldest was 12. We then moved to the San Francisco Bay area and bought a business there when the oldest asked to return to public school for Junior High School and 7th grade. Though the younger two were not as interested in returning to public school they were happy to make new friends there and to move on to the next phase of their lives.
Today, the oldest is a Fire Captain, the next oldest is a lawyer and the youngest is a senior in college and will be a nurse by next December 2010. In 1985 we were fortunate to leave our business to be managed by a relative and to go to India, Nepal and Thailand for 4 months. This was an amazing part of all our education but especially in India where often there were dead or dying people in the streets as we traveled it was very very Real. I think these four months changed all our lives maybe more than any other four months in any of our lives. But this was also a part of our children's education.
What I found most strange about this experience in 1985 was that even though the culture shock was not bad in Japan because it is very westernized and still not that bad in Thailand, especially as long as one was in Bankok. However, in Nepal and then finally India the culture shock was just so extreme at that time that one always felt like one needed to have one's mouth open in shock in order to cope especially when hundreds or thousands of people might surround one or one's family to stare at one and one's family which was the custom there at that time and still might be. So, realizing that even with a High School education and some college that one at that time was in the upper 10% or 20% of the whole country education wise. Though this likely has changed now, then most people did not have any education at all because there was no public education. In fact, we left money for two boys around 7 to 9 years old in Rewalsar for them to go to school for one year when we left there in 1986.
However, if you need to protect your child because of dyslexia or some other reason from the inadequacies of public school in the United States, Oak Meadow School as a correspondance School is one alternative as long as one of the child's parents has the time to actually teach the child or to hire someone capable(hopefully with a college education) to provide schooling for your child or children. It is important to supervise whenever possible to ensure your child or children are progressing so that they can successfully go to college if they wish to when the time comes.
When I was about 32 I was raising one biological child from my first marriage and two step kids from my second marriage. We lived in Mt. Shasta, California at that time and our kids were all in Mt. Shasta Elementary School. However, because there was a bumper crop of kids they moved the 4th grade to the junior high school there. Within one month an 8th grader broke a 4 grader's jaw. So we decided to take all our kids out of public school in protest and enrolled them in Oak Meadow School which is a correspondence school for kids 5 through High School. It was then in 1980 a very reasonable price to educate our kids in a home school setting which worked out well for us as we moved then to 10 miles from the nearest little town of McCloud and three miles from the nearest paved road and about 7 miles from the nearest electric line or phone line.
This began one of the most memorable and happy times in my lifetime. We home schooled our kids and went skiing with them as Gym and hiked in the forest and learned all the animals and birds of the forest together and learned the names of all the trees and mountains nearby. We also traveled to Idaho and Canada with the kids until the oldest was 12. We then moved to the San Francisco Bay area and bought a business there when the oldest asked to return to public school for Junior High School and 7th grade. Though the younger two were not as interested in returning to public school they were happy to make new friends there and to move on to the next phase of their lives.
Today, the oldest is a Fire Captain, the next oldest is a lawyer and the youngest is a senior in college and will be a nurse by next December 2010. In 1985 we were fortunate to leave our business to be managed by a relative and to go to India, Nepal and Thailand for 4 months. This was an amazing part of all our education but especially in India where often there were dead or dying people in the streets as we traveled it was very very Real. I think these four months changed all our lives maybe more than any other four months in any of our lives. But this was also a part of our children's education.
What I found most strange about this experience in 1985 was that even though the culture shock was not bad in Japan because it is very westernized and still not that bad in Thailand, especially as long as one was in Bankok. However, in Nepal and then finally India the culture shock was just so extreme at that time that one always felt like one needed to have one's mouth open in shock in order to cope especially when hundreds or thousands of people might surround one or one's family to stare at one and one's family which was the custom there at that time and still might be. So, realizing that even with a High School education and some college that one at that time was in the upper 10% or 20% of the whole country education wise. Though this likely has changed now, then most people did not have any education at all because there was no public education. In fact, we left money for two boys around 7 to 9 years old in Rewalsar for them to go to school for one year when we left there in 1986.
However, if you need to protect your child because of dyslexia or some other reason from the inadequacies of public school in the United States, Oak Meadow School as a correspondance School is one alternative as long as one of the child's parents has the time to actually teach the child or to hire someone capable(hopefully with a college education) to provide schooling for your child or children. It is important to supervise whenever possible to ensure your child or children are progressing so that they can successfully go to college if they wish to when the time comes.
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