Reinke Faces Life

A fellow pinged me back about something I had written in a public forum about “good points”, here’s what I wrote back.

Thanks but I didn’t write that to “score points”. I did write it to let people know what I was seeing. I like to say “I’m hopeless, nut maybe I can help you”. That, and my other favorite, “We all stand on the shoulders of other men. Some of who were giants. Some of who gave all for us. When is it our turn to be the shoulder that others stand upon”.

Very philosophical this morning.

By the way, I still haven’t figured out what to call this media or medium. “Online drivel”, “pearls of wisdom”, “dikw”, … or “stream of consciousness poetry” come to mind.

Is it a blog? Most of the blogs I read are much more structured. more topic restricted. written by multiple people.

This is a — single authored — personal ramble — on things that attract my attention — of dubious value — somewhat whiny — randomly interesting?

A personal web log? A pblog! (Dare you to pronounce that!)

http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/481759.html

***Begin Quote***

Four floor plans will be offered, ranging from 544 square feet to 936 square feet. On average, the cottages will take four to six weeks to build. They were all designed to allow for future expansion.
***End Quote***

Smaller is quicker and, if the gubamint stays out of the way, it could provide demonstrable relief quickly.

http://www.file.sc/7575f2/

As you probably know, I listen to Free Talk Live (http://freetalklive.com) on a pretty regular basis when I’m commuting via podcast.

[No, not because it’s free!]

It’s an entertaining pro-liberty show. Recently they did a rendition of a Register article that went into the chemistry of the recent English threat.

Having attempted to make explosives in high school chemistry, (hey who knows why; the nerd herd thought it would be a kool if we could blow up the darn place; that’s why I think of any school — public or private — as a prison!), I KNOW it’s not as easy as one might think. Thermite is pretty easy. (And a hoot, when the good brother teaching chemistry singed his arms putting out the fire we created. Accidentally, of course.) Phosphorous burns nicely as well. (Note, don’t throw water on that fire. I remember the same Brother panicking, doing it, and creating a nice steam cloud. Whatta hoot!) Leaving the bunsen burners open just sets off the gas alarm; no boom. Oxygen in a bottle is lame; unless you can put it under pressure, but Boyle’s Law works against you.

So, I listened with a big chuckle as Ian read the article about how do actually do the chemistry in an airplane’s lavatory (laboratory). It his a chord ’cause I know first hand that blowing stuff up isn’t as easy as it looks on TV or james bond movies.

Any way, I snipped it out and put it on a free site for your enjoyment. Yell if you need it done differently.

http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/gwm/2006/0807msg2.html

Mailbag: Communications in the healthcare industry
Readers weigh in with their views on the healthcare’s slow adoption of IT

Messaging Newsletter  By Michael Osterman, Network World, 08/10/06

***Begin Quote***

My recent article offering one potential explanation about why the healthcare industry is slow to adopt the use of e-mail and other communications technology prompted a number of readers to offer their comments – here is what some of the readers said:

*** Other’s Deleted ***

* “I blame the technology industry primarily [for the slow pace of adopting communications technology]. No one has a good easy public key encryption system. I look for a ‘solution’ with identification, authentication, authorization, accountability, confidentiality, non-repudiation, continuous protection, and recovery across the problem spaces of users, systems, applications, databases and networks. The technology industry has known the problem space for at least four decades. I remember being lectured about it when personal computers were first put into use! This is all our fault. I could go on for hours. PKI and GSSAPI are/were out there. Encryption engines abound. Yet, I can’t sit down and e-mail, fax, call, or IM my doctor. AND, the doc can’t communicate with me.”

Thank you to everyone who sent me their feedback on the article.
***End Quote***

Hey that’s mine. I got into print again!

Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa)

=========================================

It was Sunday June 25th. The president’s addressed the nation. On Friday, oil was trading at 7,750 gold dinars per barrel. Gold was selling at $160,000 per ounce. The dollar had traded Friday the new low of a hundred thousand dollars to the gold dinar. He looked grim.

Here is a transcription of his speech:

My fellow Americans, in the light of the world markets, in consultation with leaders of Congress, and with the approval of the Supreme Court, we have been decided no longer to recognize the Federal Reserve Banknote, the FRBie, as legal tender.

Be not afraid!

Your Federal Government and make good on its obligations. We have decided to join the world with using the new Golden Dinar as our new national currency. I am declaring a Bank and Stock Market holiday to allow for an orderly market transition. Because of the Independence Day holiday, banking and markets will resume on the Fifth of July

Effective on the fourth of July, the Federal Reserve Bank will liquidate its operations. Each citizen may redeem up to 10,000 FRBies in cash for ONE of our new gold dinar receipts. Citizens may engage in market transactions for the balance of their cash FRBie holdings. FDIC insured deposits will be converted at the current market rate from FRBies to gold. While I don’t know what the rate will be on the fifth, but today it was 160,000 FRBies to the ounce. Non-FDIC entities will establish their own policies.

Also, effective also on the fourth of July, all taxes and fees to your government must be paid in gold dinar receipts.

Stay calm. All is well. God bless you. And God bless America.

End of Transcription.

There was wide spread panicking and rioting. Many were killed and injured. Banks were surrounded with troops trying to hold off, in some cases unsuccessfully, masses of depositors. Eventually, some stores were protected like banks. Eventually, the powers-that-be recognized the futility, and sent the troops and police home. At least, those that hadn’t deserted yet.

That night, stores were besieged with shoppers buy literally anything they could with their FRBies. Most stores were caught unaware. Only WalMart had new gold based prices at the end of the President’s speech. Several car dealers, unaware of the speech, sold cars for FRBies before they heard about the President’s speech. Stores quickly closed but not before doing a brisk business in high ticket items. Also hit by panic buying, were grocery stores, drug stores, gas stations, convenience stores. People drove around seeking anything to buy with their soon to be worthless currency.

Gangs began to line up drunks and derelicts for the currency conversion. Holding them hostage, they were “selling” them for use when the currency exchange window opened. Informal black markets started trading FRBies for things of value. Currency markets around the world traded FRBies as low as 450,000 to the ounce before being suspended by their local regulators.

On the Fifth of July, when the US markets opened, FRBies began trading at 1.7 Million to the ounce and kept dropping. By the sixth, there were no buyers at any price.

The United States government was in high level talks with almost every nation and their respective central banks about FRBie held as a reserve currency. The talks were termed “interesting” by all involved. Leaks from the various different sources seem to sum up the US Government’s attitude as “tough luck”. Only the US military keeps the “debt collectors” away.

In the end, as in Argentina, the far East when currency collapsed, the pre WW2 Wiemar Republic, the middle class was destroyed! Savings were wiped out. A life’s work gone in an instant. The rich took a slight haircut. And, the poor were plunged into abject poverty. Some groups were completely unaffected: the Amish, the Mormons, the survivalists, the Gold Bugs, the underground economy, and families with small farms.

And, everyone in the free State of New Hampshire. The New Hampshire people had been using the Liberty Dollars for a long time, and had weened themselves off of the FRBie. It was interesting in New Hampshire, the FRBie had always been discounted and discouraged. Tourists were routinely warned to get rid of that “FEE YAT” currency and get some “good money”. In New Hampshire, there was plenty in circulation: bullion — silver, gold, platinum and palladium — coins; NORFED silver and gold certificates; New Hampshire bank depository receipts; something called the “free state script” issued by the New Hampshire state government; as well as Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, British Pounds, Euros, Swiss francs; and of course gold dinars and silver shekels. No currency was as universally hated as the FRBie.

There had been thriving black markets in New Hampshire for years where the FRBies were routinely smuggled across the border into Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York where FRBies were the only legal tender. The Socialist Protectionist gubamints in those states had instituted currency controls to “protect” the people from these predators. Even though they couldn’t keep drugs illegal drugs out, they thought they could keep out “illegal” untaxed currency.

If a smuggler could avoid the Border Patrol and the Currency Police, then he could earn huge amounts. One enterprising fellow they caught would drive a junk car over in the morning and bring back a new car in the evening. He was caught when several tourists and citizens in Massachusetts reported seeing a horse on the side of the Interstate. It turns out that this fellow’s wife would ride across the White Mountains with an Indian squaw sledge loaded with FRBies and meet him by the Interstate. He’d traded in the old car for a new one paying the difference in FRBies. When he brought the new one home that night, they’d sell it. The currency police estimated he was earning hundred thousand ounces every year. When asked he just smiled. Our estimate is that, since FRBies in New Hampshire trade at about 300,000 to the ounce, each car trade netted him much much more than the estimate. Maybe a hundred times as much. The currency police were never able to prove more than the car scheme. There case was weakened by car dealers in the NY, Vermont, and Massachusetts denying ever dealing with him. However, they did have the border crossing records and video tape. The bail was set at thousand gold ounces to try to keep him in the jurisdiction, but it was guaranteed by his local NH bank in about 30 minutes. NH banks, protected by strict bank secrecy laws, are believed to have deposits in excess of a trillion ounces in reserve. Their word is truly as good as gold. The villain went home to Hampshire never come back across again. After that, the currency police formed a cavalry unit to patrol the New Hampshire border. It was rumored that the fellow was building a tunnel from Keane to Albany to accommodate the demand.

Remember: Gresham’s law says bad money drives out good! But eventually the chicken come home to roost.

=========================
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/
Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa)
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute your work just like the by-nc-nd license, but they can also translate, make remixes, and produce new stories based on your work. All new work based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.

Bonner wrote about “created” equal on Lew Rockwell.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/bonner/bonner267.html
http://www.dailyreckoning.com/Issues/2006/DRUS071106.html

***Begin Quote***

As for the main truth that Jefferson thought self-evident, that “all men are created equal,” we are even less certain. What made him think it was self-evident, we don’t know. All the evidence we’ve seen tells us just the opposite – men are not born equal. One is rich; one is poor. One is fat; one is skinny. One has Viking blue eyes and pale skin; the other is a Blackamoor with eyes like burning coals and skin the color of soot. Maybe twins are born equal, but the rest of us are as variable as snowflakes. No two are alike. No two are equal.

***End Quote***

So, since I was taught to think that Jefferson was absolutely correct, I jumped to his defense as I was taught many years ago.

**Begin My Response***

I’ve bought and read your book. I follow your writings in Worldnet Daily with interest. If I may be so bold, I think you’re not understanding a distinction that Jefferson was making.

I’d like to share a grammar school lesson I got in the fifth or sixth grade of Catholic elementary school. Bear in mind that this was the fifties, and the boys were taught by the Christian Brothers. These guys were tough. Many of them, if not all, were WWII or Korean War vets. And, they had answers for most tough questions. They also were pretty blunt. And, not a lot of patience for distinctions that did not make a difference. Strangely, they took a pretty strong position on the very topic you cited. So, clearly, it was not a trivial distinction to them.
Jefferson wrote ‘all men are created equal.’ To these battle-hardened vets, there was nothing ‘wrong’ about this assertion. Quizzically, they would say, ‘All men ARE created equal. But, all men are NOT born equal.’

They made a BIG deal out of that. You had to approach every person with an open mind. With justice for the SOBs (Swell Old Boys)! With charity for all the people who weren’t born with the advantages we had. Report cards had things like ‘respects the rights of others,’ ‘works well with others,’ and my personal favorite: ‘helps others reach their potential.’

There were a lot of funny lessons all designed to help us learn what they were trying to teach. There was one activity that had envelopes with rewards and punishments in them at random – with random rewards and punishments written on the outside. Lesson: Don’t judge a book by its cover! Tests where all the students’ grades were equal to the lowest grade in the class. Lesson: Teamwork! Classes were split into sections – smart, average, stupid, and dumb – with tests graded on improvement. Lesson: Just cause you’re smart doesn’t guarantee you’ll win! Halfway through a test, the rules were changed, no sympathy. Lesson: Life throws curves! And we had to adapt, live with it, and grow up.

So, there is a theoretical ‘created,’ like the theory of poker. And then there is the ‘born,’ like playing the hand you’re dealt.

Hope this ramble makes some sense, and explains what I think Jefferson was trying to say. Seems obvious to me, but then I was taught about life by some Marines.”

***End My Response***

I was absolutely tickled that it was reused in the Early To Rise issue.

http://www.earlytorise.com/archive/html/072406-2.html

Ah what a wonderful machine we've been given for our journey thru life. This morning, I picked up four coins that had fallen form my pocket. I have the required change bucket on my dresser that finances my AC gambling from time to time. So as I sat on my bed coins in hand, I "willed" them from hand to jar. OK! I threw them one at a time. Four for four. It was truly amazing. I don't think I had ever done that before. But I carefully thought about it. I visualize the coins arcing like a basket ball free throw and landing with a clink. I swear while practicing I though I heard the thunk. So ever so gently, I took three pactice strokes, as I was taught in gold school, and practiced my motion. Deep breath and launched each in turn. I was in the zone. If I had any sense, I'd have gone back to bed for the rest of the day. Having achieved the flow, my day's work should have been complete. So I got up, tapped this on my keyboard, and I am off to face the day serene in the knowledge that at least once today I was in the flow following my bliss and in one with the universe. Now off to work were all this can go by the wayside. Hi ho, hi ho, {with apologies to the Seven Dwarfs}

The Tomato Effect

(1) A term asserted to be used in medicine menaing the rejection of effective medical treatments because they conflict with currently accepted medical theories.

(2) It is reported that the tomato was not eaten in the US until 1820 because it was beleived to poisonous. This even though Europeans had been eating tomatoes for years with no ill effects.

(3) A movie exploring the possibility of foul play in the death of doctor practicing "Environmental Medicine". (See http://www.rabble-rouser.com/about.html)

http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html

As a "tool guy", I am enamoured with the idea of a tool that will help me write the … my … great american novel. I'll let you know how I make out. I have to gather all my bits and parts that I have tried to compose over time. Let's see what we have. 

http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/msg17v.htm

***Begin Quote***

MESSAGE FOR WEEK BEGINNING 24th April 2006

Create a Story

Take five random words in a sequence and then construct a story using the words in the same sequence. You are not permitted to say, for example, that you looked at a mail ordedr [sic] catalogue and ordered five objects (the random words) from the catalogue. Each word must be fully used in its own right. The final story should not be more than 250 words long.
Edward de Bono
20th April 2006  

***End Quote***

But where does one get five random words?

Wikopedia?

"List of rivers of Albania", Shimmerzine, "Anal glands", "Klokotnica is a village in southern Bulgaria", "Corfe is a village and parish in Somerset, England"

===

As I peruse a list of the rivers in Albania preparing some day to be a Jeopardy champion, I see a fellow traveler carrying a copy of Shimmerzine. It is the anal gland of publishing that leaves a phantom scent as it plops down in your mailbox. As the bus pulls into town, I can read the sign "Клокотница"! That's Bulgarian for Klokotnica for you tourists. My pilgrimage from Corfe England to the Saint Forty Martyrs church is now over. As is this assignment.  

===

84 words.

===

What did I learn? Debono is one wierd dude. ;-)  Who has a problem with typos!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok

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"Grok means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed—to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It means almost everything that we mean by religion, philosophy, and science—and it means as little to us (because we are from Earth) as color means to a blind man."
***End Quote***

The only other fellow I know who creates his own vocabluary is Edward De Bono.

http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/msg15d.htm

***Begin Quote***

 REQUIRON

In one of my books I introduce the new word 'requiron'.

This indicates: "something that is needed".

"The requiron here is a way of increasing self-esteem in youngsters".

An alternative is the word 'procept'. A procept is a concept that does not yet exist but needs ot exist.

As an exercise spell outr [sic] a specific requiron in the fields of education and another in the field of health.

Edward de Bono nmt
20th December 2004
***End Quote***

I'm fascinated that some onecan make an elemental change in the language and in people's thinking. That really makes on a member in the exclusive club of "giants upon whose sholders we stand".

***Begin Quote***

I am trying o figure out where you find the time to post all these blogs?  
***End Quote***

My friend's question is an interesting one.

The answer is that I rip them off as quick hits. Or, I steal them from an email. Or, when I am collecting thoughts.

Some feel that a blog is a literary masterpiece. I'm just using it as a wastebasket for ideas. At the end of every week, I copy all the blog's posts into a text file on my LUGGABLE. It then is available for recycling as I need it.

Remember one of my regrets was to loose too many good ideas. This is one way of preventing that.

You want literature, but Steinbeck. You want stream of consciousness rambling, read my blog.

It's is relatively easy to catch stuff through out the day and them punch them in as time permits.  There is nothing saying that when you're sitting on an unstarted conference call listening to the same dumb music, that you can't take a mental vacation or bang out a few thoughts.

Oh, gotta go, the "leader" just arrived. Late as usual. Now onto the "inaction register". That's a project status document filled with  lame excuses of why people didn't do what they promised to do. :-) Another set of pet peeves!

I read "dr joe's printing blog" becasue he's a fellow alum.

http://drjoewebb.blogspot.com/2006/04/magazine-and-publishing-stuff-and-how.html

This iteration had an interesting lead to —

Author starts publishing her own books and e-books… will publishers be needed in the future?
http://onmilwaukee.com/ent/articles/dianalau.html?8449

Which tickled my secret desire to become the next James Paterson, also a fellow alum, very rich fellow alum, the fact that he had other successes and made time to exploit his talent, highlights that I haven't has such success, motivation, or talent, all those things aside, my jealousy led me to read the story.

{begin quote}

"The technology today is amazing. There is a growing market for e-books and they are very inexpensive and simple to produce if you know how," Lau says. "Meanwhile, the advent of print-on-demand publishing means you can produce 'New York publisher' quality print books in quantities as few as one at a time, which means low start-up cost."

However, Lau says that there are pros and cons on either side of the decision to publish via the Internet.

"The technology is all there to make it possible and affordable, but it isn't the answer for everyone. You need a certain skill set beyond writing ability, and you need to know the required software."

However, Lau says her experience, although daunting, was still fun. For those authors that aren't ready to undertake this kind of task, she has a bit of advice.

"I advise authors to let go of their traditional ideas of sending a manuscript to Random House and becoming the next Stephen King or Nora Roberts," Lau says. "Check out the opportunities available via the Internet and consider your options."

She says the course she has taken won't take her automatically to the New York Times Bestseller List, but she has gotten plenty of readers and recognition, which has given her the opportunity to appear at the Romantic Times' nation convention next month.

"That beats having a book sit for a couple years in some editor's slush pile only to be rejected. It's truly amazing what you can achieve nowadays with the technology available if you're determined, creative and willing to put in the effort."

{end quote}

So, perhaps writing a book, is like writing a blog? There are blog 2 book publishers. Ugly and expensive. But maybe everything will be possible real soon now.
 

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/04/dancing.html

Scott Adams is a stich. I can just see that metaphor with the proverbial bus coming down the street.

http://thedailywtf.com/forums/

{Begin Quote}

Dr. Richard Wiseman's  "Four Principles," devised to help people increase their fortune are particularly interesting.

• Principle One: Maximise Chance Opportunities
• Principle Two: Listening to Lucky Hunches
• Principle Three: Expect Good Fortune
• Principle Four: Turn Bad Luck to Good

{End Quote}

Hmmm, taken under advisement.

http://brainreactions.net/brainstorming/index/641

You have to realize that "winning" money from a casino is a Herculean heavy lift. I am a veteran of about twenty weeks of vacation in vegas and innumerable "free" hotel visits to AC. In all my trips, I would say without written records that I have only had five or so "winning" trips (i.e., my definition is arriving home with more money than I left with).

Having said that, there are times, when in the short run, you can take some money away. But, you have to be very skillful. It's way to easy to "revert to the mean" (i.e., lose it all back).

After our second trip to vegas, where half way thru frau and I were both tapped out and actually hit the atm, we knew we needed a better "system". In case you were wondering, "reversion to the mean" saved us that trip and we ended up down only about two hundred each. A stunning reversal.

We developed, independently, our concept of "enveloping". Basically we divided what we were willing to lose into session, day, and trip limits. At first, we literally sat in the hotel room with a box of envelopes and stuffed cash into them. We had expense money that was not ever used to gamble. We divided the day into: morning, afternoon, and night (session limits). At the end of a session, we returned the change to that envelope. So if we had a 100$, but only lost 50, 50 went back to the envelope. If we were ahead, that went into the envelope. At the end of the trip, we merged all the money back together. (If one of us was behind, we split the loss. If we were both behind, we averaged the loss. And, on those occasions we were both ahead, we averaged the winnings.)

Hence, recognized early on the power of cutting your losses. Often, trips could be "salvaged" from the "change". It was rare after that realization for us to ride the Titanic underwater.

We also recognized that it was critical not to lose back your winnings. So for example, when I play Let It Ride, I play a very disciplined money management strategy (I'm a wild optimist!), it gets me away from the table. I accept a string of small loses for the occasional big hit. Again, no written records, but I have played at least 50 sessions. My system minimizes my loss to 49$ per session. But I have had at least a dozen sessions where I have won more than 500$ and two sessions where I won over a thousand. It's a tough game with a big house edge, but it is possible to "win".

Also, one has to consider the comps. Usually, when we were going to AC regularly, we never paid for a hotel room and rarely paid for meals.

One has to be sensitive to the environment, on at least four occasions, we "discovered" a winning "system".

My shazam moment was in vegas when I was out for a conference at the Sands and they had just introduced paper tickets as a loyalty program. The machine would count down and give you a ticket after so many plays. The tickets could be redeemed for trinkets. The conference had a 15 minute break between sessions. I'd go out "ticket hunting" with 40$ at each break. I'd only play machines with 3 or less on the counter. I "cleaned up". That trip was stunning. My theory was that people would not leave a low count machine unless they had busted out. If they'd busted, it meant the machine was "primed" to hit. Three times, I had to call my wife down to wait for payoffs and tax forms (i.e., the win was in excess of $1199). And, we literally had a suitcase full of junk for my nieces and nephews. That trip was one of our winners. As I recollect we had 8k$ in tax forms and I came home ahead about 7500$. (Remember we split.) On two occasions, I was one notch off winning a multi million dollar progressive.

There was a time when we very hot on Battleship slot machines until they changed the payoff. Similarly, the Cleopatra machines.

We also did very good during the Freemont casino's experiment with "repetition" on roulette. Basically bet a dollar on a number, if it repeats you get 100$ and if it repeats again, you got a $1,000, again $10,000. It was only up for a few days during one of our week long vacations. Frau hit it for 500 and I hit it for 300. Rumor hath it that an Oriental lady to them for $250k before they closed it down. Midway thru our three day, they limited it to a dollar bet. Limit two $ on a number. Rumor hath it that the lady had been playing multiple black chips on it. Having seen my wife "parlay" on the roulette and craps tables (i.e., repeatedly hit the same favorite number several times in a row), I know statistics. And, I "knew" that we don't understand everything in the real world, but I KNEW that repeating numbers in roulette were not THAT unusual.

So my advice is keep your eyes open and a rubber band on your wad.

If you see a weak spot, test it. If you win, thank your lucky stars.

As always, your mileage may vary and free advice is worth what you pay for it.

I’ve been amusing my self writng an alternative history. So I am trying to fill my imginary Libertarian Cabinet for my new imaginary Libertarina President Ron Paul. So would you like to be my imaginary Libertarian VP? I have pencilled in Gatto for Education, Bonner for Treasury, North for Federal Reserve, Reese for State, Suprynowicz for Attorney General, Machan for the NEArts.

But as you can see I need a lot of help. We need an L to change Defense back to Defense. Some one to sell land to from Interior to pay off the national debt, social security liability, and redeem all those furbie ious.

I did decide in my new Libertarain world that the unit of currency, our thaller, would hence forth be called a “browne”. Washington’s picture would share is palace on our thaller with Harry. Two American patriots. Of course all pictures of Lincoln would be retired. Jefferson would more from the Two (?) to the five. And since we will repeal all legal tender laws, who’ll care any way.

Any way, I need help filling out the cabinet. Maybe we should hold elections? Will real people proposing how they would eliminate their most hated government thing? Since Lincoln marks the Second American Revolution around 1860 and it’s 2006 today, we dug this hole in 146 years, it may take us a hundred years to dig out. So I’d suggest a rule that says, no elimniation program can take less than 10 years nor more than 100. 

We have to give people time to adjust.

Yeah, I know I’m just an April Fool!

http://www.adriansavage.com/blog/_archives/2006/4/1/1849780.html

{Begin Quote}

Life Instructions?

Nobody's born with an instruction manual for life. Despite all the helpful advice from parents, teachers and elders, each of us must make our own way in the world, doing the best we can and quite often getting things wrong. Messing up a few times isn't that big a deal. But if you get scared and try to avoid mistakes by sticking with just a few "tried and true" behaviors, you'll miss out on most opportunities. Lots of people who suffer from boredom at work are doing it to themselves. They're bored and frustrated because they choose to be. They're stuck in ruts they've dug for themselves while trying to avoid making mistakes. People who never make mistakes, never make anything else either.

{End Quote}

I can't put my finger on it.

http://stevehargadon.blogspot.com/2006/03/belated-appreciation-for-blogging-in.html

{Begin Quote}

Which may explain why I can't bear to throw anything written away–from my own grade school papers, to any book I've ever bought.

{End Quote}

Steve H hit a responsice chord with this line. I wish I could have my old ideas back. I wish I could have all the time I have wasted back. I wish I could have all the time I have lost back. I know I had some great things. If I have, then I know many others also have had. Blogging, personal computing, and virtually unlimited storage will mean "never having to throw anything away". Sigh. The youngsters have no idea how good they have it.

Have to put some time in on the “valley” project.

It’s slow, and I’m not good.