It has been a very strange day or maybe it just started oddly and kept the feeling. When I got into the office this morning the first thing I was told was that a very lovely lady, whom I had just met had passed on. Last Sunday she came to our church to sing, she had not performed in public for awhile. She was fantastic and just as nice and charming as possible. She was going to come back and sing again and she passed away this morning in her sleep, from what I have been told.
The news just sort of left me dumb. I had only just met her, she seemed so cheerful and now she is gone. During the course of my day many people told me about her (she worked int he same building as me). It seems she made a lot of people's days better. I regret that I did not have the opportunity to know her better; but, I did get to see her last performance and that was an honor.
Work was the same old nonsense. I came home, read the news and watched the Olympic opening ceremonies. Not quite sure what to say about that. It seemed odd. They went over famous British writers of children's books. They left out Jane Austen and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. They didn't talk about Dickens or Shakespeare. Huh? They played tribute to a lot of musicians; but, left out ELO and Herman and the Hermits. They paid tribute to movies and left out "To Sir With Love" which I believe was filmed where the Olympics are being held, on the East End. When the British Olympians entered the arena the queen was caught picking her nails and not paying attention. You would think she would know better.
I found the imagery odd and confusing. I didn't think it gave me a feeling of England. I am sure that it was very impressive inside the stadium. It just didn't do much for me and I don't even watch television.
I am left to read, watch videos and ponder how I might like to spend tomorrow. Perhaps I will lounge around and watch the Olympics, I was a gymnast and always enjoy watching that. Of course, having been a gymnast, I consider that sport to be the most balanced and beneficial to the overall body. I don't believe there is any female figure as attractive as that of a gymnasts; but, then the love of my life was also a gymnast. Still, I think it.
Well, I have nothing really to say so I shall go back to watching videos and reading. I hope you have a nice weekend.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
What About Those One in a Million Events
The odds of things are fascinating. The odds of getting struck by lightening are like one in 250,000. The odds of getting hit twice, those get really weird and I know of one person who was struck four times. Those odds are so large that we cannot even begin to calculate them. Now, If you have one such occasion it still falls within the realm of possibility. It is possible to have one even that exceeds all probabilities, it is called an outlier. What happens when more and more outliers occur? That is when you have to question your basic assumptions. A nice article to read.
Yahoo News - The Lookout - Colorado shooting victim’s brain condition helped her survive, pastor says
Now here is the question. If I can show that there are more outliers than there should be using any calculation, would you consider that the outliers may actually require you to reconsider your basic beliefs and if so, by what criteria might you reconsider it.
Yahoo News - The Lookout - Colorado shooting victim’s brain condition helped her survive, pastor says
Now here is the question. If I can show that there are more outliers than there should be using any calculation, would you consider that the outliers may actually require you to reconsider your basic beliefs and if so, by what criteria might you reconsider it.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Am I a Buddhist?
The answer is no; but, I seem to have achieved a very Zen state. Many Buddhists believe that the purpose of life is to purge want from your life. I have done that or at a minimum it has occurred in my life. It is boring to not have want. I think I disagree with the Buddhists, we all need something to want. By the way, I am not unhappy, just working on caring again.
Monday, July 23, 2012
My Issue With Clouds
We have all heard about "Cloud Computing" or "The Cloud". The cloud is nothing more than using another companies remote storage of your data. The logic is simple, your tablet does not need to store much in the way of hardware or software if it is nothing more than a fancy browser. The next step is to eliminate servers, the computers that let us network and this will be done through virtual networks.
In the end you will not need an IT staff or much else. It will all be managed for you in the cloud and life will be easier. There is only one problem, if you not allowed to use the internet, you will not be able to be heard at all. Paper and typewriters and desktops will all go bye bye. There are very few printing presses anymore and all the newspapers are going online.
My readers know that I read a lot of informational sites in preparing this blog. If I was knocked off the net, I wouldn't be able to read one tenth of what I do now. Deaf, dumb and blind in a world where everyone else has access to all the information in the world.
In the end you will not need an IT staff or much else. It will all be managed for you in the cloud and life will be easier. There is only one problem, if you not allowed to use the internet, you will not be able to be heard at all. Paper and typewriters and desktops will all go bye bye. There are very few printing presses anymore and all the newspapers are going online.
My readers know that I read a lot of informational sites in preparing this blog. If I was knocked off the net, I wouldn't be able to read one tenth of what I do now. Deaf, dumb and blind in a world where everyone else has access to all the information in the world.
And It Continues - Making Jellyfish From Rat Cells
A group of scientists have created an artificial jellyfish from hearts cells from rats and silica. They are so very happy with themselves. While it does not appear that the thing itself is what we would consider alive, it is where this is heading that should be of concern.
Nature - Artificial jellyfish built from rat cells
The intent, as stated by one of the people involved, is to create a chimera, a hybrid animal that does not exist in nature. No doubt, the scientists would be the most happy if they could create consciousness in these new things; but, where would this consciousness come from. We have a hard time even defining consciousness using scientific terms.
For those of us who believe in God, he is the one who gives sentience to living beings. For science it is looked at as an inconvenient aspect of reality, it means free will rather than simple action reaction mechanics. Frankenstein is what they seek to create. A living, breathing being with no soul.
Nature - Artificial jellyfish built from rat cells
The intent, as stated by one of the people involved, is to create a chimera, a hybrid animal that does not exist in nature. No doubt, the scientists would be the most happy if they could create consciousness in these new things; but, where would this consciousness come from. We have a hard time even defining consciousness using scientific terms.
For those of us who believe in God, he is the one who gives sentience to living beings. For science it is looked at as an inconvenient aspect of reality, it means free will rather than simple action reaction mechanics. Frankenstein is what they seek to create. A living, breathing being with no soul.
Sunday Evening and a Little Peace
I have had a pretty good day. The Pastor gave a good sermon, amusing and useful. I had a nice dinner and have tomorrow off. Oh and a young friend of mine called me up to let me know he and his were doing well. I haven't seen him in a while and wanted to know. I had a nice conversation with a relative; but, I think he thought I was going to give him a different answer.
There isn't really any news, everything is about the Colorado shootings. That in and of itself is a good reason to pay attention to the news. One news item that I cannot find is on Elliot Broidy, he went in for sentencing on Friday; but, no sentence has been announced. The article that said he was going in for sentencing did say that they thought he might get off really lightly as he has been helping the prosecutors for over two years. He must have had a lot to say, glad it wasn't about me. Wouldn't it be interesting if they gave him a suspended sentence so long as he continued to help with prosecuting people in other places?
I cannot imagine any scenario that doesn't have Mr. Broidy being asked about Mr. Villalobos (the one that Jerry Brown sued). If you don't remember who he is, click the pension fraud tab and read the prior articles.
There isn't really any news, everything is about the Colorado shootings. That in and of itself is a good reason to pay attention to the news. One news item that I cannot find is on Elliot Broidy, he went in for sentencing on Friday; but, no sentence has been announced. The article that said he was going in for sentencing did say that they thought he might get off really lightly as he has been helping the prosecutors for over two years. He must have had a lot to say, glad it wasn't about me. Wouldn't it be interesting if they gave him a suspended sentence so long as he continued to help with prosecuting people in other places?
I cannot imagine any scenario that doesn't have Mr. Broidy being asked about Mr. Villalobos (the one that Jerry Brown sued). If you don't remember who he is, click the pension fraud tab and read the prior articles.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Colorado Shootings and Jumping to Conclusions
A horrible thing happened in Colorado at the screening of the new Batman movie. There is all sorts of speculation on why and the truth is, this is not a time for speculation. This is a time when we should show sympathy and wait for more information. This is not a time to use our bigotry to blame this event on anything or any group, it is not the time for pushing our personal agendas.
When I was young my mother pointed something out to me. She showed me that when something horrible happens and many die, the news usually overestimates the number of deaths in the first days. That happened in this case already. Original reports were in the 70s and in the end it is about 50 people who were shot. Same thing happened during 9-11. When something big happens we are so overwhelmed by the event that people have a tendency to misunderstand information and the information is cloudy at best because of the rust to report and understand.
I have read reports where they have blamed it on a lack of spirituality, on Christianity, on gun availability and all sorts of other things written by people attempting to use this event to push their personal beliefs. In the end this was the action of one individual who had his own reasons.
While I was at work on Friday, some of my employees brought a personnel problem to my attention. Lots of people were interviewed and everybody had their own take on what occurred. I was asked if I wanted to read the statements and declined to for the moment. As the reviewer I wanted to wait until all the information had been collected. I told my people to collect the rest of the information and not make any preliminary assumptions, just collect the information objectively and that we would review and attempt to make sense of it at a later time. I think the same applies here.
My prayers and thoughts go out to the family and friends of all involved, even the shooter. There are no winners when things like this happen. It is very likely that the shooter lost his mind, that is usually the case when people kill lots of people that they do not know without anything to gain from it. His actions will impact his family who had nothing to do with it and all the people who knew him. The people who knew him will agonize for years asking themselves if they should have known when they could not unless he had told them.
When I was young my mother pointed something out to me. She showed me that when something horrible happens and many die, the news usually overestimates the number of deaths in the first days. That happened in this case already. Original reports were in the 70s and in the end it is about 50 people who were shot. Same thing happened during 9-11. When something big happens we are so overwhelmed by the event that people have a tendency to misunderstand information and the information is cloudy at best because of the rust to report and understand.
I have read reports where they have blamed it on a lack of spirituality, on Christianity, on gun availability and all sorts of other things written by people attempting to use this event to push their personal beliefs. In the end this was the action of one individual who had his own reasons.
While I was at work on Friday, some of my employees brought a personnel problem to my attention. Lots of people were interviewed and everybody had their own take on what occurred. I was asked if I wanted to read the statements and declined to for the moment. As the reviewer I wanted to wait until all the information had been collected. I told my people to collect the rest of the information and not make any preliminary assumptions, just collect the information objectively and that we would review and attempt to make sense of it at a later time. I think the same applies here.
My prayers and thoughts go out to the family and friends of all involved, even the shooter. There are no winners when things like this happen. It is very likely that the shooter lost his mind, that is usually the case when people kill lots of people that they do not know without anything to gain from it. His actions will impact his family who had nothing to do with it and all the people who knew him. The people who knew him will agonize for years asking themselves if they should have known when they could not unless he had told them.
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