myTooSense

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Sat 1 May 2010

Development Tracking

Posted @ 12:01 am      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense
Today heralds the 4th year of this blog!
 
Before I look at blog milestone statistics I’d like to take a few lines to compare my blog against the development of a typical 4 year old child.
A Four Year Old Child
This Four Year Old web log
Requires 1,700 calories daily
Creating a post can burn more than 1,700 calories
Can walk in straight line (on tape or chalk)
A few series of posts followed their theme
Hops on one foot
Did you see the posts on marriage?
Jumps over 6″ objects with both feet together
Some posts were created with both hands tied behind back
Reproduces some shapes and letters
Old posts have been copied and updated
Becomes more accurate at hitting nails w/hammer
Some posts nailed it
Can run on a circle
Many posts chase their tails
Delights in creating silly language
There have been a few words coined
Understands the sequence of daily events
All posts are chronological
Very good storytellers
You got me there…  maybe next year
 
Now that the fun is over…
In the last 365 days I have read 7 books!  We won’t mention the one book was started 3½ years ago.
I have posted 111 articles, some good, some bad and most ho-hum.
I added the jeep-o-meter.
In the life of this blog:
    • Served 28,148 visitors
    • Killed 25,083 pieces of spam
 

Tue 23 Mar 2010

Not Mine… If the Shoe Fits

Posted @ 10:57 am      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense
This thought came to me via “TrueFaced Resouces” on my FaceBook account.  Good food for thought.
 
<blockquote>The more influence we have, the more we are tempted to hide our true self for fear we will lose that influence.</blockquote>
 

Thu 18 Mar 2010

Watch Out for the Obvious

Posted @ 9:05 am      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense
 
I guess this post is more of a rant than I want to admit.
 
What do you think about all those warnings we find in our inboxes warning us of this virus and that scam?  I will not argue that it is not important to provide information but don’t you think that at times it borders on alarmism?
 
I mean does someone need to remind me over and over again that a drunk driver could be driving down the road and even though I am within a crosswalk and the “pedestrian walk” hand is a come-forward shade of green that the same drunk driver could run me over and end my life?  There is some basic knowledge I have learned over the years about crossing the street and it didn’t take me until adulthood to figure it out.  So why do I need to be reminded to look both ways, listen up and be so very careful lest I get broken by a speeding automobile?
 
There are “babes on the Internet” they don’t have the common sense.  This is always the case in anything and everywhere in life.  The newbies need to be taught how to cross the street.  Does this require inundating the majority with this warning and that alert?  At point should I expect not to be overloaded by even more information in this information age.  Information is a powerful tool, but misused it can cause high anxiety.
 
Maybe the solution for those who should know better is to let them stumble a bit.  To paraphrase the old saying, maybe I need to a little hunger to motivate me to fish.
 
Not all things are “common sense” to all but exercising some judgment and discerning the babes from the “gray hairs” could go a long way.
 

Mon 1 Mar 2010

My Retail Foray

Posted @ 3:27 pm      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense
Several months back a coworker pointed me to a bargain hunters bargain.  Brand new GPSr’s for 80% off the suggested retail.  A five minute check of eBay and related Internet sites revealed a nice profit could be made with a conservative retail price point.
 
I figured I could turn a tidy 100% profit in 2 weeks.  Invest $300 for a return of $600!  The Christmas season was only weeks away – that would only aide my endeavor.
 
That was the plan.  You have guessed by now that that plan turned out less than ideal.  After 2 weeks of listing my retail inventory on email for a steal of $199 plus free shipping I did not even get a nibble.  Craigslist, nothing.  I notice there are more than a few competitors on eBay selling for almost cost and even a few under my cost.  eBay finally says they’ve given me enough free postings so I began listing solely on Craigslist.
 
Today I finally sold the 3rd and last unit!  Total profit for all three units was approximately $100.  $300 invested $100 profit.  Not bad if it hadn’t taken ¼ of a year to sell the units.
 
Future forays will likely be more cautious.
 

Fri 19 Feb 2010

Define Average

Posted @ 9:15 am      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense
A recent weather forecast in my local publication:
A weak weather system could herald the beginning of another series of storms coming into the region

“We are lining up for a series of storms again,” said a National Weather Service meteorologist. “That’s good news. We had this brief springtime break. Looks like we will be getting back into it. And not a moment too soon.”

The region’s rainfall had been above average for much of the winter. However, this week the weather turned dry and the seasonal rainfall total dropped below normal.

The region has received 13 inches of rain since July 1, which is 96 percent of average.

The total rainfall for February, usually one of the wettest months, stands at 1.12 inches. Average rainfall for the entire month is 3.77 inches.

 
OK, 13″ = 96% of average.  That means 100% of average = 13.542″
Now look again, the month dipped below average because of a mid-month dry spell.  The “average” for February is 3.77, actual so far is 1.12.  That’s 2.65″ less than “average”  - somethings missing here.
 
If it only takes .542″ more rain to equal the average then how could the month be more than 2.1″ below the average.
 
Good think meteorologists don’t sent shuttles to space.  For that matter, good thing most of us don’t really put a whole lot of credence into their weather forecasts.
 

Thu 18 Feb 2010

My Favorite "Planet," an Octogenarian!

Posted @ 9:28 am      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense
On this day in 1930 (80 years ago) Clyde Tombaugh discovered “Planet X.”  His exhaustive search to find a mysterious force that was affecting the orbit of Neptune that resulted in the discovery of Pluto is considered quite coincidental.  Mostly because what we know of Pluto today; it has far too little mass to produce a measurable effect on Neptune’s orbit.
 
Unfortunately in 2006 the international community of astronomers voted to downgrade Pluto’s planet status after years of debate then discovery of a solar system object larger than Pluto.  The discussion could have resulted in 10 planets rather than the eight we enjoy today.
 
I guess for me it was more of a decision to remove a highlight in my wonderment and exploratory nature as a young lad.  It was a loss for me to make a mysterious hero into an ordinary citizen.
 
Funny the things we consider loss.
 

Tue 9 Feb 2010

To Do Suffering

Posted @ 11:34 am      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense
Too often I have thought as compassion as something I’m supposed to feel.  It is.  But I love the etymology of the word
 
from com- “together” + pati “to suffer”

 
To suffer together.  There is a sense of feeling the pain but much deeper than that is a doing.  When I am compassionate I go to someone else’s pain.  I bring it into me.  I become a partner in their suffering.
 
As I progress in my study of the book of Job, I continually try to look through the eyes of Job’s friends.  They came with intention to show compassion to Job.  So intentional, in fact, that they met together before going to Job.  Job is constantly telling them they are anything BUT compassionate.  What went haywire?  How did their message get lost?
 
I believe they are trying to remove Job’s pain.  They love him too much to see him suffer.  They feel helpless to do anything except help him make it go away.  Is that compassion?
 
Maybe their task should have changed from “removing his pain” to “feeling his pain.”  How often am I guilty of the same?
 

Wed 3 Feb 2010

The Mind

Posted @ 4:49 pm      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense
The human mind is a wonderful thing.  It contains roughly 15-22 billion neurons EACH linked up with up to 10,000 synaptic connections.  In one cubic millimeter of the cerebral cortex there are roughly 1 billion synapses.
 
How does it store information?  How does it go through the stored information in order to make a “fuzzy” decision?  Why can some information be recalled and other not?  What’s going on in there when the human reaches the dream state?  Why do we sometimes react to something we know is way less then it is, but for some reason IT IS a big deal to ME.
 
I am absolutely fascinated by current theories on how the brain works.  It has been intricately designed to allow us to survive in a hostile environment.  With it we learn.  With it we process our environment.  With it we form emotions based on our beliefs.
 
It’s in this area of beliefs that I found interesting this last weekend.  Beliefs drive our emotions.  Our emotions drive our actions to the world around us.  It all starts with beliefs.  The brain does not know right or wrong, true or false.  It simply knows “a thought.”  That is why a nightmare can be so real and scary until our intellect overrides the false reality.
 
An erroneous belief can result in a life of isolation.  It can cause others to desire to get away from us as quickly as possible. It can cause us to life a life in which we are constantly sabotaging our own efforts.
 
Backtrack from actions to emotions to the underlying belief.  Fix the belief, the emotions change, the emotions change and our reaction to the world changes radically.
 
Truth needs to replace the error.  What is truth?  In this crazy world today the common belief seems to be that truth is relative to who I am.  How can that work?  How does that reform my root belief.  Truth has to be absolute and not change with the times.  Truth that changes was never truth at all.
 
It the “truth” was that the Earth was the center of the universe it caused a topsy turvey world as the “truth” changed.  Truth does not change.
 
Our minds need to find TRUTH in order to change our world.
 

Fri 29 Jan 2010

Googling the Cone

Posted @ 6:00 am      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense
In the last 30 days this is how you, my readers, have found my site:
    1. los angeles class submarine (‎35)
    2. uss scorpion (‎23)
    3. 589 (‎22)
    4. cone of silence (‎16)
    5. 361 (‎16)
    6. swordfish (‎15)
    7. uss growler (‎15)
    8. ss20 (‎14)
    9. uss (‎13)
    10. uss thresher (‎13)
 
This top 10 list is ordered by number of searches and shows what searches yielded a click to my site.
 
Interesting that 90% are submarine related.  Glad there’s a fair number curious about the brave men who did what most never have the privilege of doing.
 

Mon 25 Jan 2010

What’s your Mileage IV?: The Final installment

Posted @ 10:46 am      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense

On February 26, 2009 at 4:14pm I installed a mouse odometer on my work computer. A novelty with no purpose except entertainment value.

Here is the running status of my poor overworked mouse.

Date # days miles light years
26-Feb-09 0 0 0
11-Mar-09 13 2.011212 .000000000000358320
25-Mar-09 27 4.998836 .000000000000849457
22-Apr-09 55 9.153273 .000000000001557188
25-Jan-10 333 32.220135 .000000000005481094

Well, my mouse in its little travels has not even officially made it to the edge of space (approx. 62.1 miles)

The good news however is that my little mouse has burned 2,592 calories and it on way to be weightless!

The experiment in triviality will now be retired.

 

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