myTooSense

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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.

 

Fri 22 Jan 2010

Hidden In Plain Sight

Posted @ 10:00 am      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense
Look closely at the photograph.  Do you see the gardener?  Do you see the expanse of well manicured lawn interspersed with trees?  Do you see the Lockheed Burbank, California Aircraft Plant?
Hidden WWII factory in Burbank, CA
 
This photo is purported to have been taken during WWII after the Army Corps of Engineers were tasked with hiding an entire aircraft manufacturing plant.  Imagine this scene from the air.
 
Here is a BEFORE and AFTER photo of which the above photo is a close up segment.
The factory is clearly visible in the BEFORE and… well it’s not so in the AFTER.
 
Here’re a few other shots (from the inside):
 
  • Round about this story came to me…
  • Someone’s mother who worked at Lockheed relayed that, she as a younger child, remembers all this.  And to this day, it is the first pictures of it she’s seen..  Another person who lived in the area talked about being a boy, watching it all be set up like a movie studio production.  They had fake houses, trees, etc. and moved parked cars around so it looked like a residential area from the skies overhead.
 

Mon 11 Jan 2010

Life From Above Takes Care of Death Below

Posted @ 9:12 am      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense
Buzzard@Work.jpg (7.3KB; 267x197 pixels)
Turkey Vulture waits at work
 
I complete my morning commute to arrive and see a buzzard roosting atop the second floor of my place of work.  Unusual spot he selects; immediately above above the egress of my workplace.
 
Is this a sign?  An omen of sorts?  Or a just one of those wild coincidences?  Is something about to befall a fellow worker in this place?
 

Tue 22 Dec 2009

Is It Possible To Wait Too Long for Christmas?

Posted @ 8:45 am      {Click to post comment} 
Category: myTooSense
One of my subscribed RSS feeds came in this morning entitled, “You Ruined Christmas, Now What?”
 
The opening paragraph said:
Once again, your sloth, indolence, and disregard for others have put the whole holiday season at risk. You waited too long to buy that Christmas gift from [could be any retailer], and now it won’t be here in time. We shouldn’t bail you out again like this. You’ll never learn. But in the spirit of the season, please accept this PDF file suitable for printing out and giving in lieu of the actual, not-yet-arrived gift.

 
To be honest, in the midst of the mind-numbing reality that December 25th is imminently approaching, my mind raced into momentary panic as I forgot all and raced over the you’re-going-to-ruin-it-cliff with so many other lemmings.
 
Is this what life has been reduced to in the 21st century?  Always racing so we don’t lose “it.”  If we are constantly going faster and faster so we can catch that slippery tomorrow, haven’t we missed the point?
 
Let’s say I have a personal goal to touch each mailbox as I travel down the street (of life).  All is going well until one day it occurs to me that if I travel faster I can touch more mailboxes.  I pick up the pace and sure enough I am touching more mailboxes.  Maybe a little faster.  Soon I am at a full on run and boy am I touching a lot of mailboxes.  Life has never been so good!  Hey wait, if I get into my car (aka technology entering the picture) I can touch even more.  So here I am racing down the road at 15mph but for some reason every time I reach out to touch a mailbox it nearly takes my arm off and smarts like crazy.  No problem, I’ll go faster.
 
Do you see the problem?  More force does not bring me to a solution.  It actually diminishes the return.  I’ve lost the purpose in all of it.  Somehow speed nudged my goal aside and become the dominant goal.
 
I’ve lost what I began.  I’ve lost the purpose somewhere along the way.
 

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