President's Day Are You Buying It? With a Cherry On Top

                                            

Presidents’ Day—Are You Buying It?

So this week we celebrate Presidents’Day and apparently we honor presidents by buying things and not just certain things.. everything from suits to computers and subscriptions and memberships.  I wonder if John Quincy  Adam’s or Herbert Hoover feels honored  when customers get 30% off a touch screen all in one with 2TB solid state drives?  Now when I was younger we used to celebrate a couple of specific president’s birthdays but now we don’t have time for all that and we have learned some facts about presidents we’d rather not  spend time focused on like the fact that Jefferson  believed that all men were created equal and set about creating babies with all ethnicities just about equally.    Oh and now we are pretty certain that George Washington never chopped down a cherry tree nor then did he confess to his father he couldn’t tell a lie.  But alas the cherry  seems to have come through this okay as in this same week  we also have National Cherry Pie Day.   

So let’s transition between this cherry tree fake news to some real facts.  While we recognize cherry pie day… government  has abandoned the Washington  tale but not all states have cleared the books of cherry-related mandates.  In fact, Kansas  has deemed it illegal to prepare and serve cherry pie aala mode.    Okay let us move ahead shall we?

There are two basic types of cherries—sweet and tart.  Tart is the type we use to bake with and in the part of country where this entry originates  tart is the type that we are semi-famous for in a region less than an hour away.  If we travel less than an hour we can view the world’s fastest carry picking  process where tree shakers can harvest thousands of cherries in mere seconds.  In fact, a whole tree (7000 cherries) can be collected  in a quaint 7 seconds.  That’s probably enough cherries for  somewhere between 25 and 28 pies if you are generous with the cherries.  

But if pie is not your thing you can also get cherry wine, cherry cream soda, cherry jam, all types of cherries and chocolate and of course cherry BBQ sauce!

Travers City MI is known as Cherry City U.S.A. and it’s minor league  baseball team is the “Pit Spitters.”  This serves as a reminder of a saying from  several decades ago that has sort of gone by the way side…by the way which side is the “way?”  We all know the inside, the outside,  the upside  and downside, the left side and the right side and even the suicide .. and yet the “way side?”  

Okay let’s get back to the saying… Life is a bowl of cherries but sometimes it’s the pits…. And speaking of the pits… NASCAR is back and that means baseball  is coming soon… so we’ll wrap  things up with this… 

No matter if  life is the pits, it’s always time to step up to the plate in life and take a swing.   

So take your discounted laptop and hotel rewards membership go out and salute  Grover, Herbert, Tricky Dick and Old Hickory… and have some dessert  with a cherry on top  

Things Change

                                                                                            

 If you hear the sound of saws while you’re standing on a limb

Or fear the blurry  shadows as the light begins to dim

When  the buzzer says  it’s over as the ball bangs off the rim

As the waves consume the lifeboat and some aboard can’t swim

You can  choose to start believing that all  of life is grim

But  i say grab your Goblet and fill it to the brim

For Karma flips eternally and often on a whim

And your slice of glee and happiness is really not that slim

Things Change

What’s Your “IP” Address…relax.calm?

 Time to loosen your grip

take a shot from the hip

All the posing just skip

And your sweetness unzip

So what if you slip

Don’t let fear crack the whip

Take a gulp not a sip

From Your Grail called Life’s Trip

Live Now

Life/Math Hacks and String Theory

 Math hacks, Life, and String Theory?

Personal Note….

I have recieved a good deal of feedback about  my initial. Math/life hack post… mostly politely informing  me that “this nerdy” stuff  is better explained in person or in a one to one conversation… Well… I’m not sure about that yet the public can’t be wrong (Hitler? Trading Babe Ruth? Disco? The “New” Coke)… Having said this … I have a whole bunch of math hacks and a willingness to share  with anyone at almost any time.   You can find me on facebook, twitter, and all the major podcast and audio  platforms like Spotify, Amazon, libsyn, Google Play and on and on… For  now just ponder that 72 times any two digit number  will always  be that number times 100 minus 28 times that number… and to make this easy which math is let’s pick 72 times 28 which is 2800 - 28 squared  (784) giving us 2016 which  is of course the same  (remember the 25 rule from two entries ago?)  72/4= 18 times 100 plus 3 times 72 (216 and 1800 + 216 well you get the picture… Okay need help?  Want math to be fun?  Connect..

All we are saying here is that Math  and Life sometimes  are not “String  Theory”. Which brings me to some pondering about two matters… Kites and shoestrings.

In mid-January we recognize “International” Kite Day and just this week we celebrate National Kite day here in the U. S.  Two questions… do we here in the home of the brave really need a separate day? And are January or February  really great kite flying months?   Did Franklin “discover” electricity?  Are you trying to convince me that prior to Good ole’ Benny there was never static cling… These people wore wool in the winter time… Great Marketing Ben.  

There is something cool about running just fast enough and catching a breeze  to get a sheet of paper or whatever floating  up in the air until  its caught in the crabby ole man’s tree just up the street or wrapped around the electric wires (thanks Ben your “discovery led to the Kite killing  high voltage line currently capturing many kites  nationwide every year…. 

Now there are some great kite related  records (google it) but the most amazing is probably that a kite has been flown over 15,000 feet in the air.  Question: how long did it take to wind back in that string?   Did they just leave it in Kansas when they were done and start selling t-shirts for the “World’s  Biggest Ball of Twine?”  And if not why not? 

Shoestrings

Fastest  tied ever … less than two seconds Strongest… lifted  714 kilos —over 1500 pounds

So What in the world do these strings have to do with Seeking Peace and Joy?

Well simply some ties or strings are made quickly and some are strong some strings hold true  and keep things connected from some long distances.   Some strings and connections allow people and their spirits to fly while others just get tangles and leave people  and their lives hanging.  The point here is that life is a journey that presents a whole lot of choices about strings some you will choose to hold onto and others you may choose to cut.  Some will break and your kites that were so carefully constructed will drift away and leave you holding  just a ball of unwound experiences.  You may choose to leave that string on the ground or tie  it to something  else but don’t tie it to a key in a storm and claim you discovered  a naturally occurring  thing that’s been done.

In short kites in the winter don’t make sense and neither do some strings we almost always believe must be attached in ways that most people accept.  Be aware of the strings in your life and why you use them and how they connect you… Also remember some puppets are operated  using strings and they have a fancy name… but they are puppets on strings and by any other name they are not making choices… don’t become one of those…

Well I’ve strung you along  long enough … thanks for reading …tell me to go fly a kite.. if you wish

A Verbal Vacine for A Manic Monday

 Relax chill out the spastic

Tune down the sharp sarcastic

Forego extremes and drastic

Reset to calm scholastic

Or Meditate Monastic

Don’t wrap  your soul in plastic

Polyeaster or elastic

Just love life be fantastic

Deep Breathing

Adding Up to Peace +Joy

 Seeking Peace and Joy Adds Up

So holy cow it’s January 12th already and my “new Year’’s Resolutions are sitting patiently by waiting for me to dig in.   Now it could be  that some of us make these resolutions and don’t start on them right away and are starting to feel guilty…let’s visit that a little later.  It may be that we’ve already given up  in which case pat yourself on the back for being an overachiever as research has shown that the majority of all resolutions are abondoned by January 19th sometimes known as National Give Up Day.  Either way let’s figure out what we really. Want to work on and start today but… first….

Let’s figure out why we didn’t start right away… There are probably lots of reasons, however, maybe its mostly about fear of change?  Maybe  let’s explore this by relating it to something most people are taught to fear—MATH.

Yep… you see most people get taught to be afraid of math at some level and then they stop building the foundation to change their level of math skills.  So … let’s substitute  math skills for  life skills and put some stronger math  bricks in your foundation and then in the next couple posts  bring the two together.  Life hacks/ Math Hacks

We are usually taught somewhere around third grade. Or fourth grade the only math hack  we ever learn… so your schools are ripping you off (big shocker).   What’s that Hack?

The rule of 9

When you multiply. Any number  by nine the sum of the numbers in the answer will add up to nine.  While this is true no matter how high you go we are usually only taught up to 9 X 9.  

That’s a good foundational hack, however, it just get’s left there with no building. On top of it and that leads to some uncertainty so let’s expand shall we?  What is almost?  Why 10 of course… So multiplying by 9 is the same  as multiplying  by 10 which is adding a 0 to the end and subtracting  that number multiplying by 1 which is of course  that number.  So let’s say we want to multiply 319 X 9 well that is 3190 — 31990–19  is 71 and 3100 —300 is 2800 so the answer is 2871 and of course 2+8+7+1 is 18 and 1+8 is 9 (remember what we said about the digits adding up to 9?  So instead of multiplying all this numbers you are simplifying be adding a zero and subtracting  and subtracting  shouldn’t scare anyone… 

The  5 Hack 

Now another hack we should all be taught is the 5 hack but we are not.   Now multiplying be 10 is adding a 0  and 5 is half of 10  so take the  you are multiplying by  5 let’s say 1286 just for giggles.  So cut 1286 in half which is 643 and and the 0 there’s your answer so what if it is an odd number …pick the next higher or the next lower number  and do the same thing and simply add or subtract  the 5. So let’s do 6217 for example… we’ll add 1 making it 6218 cut in half that’s 3109 now add the 0 so you have 31090 then subtract the  5 and presto you get 31085

Squaring  numbers that end in 5 … so let’s say  we are going to multiply 25 time 25  the hard way is to multiply 20 times 25  and then add another 5 times 25 or the other way around.   The easy way is to look at the first digit  which. Is 2 and then multiply it by the very next number which is  3 and then stick 25 on the end.  So 25  time 25 is 6 (3X2) 25. Now let’s go to 45 squared  using the same hack it is 4X5 (20) with  a 25 tacked on or 2025 so of course 85 squared  is 7225 etc..  and yes 105 squared is 110 (11X10) 25 11025! 

Just one more for today

Multiplying by 25… 

Now 4 X 25 is 100  and just like  multiplying by 10 adds one  zero… multiplying by 100 adds two  zeros.  Now the trick here is to remember. We are multiplying by 100 divided by 4.. so we add the two zeros and then divide by 4 or divide by 4 first and then  add the zeros.  So let’s take 72 X 25 .. Now 72 divided by 4 is 18 and 25X72 is 1800 Now you say that’s all good but what if the number  doesn’t plot by 4?  Good question… since you are multiplying by  25  your answer has to end in 00 25 50  or 75 so after you divide if there is 1 left  over your answer ends in 25 for example 117 X 25 = 117  divided by 4. Or 29 with 1 left over.. so the answer has to end in 25 which means 117 times 25  is going to be 2925  39 X25  would be 39 divided by  4 which. Is 9 with 3 left over so that is going to end in 75 or 975

The point is …. Math can be fast and fun and easy..however many of us were not taught that… We learned that  there were piles of complicated numbers to be figured out. Carried put in columns and the very least we need a fancy calculator to even come close.. 

What is being suggested here  is that we are probably more likely to feel good about seeking peace and joy through New Year’s change if we start with a simplified scheme that we can feel good about.  

So let’s say you want to eat better…. Start by multiplying  by 10… What?  Adding one zero… eating one piece of fruit or one green vegetable  Then  if you want to get a little more advanced multiple. By five.. Eat one fruit AND. One vegetable .  

Back to the  point about not starting yet… Screw it… You are the master of your own life calendar… start today … Guilt never changed history… and you may have to start again a few times  in order. To figure out what formula works for you.. You may multiply. By 9 by simply  multiplying by 9 but. You may find  it must easier to multiply. By 10 and subtract.  

Seeking peace  and joy or any change or building any meaning  is adding up the pieces from where you stand at any one time.   And after a while  you can start putting some anchors down like knowing that 74 squared is 5476 and 76  squared is 5776 and 88 squared is 7744… the point is practice facing fears to build a foundation  from which to exercise curiousity …  and be sure to show your work!

More Math hacks soon and your new year starts now… 

Peace.

Why social media 10 cc

 The things We Do For Love…Well Maybe

Like walkin’ through the rain and the snow when there’s no place to go”

No this isn’t a recitation of the. 10CC classic and I’m not feelin’ like a part of me is dying… the thing is it’s 3:39 AM and yes my mature adult liquid processing biomechanics have prompted me to side and complete a frequent function.  Which is of course a fancy way of saying once again I’m up to go pee.  And per usual my day begins by checking out the newest episodes of  a couple podcasts, and scanning a few apps to see if there were any  little numbers otherwise called notifications that needed attention.  Then I’m thinking to myself—“Self, why in the world do I care about these notifications and this “social media?”    This leads to. How many hits (downloads and views) have my contributions to social media had lately?  That in turn sparks the pondering of “am I doing social media like oh let’s say this blog for attention or because it’s my way of contributing to the active creation of a culture I want to live in?  

Well clearly it must be a little of both or I wouldn’t have a tote board down on the right hand side of this blog.. and yet this morning it was clear that I usually and almost always check that number to see if my writing is sparking the thoughts or musing of folks who are constantly pounded by worn out simple mass media themes.  Today… it really did hit me that many  people really engage in creating content to make others smile and think, offer public information etc.  Some do this to sell and convince others of things… yet many do this for the reasons I do… for LOVE”

I write this blog and do the podcast and dribble on facebook and twitter  because it promotes LOVE 

L—is for Learning and Laughter

The entire purpose of doing my social media  has only two important  aspects… learning and laughter.

Nothing gets published or distributed if I haven’t learned something that inspires me to share.  But learning  alone isn’t usually quite enough this social media effort encourages  me to find novel ways of connecting everyday things and that for me usually involved a bit of humor.  Oh and humor produces  groans?—well mostly, however sometimes there is laughter.  Laughter. Is incredibly good for all of us so this is a healthcare blog?  Okay let’s not go overboard You know like asking if Dracula always asks for a plasma TV or being concerned. For mummies because they rarely can relax and unwind.  So I do these things for the lounge of learning and sharing that learning and  for the promotion of laughter.

I—Observations and Obligations

Thanks Steve E..This social media  I offer just is a sharing of slightly strained and modified observations designed  to say.. what if we reconsidered things?  What if sorted stuff in slightly different piles prior to putting them on the shelf.  What if we left wiggle room in order to change our minds and experiment with new options? What if we used observations instead of declarations of certainty.  Observations show beliefs without demanding to be declared the winner in the knowledge war.   

Oh and then we do the social media thing because when the universe, the grace of the universal sound, “God” if you will ..the collective soul… provides  a being with some insights they are probably shareable need since generosity is good.. I shouldn’t be the only one learning from my mistakes… in other words we owe each other the lessons we have gathered and to me this is an OBLIGATION of sharing to be done.   

V—Vanity

Look… I do this because I believe  I have something to offer and that what gets put out into the seeking peace and joy universe has value (another V word).  I could and often do.. share  a lot of my content in non-socal media ways… but these social media platforms  show me the data.. They show me that others have used some of their valuable time to read or listen.  In short, they stroke my vanity and answer the question… does anyone out their  understand or want to understand  my mind, my spirit, and frailties?  Well over the past four years some 40,00 individuals or bots have spent an average of 8 minutes a week  taking in my observations and if you trust the analytics…every little bit of what I sling out hits the fan of at least 48 people per day every single day… So… maybe  my vanity creates value?

E—Exploration

Doing these social media prompts me to explore things I never would have researched and shared without the outlets I take advantage of.  For example I’m preparing to look at a very in-depth  social media campaign on  aging and things like community-based and nursing home care.  To do this I have started to explore all types of angles including the economics.  Doing this led me to comparing our social treatment of the price of gas to the cost of nursin home or institutional care.  So  doing this has revealed that the way we determine. And publish consumption numbers related to gasoline  allows folks to present use  at anywhere between about 350 gallons per capita to around 500 and some would even say it’s closer to 700 gallons… Each one of these numbers  is true in it’s own way… so … when someone says they only want the facts let this be known… the facts are only step one… exploring what the facts mean to others and to you is where the richness lives.   So we explore to find facts and then explore  these facts and our souls to offer and share meanings… So “seeking Peace and Joy” prompts me to explore a little and then explore some more…. 

Summing up.. 

My social media  is one of the “things We do for Love”.  If you are reading this you are doing it with me… ooops that sounds kind of creepy and probably has weird social connotations… but seriously… let’s keep loving each other  enough to learn, observe, use our vanity to create  valuable content and keep exploring always instead of being afraid… 

Yes… as we approach a new year…

Keep “love—ING. EACH OTHER 

Love you all… just not all at once LOL. See you in 23

Eight Line Rhyme—Holiday Edition

Days ago the retail dash

Wrapping Paper  now in trash

Piles of gifts but low on cash

Still seeing lights but some won’t flash

Budgets? well they’re mostly ash

The Grinch gave back the ole’ who hash

Now chips and booze we find our stash

As we await the New Year’s Bash

-Holiday Scene

Four forces four years

So this concludes the entries about the four forces that I think sneak up on us these days and I wrote about these as a conclusion to four years of thinking about seeking peace and joy and what things I have become aware of ironically today is the solstice which begins a time when there will be more light in each day it is also four days until Christmas where more spiritual light begins for many people so that’s enough of the number four read the below check your awareness and tomorrow starts a new year a new day a little more light I hope merry Christmas happy four happy solstice

 

What Will you Do in These Waking Moments?

Well… I left these last four entries hang in order for almost all the regular readers here to have plenty of time to read and think… now, as promised, some concluding remarks…sort of.

It makes some sense to prattle on about the four forces in the order. We placed them out on the table, however, they are forces that mingle so some combinations will be offered out of order.  

Industrialization and seeking peace and joy

The world has —all 8 billion of us—built the most productive  human race in the known history of the planet.  We’ve formed processes and people that can produce material goods  in an amazing fashion.  We’ve as a planet adopted the narrative  that “if you work hard enough you can have  more and more” and that more is better (of course some are claiming the counter to this saying minimalism  is the way to go.)Yet the irony here is that those preaching  the minimalist approach seem to attempt to preach it more everyday to more people all the time and appear to be arguing that we need  this life theme to replace our current one.  There doesn’t seem to be  a middle ground being offered… again dualism seems to be winning out.   there also down’s seem to be any recognition that what is minimal to one might just be extravagant. To someone else… We don’t seem to hear anyone  suggesting that some folks need a lot of props to write and tell their life stories while others  just need a piece of chalk and a sidewalk.  Why is it that we are afraid to adopt complexity and ranges of successful. Paths?  If we admit there could be lots of life stories to choose from do we create a threat to our security?  Is  there a fear in trying to put together our peace and joy puzzle if it has 100 pieces and can once together look like four different things instead of pulling out the same old 10 piece puzzle that can only look like a sailboat?  

Science—really?  

Let’s say  we go into our favorite neighborhood  establishment  where everybody knows. Your name… no not Applebee’s …. And we had a hankering for a Long Island Iced Tea.  Would we know if it tasted good or not—I believe so.  Would we like it  if we had to judge the taste of it  by drinking each of its elements or ingredients separately?… If the bartender set each out  clearly and said drinking each one after the other is the same as taking  in the potent cocktail… would you say or think damn right?  The point is… do we get meaning about experiencing by breaking things apart and defining  things that way.  if you even say “not always” then maybe seeking peace and joy requires knowing and using  a lot of different lenses to view things, a lot of different tempos to play the notes, or setting off down a lot of different roads to see what destinations might be out there or more importantly what journeys  are awaiting a curious mind.  The science story goes hand in hand with the industrial story… Yet if we only had one book to learn from what richness would our education lack?  

Dualism in foreign affairs (and in the ways we understand others etc.) 

It’s hard to admit  we want to belong. And we want to be different just like everybody else.  We want to be afraid of the same things as others why… because at it’s simplest core… in an attention economy we have elevated  to mythic status the importance of what other people think about us.  If we just wanted to share what is unique about  you what would social media look like or would we even have  it?  It’s hard to tell others what we experience and who we are without telling people what you are not… I’m not a Democrat or a Liberal.. or A conservative or a Republican or a socialist or  a Methodist or a New York Yankees fan.  These may be all good things to know…but what does that tell you  when it comes to knowing  which shoe I put on first?  Getting to know someone isn’t easy…but really getting to know someone is the best compliment  you can give them in some ways.  However, imagine trying to learn about someone  by starting  the questions you ask them by saying things like… Whall we go out to dinner—You don’t like pineapple pizza do you?  Or “I was going to wear a green shirt you hate green right?”   Sure that sounds  odd…but how often do we speak the loudest about the things we think others  will hate with us?  Maybe  we start seeking peace and joy in the company. Of others by exploring three, four, or five, things about them  instead of repeating the same old paper. Or plastic questions?  The point here is not just that we overuse defining people by learning about. What they don’t like—we often use the same questions  and they are way too often  either this or that choices.  We seemingly feel comfortable with forcing the extremes to be put out there front and center.  Now when things are interconnected  so often in today’s world we are left  dazed and confused  if the cause of something  (or the blame for something) isn’t clear and simple.  It is hard to seek peace in a world of complex challenges if we expect simple and clear paths and solutions so maybe expecting  dual contexts just doesn’t help?

Now I’ll get to the media  matters in a second… right after a little summary. You see  seeking peace. And joy isn’t as easy as it used to be.   Why?  Because the huge “stories we tell ourselves” the forces so to speak became such a part of our contexts that it  became like breathing or blinking—you are experiencing. It most all the time, yet aren’t really aware of the meanings being constructed with it.  

Now let’s talk media… You see media once was the great smoother.  It taught generation after generation. In this world the same industrial/scientific/dualistic story/myth for a century or more and now well now… competing stories and media interference and static create a whole new era where  the youth build their own worlds to live in and they mingle the virtual and the actual physical worlds.  A poor child in  the real world can be a wealthy game player.   Now in the world of JFT and crypto… the greedy and the wealthy are once again trying to gain control of the narrative and evidence suggests  it could happen, and then again maybe not LOL?

As the old narratives fall apart they become like the highway  that you used to drive without noticing it until  the pot holes  started  giving you flats….   

so what conclusion  are there… 

The forces that have brought our ship to here remain pretty  large, however, now we can and probably will become aware of them as they fall to pieces.   In seeking peace and joy it might be best if we are aware of the forces we have ridden and start to experiment  with new ideas..you know stay ahead of the curve so to speak… At the very least start to admit these things aren’t the same and that we live in a world where acceptance and negotiation  are going to be far mor the norm than ever before … Fortunately  acceptance allows us to gain the most from change, bargaining allows  us the chance to clarify our  true values, and adopting  different views lets us see many  more aspects of life and thus have a lot more chances to see what is possible and good.  

anyway… read the four previous entries and be ready  to salute the forces that  have flooded your soul and then let your awareness provide. The light for many paths  open on the seeking peace and joy journey.  

Peace. 

Is it us versus them again? four forces part four

This or That =- Right or Wrong - Us or Them

Well the last few posts have been dedicated to primal influences in our (U.S. and Western) culture that influence how we make meaning of things and thus seek peace and joy in life.  So far we have considered industrialization which has dominated  our work lives and educational systems, science or more specifically the scientific method which has dominated the way we gather and evaluate knowledge and elevated the notion that predicting and controlling how parts of a whole act can provide the Truth and what should be believed, television (or more generally the multimedia-visual input we bring into life using broadcast systems to present things on a screen and now we are looking into the fourth force—the tendency or need to look at foreign affairs and nearly everything else regarding  others as a “dualism.”  

I —yes I am starting with an open admission that this is a lifelong battle topic for me.  I have never understood the gravitation that most people have toward categorizing  other humans, where they live, and how they behave  in a manner that is either like me or completely the opposite  of me… Nonetheless just because I don’t quite understand this need it doesn’t make it any less powerful  and so observations  about it seem to be called for.  

Now that I am of an age and all humans  of an age, I can look back on a “lived through history.”  I can therefore remember  personally being taught that the communists the Russians  were evil and wanted to take over  the world.  We were in the space race with them, we were in the arms race with them, We wanted to stop their advance and the advance of communists everywhere on the planet because once one country falls the next one could and would fall to these evil thinkers who are godless and such.  Because we believed this  so completely we held atomic bomb attack drills in school where we had to get under our desk and “duck and cover.”  This meant we spent real school time teaching kids that a wood or metal desk would protect them if they were the target of an atomic weapon attack.  However, if that were true why didn’t we just build our school out of that stuff our desks were made of?   Oh and we were supposed to be quiet—why?  We’re there some secret  red spies in third grade who had a hot line to the folks in Red Square  waiting to reveal our strategic location? Wait..I digress..

Well the point is that as time went by the Russians power and influence lessened and communism didn’t quite work out the way it was drawn up in real world terms.  We learned that the Russians weren’t that great after all we could beat them in hockey and we made  them tear down a wall in Germany.  We beat them to the moon and we had better jeans and video games than they do… In short we couldn’t fuel what we did based upon beating them at something anymore.  So now what. Well given recent historical events we find it really tempting to hate the Russians again but it’s not the old Russia.  We could hate China but we pay them to build our iPhones cheap and so we can maintain a high profit margin.  China  pretends at communism  but not when playing in the international market.  So … with the lack of a global enemy we have faltered a bit in having something to be unified over.  What then has happened?

Well that’s simple… we’ve turned that need to compare and divide on ourselves.  We are either “red” or blue… Why can’t states be purple  or yellow or aquamarine?  Crayons come in big boxes with a sharpener built in (how many times  did you ever use that?  The big question is..why do we crave this simplicity?  Are we afraid to live in the complicated stew of trying to understand people. Rather than trying to control them?  It is easier to urge and oppose rather than understand and cocreate our circumstances.  For so many people we have not been taught how to take advantage of the pieces of a puzzle to form a beautiful picture when just sorting things into two piles  is so much faster.  When survival of humans wad more dependent upon identifying creatures that could and would kill us dualism was a bit more important however, the last I time I looked I wasn’t brushing my Wooly Mamouth  loincloth and chanting around this new-dangle cooking appliance called fire.  

Okay the purpose of this entry isn’t to cast evaluations of humans out there …it is designed to bring attention to the notion that dualism is  something shaping the ways we seek peace and joy and bring meaning to our experiences.  

Now…that we have illustrated these four forces… it becomes time to provide some “implications” and that is the business of the next entry…. 

 

What were watching last night Universal Force Part III

 The Four Sorces Part III —“Television”

Well we’ve sort of looked at industrialization/standardization as something that dominates or did dominate the workplace and our schools along with the narrative that if you try harder. And compete you will do better and better etc…. Then we looked at how defining the world in terms of science has  led to advances, however it also encourages us to break all things into little pieces, assume that these pieces always equal the whole and that we can predict and control the world and the people in it.  The implications for seeking peace and joy  related to these two forces alone  are staggering  and yet there  are more things to explore before a “summary” of sorts might be offered and the third of these epic forces is ….”Televison” and the changes. In it that are fundamentally altering the world.   Let’s tune in shall we?

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane shall we Uncle Milty?  Unlike “cultural products like say painting, theatre, music, dance,oh and let’s say books “television is a new deal.  Oh and it got it’s start during the New Deal and just barely.  If you are 75 or older there is a good chance. You remember not having a television in your house.  If you are in your 60’s  you grew up with only two or three channels and you developed some expertise  in going out of doors and spinning your attendance so that the “snow and shadows  could be reduced.  If you grew up  just a few years later you had “cable and three channels went to 20 or 30 and then to 60 then 100 then if you lived in the right place and had the right paycheck around 500 channels.   Well and now “television”  is “streaming digital”  where this thing we call a television offered tens of thousands of shows/movies/sounds when you want to watch it.  Oh and since this includes  YouTube and tick-tock… we are able to watch virtually unlimited content everywhere all the time.  

So what does this all mean for seeking peace and joy?

When TV was young it was a unifying force.  Everybody knew that everybody was watching one of  three nationally shown shows and a few local shows.  We all had something to follow in common and talk about the next day…. A whole country was wondering. Who shot J.R.?  We all watched as the riderless  horse led the mourning masses to the eternal flame and we all knew  the name Archie Bunker Hawkeye Pierce, and who rode trigger.  And then there were reruns… and millions still watched the same shows where people ent to places where everybody knows your name and had questions on their minds like  will Ginger, the skipper and his little buddy and the professor get off that darling island this time?  Sure some of us wondered  how there were six kids when Mike and Carol never touched each other in the bedroom and wasn’t it amazing that Lude and Laura never had to pass gas or tinkle?  anyway the older generation went from radio  where all programming was pretty local to a media that was pretty unified and so our cultural experience  of entertainment  became a common thing we could share.   And then…. 

Technology started giving us more and more choices and more and more decisions and more and more  and more and more and more and is still giving us more until  now the programming  we could access and produce went from a narrow range. To something that offered much but also drives us  into smaller and smaller  bunches and where we fight not to produce  similar things but to produce unique things and hope that  we gain a little fame  or go viral so to speak.   The same thing.holds true for print media or digital print data… In short seeking peace and joy with others has become far for complex as we once  could believe in what we watched however now we can watch anything we might choose to believe.  

In short this thing known as the TV once pulled us together  and now it often leads us to be staring  at a screen by ourselves.   We may alll think of TV as if it is what it was when we grew up… and depending when you grew up that’s an entirely different thing than it is now.  And yet… what we see on these screens is still a dominant. Force in how we look at the world and when we look at it too.   When some of us grew up it was the six o’clock news or the 10 o’clock news and now everything is breaking news. 24 hours a day.  Oh and sports?  Well we used to watch one baseball game a week and maybe a couple of pro football games and one college  game a week.  We had that in common along with that poor guy crashing off the end of that ski jump feeling the agony of defeat.  

We’ll talk more about this force in the summary, however for now. Let’s all take a moment to think about how TV/video has changed in our culture  and in our ways of understanding the things we experience.    This whole discussion  will continue after these brief messages at the same bat time and on the same bat channel.