Dave Mustaine, the man behind Megadeth, summarizes his politics, religion, and general outlook on life:
It’s pretty simple for me, really. I want to be able to carry a gun; listen to whatever music I like; eat, drink, and be merry; and not hurt anyone else (the exception, obviously, being self-defense). It’s an abbreviated Sermon on the Mouth: treat other people the way you want to be treated.
In motorcycle rider safety classes they have SIPDE:
Scan, Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute
or sometimes it get simplified to SPA:
Search, Predict, Act
The book, Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere says:
Perception, Evaluation-Decision, Reaction
Detect, Defuse, Defend
There’s the good old OODA loop:
Observe, Orient, Decide, Act
Whatever acronym you choose, whatever paradigm it’s used in, they all start with the same thing:
Awareness
You need to be aware of your surroundings. Your eyes need to be seeing. Your ears need to be hearing. There may things for your nose to smell, your tongue to taste, or your body to touch and feel. You cannot have your nose in a book, in an iPhone or iPad, headphones blaring music into your ears. These things keep you from being aware of your surroundings, and then… what are you missing? and is missing that a good thing?
It’s not just self-defense either. It’s useful while driving. It’s useful because maybe that cute girl or guy across the room is trying to get your attention. Because that job opportunity may be fleeting. Because that business prospect may be a diamond in the rough.
It all starts with Awareness.
Wife’s car (2003 Mazda MPV) started dying yesterday. Electrical.
Pulled the battery, tested with a bad cell, bought a new one. Installed the new battery and put a multimeter on it: car off, 12-13 volts, car running, about 12 volts. Alternator dead?
I’ve replaced alternators before on older vehicles, but on this car? Geez! I’ve always marveled and cringed at this engine compartment. Heck, getting the oil filter off can be minor surgery. Turns out that getting to the alternator on this car is major surgery, something that can take an experienced mechanic with the right tools 3-4 hours. You have to take a lot of the bottom-end off the car.
*sigh*
It’s not a job I want to attempt, so off to a nearby shop. I’m fearing what the labor bill is going to be.
Remember when I wrote a few days ago about simplicity in design?
Apart from being a fantastic time-waster, I must admit one thing I like about Facebook is reconnecting with old friends.
Case in point. An old high school friend “friended” me on Facebook some time ago. While he lives on the east coast, he just took a job with Dell thus had to come down here for some training. He dropped me a line saying he’d be in town and wondered if we could get together. I haven’t seen the guy in perhaps 20 years… wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass.
We went to Threadgill’s last night, had some food, listened to some live music, and just talked for hours catching up on what’s been going on the past 20 years. Oh sure, over the years we heard little things here and there from mutual friends, but there’s nothing that can compare to sitting down with someone and just talking with them.
One thing I didn’t like? I found out that he’s now living almost in the country (foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains) on 3 acres, can hunt there, and the deer are so heavily populated there that he finally got himself a Savage .308 bolt-action and is going to harvest a few this year. I’m most envious. 🙂
The other thing I didn’t like? Being able to say “it’s been 20 years since we saw each other”. Two decades. Face it Daub… you’re getting old. 🙂
But with that getting old, you realize more and more what’s important. Lots of people can come and go in your life, but it’s good to keep in touch with those that meant something. Yeah, Facebook may have a lot of evil things about it from a corporate standpoint, but it’s hard to deny how it and other modern communication technology is changing how social relationships work. Don’t really have to go another 20 years before we see each other again.
I am an engineer by trade, and Wife points out that I have an engineer mind.
While I spend much of my time working with complex systems, I understand that simplicity is king. Simplicity is actually quite difficult to achieve because it takes work. You start off doing what you need to do, over time things grow and it will become more complex and kinda messy. You must take the time to stop, step back, and reengineer and rearchitect things to regain that simplicity. Typically this will mean you must discard and cast off.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery said:
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
In the practice of the Tao,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.
Simple is not easy, but it is best.
I’ve seen a few things in the past couple days that reinforce this.
I stumbled across this blog posting on “What is good code?”
Good code is simple. Even complex good code is comprised of simple building blocks. Good code hides or cuts through the complexity in the problem, to provide a simple solution – the sign of a true coding genius is that he makes hard problems look easy, and solves them in such a way that anyone can understand how it was done (after the fact). Simplicity is not really a goal in its own right, though; it’s just that by means of being simple, code is more readable, discoverable, testable, and maintainable, as well as being more likely to be robust, secure and correct! So if you keep your code simple (as simple as possible, but no simpler), it is more likely to be good code – but that is by no means sufficient in and of itself.
And all of this talk of simplicity isn’t just something for the world of engineering…. I think it applies to all things in life, and I think it’d do well to be applied to government.
Witness the mess there is in classifying sensitive information: (h/t Slashdot)
Protecting and classifying sensitive information such as social security numbers shouldn’t be that hard, but perhaps not surprisingly the US government has taken complicating that task to an art form.
It seems that designating, safeguarding, and disseminating such important information involves over 100 unique markings and at least 130 different labeling or handling routines, reflecting a disjointed, inconsistent, and unpredictable system for protecting, sharing, and disclosing sensitive information, according to the watchdogs at the Government Accountability Office.
Read the full article (it’s short) to see just how messy the problem is. This is not simplicity, this is about the furthest thing from simplicity. How does this make life easier?
Then I see this flowchart on Department of Defense acquisitions:
The Integrated Defense Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Life Cycle Management System -- MY BRAIN HURTS!
Wow. Even the name (The Integrated Defense Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Life Cycle Management System) is a complex beast.
I truly hope no one considers that to be a simple, streamlined process.
Have you ever noticed, any time the government talks about streamlining or improving their process, they always create some new group to do so? Nothing ever gets shut down or shed or cast off… it’s always grows.
If people are tired at how inefficient government is, at how bloated and slow it is, how complex, how confusing… why aren’t we working to truly simplify things? Why does no one believe in casting off? Why do we call them “law-makers”, as that seems to imply all they can do is make more laws instead of refining or repealing what we already have?
Why don’t we have any politicians that run on a platform of repealing, stripping down, and simplifying? Why is a discussion of “loss of government jobs” considered a bad thing? closing of government agency a bad thing?
Consider how truly simple things are better in life (or at least, consider how those ugly complex things make life difficult). Work towards the ideal.
This past weekend we finally got to visit the Austin LEGO Store.
Oh, what geeky nirvana. 🙂
Of course, all the store sells is LEGO, and even at 10 AM (opening time) the place was jumpin’. Kits everywhere. You can see the back wall is just bins of bricks (grab a cup, fill it with random bricks). You can build your own mini-figs (3 for $10). It’s pretty cool, and all things LEGO. What I found extra amusing were the people who worked there. Very friendly, very geeky… you could tell they love LEGO themselves and enjoyed working at the store. If they didn’t have to engage a customer (e.g. they greet everyone as they walk in), they’d just strike up conversations about LEGO… one of the workers and Oldest spent some time just talking shop. The workers got to set up the various showcase models themselves and had fun when doing so. For instance, see this model of a Star Wars AT-AT?
Look for C-3Po. 🙂
Here’s some other models that I liked:
LEGO Biker - I love the trike, and the chain. Nice touch.
LEGO Horses, roaming the wild.
Martial arts, LEGO style!
LEGO Sumo!
I’m sure Oldest would be happy to rent a room in back and live there, or eventually get a job there. Boy… wouldn’t that be his dream job. 🙂
Oldest bought a few things, and I even picked up a couple of things. I bought the Kingdoms Advent Calendar and the Toy Story “Army Men on Patrol” set because hey… it’s Army Men in LEGO form, how cool is that? 🙂
A restaurant in North Carolina puts up a sign saying “Screaming children will not be tolerated”.
Naturally, some people have a problem with this.
“I’ve never seen a restaurant say, don’t bring your screaming kids in here,” said Ashley Heflin, who is a mom of two. “You can’t help it if your kids scream.”
Yes you can.
I’ve got 3 children. Now I grant, the younger the children are, the less control there is. A 6 month old baby will start crying and telling them to stop isn’t going to work. But a 6 month old child typically cries because they are hungry or tired or are in pain… things you can remedy, but still yes, a 6 month old screaming is a bit more understandable. Nevertheless, just letting the kid cry and scream doesn’t do anyone any good, most of all the child. Take the kiddo outside and remedy it.
But as the children get older? Oh you certainly can help it if your children scream.
How?
By not tolerating such behavior out of your own children.
If Junior screams in the restaurant, it needs to be met with a swift reprimand. If you’re going to give the child a warning or threat, you best follow through with it immediately because the kid will scream again (they will test you, and you must pass the test). This is not a time to beg or plead with the child nor continue making empty threats, not a time to keep talking to them about it and discussing how they feel or to let them have the freedom to choose. They’re too young to understand social constraints; you’re the parent, you’re supposed to teach them. It’s time to “man up” and be the parent that you’re supposed to be, the one in control, the one in charge. The rules are set, they are iron-clad, and if you violate them you will meet with punishment. Punishment could be a spanking, being grounded for a length of time, deprivation of privileges. Or it could be that instead of “do bad, get punished” you take a “do good, get reward” approach. Just be careful there, because behavior that is expected shouldn’t only happen because a treat will come of it.
Sure, the kid has to learn. So that will probably mean some embarrassing and awkward experiences for you. But hey, that’s just part of parenting, get used it to and get over it. Be a parent. Be tough. Be the one in control. If kiddo keeps it up, then you leave. Yes it sucks for you, no it’s not what you want right now, but what do you want? dinner now? or a well-behaved child that grows up into a well-behaved adult? Leave, and make sure Junior knows that this is unacceptable and the behavior will not be tolerated.
It really boils down to a few things: 1. be the parent (be the one in control), 2. don’t tolerate bullshit, especially out of your own children.
And then, just then, we might raise well-behaved children, and restaurants won’t have to put such signs in their windows.
Don’t neglect to empty the milk jug that catches your spent primers. You may find the reloading press backs up because the tube doesn’t empty.
While it’s nice to listen to music while reloading, it’s nicer to listen to the sound of silence broken only by the sound of morning rainfall.
I’m getting tired of reloading 9mm… been a lot of rounds loaded and I’m wanting to move on, but no… must stay with it. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I know it’ll feel sweet when I get it all done. Must stay the course, must see it through.
When it comes to breakfast, what’s the difference between cornflakes and milk, or chips and queso? It’s all ground corn pressed into flakes consumed with milk product, so have your nachos for breakfast (call it a Bill Cosby breakfast — “this is not your child!”) and be happy.
Seeing ducks in the morning makes me smile.
Seeing my children in the morning make me smile more.
Seeing Wife in the morning, makes me smile most.
It’s easy to find something that will spoil my day… but I’m not going to seek it, something will come along sooner or later. Going to ride my wave of happiness while I have it for as long as I can. 🙂
The city of Austin’s (my city) murder rate has climbed 38%
The City of Austin’s murder rate continues to be higher this summer than the previous year.  While year-to-date crime statistics show a decrease in amount of overall violent crime, Austin’s murder rate is up by over 38-percent.  The Austin police department’s Shelia Hargis says a large amount of those homicide are closely related to another crime. “One thing that seems to increasing this year versus in the past is the city’s robbery-related homicides” says Hargis. The latest Austin crime report also shows a 14-percent decrease in overall robberies, which points out even the small number of robberies here in Austin are now escalating to murder.
One can ponder as to why the rate climbed. Could it be because Austin claims itself a “sanctuary city“? Could it be due to the economy and folks being more desperate? Could it be due to illegal drugs (and “repealing prohibition” could stop it)? Could it be because folks are going crazy from the heat? I’m sure Austin Police have an idea, but so far they’re not sharing.
But whatever the reason, a key take-home point is that homicides in conjunction with robberies are starkly rising. That means the question is no longer “your money or your life”, it’s now “your money AND your life”.
Stay safe.
My Dad spent much of his life involved in politics in some manner or other. Consequently, most of my life has had me indirectly involved in politics. I recall being a kid and being dragged to all sorts of functions and speeches and mostly just hating it (not a kid’s idea of fun). But for some reason, there was one speech that was memorable to me.
Dad knew a good speech sometimes starts out with a joke relevant to the topic. I don’t remember the body of the speech nor who he was delivering the speech to, but I do remember the joke. It went something like this:
There were these two boys: one was an optimist and one was a pessimist.
A team of scientists wanted to study their behavior, so they put each of the two boys in a room. They put the pessimist in a room filled with all the latest toys and fun things — anything that a young boy would want to have and then some. They put the optimist in a room knee-deep in manure. The scientists left the boys alone in their rooms, then after some time had passed, came back to see what the boys were doing.
The pessimist was sitting in the middle of the room, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. He hadn’t touched any of the toys, just sat there.
When the scientists looked into the optimist’s room, they saw him picking up a piece of manure and flinging it over his shoulder. Then he picked up another one, flung it, another and flung it, and kept repeating this action. The scientists wondered what he was doing so they stopped the boy and asked him.
The boy replied, “With all this manure, there’s got to be a pony in here somewhere.”
and laughter followed.
I admit, at the time I didn’t fully understand the depth of the joke. Yeah I understood it at some level, and for whatever reason the joke stuck with me — probably the mental caricature I conjured of some boy flinging pieces of poop over his shoulder. 🙂
As I’ve progressed through my life, the joke has never left my mind. It’s always been a reminder of how to look at life. When you have good things and all you do is bitch and complain, life’s going to be pretty unhappy for you. But even if life hands you a mountain of shit, if you can smile at it and find some sort of good in it, life works out a lot better.
Stuff From Hsoi 